This is a weird business

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Jeff Romard

Jeff Romard

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Sep 4, 2006
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Sydney, Nova Scotia
As I have been saying the last couple of years I planned on scaling back a bit. This year if everything stays the same I will have done 39 for the year plus 55 or so bar dates. My daughter did another 20 or so. It looks like she will be moving to another part of the Province in the early part of the year so I haven't booked her for anything next year. She will be taking her gear with her we might open up for her wherever she lands

That being said as of Sept 30 I only had 10 booked for next year probably the lowest number I ever had that late. Since then I have booked 15 more for next year and 3 for November/December all but 2 have returned the contract and paid the deposit I expect them before the end of the week. My goal is 30 plus the bar dates I wasn't convinced I'd make it but it looks like it will be done or close now
 
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This is a weird business​

Yes, There are some pretty weird DJ's out there in the world. :djsmug:​

Best of luck to your daughter Jeff. She has a great foundation under her and will do well DAD.
 
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Jeff let me say this. You're one of the moderators on here right? You've been a DJ for a very long time. So with all your years of experience I'm sure your daughter had a great teacher.
 
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I have an agreement out for my first potential booking for December. December 7th. November is a wash this year for me. Can't believe I didn't book a single November event this year. I didn't even have a real inquiry for November. I saw a few leads on Zola, and that was it.

NYE is a Tuesday this year, and I have to work that night, plus the night on New Year's Day in order to get my holiday pay for New Years Day. Only way I'm giving that up is if someone wants to book me at an astronomical price.
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
I have an agreement out for my first potential booking for December. December 7th. November is a wash this year for me. Can't believe I didn't book a single November event this year. I didn't even have a real inquiry for November. I saw a few leads on Zola, and that was it.

NYE is a Tuesday this year, and I have to work that night, plus the night on New Year's Day in order to get my holiday pay for New Years Day. Only way I'm giving that up is if someone wants to book me at an astronomical price.
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I have a 4 hour bar gig 8:30 to 12:30 paying $995 on new years I can remember ever having a new years off, and always for big ish money
 
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My wife and I normally throw a big NYE bash. However, this year we got recruited to decorate the Rose Parade float for the Rotary Club that evening. We will have our NYE party the Sat before NYE. I won't be surprise if we have a bigger turnout than normal. After all, there will be less competition.
 
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tunes4046 said:
I have a 4 hour bar gig 8:30 to 12:30 paying $995 on new years I can remember ever having a new years off, and always for big ish money
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Please don't beat me up for asking this. Is it a bar or a club and is there a cover charge? That's not only great That's AWESOME getting paid that much in a bar. Good skill with the event. When you're been doing this as long as you have it's not luck it's skill.
 
sawdust123 said:
My wife and I normally throw a big NYE bash. However, this year we got recruited to decorate the Rose Parade float for the Rotary Club that evening. We will have our NYE party the Sat before NYE. I won't be surprise if we have a bigger turnout than normal. After all, there will be less competition.
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Every year that NYE is on a weekday, I think to myself that the Saturday night before might be a big party night, but it never seems to be. I think because so many people are out of town or still celebrating Christmas with families. I think I have only had an event the Saturday night after Christmas once in 25 years. It was a Dec. 28th wedding back in like 2009 or so. Outside of that, always a slow weekend unless NYE is that Saturday night.
 
MIXMASTERMACHOM said:
Please don't beat me up for asking this. Is it a bar or a club and is there a cover charge? That's not only great That's AWESOME getting paid that much in a bar. Good skill with the event. When you're been doing this as long as you have it's not luck it's skill.
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It’s a bar no cost to get in. It’s extremely rare to have a cover charge in Rural Wisconsin, I’ve played there the 7 years for New Years Eve
 
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tunes4046 said:
It’s a bar no cost to get in. It’s extremely rare to have a cover charge in Rural Wisconsin, I’ve played there the 7 years for New Years Eve
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Congratulations. Doing for 7 years.and for that price says a lot. That says this is a well run establishment and you being there for this event for 7 years reminds me of the song by Dennis Edward's Don't Look Any Further.
 
tunes4046 said:
I can remember ever having a new years off, and always for big ish money
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I've had 2 since 1983. I had a late cancellation in 2017 that I still got paid for and 2020 because of Covid
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
I have an agreement out for my first potential booking for December. December 7th. November is a wash this year for me. Can't believe I didn't book a single November event this year. I didn't even have a real inquiry for November. I saw a few leads on Zola, and that was it.

NYE is a Tuesday this year, and I have to work that night, plus the night on New Year's Day in order to get my holiday pay for New Years Day. Only way I'm giving that up is if someone wants to book me at an astronomical price.
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Haven't you said you're trying to wind down the business? If that's the case, wouldn't it be normal to have less events, even during the busy time of year?

