My partner is giving me a headache!

[B-Sharp]

No it's about me learning from my mistakes and just passing on info so someone else won't make the same mistakes.

Many years ago when in was first in business i was having a NYE party. I spent 1k or so to rent the largest room in the Irvington Manor. (place no longer is open. It's been closed well over 15 years) I didn't get anyone to help me i did everything all by myself. It bombed. 7 people showed up. I lost a mint. Lesson learned.

So yes, I'm right. Your posts about "what not to do" are entertaining, but you've never posted about a gig that went perfectly - great load-in, wonderful clients, a roomful of dancers, smiling faces, and a tip at the end of the night.

You've had events like that, right?

Fortunately, most of us here aren't promoters, nor do we wish to be in the business of putting flyers on cars in hopes of getting people to show up at a club. We don't learn from your mistakes, but we do like to read about them. Keep 'em coming.

 

[ahoustondj]

Fortunately, most of us here aren't promoters, nor do we wish to be in the business of putting flyers on cars in hopes of getting people to show up at a club.

Don't knock it Mr. Sharp. I can't speak for where you live but here in Houston I do that from time to time and also do rentals to other promoters. If done properly the payoff is huge! It is just a bit more work and overhead. Years ago I did it a lot and never had a bad gig yet. With Technology, Facebook, Twitter etc, one can create a list/following and send out the adverts, words spread and it can be successful.
Remember there is more to DJ life other than Weddings!

 

[Scott Hanna]

No it's about me learning from my mistakes and just passing on info so someone else won't make the same mistakes.

Many years ago when in was first in business i was having a NYE party. I spent 1k or so to rent the largest room in the Irvington Manor. (place no longer is open. It's been closed well over 15 years) I didn't get anyone to help me i did everything all by myself. It bombed. 7 people showed up. I lost a mint. Lesson learned.

Mix,
I don't mean to keep busting on you, but it seems like you haven't learned. If you tried this years ago, and lost money, then WHY did you do the same thing and lose money again?

If someone gets hurt at one of these parties, did you ever consider what the liabilities are for you? If you rented the place, you could be liable for a lot more than losing an upfront investment. You have a pension someone could go after. I'm assuming these parties were not done under a LLC, got proper liability insurance, alcohol licensing, security, etc...

Lessons are only valuable if you learn from them and make better decisions in the future.

As a DJ, I've never invested money and had a party for the public to make money. People hire me to make the party they are having fun. If I am in charge of the event itself, how the heck am I going to DJ effectively?

If you know what you are doing, investing money in a venture to make money can be a good thing. I've invested in other things outside of DJing. Lost some, won some. Those have been completely separate from my DJ business. But investing money to throw a party because no one is hiring you is NOT a good idea.

 

[Jeff Romard]

Don't knock it Mr. Sharp. I can't speak for where you live but here in Houston I do that from time to time and also do rentals to other promoters. If done properly the payoff is huge! It is just a bit more work and overhead. Years ago I did it a lot and never had a bad gig yet. With Technology, Facebook, Twitter etc, one can create a list/following and send out the adverts, words spread and it can be successful.
Remember there is more to DJ life other than Weddings!

I've done them also and for the most part with success the difference Houston is you and I had a plan beyond rent a hall and hope for the best

 

[B-Sharp]

Remember there is more to DJ life other than Weddings!

I completely understand that - you're talking to a guy who started by DJing at parties, roller rinks, nightclubs and on the radio. I have utmost respect for promoters who do things right, making sure that both the talent and the clubgoers have an experience that keeps them coming back, and using the technologies available to build a following and keep them informed about what's going on. Unfortunately, I've seen my share of shady promoters as well. There are lots of them... and they're still putting postcards on cars, putting stickers on lightposts, and stapling flyers wherever they can. They're not promoting, they're littering.

 

[DJ SVO]

Mix,
You're retiring on January 2013. Now have you saved enough money? Have you figured how much you're going to spend in rent, utilities, renters insurance, car insurance, business insurance, food, etc.? These are the must haves, if you want cable TV, McDonalds, etc. that's going to be more. Also when you run a business, things break so you also need extra $$$ to fix or replace what breaks. If you don't plan things properly you'll go bankrupt as Jeff has mentioned.

