I think that's true right now, but it doesn't have to be.
Totally understandable if that's where you're at on it. If you simply want to stay in the lane you're in, that's fine. But with adjustments, I think you could attract a different clientele.
What year do you believe will be your last year as a DJ working events?
- Thread starter DJ Ricky B
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I think that's true right now, but it doesn't have to be.
Totally understandable if that's where you're at on it. If you simply want to stay in the lane you're in, that's fine. But with adjustments, I think you could attract a different clientele.
Taso, knowing your work ethic from what I have read from you here, I have no doubt you will be an incredibly successful realtor...or anything you want to be.
I noticed that too this year I'm down around 1/3 of my income because of it but I had lots of time it was the first time in my adult life I had weekends off I either worked a job or DJ'd and sometimes both. Got lots of camping and hiking in did a few projects around home it was kind of nice. I did miss the money but nowhere near as much as I thought I would. I've come to realize I want it more than I need it.
That being said I likely won't retire as long as there are people foolish enough to hire me
. I'm "selling" a set of gear to my Daughter this year her interest is high right now and I have booked her a couple of gigs. That guarantees I'll be around for a few years to overlook the progress. I chose 2040's I'll be 70 May of '40 I figure I'll have had y fill by then but you never know there are always senior gigs I likely will slow down considerably between now and then
You're wrong about that. We are all programmed by nature to seek the familiar.
Our intention informs our action, which determines the outcome shaping our perception.
In a nutshell: it's you looking for low prices, finding them, and in turn promoting that pattern to like-minded people, informing your perception and confirming your own intention.
I plan on growing my business in 2020 and beyond. If all goes according to plan, I will retire April 1 and that will give me a lot more time and availability to DJ. I'm only 41 so I still have lots of time ahead of me hopefully.
Who knows?
The past year has taught me you never know what might come along.
This year...I'm still not sure.
There are things i'd like to do, but as I approach 60 I'm not what I was once, physically (more than stamina and strength..age hits all the systems).
I didn't want to stop wedding photography...the market kind of did that for me.
I'm considering looking for a FT job, one that allows me to continue to DJ. Work 5 years to help retirement and re-assess.
Keep your expenses in life low and you have more flexibility on work.
The past year has taught me you never know what might come along.
This year...I'm still not sure.
There are things i'd like to do, but as I approach 60 I'm not what I was once, physically (more than stamina and strength..age hits all the systems).
I didn't want to stop wedding photography...the market kind of did that for me.
I'm considering looking for a FT job, one that allows me to continue to DJ. Work 5 years to help retirement and re-assess.
Keep your expenses in life low and you have more flexibility on work.
I noticed that too this year I'm down around 1/3 of my income because of it but I had lots of time it was the first time in my adult life I had weekends off I either worked a job or DJ'd and sometimes both. Got lots of camping and hiking in did a few projects around home it was kind of nice. I did miss the money but nowhere near as much as I thought I would. I've come to realize I want it more than I need it.
That being said I likely won't retire as long as there are people foolish enough to hire me
I likely will slow down considerably between now and then
I agree that time with family, and time to do things is more important than working your life away. We only live once. I decided about 10 years ago not to take any job that will require that I work over 50 hours a week (40 + 10 hrs overtime is plenty of working to be doing in a week). Then a few years ago, maybe 2017 I decided that I will never work 7 days straight in a row. At least 1 day off in a week is a bare minimum requirement to keep your sanity. The most I have done since then is 6 days straight.
As far as being 70+ years old and deejaying events...My Dad does this, but I do not wish this on anyone. I personally think my Dad should not be deejaying any more...Maybe if he did not have to do any physical lifting loading in/loading out, and he just showed up to a place that had everything ready to go. All he would have to do is turn the equipment on, and start his night. Turn the equipment off when the night is over, and walk to his car to go home. That would be fine, but not how he currently works for him.
Also, my wife said I am not allowed to be deejaying after the age of 60. She has told me that come age 60 she will force me to sell or put my gear away, and I have to find something else to do. She hates that my Dad deejays at his age, and does not believe that any one who is a senior citizen should be deejaying any longer at that age.
She came to this conclusion after she helped me out on a gig ONE TIME, and could not believe how much physical work I do at every event. She says she does not know how I do it, and there is no way I am going to be out deejaying in my 60s, and certainly not in me 70s...LOL.
Of course, who knows what the future holds. Deejaying as we know it may not exist, or be very different in 22 years
So I guess my wife has limited me to another 22 years max in this profession!
My Sister has is in her mid 40s, and has not had a job (being employed) in 12 years. She has managed to put a roof over her kids heads solely on Deejaying (and some wedding planning, but that is less than 10% of her income).
She is working part time right now though, but I think she only went and got the part time job because there simply is no DJ income coming in right now, and her December events cancelled out on her, and hardly any events coming up until the summer time.
