Fill The Rooms. Prove The Spend. Build The System.
A plan for Cory and Siani to walk through together. Prices come from gvosound.com. Numbers marked "working number" are placeholders until GVO's real figures go in. Every calculator updates as you type, and every section ends with a space to record what we decide.
THE SHORT VERSION
The target is the monthly gap between what GVO earns now and its roughly $5,000 in costs.
Every ad dollar has to come back as at least $1 of take-home. Anything that doesn't gets cut.
Revenue comes in three layers: memberships and retainers for a steady floor, content projects for big tickets, and sessions, photo, events and apparel for volume.
Start small: about $20 a day in ads for 90 days, then scale only what proved itself.
First proof: R&B & Vibes on Nov 27 and the Valentine's cruise.
GVO owns every account, contact and asset built for it.
1
The goal
Cover about $5,000 in costs every month, so a slow month never puts the studio at risk.
Monthly gap
$5,000
Equals 2-hr sessions
63
Or photo room hours
100
Decide today
What GVO brings in on a typical month, and how much slow and busy months swing
What the $5,000 covers: rent, utilities, software, gear, and whether Cory's own pay is in it
The real target: break even, or a set profit on top
2
What GVO keeps per booking
Revenue and take-home are different numbers. Plans and ad targets run on take-home.
Service
Client pays
Team cost
GVO keeps
Recording, 2 hrs at $75/hr
$150
$70
$80
Recording, 6 hrs at $60/hr
$360
$210
$150
Photo room, 2 hrs at $50/hr
$100
$0
$100
Content: podcast, video, commercial
Quoted
Team rate
To confirm
Apparel: 27 pieces, $10–$100
Varies
Cost of goods
To confirm
Events
Tickets
Venue, DJ, promo
To confirm
Travel: cruise at $2,020/room
Per room
Trip costs
To confirm
Photo earns $50 an hour against recording's $40, so photo gets real ad attention.
The 6-hour rate leaves $25 an hour, which gives away most of the margin on the longest sessions.
If engineers are paid for mix time after the session, recording keeps less than $80.
Travel stays out of the $5,000 math until the margin is known. It still sells apparel and event tickets.
Decide today
Are engineers paid for mix time beyond the session?
Review the 6-hour rate, and whether $75 an hour fits a 5.0-rated studio with 49 reviews
Offer a set price for photo room plus GVO photographer, so it can be advertised
Take-home on apparel, events and travel
3
How ad spend works
Ads buy attention. What matters is how many dollars it takes to win one paying client, and whether that client is worth more than that.
You set a daily budget on Instagram, Facebook or Google. The platform shows the ad to the people you target and charges as they see or tap it. Some of those people book. A client who books once is worth $80 to GVO. A client who books three times is worth $240. Repeat business is where ads pay off.
Clicks
0
New clients
0
Cost per client
$0
Kept, first visit
$0
Kept, with repeats
$0
Back per $1
$0
Cost per click and booking rate are starting guesses. Month one replaces them with GVO's real numbers.
Where the dollars go
Google Search reaches people already looking, like "recording studio Annapolis." High intent, smaller volume.
Instagram and Facebook build demand with session clips and event recaps, and retarget gvosound.com visitors who didn't book.
Each ad points to its own page on gvosound.com with a tracked link, so every booking traces back to the ad that earned it.
Decide today
Starting monthly ad budget, and a 90-day test window before judging results
Which services to test first: photo, recording, cruise, events
Any past ad accounts or results
Who approves a budget increase
4
Three revenue layers
A steady month needs a floor that refills itself, a few big tickets, and volume to fill the gaps.
Recurring
The floor
Memberships for artists and podcasters who record often. Monthly content packages for local businesses. Money in before the month starts.
High-ticket
The upside
Content production by quote: brand videos, product shoots, event coverage, podcast production. One project can equal 15–20 sessions.
