Yes. $100 for PB tech and $300 for 2nd shooter. I might even just contract out a DJ on this one and 2nd shoot myself. Our 14 year-old daughter is also coming along nicely and should be able to slide into that slot in a few years.
Earning 100-200k in revenue as a Mobile DJ? Is it possible? If so how?
- Thread starter Mack Entertainment
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Yes. $100 for PB tech and $300 for 2nd shooter. I might even just contract out a DJ on this one and 2nd shoot myself. Our 14 year-old daughter is also coming along nicely and should be able to slide into that slot in a few years.
I'm sure there are some places you could do that but for the most part that is highly unlikely to book all three days of a weekend more than once or twice a year. Personally I had one last year and one this year that were 3 day weekends. Like Rick said the Fridays and Sundays most of us book make up for the Saturdays we can't fill in
First and foremost this is a lifestyle decision.
You have two options. One is to create a job for yourself and the other is to create a business. The difference is that the latter can continue to operate even without you. Most single-op full time DJs have built a job not a business.
As a single-op my highest gross revenue was $225,000 which translated into an effective net earning of $130,000. I say "effective net earning" because on paper or a tax return it certainly would not be represented that way, and never did I feel like I had excess money. Your lifestyle plays a huge part in sheltering your income. For example, I bought a large home from where I could not only live but, also work without sacrificing quality of life. (Meaning I'm not in some mixed commercial residential area, I'm somewhat rural residential where a legacy agricultural light business zoning still applies.) It's also very private. The result, is that part of my income that I would have to pay for living expenses anyway can be sheltered from income tax. The trade-off is I have a big mortgage and expensive building to mainatin. What you monitor is not your tax bracket - rather, your effective tax rate which in some instances is as low as 0% and I have even had a few years where it was negative (meaning Federal Credits actually produce a refund in excess of any taxes paid/withheld.) By and large and effective rate of 15% with a good income is a sign you are cruising along quite well sheltering your income. Married - age of children, all these things have to factor into it.
Finding business requires a variety of skills and broad ideas about how to apply them. I could DJ almost any event from kids to grandparents, work alone or with a team, as my own business or for someone else's. I also rented systems to DJs across the region including advanced gear they themselves might not have access to. I repaired gear, I developed office or warehouse standards for people running businesses much bigger than my "job" approach. My USP is technical proficiency and experience - I do that stuff that no one else knows how to do well, and I often do it behind the scenes. I did not need to charge unusual premium rates to make good revenue. Today I feel like I get asked to be some kind of event consultant as much if not more frequently than to actually DJ. How does it end? I am of the age where I need to make this a sideline amd move on to another career. If you choose to make this a job - have an exit strategy.
Other people I work with developed a business. They operate out of commercial spaces, have full time office staff, commissioned sales staff, part time roadies, and a variety of loyally employed DJs, Emcees, and Dancers. They also operate as an agency and party planning service booking other talent and services, as well as sub-contracting additional DJs and talent as needed. They might also run a dance studio in their facility where their dancers can stay regularly employed as instructors, and they groom the next generation of their potential employees.
Their costs are significantly higher, annual insurance bills of $80k, workman's com, payroll taxes, FICA, Leases, Financing, payroll, etc. They operate 5 days a week and work events both weekend days. The Business focuses on the city where the events are bigger, the invoices higher, and the revenue better. Gross sales are easily in the seven figures and their public profile and recognition is quite high. Premium rates are absolutely necessary because the overhead is so high. This can not be made up on volume and the margins must be very high. Contrary to popular complaint - a properly run multi-op will ALWAYS be significantly more expensive than a single-op. They are most likely to rely on Bar Mitzvahs and related high-end weddings.
The emphasis is on entertainment - not DJs even though almost all of the entertainment is built around a DJs as the source of music. Make no mistake the owners might have an MBA - or a long history of trial and error in an entertainment career that preceded this venture. This is a business first and foremost. What's their net personal revenue? Probably not significantly higher but, more stable and predictable. How does it end? One friend is grooming his son who is taking over more and more of the business operations as he approaches a retirement age. I imagine he will always be "Chairman." If you choose to build a business - have a legacy strategy.
Finally, you have to take present day reality into consideration. Both models are impacted by the economy and technology. There are things I made good revenue on ten years ago that simply don't really exist anymore in a meaningful way. These businesses have re-invented themselves several times with varying degrees of success. Many of the hurdles and thresholds that made certain types of sales possible have been removed. Some of the event profiles that were common during the 90's only exist now in a narrow niches.
The economy not only effects you but your clients - things can change on a dime if your client base, like an investment is not adequately diversified. You need long-term regular clients and client trees built on referrals. Relationships are what will sustain you. You cannot survive simply on turnover from advertising and online phishing.
You have to know what your REAL talents are and build on those - are you an Entertainer? a Business Manager? Human Resources Professional? Agency expert? Engineer or Technical Expert? How will you connect your strength to revenue? Can you find enough work to sustain a viable job or can you manage the right people and the turnover to build a viable business?
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When you say you're at an age where you need to make this a sideline and move on....how old are you? I'm 45. I figure I could DJ for at least 10-15 more years as long as I kept myself in decent shape and kept my gear very mobile. I could also hire helpers for gigs if needed.
Also are you a single-op still or a multi-op. From reading your post it looked like you were single-op and you had friends who were multi-op.
Bob, that's the best post I've read on this forum. Bravo. I am curious, if you're willing to share, at how you generated $225k as a single-op? I'm really having a hard time wrapping my head around that one, assuming of course that you were not doing corporate A/V. At a $1k per night average, I can only add up to $100k max gross with my current mentality on the subject. Care to elaborate?
It was an awesome post! And I'm also curious! 