 

[redhotdj]

I think we need to have a Special and separate Forum for Mix. We should title it "Mix's Rants".

isn't that what they call remix

 

[DjDennis]

I say if you can NOT get on with running a Business

QUIT Djing or go on your own

plain and SIMPLE!!!

I'll repeat it one last time as this is YOUR only option

like it or lump it your in for a RIDE of Biblical proportions

so have a nice day

 

[Jeff Romard]

Mix I've been on your ass for months now and I need to apologize at times I have been snide towards you. In reality it's none of my business what you do or why you do it. Like others I tried to give you advice and you have chosen to ignore it time and time again. Here's the thing you are following ones that have no success in what they have done all the while brushing off the ones that have done it already. There are many here that have built very successful business Jon Tuck, Kirby, Houston, Cap, Scott, just to mention a few.

Right now I am coming off the worst September I ever had which is really unusual. Things are really slow but it's not a problem because I had a plan since day one that takes care of the slow months. For the next 3 months I am wide open but I used the time I had in September to alter my marketing plan to make sure it doesn't happen again next September. I plan for three slow months a year this year I had one...Not one of the ones I expected but nonetheless the money was still there to pay the bills and I'm well rested going in to the busy season.

To run the risk of sounding like Dr Phil here but you are in a toxic relationship with your partner and his woman. If they want to be superstar DJs and Promoters it's time they paid for it not you.

One last piece of advice go back and look at Kirbys post in this thread it's the best advice you will ever get

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

I've done them also and for the most part with success the difference Houston is you and I had a plan beyond rent a hall and hope for the best

You said it right. Doing things right. The big thing is people got to know who you are for such things to be half a success. The big thing i find is in the beginning to make sure you at least break even. The point being that as long as you break even and people have a great time then it's success in the beginning.

My friend who is having the party out at the Holiday Inn in Clark, NJ is getting the room the party will be in that cost $2,000.00 for free. He said he had to do a lot of talking to get that room for free. He can get it because the owner/manager sees him getting a ton of people to come to his event. Which in turn equals him making a ton of money off of the people coming to the party drinking. So the owner/manager will probably make at least 10k that night. So with those kind of numbers why wouldn't he give him the room for free.

The thing is to not burn people out at one place too long and having to many parties close together. The biggie is that this place is very nice inside and it's a safe place to have a party. That's very important to get classy people to come out.

 

[B-Sharp]

The thing is to not burn people out at one place too long and having to many parties close together. The biggie is that this place is very nice inside and it's a safe place to have a party. That's very important to get classy people to come out.

Please define "classy".

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

So yes, I'm right. Your posts about "what not to do" are entertaining, but you've never posted about a gig that went perfectly - great load-in, wonderful clients, a roomful of dancers, smiling faces, and a tip at the end of the night.

You've had events like that, right?

Fortunately, most of us here aren't promoters, nor do we wish to be in the business of putting flyers on cars in hopes of getting people to show up at a club. We don't learn from your mistakes, but we do like to read about them. Keep 'em coming.

Yes i have. I was thinking of things in this way before i go take a shower and get to some more work that needs to be done. It doesn't make a lot of sense to try to promote these parties if your budget isn't up to it. My partner and his girl don't have a job yet they want to keep having these parties trying to make money to pay their bills.

I was thinking of this because i was planning on cutting my cell phone bill down and take that $60.00 each month to advertise with. I was told that's not enough. I considered who was telling me this, Steve Cie. He's been doing this a long time and is successful. So he must know what he's talking about. So i do have an ideal on how to get more money to advertise with. I won't tell it right now. I'll just see if i can make it happen.

 

[DjDennis]

*sigh*

 

[ahoustondj]

Yes i have. I was thinking of things in this way before i go take a shower and get to some more work that needs to be done. It doesn't make a lot of sense to try to promote these parties if your budget isn't up to it. My partner and his girl don't have a job yet they want to keep having these parties trying to make money to pay their bills.

I was thinking of this because i was planning on cutting my cell phone bill down and take that $60.00 each month to advertise with. I was told that's not enough. I considered who was telling me this, Steve Cie. He's been doing this a long time and is successful. So he must know what he's talking about. So i do have an ideal on how to get more money to advertise with. I won't tell it right now. I'll just see if i can make it happen.