Volume
The fill
Recording, photo rentals, events and apparel, driven by ads, Google, print and the event crowd.
Membership, working example
Deep hourly discounts don't work, because the engineer costs $35 an hour whatever the client pays. The value comes from perks that cost GVO little.
Artist membership
Monthly
4 studio hours, off-peak, engineer and mix included
$280
Engineer cost, 4 hrs at $35
−$140
GVO keeps per member
$140
Perks: priority booking, a merch discount, early access to drops, members-only listening nights, and a feature on @gvo.sound. Fifteen members bring in about $2,100 a month before a single walk-in booking. Unused hours don't roll over, and members can't take every Friday night.
Content packages, working example
A portfolio page built from GVO's existing work, a quote form, and three clear starting points: a single shoot day, a monthly content package, and full podcast production. Sold mostly through referrals and direct outreach to local businesses, with ads in support.
Decide today
Membership: yes or no, price, hours, perks, and which hours count as off-peak
How many regulars book twice a month or more
Past content projects and prices, and three content packages to offer
Who answers content inquiries and sends quotes
5
Month builder
Put in a month's activity and see what GVO keeps against the floor. The presets are examples to start the conversation.
GVO keeps
$0
After ad spend
$0
Against the floor
$0
6
The all-in investment
Staged so each phase earns the next. Nothing scales until a test shows it pays back.
Phase
What happens
Ads
Build Dec–Feb
Tracking across Square, Eventbrite, Posh and the site. One contact list across studio, shop, events and travel. Memberships and content packages. Ad accounts and first tests.
About $20/day
Prove Mar–May
Budget moves only to what returned at least $1 per $1. Sponsor outreach using winter footage. Outdoor season prep.
Grows with results
Run Jun on
Weekly rhythm, monthly report, written playbooks so the team runs the daily parts.
Set by return
Fill in the partnership terms as we agree them. Ad spend is paid by GVO directly to Meta and Google.
Ads, 6 months
$0
Fees, 6 months
$0
All-in, 6 months
$0
Performance at month 6
$0
The performance share applies only to take-home above today's baseline, so it grows only when GVO's earnings grow. Per-transaction fees from Square, Eventbrite, Posh and Twilio aren't included.
Running costs to expect
Tool
Used for
Cost
Meta and Google Ads
Paid ads
Only what we spend
Square
Bookings, payments, shop, shipping labels
Already in place
Eventbrite and Posh
Tickets and attendee lists
Per-ticket fees
Twilio
Booking alerts and event texts
Per message
Google Sheets
Contact list and form leads
Free
gvosound.com on Cloudflare
Site and landing pages
Domain renewal
Decide today
Build fee, monthly base and performance share
How the performance share is measured, and when it's paid
Payment dates and method
7
Who does what
Cory and Ashley both work full time, so the system can't depend on either of them day to day.
Who
Owns
Siani
Building the system, running ads, tracking, the monthly report, the content calendar, and written playbooks
Cory
Final say on spend and pricing, artist booking, events, venue relationships, and closing content deals
Ashley
Account access, billing, and keeping logins current
GVO team
Shooting and editing ad content and OTD sessions, engineering sessions, DJ Mo on event sound
To name today
Answering DMs, calls and quote requests fast. A lead that waits a day usually books somewhere else.
Rhythm
A 15-minute check-in once a week
A one-page report the first week of every month
A 90-day review to decide what scales, changes or stops
Decide today
Who answers leads, and how fast
Check-in day and time
Which team members shoot and edit ad content, and their rates
8
Events and the live series
GVO already throws the nights. Each one can also capture contacts, sell sponsor slots, film content and move apparel.
GVO
R&B & Vibes
The DJ-led party franchise, built around the crowd. 12 nights since Aug 2025 across Annapolis, Glen Burnie and Baltimore.
OTD Live x GVO Live
The live series
The artist-led showcase for rap and live bands, with Baltimore and DMV artists. Indoor this winter at venues Cory already works with, then backyard, rooftop and waterfront shows in summer.