She also lives in a house that cost $2,500 a month to rent plus utilities etc. Her son does help her with the rent, but she amazes me on how she continues to pay high cost of living on her DJ income. ...She managed to make a 2002 Ford Explorer last her 14 years, and put over 320K miles on it before it finally died 3 weeks ago (Transmission died). She has never had a car payment, or car loan in her life.
She had a busier 2019 than I did, but I know she did not earn what I earned in 2019 when you factor in my full time job that I had.
Some people are able to make "living on less" a reality, and actually get good at doing it once they become so use to living that way.
I guess my point is that some people are savvy at making life work on budget, and lower income.
M
My favorite stores are Costco and Big Lots!
In 2020 I can honestly say that 80% of everything I have purchased came from Costco, Big Lots, or Amazon. A couple of grocery stores, and Wal Mart and Target make up the other 20%.
My favorite stores are Costco and Big Lots!
In 2020 I can honestly say that 80% of everything I have purchased came from Costco, Big Lots, or Amazon. A couple of grocery stores, and Wal Mart and Target make up the other 20%.
I agree that time with family, and time to do things is more important than working your life away. We only live once. I decided about 10 years ago not to take any job that will require that I work over 50 hours a week (40 + 10 hrs overtime is plenty of working to be doing in a week). Then a few years ago, maybe 2017 I decided that I will never work 7 days straight in a row. At least 1 day off in a week is a bare minimum requirement to keep your sanity. The most I have done since then is 6 days straight.
As far as being 70+ years old and deejaying events...My Dad does this, but I do not wish this on anyone. I personally think my Dad should not be deejaying any more...Maybe if he did not have to do any physical lifting loading in/loading out, and he just showed up to a place that had everything ready to go. All he would have to do is turn the equipment on, and start his night. Turn the equipment off when the night is over, and walk to his car to go home. That would be fine, but not how he currently works for him.
Also, my wife said I am not allowed to be deejaying after the age of 60. She has told me that come age 60 she will force me to sell or put my gear away, and I have to find something else to do. She hates that my Dad deejays at his age, and does not believe that any one who is a senior citizen should be deejaying any longer at that age.
She came to this conclusion after she helped me out on a gig ONE TIME, and could not believe how much physical work I do at every event. She says she does not know how I do it, and there is no way I am going to be out deejaying in my 60s, and certainly not in me 70s...LOL.
Of course, who knows what the future holds. Deejaying as we know it may not exist, or be very different in 22 years
So I guess my wife has limited me to another 22 years max in this profession!
Your dad has carved out a nice niche aside from carrying gear he's making a little retirement cash and doing what he likes beats the hell out of being a Walmart greeter. He doesn't have to deal with a Bridezilla or a drunk 20-something waving drinks over top and most of the requests he would get would be stuff he's played before. I could see me doing this but the gear would either stay or there would be some kid carrying it for a few bucks.
My mentor died at 60 still doing 60-70+ gigs a year himself and booking out another hundred or more. I took over his business after he died in December 2008 and I think it was something like 110 that he had total in his books. I had another 60-70 or so of my own it was a tight year for DJ's but we covered everything. I firmly believe he never would have retired
That's the trick to it. I'm no expert on the subject by any means but if you spend the necessities when times are good you will have some cash on hand for the lean times...And if you plan on being in the DJ business long term there will be lean times
Ricky, my wife and I used to regularly go to the movies, concerts and comedy shows plus dinner out afterwards.
Obviously we haven't done any of that since Mid-March and that lowered our monthly expenses in as fairly big way.
Once everything is back to as near normal as it may get, we will probably reduce those outlays for a while.
My main goal right now is to pump up my 401k as much as I can so I can retire at age 67.
I just made a very small change and it has saved me quite a bit. I used to go to Tim Hortons 3-4 and more times a day for coffee. Coffee is cheap relatively it's only 2 bucks for a medium but multiply that by 4 and add a couple on for buying the wife a tea so you are looking at $12-$15 a day sometimes more than that so $85-$100 a week 2 bucks at a time. I had a Tassimo with Tim Hortons coffee at home but it never quite tasted right and it was always an excuse to go for a drive. The Tassimo was starting to give out so I bought a Keruig before Christmas and tried a few different brands I found one I liked a lot. I still go to Tim Hortons on the way to work out of convenience truth be told I don't want to get up earlier to brew it but other than that I think I was there once since. Brewer was $99 coffee was $29 for 72 and in less than 2 weeks it paid for itself...And I have better coffee
A millionaire friend of mine once told me take all your expenses write them down from smallest to largest because the largest (house, car, etc) are generally static and you can't do a lot about them easily so leave them for last. Find the ones that you can live without and eliminate them. Find the ones that aren't a necessity and put them in order from least favourite to favourite. Cut or eliminate the least favourite and work your way down. The money you save there will allow you to spend short term on saving on the mid level expenses (Electricity, Cable, Water, Etc) and save long term (Heat pumps instead of electric baseboard, water saving shower heads etc.) Once that is done check your big expenses see if it makes sense to refinance if it does do that otherwise you have likely saved enough to pay a good portion of at least one of those
I heard saying a long time ago that helps keep me driven .. "You can work hard now and play hard later, or play hard now and work hard later". When I get to retirement age, I don't want to have to do anything if I don't want to. I truly feel bad for the older generation that has to work in order to do the things that they need to .. and for some, to do the things that they want to.
