Guest Russ makes a good observation. A pro is a pro whether at a corporation or as a musician. Unfortunately a "job" generally tends not to be fun, and fun turned into a job can lose some of its pleasure.

If playing music is truely the profession, then it seems corporate management techniques could apply. I notice people work "for" rather than "with" you. No criticism intended; corporately, I've had more success with a team than with a staff.

Another consideration: look who we're working with here. Musicians! As a too-wide generalization, my artistic friends tend to be less concerned with punctuality (as well as other social "norms") than my engineering and accounting buddies. We're all wired just a little differently.

I'm fortunate to be among a group that plays solely for fun. We play every Thursday night at a pub, there will be anywhere from two to six of us, the fiddle player will always be the last to arrive (what is it with you fiddle players?) and we never rehearse. Anyone of us can bring a new song with the one rule being we must share the key prior to beginning to play it. Its purely for fun and the audience seems to enjoy it (We're on our third year). I'm sure if this was our livelihood, we'd approach it much differently. Our goal is to have fun and offend as few people as possible.

Rick, what are you trying to accomplish with your group and what would it take to accomplish it?