A question for the writers on the GRM staff.

How many hours a week do you work? A passing comment from Tom this weekend suggested he was in his shop working on the Z. Is that working on a project with a camera and notepad in hand for a future article? Does work on GRM project cars happen on the weekends or during the week? Or do writing and editorial work take up 40 hours a week leaving all project car work to happen on nights and weekends? Who owns the cars that regularly make it in the magazine like the Z or the Corvette?

Does the GRM World HQ have a work space for wrenching and content generating?

I could easily see the workweek being never ending as you go from wrenching with an eye to writing future articles, to writing those articles, to editing them to fit the magazine pages.

Another quick question. Out of the handful of pictures that make the magazine, how many do you shoot. I can imagine it being in the 1000s per keeper. Or do you get an eye for choosing the best images before you trip the shutter? 

How hard is it to separate work life from home life?

Inquiring minds want to know.

And if this is none of our business, that's a perfectly acceptable answer as well. It's just a thought that popped into my head on a Sunday afternoon. 

When I worked for a sanctioning body, the executive director of the organization was never "not on" even when he was attending a completely unaffiliated unrelated automotive event (as he is a proper gearhead) he was at the very least representing the brand and often looking to make in roads or seeing ways to adapt best practices. The organization wasn't as fun or engaging as GRM is, but I imagine the never being able to completely turn it "off" holds true. The biggest difference is that the host here appear to allow staff to have their own voice, so representing the brand at least still allows you to be yourself. 

So, the answer to almost every question is "it depends." I'll answer based on my schedule, but JG, Tim and David all approach the problems slightly differently.

I don't track my hours, but I'd guesstimate I work 50-60 hours per week normally, more if I'm at an event or similar. That's 40ish at my desk, and 10-20 in the garage. I try to put a minimum of 10 hours per week into physical labor on cars, otherwise projects tend to stall.

I work at home, so this usually looks like 9-5 at my desk, followed by an hour or two in the garage until dinner time 2-4 nights during the week. I'll work for most of a Saturday or Sunday (or both) for projects that can't be broken down into hour or two chunks. Today, I TIG'd an AN fitting adapter to a new power steering pump for the 350Z, installed the new pump, then spent a few hours setting up an Elva bellhousing on the mill and measuring it to be copied whenever my giant hunk of aluminum gets here next week. Sometimes, yes, I'll log off the computer at 2-3pm and go out to the garage if I have time. One cool part about this line of work is that if I'm behind schedule to finish a car, I can shut the computer off for a day or two and just work in the garage.

World HQ doesn't have a shop, but that's because JG, Tim and I have all built out our own, each tailored to how we work and what we build. Most photos of the 350Z are shot in my backyard. Same goes for the Corvette in JG's, Tim's Mustang, etc. Sharing a space would get... interesting to say the least. JG lets ducks walk around everywhere, Tim's garage is carpeted (seriously) and mine is covered in a thin film of machine tool oil. We all have our quirks.

Employees without their own shop, like David or Ed back when he worked here, will usually borrow ours to make progress on their projects. Chris, our video producer, currently has a Super Beetle in pieces in mine. 

Roughly 5% of the photos I take will be published.  That's actually much higher than it used to be; as modern iPhones have gotten so so good, that's what we use for 90% of shots. That means we take fewer photos, but have a better sense of lighting before each shot so we don't have to take as many.

Project car ownership mostly comes down to each car manager's personal preference. I own the 350Z personally, while the company owns the V6 Miata and the Corvette.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

That's pretty much what I expected to hear, except for the iPhone photos, the company owned Corvette and the carpeted garage.

That's about what I expected as well. We appreciate all that y'all do for us. 

In reply to Toyman! :

+1 on the appreciation. I'm glad there are dedicated people that do this.

Jumping in to also share my appreciation. 

To be clear, I don't necessarily "let" the ducks walk around wherever they want, it's more that I'm just powerless to stop them. 

But, yeah, Tom pretty much covered everything. I work from home as well. My shop is a 3000 sf. shop my late father in law built when they moved to Florida about 15 years ago which sits on 3 acres along with a 1200 sf. house. When my mother in law passed away, my wife and I decided we liked the place so we made her brothers an offer to purchase their shares of the property they received in the inheritance and it all worked out pretty well. If you ever watched any of the GRM Live shows, we shot that at my place.

