No, I would not say that I would not do it. I thought about that as an answer but I really did enjoy DJing when I was active.
For those of you that know how I got into the business I won't bore you with the details. Simply put, I initially got in to satisfy a need for my father; he was commander of his American Legion post, they wanted to have social events, he thought music would be a good thing for them, and he asked me to do that. Later on I left the business because of his illness. He died. I got married. Then I got back in the business.
Now, when I got back in I mostly did it to fulfill another need. We were throwing a surprise birthday party for my mom, I wanted a DJ but the experience I had with the multi-op from my wedding was not a happy one, so, I thought I could do a better job. I bought some basic equipment, augmented the CD collection I already had, and DJed her party. In my mind, I did a great job; well, my mom, wife, and some of the attendees thought I did as well.
OK, so its around 2000, I have this gear and I have the internet. I did some basic research on DJs in the area and did some market testing. Now, also remember that to this point I am a hobbyist; any money taken in in the past went to gear and that's about it; I had no clue what to charge for a real gig, I had no clue that there were CD services out there, and I was operating with rudimentary CD equipment and an augmented personal CD library.
Sounds like a mess in the making doesn't it?
My first job as a professional DJ was a wedding. Well, I had done these before in the hobbyist version and I had been to plenty with DJs so I had the basic knowledge. The internet gave me the general gist of the format and that helped considerably. Also, fortunately for me, a friend of a friend that became a friend had been DJing for over 20 years at that point took me under his wing. The old friend was also breaking into club DJing at the time as well and all three of us formed the first version of Good Knight Entertainment. The rest is history.
Now, what would I have done differently?
I should have done more market research before even hanging the shingle out. At the time there were several multi-ops that were keeping the prices low and they have grown like weeds ever since. I did not know that at the time and if I had I may have just relegated the equipment I bought to home use or sold it and moved on.
I should have taken advantage of the assistance of the two friends but not formed a company with them. One of them turned out to be very unreliable and the other one started pumping the company (me more than anything else) for money to buy equipment. The second part caused the company to end up with some useless stuff. The unreliable friend caused some reputation hits when he was late on a few occasions; he also caused some booking issues when he decided to back out on me at the last minute a few times. The big lesson here is keep your friends as your friends but don't go into business with them. I ended up pulling away from those two and just made the company me.
A business and marketing plan might have been nice. I did those later. I also developed a three and five year plan. The three year had the priority items and the five year had some directions that evolved over time. Both of those helped but it would have been better to have them in the beginning. I also developed mission and vision statements and they should have been done at the beginning.
In 2000 the music dynamic was starting to make some radical changes. That took us to where we are now and I think today's music is absolute garbage. I should have tracked that sooner and maybe I would have gotten out sooner.
I should have developed an understanding of demographics sooner. Now, I have had this argument many times before on this board and others; demographics plays a significant role in what you do as a DJ. Demographic factors are age, sex, race, and, to a small degree, religious background of your audience. The religious background relates to their interpretation of morality. Towards the end I started asking demographic questions in interviews and that did help me craft a decent initial play list.
Finally, I should have been more selective. I should have just stayed away from the "pre-planned" events; that is, the events in which the planner already has the play list and won't deviate. I should have also stayed in my comfort zone of weddings and basic parties and never done school functions, sweet sixteens, kid parties, or Mitzvahs.
Well, that's it for now. I am sure I will think of more. I hope you find this useful.
For those of you that know how I got into the business I won't bore you with the details. Simply put, I initially got in to satisfy a need for my father; he was commander of his American Legion post, they wanted to have social events, he thought music would be a good thing for them, and he asked me to do that. Later on I left the business because of his illness. He died. I got married. Then I got back in the business.
Now, when I got back in I mostly did it to fulfill another need. We were throwing a surprise birthday party for my mom, I wanted a DJ but the experience I had with the multi-op from my wedding was not a happy one, so, I thought I could do a better job. I bought some basic equipment, augmented the CD collection I already had, and DJed her party. In my mind, I did a great job; well, my mom, wife, and some of the attendees thought I did as well.
OK, so its around 2000, I have this gear and I have the internet. I did some basic research on DJs in the area and did some market testing. Now, also remember that to this point I am a hobbyist; any money taken in in the past went to gear and that's about it; I had no clue what to charge for a real gig, I had no clue that there were CD services out there, and I was operating with rudimentary CD equipment and an augmented personal CD library.
Sounds like a mess in the making doesn't it?
My first job as a professional DJ was a wedding. Well, I had done these before in the hobbyist version and I had been to plenty with DJs so I had the basic knowledge. The internet gave me the general gist of the format and that helped considerably. Also, fortunately for me, a friend of a friend that became a friend had been DJing for over 20 years at that point took me under his wing. The old friend was also breaking into club DJing at the time as well and all three of us formed the first version of Good Knight Entertainment. The rest is history.
Now, what would I have done differently?
I should have done more market research before even hanging the shingle out. At the time there were several multi-ops that were keeping the prices low and they have grown like weeds ever since. I did not know that at the time and if I had I may have just relegated the equipment I bought to home use or sold it and moved on.
I should have taken advantage of the assistance of the two friends but not formed a company with them. One of them turned out to be very unreliable and the other one started pumping the company (me more than anything else) for money to buy equipment. The second part caused the company to end up with some useless stuff. The unreliable friend caused some reputation hits when he was late on a few occasions; he also caused some booking issues when he decided to back out on me at the last minute a few times. The big lesson here is keep your friends as your friends but don't go into business with them. I ended up pulling away from those two and just made the company me.
A business and marketing plan might have been nice. I did those later. I also developed a three and five year plan. The three year had the priority items and the five year had some directions that evolved over time. Both of those helped but it would have been better to have them in the beginning. I also developed mission and vision statements and they should have been done at the beginning.
In 2000 the music dynamic was starting to make some radical changes. That took us to where we are now and I think today's music is absolute garbage. I should have tracked that sooner and maybe I would have gotten out sooner.
I should have developed an understanding of demographics sooner. Now, I have had this argument many times before on this board and others; demographics plays a significant role in what you do as a DJ. Demographic factors are age, sex, race, and, to a small degree, religious background of your audience. The religious background relates to their interpretation of morality. Towards the end I started asking demographic questions in interviews and that did help me craft a decent initial play list.
Finally, I should have been more selective. I should have just stayed away from the "pre-planned" events; that is, the events in which the planner already has the play list and won't deviate. I should have also stayed in my comfort zone of weddings and basic parties and never done school functions, sweet sixteens, kid parties, or Mitzvahs.
Well, that's it for now. I am sure I will think of more. I hope you find this useful.
