Strategy Episodes

At the end of the day, your client contract tells the ultimate story of your business. With that premise, why is it that our industry often settles for copy and pasting from others or downloading contract templates? Not only does this potentially expose your business to tremendous legal risk but it robs you of the ability to truly differentiate yourself from others. In this episode, I give you 5 things to think about with your contract that I hope leads to us all leveling up our industry vertical.

A listener requested topic. Gifting is so broad so I decided in this episode to zero in on "vendor" gifting. There are so many reasons why you should consider doing this. How you implement it can be just as varied. When you do this is critical for maximum impact. But everyone also wants to be unique with the what. I spill the tea on what I've done here but with so many resources now available for sourcing gift ideas, your options are truly limitless. Hopefully, by the end of this episode, I inspire you to get in on the gifting game.

We've all heard of people who buy houses that are at the top end or above their budget and then they have no money to purchase the necessities to compliment the purchase. They are often referred to as "house poor". Believe it or not, this happens quite often in the private event world. Clients will secure a venue and not have any money to compliment the space with like-minded creatives. These types of clients can be referred to as "venue poor". It's such a shame that this happens for a special event that may only occur once in their lifetime. How do you overcome this issue? I give you 3 ways to do so in this episode.

In this episode, I talk through this idea of either leading or following prospects when it comes to a sales consult or discovery meeting. For so many, the idea of the DJ company driving those interactions may lead to repelling a potential client. Yes, that's true, but I believe that's a good thing...because you leave room for the right clients who are attracted and frankly excited about the journey you're going to take them on. Pricing really becomes secondary. So what does it look like to lead? I unpack that on this one.

So you're a thriving private event DJ in the #2 market in the US and you decide to start over in a new market. What goes into a decision like this? Do you keep your original market location or dump it and go all in on the new one? What's the way to gain marketshare in a saturated market that has great DJs already? All of these questions and more are part of my interview with Krieger, the DJ. He's never at a loss for words and has quite the opinions (which I love!). If you've thought about relocating to another market, this episode is for you.

Last year I posted an episode (Season 4, Episode 50) about the $50K theft I experienced. I've had some progress on that front and wanted to share an update in hopes of helping other DJs that might find themselves in this predicament. I believe the old adage goes something like, "The wheels of justice turn slowly." I can vouch for the accuracy of that statement.

This is a follow up to my previous episode on the DJC Recharge. In this episode, I explain the differences between our November experience and what is happening in July (our Recharge) as well as how this differentiates between other learning experiences out there in the DJ vertical. I also talk through some of the more foundational things you can expect at a DJC experience as well as some of the changes we're making for 2023's event. Some of it is breaking news!

What is the DJ Collective Recharge? Yes, it's different than our annual November event. I sincerely wish there would have been something like this when I was starting off so that I didn't have to ONLY learn from personally making massive mistakes as a DJ owner early on. As a now more "seasoned" company owner, I have come to understand the value of real-time mentorship and still have it in place today. This is for every level of DJ owner/operator. You don't want to pass this up...trust me on this. In this episode, I share insight into how this event taking place in Raleigh, NC July 24-25 is laid out and why you need be one of the 50 people in the room.

Those that do the "private event" traveling DJ thing for more than a one-off gig or two are rare. Drew Pierce has been in it for a while but since 2020 has really gone "all in". In this interview, I get a chance to talk with him about a lot of different things surrounding this topic - his new booking policy, gear must haves, music he's learned along the way to play in regional locations, travel hacks, and a few hilarious travel gig stories as well.

Just got off a week where I went on an invite only FAM trip to Vail, CO and have another invite only FAM I'm attending next month in Martha's Vineyard. If that wasn't enough, I'm hosting my own 'minis' in June and July. Never heard of these things? What I've found over the past year or so is a desire for networking to be more intentional and less surface driven. In this episode, I define these networking event types making the argument that these might just be the future and encourage you to think about hosting your own.

Ever been hit up by a travel DJ for gear and don't know what to charge or how to quote? Or maybe you're getting asked to DJ out of market and want to get the inside scoop on how gear providers should be charging and what's typically included. I feel like with the amount of traveling DJ gigs now happening, this open letter (podcast) was needed. Let me know your thoughts.

In the DJ vertical (and the creative space at large), "package" selling is the most predominant type. But do why understand the advantages and disadvantages to this versus "Option" selling and "1 Solution" selling? In this episode, I break down the various types of selling options and give my own endorsement to the one that I feel places the highest expression of creative value. I've never been able to articulate this as clearly as I do in this episode.