So, the weirdest thing for me is that I have a nice office in the actual house that I hardly ever use. The office I actually use is a cruddy little hovel built in the corner of the shop, which sits about 300 feet from the house. Even that small commute—usually in the golf cart we use for property maintenance—really puts me in "work" mode. Right outside my interior shop window is my lift, so I have a nice view of whatever work is in progress at the moment. My exterior window looks out on my front yard, which has a few nice trees, and across the street is a plant that makes architectural styrofoam. Yeah, it's kind of a weird neighborhood. I guess way back in the day it was basically like three farms that have now been turned into about 15 individual properties ranging from a half acre to like six acres. it's a little weird living across from a styrofoam plant, but they're awesome neighbors and I can use their forklift whenever I want. Plus it's quiet where we are. You wouldn't even know there were houses here unless you were delivering a pizza to one of them (even then I usually have to talk them in so they don't get lost), and all the neighbors are cool, or quiet enough that I don't realize they aren't.

Right now my shop is a bit of a mess with three cars (Vette, MR2 and now the stock car and all its piles of parts) in here, but I imagine however much or little was in here I'd still find a way to make it a mess. We also just got tire mounting and balancing equipment, which takes up a bit of space as well. There's also little wok areas for "clean" stuff, woodworking, metal grinding, a work area for my dad that I'm not allowed in because I'll mess it up, and a table with the garage entertainment system with a TV, some studio monitors and some old analo.g synths. A couple of our cockatoos live in the shop full time, and all our parrots have spaces down here where they spend a lot of the day. We built these big 4 x 8 x 6 aviaries on wheels that can get rolled around in and out of the shop that they hang out in during the day, and at night when I'm down here. having the birds here limits the amount of aerosols and volatiles I can use, but honestly I don't mind that at all, since that stuff makes a mess anyway. If I need to do anything involving fumes, I schedule it for a time when I can have them well outside and allow the shop to thoroughly vent before they come back in.

The benefit of working from home when the shop and the projects are here is a double-edged blade. You never have to punch out, but you also never GET to punch out. Luckily I love every minute of what I do, and the ability to take a few minutes during the day and go play with the parrots or feed the fish in the pond or watch the ducks makes it even easier to survive the lack of boundaries.

My typical workday is 9-5 at my desk, then back in the shop when my wife goes to bed, which is usually pretty early since she's a teacher. So like 9-12 or 1 back in the shop, and usually part of that is desk time checking emails or writing something if it's fresh in my head or doing housekeeping with file management or whatever. 

And, yeah,same thing with me on the iPhone usage. I'm on the Apple Upgrade program, so I get the newest iphone every year, but the photos are absolutely stellar since about the iPhone 10 came out. It's really my favorite camera at this point, and gets used for both stills and TONS of b-roll video. 

So, yeah, that's how the sausage gets made. It's not sexy, because really it just comes down to putting in the hours to produce the product. Sure, some of it is track testing Z51 C8s, and I certainly don't take those opportunities lightly and I'm thankful every time they come up, but most of it is just good old fashioned "work." 

The fact that you all love the world you are playing in is the best part to me. I've never been around you guys when you weren't enthusiastic about what you're up to. 
I get the weird gray area of not having hard starts and stops on a work day, but it all sort of just becomes life, and that is not a bad way to get on down the road. 
Thanks for sharing a little "behind the curtain" perspective. 
 

Yeah, pretty much what JG and Tom said. 

I have a home office, meaning I'm at a desk and not writing and editing from the couch. I find that helps a lot: good lighting, comfortable chair, my big monitor. My office also has a nice view of the backyard--love the natural light--while the room is sort of central to the rest of the house but not too central, if that makes any sense. 

I usually have my music going. Nothing too loud or distracting but something to keep me going through the day. I think it's a Logitech setup. It has a subwoofer so it sounds good enough. While I love my metal and punk, that's usually not a good fit for writing and editing. Think more jazz (Cannonball Adderely, Miles Davis Quintet, John Coltrane, etc.) or early R.E.M., Police, Rush, etc. I'm very much an album person, so it needs to be something that can be on repeat all day. I don't want to stop and play DJ. I also don't want to hear something that I don't want to hear. So set it and forget it. Today it was Lapeche. 

My office is comfortable, too. I have some framed screened prints (GWAR, Living Colour, Agent Orange) as well as a few 10x30 skateboards. Dig through the shelves and you'll find some more treasures: promo copy of Never Mind, my vintage ALF plush, a ton of JDM car magazines. (Road&Ster or Nostalgic Hero, anyone?) Then the room is full of my guitars and amps. 

