This may be boring to hear but if you want to be regarded and treated like a professional than act like a professional. This doesn’t mean wearing a suit or talking like one but move with “urgency” and show some hustle. Show up to setup earlier in the day and take care of any logistical issues. Show up early before your set so they know you’re on-site and ready to go. Introduce yourself to the techs and be polite and friendly, remember their names and make sure you use it during the conversation and when saying goodbye. Don’t drink during the gig, maybe not even afterwards.
These are the traits I present to my clients in any kind of work I do. I show that I am reliable, dependable and take myself seriously so they don’t need to worry about me. I work quickly and efficiently to setup and tear down to demonstrate competence. I show attention to detail so they know that even when they aren’t watching me I am doing the job right. I am polite and attentive when I speak to them so they feel that I am both listening to them and understanding them. I explain what I have chosen to do and why so they can understand what is happening and be reassured I know what I am doing.
Personally I take it a little further with professional dress and grooming, the way I speak and paperwork but that is because that is me and I am both comfortable with myself and the image I present. You need to develop your own professional image. I agree that doing something unnatural is not sustainable in the long term but I still feel these are habits you should train yourself in because they are almost universally useful as a working professional of any type.
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