There has to be some sort of Medication for you. Now if I remember well, long time ago, there used to be a Bounty for putting crazies in the Funny Farm!

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

Houston like i said if you really don't have the money to spend to pay to have someone to make up post cards, pay for security and so on, it doesn't make a lot of sense to even have the party in the first place. Like a friend said not everyone has a computer. So not everyone can have access to Facebook. Even if they do the postcard thing for these parties and want to charge people to get in, they still won't come because a lot of people don't know who they are. They also need to understand that getting these guest DJ's to come and play that are not house hold names won't work either.

They did at least finally decide to let people in for free up until a certain time. Free should work out ok. Usually people like the word free. That means they can take that money and spend it at the bar. That way the owner is happy. Also they are trying to get these places for free or not pay a whole lot. These owners don't know them like that so they will have to pay them something. The owners are going to want to make sure they make some money off of the deal just in case not a lot of people show up.

My friend also made a very good point. They want to strictly have the DJ's playing house music. I understand why they want to do that. They want to stay away from a rough crowd coming into a venue. The problem with that as he said is that the people who come out to listen to house music normally don't drink. The owner of a bar or club needs people there that will drink. That's what pays their bills.

The last thing is this. For one party he has some lady DJ coming to play that lives in Penn. So she's not from around he and how many people around here will know who she is. If you want to have a guest DJ playing at these parties it needs to be someone that everyone knows. The thing about that is some of them will want to get paid very nicely. Which is money they don't have right now. So they will wind up getting a DJ to play with them that is willing to play for free or very little money to make a name for themselves. All i can do is pray for them that it eventually works out for them and keep my money in my pocket.

 

[ahoustondj]

Mix, Tell your Secretary I said Hi and to stay a bit longer.

 

[B-Sharp]

Like a friend said not everyone has a computer. So not everyone can have access to Facebook.

Ever hear of playing to the majority? Not everyone has a Facebook account, but at least 160 million people do. Those are the people I want at my parties.

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

Ever hear of playing to the majority? Not everyone has a Facebook account, but at least 160 million people do. Those are the people I want at my parties.

I was talking about doing what you need to do to reach who ever you can reach however you need to reach them. What works in the beginning when you first want to take this route is having those postcards to put into people's hands. You can use Facebook too but in the beginning it's best for people to have something they can read in their hand that looks professional. Not some cheesy mess.

 

[Jeff Romard]

Not everybody is literate either so how could postcards work? There are almost 9 Million people in New Jersey and over half of them had a Facebook account as of Mar 2011 according to my 10 seconds of research. It's also FREE Did I mention it's FREE so instead of spending $100 you don't have on something you don't need to impress people you don't know jump on the FREE bandwagon

http://www.internetworldstats.com/unitedstates.htm

 

[MIXMASTERMACHOM]

Not everybody is literate either so how could postcards work? There are almost 9 Million people in New Jersey and over half of them had a Facebook account as of Mar 2011 according to my 10 seconds of research. It's also FREE Did I mention it's FREE so instead of spending $100 you don't have on something you don't need to impress people you don't know jump on the FREE bandwagon

http://www.internetworldstats.com/unitedstates.htm

You can do that but what if that isn't working for you? Still like i said people need to know who you are. Most are not going to come out to pay to come to a party that they don't know who the DJ is.

They just had a party this past Friday. He said his girl wanted to do this party in this particular place. So he did it. It only cost $5.00 to get into the party. The place is a very nice lounge. They have a nice system inside. His girl told my friend the party rocked. She was lying. The party bombed! About 10 people showed up if that many besides the DJ's.

I just finished helping them out this week. Their van broke down and i took him to get a mechanic to fix it. He said he definately wanted me to come and play since I've helped him out a lot with this vehicle. I can do that but my issue is who is going to be there? They could take a lesson from my friend. He found him a place to play at each week and built him a following. So he can have other parties somewhere else and people will come. They don't have a following. So when they pick these places and only get a handful of people it looks like the party was a bust. So why would someone want to come back to another party of there's that was a bust no matter how great the music was?