Being SEEN doing something, and then having other people inquire with your customers or the venues about WHO did that - is how you arrive at a SOLUTIONS based business level.
This is really where you want to be when you grow old as a DJ because like anything in entertainment we easily age out of our stage appeal. We should continuously be working toward being the producer rather than the 'talent' if we want to remain in the event business well beyond our prime years.
I no longer have any advertising - none what-so-ever, save for some business cards which I rarely use. I'm still as busy as ever, but far more diversified with respect to what I do.
Many times I install things when a venue is closed, or overnight when there is no one else in the building or on the premises. Other times I will do it in the early morning when nothing else is going on, and return later before the event starts. There's another benefit too - I can try or audition new approaches and new ideas in the actual event spaces without anyone ever seeing the trial or how I achieved a given result. That makes it much harder for would be competitors to reverse engineer what I do (something DJs are notorious for doing.)
No, I'm not going to be taking this larger approach at smaller venues that want to turn over the room for back-to-back events at noon and seven pm. (Although to some extent that too is possible.) I require a degree of exclusivity, and the sites I work at most are exclusive - meaning my clients either own them, or have control for extended periods of time.
As DJs we can easily get trapped into a limited mind set. If we let the venues define our service - we may simply become the thing that these wedding mills want us to be - and never realize the shortcoming. Instead of our best talent we are a quick delivery service that is placed and removed with no more fan fare than the table linens. We never truly focus on what the highest and best development of our skills might be. For many, DJing is a way IN to the industry, but many never actually find a way through to something more personal or permanent.
A value add is that nothing I am doing to stage an event interferes with a venues business. I get in when it causes no distraction for the venue or others, and I get out before any of it could get in the way of what comes next. There's no crowding or mad rush when other vendors and their own staff are trying to setup the room. Instead, I'm available and fully attentive to supporting other peoples roles and needs rather than rushing around in the mad dash. There's also something to be said for being the professional who's always as cool as a cucumber at a time when everyone else is a nervous wreck. I get to be problem solver and miracle worker who's already thought of everything; chiefly because I've simply provided myself the time to do exactly that - consider and prepare for anything that might come next.
I also work locally almost exclusively now, which allows me to deal with multiple events even on the same date. It also means that everyone I do encounter already knows who I am, and most of them know what I do, and continue to challenge me with newer and better ideas. The goal of my present customers isn't to mimic what they've seen online - it's more often to present something their guests haven't seen before. This is especially true since many of the customers I have do multiple events each year, every year, or bi-annually, etc. or require support services for many different events and presentations all year long. I also have DJs who are customers. These are people whose own recurring client's have event needs that are outgrowing the DJs knowledge and capacity to deliver. Bringing me onboard helps them to keep the client despite the growing complexity of the events.
I had a conversation recently with and older DJ (my age) from another state whom I hadn't met before. He's been doing this full time for a very long time. He was telling me about how the younger DJs will talk trash about him to prospects calling around, despite knowing full well what they are saying is garbage. These younger guys don't seem to know that his longevity means he's probably already got a better rapport with potential clients, and this behavior back fires. The clients tell him who's talking trash and hire him anyway. He's essentially the more trustworthy prospect in his area. But what I did notice is a lack of evolution. As a DJ he's essentially holding the same job position that he did in the 1980's. Approaching it much the same way, albeit keeping with the new technology. This is why on this site, I don't think Mixx deserves all the trash talk people throw his way. Mixx too, at worse is just another case of choosing to stay in a particular role perhaps long after we should have evolved or grown beyond it. At best, perhaps long after it's modern demands have outpaced our own knowledge or abilities.
I believe that DJs who really want to be in the events/production business will evolve. Those who just want to DJ will simply stay in place until their role eventually diminishes to an extent that the event train more often leaves the station without them. I may not be done with DJing, but I'm certainly no longer making that skill my sales lead,