Even with all of this other stuff, it's not a distraction. Work keeps me plenty busy. 

Good question about how many photos make it into the magazine. It has to be in the single digits. For example, I shot nearly a thousand photos at the Rolex. We'll probably only use a small handful. I use my iPhone a little but do most of my work with a DSLR. In my case, it's a 7D MkII. I love the feel and control of that camera. 

I don't keep track of my hours at the desk for work, but figure about 60 per week--whatever it takes to get out the issue, post new content, answer e-mail, proof videos, keep an eye on our social, etc. Case in point: It's after 9 p.m., and I have some e-mails to answer so I'm here at my desk. Sundays are often my day to catch up with writing and editing. So, yeah, whatever it takes. 

I have an office mate, too, to keep me company. Her snoring isn't too bad. 

Here's a semi-recent photo. 

Photo for earlier today showing that, yes, it could be worse. (I was looking for something this weekend, so I pulled some boxes out of the closet.)

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I can almost smell the sweet scent of creativity there!  Killer workspace!

jh36 said:

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I can almost smell the sweet scent of creativity there!  Killer workspace!

Ha, thanks. Now with more floor space. 

Sweet transformation!  Slightly better than my warehouse cube!

And the reverse angle.

That's awesome. Love the univox.  

In reply to jh36 :

Thank you. Randy found that for me a few years ago. "I got your new amp," he told me. 

Then he pointed at it. Yep, he had my new amp. 

Based on the logo, it's pre-1968. Two of the tubes are from Radio Shack. Two of the little ones are made in England. 

I bought that Boss tuner from Jon Herington. Sadly, it didn't come with his mojo.

I marvel that you guys can do the writing in a set window; I am always in Kerouac mode, once I start writing I won't want to stop 36 hours.

Tom Suddard said:

JG lets ducks walk around everywhere, Tim's garage is carpeted (seriously) and mine is covered in a thin film of machine tool oil. We all have our quacks.

Thanks for allowing us a peek into the daily lives of a magazine writer. I didn't think it could be a job that a job that turned on at 8 and off at 4. 

Again, we appreciate what you do. 

Great thread and interesting to get the skinny on how this all works. 

Of course Im not asking salaries or anything like that, that's personal and not my business. But with seeing the modifications that,seem to be, constantly happening on multiple cars (the 350Z, Vette, and MR2 come to mind, but also the vintage Mustang too) - do you get some parts for free or deeply discounted or is the magazine game that dang good that you can do it all on the paycheck?

Sadly, this isn't the easiest way to get rich. Far from it, in fact. We do get many parts for free, as companies understand the realities of this business.

Except for very rare exceptions, we pay for our tools personally, just like any other mechanic. That's my own toolbox, Bridgeport mill, power tools, etc. etc. Harbor Freight did send me a gold ratchet for free, which I handed to JG for a video then promptly stole back from him. It's Jesse's favorite tool whenever he's working in my shop.

As I stated, I dont need to know personal business, but from an outside perspective (and specifically for a younger reader, as I was when I first picked up GRM or Sport Compact Car), it makes it seem like a booming business that allows all these fancy parts. Now, even in any little city across America you'll have folks constantly buying fancy parts (or just parts), but I wasnt sure if people donated for the publicity. 

it's a smart move on their part. If they give away one $600 (retail) item and it pulls in 5 new customers then they did alright. 

Very cool that HF gave yall something. If they were smart they'd do more and let you test some stuff out. HF, in my opinion, still has some "taboo" to them, and I dont think that's the best word to use here. I think many dont trust some of their stuff and if they saw it really getting pounded on by a trusted source it'd go a long way to up their sales of items. 

But, again, this thread has been great. Really love the 'office' pics posted above, to see where the magic happens. 

Tom Suddard said:

Sadly, this isn't the easiest way to get rich.

I'm shocked by this statement

Waaaay back in the late 80s I managed to sell a couple of stories (fiction) and boy was that a wake up call.  While using my writing skills to do purchasing contracts may not sound as cool it sure pays a whole lot better.

Thank goodness you guys have a passion for this. 

Oh, and here's my office. It's not much; I can do this part of my job anywhere with a big monitor and enough desk space to write on a sticky note. I have a lovely view of my back yard and shop, along with any cars I couldn't fit inside last time I rearranged things.