Tour
Proof of concept
Baltimore, DC, Annapolis, Philly and Virginia. Costs funded together. Whoever puts up the most money headlines.
Every event, every time
Tracked ticket links on Eventbrite and Posh
Every attendee's contact added to the shared list, with permission to text or email
One sponsor slot sold to a local brand
Photo and video capture for ads and OTD
GVO apparel on stage and at the merch table
Decide today
Event calendar from December through spring
Which venue hosts the first filmed live show
How venue deals work: door split, bar minimum, flat rental
What a typical event nets
Cost and revenue split for the live series, and who owns the footage
9
First 90 days
Small tests whose results come back in dollars within weeks.
R&B & Vibes, Nov 27 at Sidelines: tracking, contact capture, a sponsor ask and filming
Valentine's cruise test (sails Feb 6), measured in rooms sold per dollar
Photo room campaign, GVO's highest take-home per hour
Recording campaign aimed at off-peak hours
Membership soft launch, offered first to regulars
Content offer: portfolio page, quote form, outreach to 20 local businesses
First filmed live show after New Year's
The monthly scorecard
Money in by line, ad spend, bookings by source, cost per client, members, content deals and contacts added. Every line traces back to a dollar.
Decide today
Start date
The three or four numbers that define success at 90 days
10
Ground rules worth settling early
The things that cause problems later if nobody decides them now.
Spending
A monthly ad cap that never moves without Cory's OK
Any ad that costs more to win a client than GVO keeps from that client after two weeks gets paused
Ad spend is billed to GVO's card directly by Meta and Google, never routed through Siani
Ownership and access
Ad accounts live in GVO's name. Instagram is already in Cory's Meta business portfolio.
Siani gets access to run them. Cory and Ashley keep full control.
All contact lists, content and accounts belong to GVO.
Rights and permission
Written OK from artists before their tracks, faces or names run in ads
Photo and video releases for clients and event guests who appear in ads
Marketing texts and emails only to people who opted in
Reputation
Every client gets a review request by text after their session. Google reviews feed search results.
Kept separate
No Deadbeats Club stays apart from GVO revenue. If it ever becomes a client, that's its own agreement.
Travel is tracked but doesn't count toward the floor until the margin is known.
Decide today
Monthly ad cap
Release forms: use existing ones or create new
Whether No Deadbeats Club fits anywhere, and how Cory wants it handled
11
Partnership structure
Three separate deals keep each side's value clear.
Deal
Between
How it's paid
GVO growth system
GVO and Siani Creates
Build fee for setup, then a monthly base plus a performance share
OTD sessions at GVO
GVO and Off The Dock
Barter: growth work traded for production time with GVO's video team and room, each hour valued in writing
OTD Live x GVO Live
GVO and Off The Dock
Joint venture. Costs and revenue split by contribution, and the bigger investor headlines.
Agreement basics
Start as a 90-day pilot, then renew on results
Either side can end it with 30 days' notice
If it ends, GVO keeps every account, list, page and asset built for it
Siani Creates keeps the right to reuse its framework: playbooks, templates and dashboard structure
Bartered hours valued in dollars in writing. Barter can count as taxable income, so both sides should check with an accountant.
Decide today
Base plus performance, with barter for OTD production
Dollar value of a bartered production hour
Pilot start date and when the agreement gets signed
12
Shipping
Square already handles it. The decisions are how to price it and who packs.
Square supports flat rates, live carrier rates and free shipping above an order total, and labels print straight from the Square Dashboard. Square is moving shipping settings from Square Online into the main Dashboard, so they may show up in a new place.
Working recommendation
One flat rate on most orders, so nobody gets surprised at checkout
Free shipping just above the typical order total, so buyers add one more piece
Free local pickup at 109 Gibralter Ave
Labels printed from Square, so tracking reaches the customer automatically