chabonk
Last Sunday my wife dragged me to her company's Christmas Party. She's in the retail business (HR Dept./Kohl's) so it somehow makes sense for them to celebrate it in January. Turns out that her boss's brother is a DJ so she naturally booked him to work the event - $800(US). Now, since I too DJ Christmas Parties for Kohl's (in other districts) and charge $600-650 a night, I was naturally eager to see what he was going to bring to the table. Well I must say I was surprised and in a twisted sort of way proud of MY services. First he (the DJ) shows up 30 min. late, okay not really a big deal but picture an underdressed kid wheeling sound equipment through the middle of a crowded room, dodging people, tables, and chairs - very unprofessional in my humble opinion. Once he was set-up I thought to myself, that's it? Where's the rest of the equipment dude? He showed up with two small/beat-up Yamaha speakers w/o stands, one Agressor light on a T-stand, and a numark mobile cd system. At least he has balls - big balls, or maybe just bigger balls than me, I wouldn't even DJ my in-laws house party with the junk he brought. This was a formal event with about 400 guests! Two strikes in my eyes... But he can still redeem himself I thought to myself. He can still pull this off and blow the roof off of this place. IF ...he plays the right stuff. Well nope, that didn't happen! CD's skipped all night and several times they looped on him. Song selections were horrible, all he played was reggaethon, which got old fast. I love reggaethon but come on, you've got to mix it up a little. Well, I've got to run but for anyone thinking of starting a mobile DJ business: Don't do what this guy did... it’s a sure way to chase business away.
Inviato Wed 01 Feb 06 @ 11:33 pm
PCGumshoe
Note to you: Get business cards and find out who is going to be fired because of this mistake, give your business card to their boss... say something like, "Wow, now I wish my gig for today hadn't cancelled, I could have accepted this job that (The person to be fired) asked me about... at least I'd be having more fun right now and so would everyone else..."
Inviato Thu 02 Feb 06 @ 7:41 am
lmichel
Yep, I totally agree that this 'kid' didn't do the profession justice.
Not to wave my own flag, but I'm up to five gigs per week and could do more if I had the energy :-)
Here are a few rules that helped me grow this business in less than 12 months...
ALWAYS get there early.
I try to be set up and ready to go one full hour before the start time. This way if I have a technical problem, I have plenty of time to fix it or figure out an alternative. If everything checks out and I'm ready early, the manager just might invite me to start early and offer a little more $$$. If not, then I build my playlist and.....
TALK to people. Find out what they are hoping to hear tonight. I don't care how awful their wishes are, I act interested and tell them I'll check to see if I brought it with me.
Bring lights. I've had more repeat business and more word-of-mouth calls because of my lightshow. LOTS of lights. Stobes, Scanners, Pars, lasers, moving heads, etc. Start out with what you can afford and then add variety as you go. Then once it becomes too much to set up, ebay away some lights and buy different ones. Repeat customers love this! It makes the show always fresh and new.
Stay on top of billboard.com! Don't play the same old stale music. Grow and evolve with the music. Keep playing the popular older stuff and mix in the new stuff.
I hope this helps.
DJ GeekBoy
Not to wave my own flag, but I'm up to five gigs per week and could do more if I had the energy :-)
Here are a few rules that helped me grow this business in less than 12 months...
ALWAYS get there early.
I try to be set up and ready to go one full hour before the start time. This way if I have a technical problem, I have plenty of time to fix it or figure out an alternative. If everything checks out and I'm ready early, the manager just might invite me to start early and offer a little more $$$. If not, then I build my playlist and.....
TALK to people. Find out what they are hoping to hear tonight. I don't care how awful their wishes are, I act interested and tell them I'll check to see if I brought it with me.
Bring lights. I've had more repeat business and more word-of-mouth calls because of my lightshow. LOTS of lights. Stobes, Scanners, Pars, lasers, moving heads, etc. Start out with what you can afford and then add variety as you go. Then once it becomes too much to set up, ebay away some lights and buy different ones. Repeat customers love this! It makes the show always fresh and new.
Stay on top of billboard.com! Don't play the same old stale music. Grow and evolve with the music. Keep playing the popular older stuff and mix in the new stuff.
I hope this helps.
DJ GeekBoy
Inviato Mon 06 Feb 06 @ 5:42 pm