Outside of your "affordability" benefit, you don't do anything to actively market to couples to try and gain bookings. Again, if you're looking to wind down, then there's no need to be active... but if you were trying to reach new couples, you're only relying on a couple of generic lead sources that attract price shopping brides. No active instagram (which pretty much every bride uses as their primary research method), a website that doesn't talk about anything other than price, a setup that hasn't evolved to 2020+ standards (line array columns, full facades/tv booths, programmable lights instead of randomized lights)... from an outsiders perspective you're following the path of retirement lol. It's funny cause we're pretty much the same age and have been doing this a similar amount of time... I'm just shocked that your referral base isn't bringing in 60+ events a year.
 
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djtaso said:
Haven't you said you're trying to wind down the business? If that's the case, wouldn't it be normal to have less events, even during the busy time of year?

Outside of your "affordability" benefit, you don't do anything to actively market to couples to try and gain bookings. Again, if you're looking to wind down, then there's no need to be active... but if you were trying to reach new couples, you're only relying on a couple of generic lead sources that attract price shopping brides. No active instagram (which pretty much every bride uses as their primary research method), a website that doesn't talk about anything other than price, a setup that hasn't evolved to 2020+ standards (line array columns, full facades/tv booths, programmable lights instead of randomized lights)... from an outsiders perspective you're following the path of retirement lol. It's funny cause we're pretty much the same age and have been doing this a similar amount of time... I'm just shocked that your referral base isn't bringing in 60+ events a year.
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That’s kinda of what I was thinking, I am trying to wind down but I still get dozens of referrals every year. My strategy is to retire by pricing myself out of work, either it will work or i will reach yet another level of society where price is never an objection, and it will make it more worth my time
 
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djtaso said:
Haven't you said you're trying to wind down the business? If that's the case, wouldn't it be normal to have less events, even during the busy time of year?

Outside of your "affordability" benefit, you don't do anything to actively market to couples to try and gain bookings. Again, if you're looking to wind down, then there's no need to be active... but if you were trying to reach new couples, you're only relying on a couple of generic lead sources that attract price shopping brides. No active instagram (which pretty much every bride uses as their primary research method), a website that doesn't talk about anything other than price, a setup that hasn't evolved to 2020+ standards (line array columns, full facades/tv booths, programmable lights instead of randomized lights)... from an outsiders perspective you're following the path of retirement lol. It's funny cause we're pretty much the same age and have been doing this a similar amount of time... I'm just shocked that your referral base isn't bringing in 60+ events a year.
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True, I'm not worried about not having a booking in November. Just the way the cookie crumbled for me this year. It is just weird to not have anything booked for the month. I wanted to book 2 for the month originally, because 2 has always been the minimum number I do book in November with 3 being the average excluding 2020.

Yes, I am trying to slow down, but my slow down plans are more for 2028 and beyond. If the inquiries were to come in for November I would have quoted, and tried to book them as I regularly do. 2028 and beyond at least how I think right now, My plan is 12 or so events per year.

I do have 2 weddings booked for January. That is above normal. For 2024, I had nothing in January, and most years I don't get anything or maybe 1 January wedding.
 
DJ Ricky B said:
True, I'm not worried about not having a booking in November. Just the way the cookie crumbled for me this year. It is just weird to not have anything booked for the month. I wanted to book 2 for the month originally, because 2 has always been the minimum number I do book in November with 3 being the average excluding 2020.

Yes, I am trying to slow down, but my slow down plans are more for 2028 and beyond. If the inquiries were to come in for November I would have quoted, and tried to book them as I regularly do. 2028 and beyond at least how I think right now, My plan is 12 or so events per year.

I do have 2 weddings booked for January. That is above normal. For 2024, I had nothing in January, and most years I don't get anything or maybe 1 January wedding.
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This isn’t an attack in any way, but there’s a general rule of thumb that in this industry to be primarily referral based you have to do around 40-50 events a year to have enough eyes on you to fill a calendar year after year, assuming you do a great job. 12 or so events makes it hard to manage a referral based business, meaning money has to be spent on getting eyes on you or doing excessive online content to have a presence there for fresh eyes to find you. Food for thought
 
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djtaso said:
This isn’t an attack in any way, but there’s a general rule of thumb that in this industry to be primarily referral based you have to do around 40-50 events a year to have enough eyes on you to fill a calendar year after year, assuming you do a great job. 12 or so events makes it hard to manage a referral based business, meaning money has to be spent on getting eyes on you or doing excessive online content to have a presence there for fresh eyes to find you. Food for thought
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My goal is to cut down my DC and NOVA wedding work in future years to almost ZERO. I would only do an occasional high paying wedding that comes my way from someone who was referred by a previous couple, or saw me in the past. My hope would be that I would book 12 events per year from a handful of venues in my area.

I am not going to make it to 40 bookings for 2024. I would need to book a bunch of December events to get into the 30+ range which is unlikely.
 
tunes4046 said:
My strategy is to retire by pricing myself out of work, either it will work or i will reach yet another level of society where price is never an objection, and it will make it more worth my time
Click to expand...
Been taking me about three years to see results from this method . :djsmug:
 
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