Djin is your business, treat it as one?

Let face it here. We are all DJs and since DJing isnt historically a career job, unless you are Deadmau5 or a EDM Producer. Typically we are all local DJs with aspirations of making it big.... a least big in our town...

With the majority of the DJs being younger and inexperiences and the older veteran DJs who been around have different perspective of how to run a DJ business. In my opinion, i think a lot of people do not take this seriously and in result do not grow professionally and also as a DJ. The older DJs have connections and remember how it used to be back in the Vinyl Days and crates, I myslef have never experienced it as I did have to log between CDs... and that was still horrible.

Most of us is on sometime of digital DJ platform either Serato or Traktor, which is the most popular, i recommend Serato because I like the feel of the Record and turntable, or control record and turntable.

Now to the Point. I think DJs get discouraged when people pay them a low rate or a Club stiffs them a fee. Its partly because they feel they can, you took the deal and also the way you do business. I have seen people come with the same set up, the same old speakers and the same tracks. Simply, as a business DJs get complacent and play the same set over and over and nothing really new. As a business they dont have a pool of contacts and just blasting social media posts on Facebook is their way of promoting and didnt make any new connections and meet people.

If this is your business just as a club owner has his business, Djing the the easiest part of the job. All the work behind the scenes is what makes a DJ better or worse, more sucessful than the other. Since this is a business DJs are expected to market, set up a light show, have inventory of lights and also produce.

Also as a business you need employees and the employess need to work, not just freeload off your work. Whereever your real job is that pays you regularly, they expect production and results in sales or productivity, you should too. When you hire people they should market and get jobs because your employer would expect the same too.

I think the biggest problem is we think we can just show up to the party and play a killer set and leave and get paid our full fee. If this what you do, I wont say its wrong but if your calendar is consistently open for gigs, then I guess you should probably reevaluate YOUR BUSINESS and redo the business Model. Dont know what a business model is... SMH... Google it..

As a business, your customers will pay you as much as $2,000 a gig, i have yet to book something that high, but think about it.. how do you get there? Ibet its more than social media blasts and a couple lights and 2 speakers.

In conclusion, the whole point of this blog is to treat your DJ business like a business. this means that if you are booking gigs, hire people to book gigs and help them market your business. You are paying them, hopefully well, they should do more than just show up, help you set up play half the show and leave. I would recommend that you make connections with local businesses for the marketing, build your inventory of lights and sounds and keep growing as a DJ and explore music.

I tell people at the end of the journey, its all about the ride... the money comes and goes but the partys rocked.. they stay with you...


Thanks for reading!

How running a Djing business is Similar to Moneyball

Im back for season 2 of Blogging. I know I didnt post much earlier but I also have another Blog called Charlies Techlist - which is a blog regarding technology and insight for consumers. Now this blog is different. As a DJ who has an event company business, I am not the expert on business as my Educational background is in Civil Engineering, however I have worked and excelled in retail and professional positions.

In my opinion I see this way too much, that DJs are disgruntled that they don't get paid their worth to an event. This is something I struggled with also, as I viewed the fact that I wasn't getting the dollars that I thought I was worth to an event. This is where I see the problem that many DJs run into. Understand that DJing isnt a profession that many people sought out to be, its more than a hobby that turns into something I love doing and making money. As most job should be like this, we hate our 9-5 that pays the bills but we love our 11-2 gigs. Most DJs out there are kids and young adults that see Teisto and Steve Aoki and EDC festivals and how much Calvin Harris is getting paid and think they are like that, so when people approach you to do a party and offer a couple hundred bucks, you galk and say "thanks but no thanks".

Because people that DJ dont go to College and learn business and networking and understand Business Plans and Models that are not smart with the clients and not smart investing. which brings me to this topic at hand.

Moneyball is all about winning games in Baseball with the lowest salary cap. DJs that complain they arent paid enough, open a business, drive in clients and pay DJs on rotation. See as a DJ we are always on the other side, we dont own anything but turntables and a mixer. So you have no real value to a client except the fact that you know music, but dont forget, they also know music as Pandora and Spotify has become the new way to get music.

In Baseball WAR is Wins above Replacement, this measures how valuable a player, how many wins does the team get if his replacement is playing instead of him. Great players who impact the Game, this is not a good number, so average players this is a great number. The same applies to DJing, how uch valuable are you over Streaming Services? this is where your real value is measured. If all you bring is a mixer and a Mac and want $500, to me you have extremely low value because all people need to do is pay 5 bucks and get a Premium Pandora Account or Spotify and you are out of a job, better yet, download a mix off Soundcloud and you are really disposable.

So in closing model your business to be something that give customers high value and need. you cant replace speakers, people need sound for a party and there is no way around that. why as a consumer should I pay you because you use a Rane 68, that is better for you and holds no value to me as a consumer. Dont charge customers because you spent $1,000 bucks and Techniques and also have a Pioneer mixer and a Mac Pro Retina set up, because truthfully a 2 channel mixer by stanton and running Ableton Live, this setup is around 80 bucks. But if you have the Lighting and Sound for a Party, and provide professional customer service with a great price point. Now your VAS (Value aboe Streaming) becomes higher.

Just my opinion, thank for reading!