Seriously.

First, you need to insure yourself against some idiot doing something(which is why they are an idiot in the first place) and hurting themselves and others. This is good general protection.

Second, insure your gear against theft and damage.

Let me relay a story. I'll leave out some details, like how it was a major pain in the butt to get insurance for my gear, and then how, in the course of 2 years, TRIPLED in the annual premium, despite my assets not increasing like that. As a result, I could no longer afford the insurance and I had to cancel it. I also won't go on about all the crap that's happened to me this this year, but suffice to say, it's sucked.

To cap off my year of suck, I did a great 3-day event, and on the 3rd day, some idiot stole $10K worth of my gear. This is gear that was stored INSIDE the venue in the loading area. They just helped themselves to a box containing my wireless accessories(microphones of various sorts and cbales) as well as my wireless body pack transmitters, my two brand new complete in-hear systems and a handful of various other microphones. All this could fit in one box, and that's probably why they took it, because a good deal of it was in a single box, and then they just added to it.

Odd stuff: I have(had) 4 Shure Sm57's, they took 2. These were all in the same container, so they were picking and choosing. 4 total Sennheiser e609's, 3 in that box(one on stage), they took 2 of those. I guess they didn't want to get greedy.

Anyhow, the theft has caused me to have to shut down corporate events for the winter. Why? I need the body packs and lav mics, and those were stolen. I still have the handhelds and receivers, but my clients want body packs with lavs. Folks: a simple corporate job usually takes about 3 hours, requires minimal gear, and I make $500 for it, and I had about 80-100 jobs lined up. All cancelled now. I had been marketting corporate for 2 years and when I finally get it, I am hosed thanks to one jerk's sticky fingers.

So, don't get nailed like this. Insure your gear and protect yourself against theft and loss. There are lots of jerks out there. Don't any of YOU have to go through what I went through. If I could afford insurance, I'd be working because I'd have my gear replaced. Now I'm offering a reward for getting it back, so if anyone of you got it, there's $1000 in it for ALL of it being returned. Cash money. See it on Craigslist all over California.

I'll leave the other sad details out. Just protect yourselves. Learn from my mistakes and the mistakes from others, you don't have time to make them yourself. If you have a large inventory, protect yourself. If you have a small amount you can kepe 100% in your sight, chances are nothing will be stolen. At leas not until load out. Also keep in mind no gear is worth losing your life over. Just give it up if the situation gets really dangerous. Although, I will admit to using my Anvil case to beat a would be attacker into a pile of goo who tried to assault me.

In the meantime, I will continue to fight to stay in business. Been doing this for 25 years and I'm almost 36. I don't know anything else but to keep on trying. Never quit.

My christmas sucks. Don't be me. The rest of you: Have a happy holiday. Things will improve for me because I never give up. You'll all be seeing me in 2008 and beyond, guaranteed. This is merely a set-back and I will overcome.

Oh: No lights stolen, All left at home. Wasn't needed for that event. It needed it though.

chris sorry to hear all your troubles this year man. merry Christmas and i hope things pick up for you in 08'. sincerely,

Bummer about the gear.

Out of curiosity, did you insure your gear under an LLC or just you as an individual?

I'm just wondering if one or the other is more feasible. I know that an LLC can provide a buffer between your business and your personal assets, but I'm not sure if that has any impact on insuring gear one way or the other.

It's just one of those steps that some take and others don't.

All the best, and here's to 2008...

My company is a sole proprietorship. I don't have the time to deal with the paperwork sludge to be an LLC.

I'm no quitter. One thing that one learns is that you must have alternate avenues of income. I also do media transfers(various tape, film and audio formats to digital) as well as computer consulting.

This is merely a set-back. All I know is to fight for what I want, and fight I will because doing live sound is what I really want to do. And I never lose in the long run.

I just hope others learn from this.