Here's a listener requested topic. You're NOT an owner...but a pseudo single-op who gets booked out by booking agents and DMCs. You've done the work to improve who you are and operate differently than when you were first added to the roster. How do you go about having that conversation about the "new you" and your "new rate" with new prospective agents/DMCs as well as the older ones who are booking you now and are used to the "old you" and "old rate"?

On this season of the podcast, from time to time, I will be sharing with you some of the personal tools that I use which I think can help you as a DJ. In this episode, I sit down with my vocal coach, Gerald Isaac. A vocal coach for a DJ? Yeah, I didn't think I would need one either. Now, almost 2 years in of weekly remote (zoom) 1 hour vocal lessons, I've made a 180 - both in terms of my performance being taken to a higher level and with my thoughts that this can be of help (even to a seasoned veteran DJ like myself). We talk through his vocal coaching approach/philosophy, what a typical lesson is like and he even shares a tip at the end on how to keep your voice fresh and strong when you are on a run of 3-4 events in a week during heavy event season.

Are you in place where you want to punch up to the next level of clientele but are struggling to get there or at least have some consistency with landing the next level of clientele? Then this is for you. In this episode, I share with you three ways to prepare yourself for that next level and how you can bypass a lot of the trial and error that I went through in punching through.

In the last couple years, I've been blessed to punch up in working with high net worth clientele. At the ultra luxury level, there's quite a difference in what those types of clients value and the behavior that needs to go along with it. While I have been able to naturally adjust, I wish I had some of the nuggets I share in this episode without having to have adapted on the fly.

In a day and age where it's easy to just copy and paste (hello ChatGPT) website verbiage, social media captions or even marketing strategies, how do you stand out? Newsflash: It's not to yell louder or spend more on advertising. It's about going deeper. One of the ways to do this is through story-telling. This isn't new..."story" is a marketing buzz word. But even with it out there, not may people are doing it....or at least not doing it well. In this episode, I talk through not only why it's important, but how to format those stories, and then I give you 4 types of stories you should be telling as well as 4 steps to telling better stories. Even if we all are sharing stories, mine and yours will be unique....and that's when/how we attract our tribe (ideal clients).

From time to time this year, I will be sharing tools on this podcast that I use which I think can help you as a DJ. In this episode, I sit down with VIBO's founder, Michael Mahler. Vibo is an event planning music app that I've been using ever since it launched in the US back in 2017. For those not familiar with the app, Michael will talk us through some of the highlights of the product. We'll discuss some of the things on the horizon for the app and then also he drops a golden nugget in sharing one of the things he wishes he could go back and tell his younger entrepreneurial self. Lastly, he'll share where you can find him and demo the product for yourself in 2023.

I've had a ton of conversations with DJ company owners recently and unlike previous years where we all were tracking in somewhat the same direction, this year (2023) I'm hearing a lot of companies that are in "feast" mode while a considerable amount of others are in "famine" mode. Why is this? And if your inquiries are minimal, how can you change that? In this episode, I give you 3 reasons that I believe are causing the famine and I also share how you can get to the other side. This is a line in the sand moment. Don't let it pass you by.

This is a listener requested topic. An EPK (Electronic Press Kit) is seen often in the nightlife world. But is it necessary in the Private Even Space? The answer is - it depends. Unfortunately, this is not a black or white answer here. In this episode, I break down not only when it could be advantageous for you but also what I feel should be included and how to get one made.

I've been pretty vocal about the need for me to get a 75% deposit from clients upon booking. This isn't about a money grab - in fact, far from it. In this episode, I break it down to help a DJ who tried to make the shift to this 75% with a client and it caused some pushback from said client. The DJ was looking for advice to counter this and book them. Context is everything. Listen to this episode for clarity here.

It's been a badge of honor for so long in our industry to not only book events in bulk but to book them as far out as possible. It shows you are in demand. It proves that you marketing is paying off. It puts you in a rare class of the elite DJ. Or does it? In this episode, I give you the other side of the coin as well as food for thought to consider pausing booking for 2024.

On the heels of the last episode, I share a tremendous failure of the business this year. There's no doubt this has given me some character stripes - that is for sure. In this episode, I share what happened, how I handled it and where things stand currently. This one is a doozy.

What would you attempt to do if you knew you would fail? But in failing, you knew there would be a positive return from it. The reality is that failure is always possible. In fact, it's more than likely probable. In this episode, I talk through this idea of developing the leadership skill of anticipating failure and leveraging it for a positive.