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I just made a very small change and it has saved me quite a bit. I used to go to Tim Hortons 3-4 and more times a day for coffee. Coffee is cheap relatively it's only 2 bucks for a medium but multiply that by 4 and add a couple on for buying the wife a tea so you are looking at $12-$15 a day sometimes more than that so $85-$100 a week 2 bucks at a time. I had a Tassimo with Tim Hortons coffee at home but it never quite tasted right and it was always an excuse to go for a drive. The Tassimo was starting to give out so I bought a Keruig before Christmas and tried a few different brands I found one I liked a lot. I still go to Tim Hortons on the way to work out of convenience truth be told I don't want to get up earlier to brew it but other than that I think I was there once since. Brewer was $99 coffee was $29 for 72 and in less than 2 weeks it paid for itself...And I have better coffee
A millionaire friend of mine once told me take all your expenses write them down from smallest to largest because the largest (house, car, etc) are generally static and you can't do a lot about them easily so leave them for last. Find the ones that you can live without and eliminate them. Find the ones that aren't a necessity and put them in order from least favourite to favourite. Cut or eliminate the least favourite and work your way down. The money you save there will allow you to spend short term on saving on the mid level expenses (Electricity, Cable, Water, Etc) and save long term (Heat pumps instead of electric baseboard, water saving shower heads etc.) Once that is done check your big expenses see if it makes sense to refinance if it does do that otherwise you have likely saved enough to pay a good portion of at least one of those
I have friends who have wives who literally go to Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks EVERY DAY of the week. They also spend money on those goofy expensive coffee drinks that I know very little about. However, I know that one of their wives spends any where from $7 to $13 EVERY DAY on Coffee, and maybe some donut holes or a breakfast sandwich. Let's say $10 average. That is $70 a week, every week on coffee. That is $3,600+ a year on coffee and a morning snack.
I am glad my wife hates coffee. She DOES spend money on girl scout cookies from time to time. She just purchased 30 boxes of girl scout cookies today! She will give some of the boxes out, and the rest will last about 7-8 weeks. Then she will get the hankering for girl scout cookies again later this year and do another big purchase. Maybe $350 a year on cookies, but that is a lot better than 3K plus on coffee and snacks.
I rarely drink coffee, and if I do it's a cup from our Kuerig. My wife does not drink coffee at all. Our kuerig barely get's used. I never use it in the summer time, and only want coffee in the winter or spring...and I only want a cup of coffee on the weekends...usually Saturday morning. So I only drink 1 cup a week, lol.
I spend about $60 to $80 a week on eating out for lunch, and we usually eat out for dinner once a week where I spend between $45 and $60. I could cut that down, eat lunch at home more often, but whenever I try to do that, I last 2 days then I'm back to eating lunch out, and I don't feel like I save much money eating lunch at home. I mean lunch meats are expensive these days, then you add in the chips that I buy to go with the sandwich I would make...it adds up. Eating microwaveable entrees cost $4 generally speaking which saves about $3 to $8 compared to fast food or fast casual, but microwaveable stuff is not good to eat all the time.
One thing I think we have gotten better about this year is eating home cooked meals for dinner. Tonight we were simple and made grill cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner...Fairly inexpensive to do. Last night we had Crock Pot chicken with green beans and "instant" mash potato.
The one thing I would love to get rid of is our cable TV bill, but wife won't let that happen so we just pay the piper for Cable TV. Our Cable and Internet bill is like $310 a month. That is over $10 every day for cable and internet service. Sucks but I can't win that argument, and gave up on trying.
Are you paying for a bunch of box rentals?
I've got 500Gb up and down from Verizon at $113 a month, and then I use streaming services. Even to replace your TV service with something like YouTube TV would be 65 per month, but you're not paying for all the stupid box and DVR fees.
Yes, we have 3 box rentals, and a modem/router rental. Our previous modem just died. It was 5 years old, and we replaced it at the Comcast store a couple weeks ago. We have been Comcast customers a real long time. The longer you are a customer, the more you get to pay for service! Strange how it works like that!
I have tried every avenue to cut the cable. Shown all the costs of the various streaming services multiple times. Wife won't have it.
We do have a Amazon Firestick with Prime, and I pay for Disney Plus, and we have Hulu as well. We can get Netflix when we want...Sister in Law has an account and barely uses it.
YouTube TV is live tv though, with an unlimited DVR that works in any room in the house. I'd at least look at the channel lineup and see if you'd be missing anything.