There are times in your life when you reach a crossroads and you have to make a choice. This thread reminds me of a similar choice I was confronted with. Many years ago I was an IT manager for a large chemical company in Texas. I was making good money, but I knew I was never going to get rich from working for this company, and I knew my prospects were limited because most technology decisions were made in Germany (home office). On the side, I was working with a very talented interior decorator, creating custom art work for corporate office buildings she decorated. Yes, my first degree was an art degree; I had planned to be a commercial artist before I went a completely different direction. Anyway, it reached the point where I was making about the same amount of money with the art business I was making at my full time job, but I was working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. I was burning myself out and had to make a decision; art business or IT manager? I felt I could not do either job "half way", so it had to be one or the other. I chose the IT manager path and never looked back. In retrospect (now that I'm retired), the path I chose was probably the best for my financial security, but perhaps not my legacy.
The thing about artwork and DJ services is that these are things people can and will sacrifice in times of recession or other extreme circumstances. IT is a field that has never declined even through recessions, after tornados or during wars.
My point is this; if you feel like you can make enough money to sustain yourself, your family, and save for your retirement with a DJ/Entertainment business, then by all means, go for it. There's a lot to be said for being able to make all the important decisions that control your life. You'll likely never become wealthy as a DJ Business owner, or an artist, but you also are unlikely to become wealthy working for someone else.
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The thing about artwork and DJ services is that these are things people can and will sacrifice in times of recession or other extreme circumstances. IT is a field that has never declined even through recessions, after tornados or during wars.
My point is this; if you feel like you can make enough money to sustain yourself, your family, and save for your retirement with a DJ/Entertainment business, then by all means, go for it. There's a lot to be said for being able to make all the important decisions that control your life. You'll likely never become wealthy as a DJ Business owner, or an artist, but you also are unlikely to become wealthy working for someone else.
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I'm 52 and the majority of my client's are now corporate and non-profit professionals and my work would best be described as event staging. However, you never lose 30 years of DJ experience and I still have upcoming weddings, bar mitzvahs, and graduation parties this year. I'm single-op/freelancer but, helped a number of people build multi-ops and provide ongoing support services to a few.
At least 90% of my gigs are from people who have hired me repeatedly more than 5 years consecutively, with at least half 10 years or longer, and a third closer to 15 or 20. I've had no paid advertising - anywhere in the last decade. I can thank some early internet success, although as the web has grown more commercial referrals greatly outpace the web.
Never under-estimate the impact of your age. If I'm at a school I probably have a long history there. Young brides are not my target, especially in today's retail narcissism. I once worked at a pace of 150 gigs/yr half being weddings. I stopped advertising for weddings and I book them through referral usually by way of the parents or co-workers. As I get older I prefer events where I can be authentic and free of the pretentiousness that prevails in a lot of gigs today. Non-profits are a good example of a more rewarding area to work in.
What you sell will change through the years - or at the very least it's face might need to change. I would love to get my son turned on to DJing - he'd be the only 15 year old around with 30 years of production resources behind him. He could essentially pay his own way through college! No such luck yet.
Very well put! I don't expect riches but I also don't want to sacrifice my family's well being for a pipe dream. If I went full time it would have to be very well planned out and I would have to have all my bases covered before making the jump. Having enough to cover my current lifestyle, my kids future, and my retirement. It's a scary proposition for sure.
I have 10 years experience as a wedding DJ and most of my gigs come from referral and advertising. I really don't get much repeat business because most of my events are weddings. I have a few corporate events that are small holiday parties. I have also dabbled a bit in school events around my house but nothing solid like becoming the school district DJ of choice yet. I have been offering them great deals on pricing hoping to gain a stronger foothold there. I honestly believe I can probably DJ Weddings for at least another 10-20 years but time will tell. At this point I don't see it as a full time profession unless I can upgrade my services to be more high end and still keep the same volume of business.
You would need to change that. Wedding DJs are a dime a dozen. I don't mean that as an insult - I mean it literally. There is no shortage of part time DJs who claim: "I specialize only in weddings." Full time, that's like opening a restaurant that only sells french fries. You'll need more menu choices - not more variations on a french fry.
You're right that brides are typically one-off customers and unless you do a lot of very large weddings (250-350 guests) the cost of getting new customers is too high. At one point I calculated the cost of my qualified bridal leads to be $10 each with a total advertising budget (all forms, pre-internet age) of $16k annually. Compare that to the cost per lead of a referral or repeat client: $0.00
This may seem counter-intuitive but, booking premium calendar dates is the wrong way to think if you are full time. What matters is booking consistent premium work no matter what the date is.
Start small with your resources and supply chain. Rentals - that's my equipment working without me. Sales - something I'm already buying wholesale anyway, or something I'm producing that's of interest and use to others like me. Then think big - eliminate the notion of an "off-season." Realize there are also 7 days in the week. Figure out how to be in two or three places at the same time... I mean, how you can collect on two or three invoices for the same gig - even if it wasn't your booking.
When you get right down to reality - fulfillment is where I make money. The booking itself simply represents a margin - the difference between the selling price and the cost to produce. Expanding production is easy - expanding margins is not. I respect the salesman but, I like production more than I like sales. That idea opened me up to a whole new line of customers: all those people who sell - to the people I don't.
If you apply your own strengths in a collaborative approach instead of letting ego and competition isolate you - then there is more opportunity, more experience, and more gigs out there than you could ever hope to seize on your own.
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Bob, very good discussion. I love the idea - and the logic. Could you be more specific? Are you referring to corporate rental and sales? Or are you saying that you also rent to DJ's? Or all the above? I know you also get involved with pipe and drape. Do you do it yourself or are you subbing everything out?
Thank you for this excellent response. It really gives me a lot more to think about. It would definitely be a different way of doing business than I'm currently doing now.