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July 15, 2024 29 mins

What does it take to truly succeed in the DJ industry? Discover the secrets of building robust relationships with mentors and business partners in this episode of Clever DJ. We welcome Nino back from his sister's wedding celebration and dive into the intricate dynamics of mentorship. From the importance of being attentive and following instructions to finding that sweet spot between professionalism and authenticity, we share stories of our own experiences that shaped our approach to mentorship and collaboration. Learn how to navigate different working styles and maintain good vibes while ensuring top-notch performances.

Ever wondered how to balance taking initiative with respecting boundaries? We explore the delicate art of mentor-student dynamics, especially when handling expensive DJ equipment. By sharing our encounters with mentors who displayed a spectrum of personalities—friendly, territorial, or bossy—we highlight the lessons learned from each scenario. Staying focused and present, particularly when multitasking, is a recurring theme that underscores the importance of avoiding mishaps. We also discuss how some mentor relationships blossom into friendships, while others stay strictly professional, and why both can be equally valuable.

In the cutthroat world of the DJ and music industry, clear communication and understanding each other's intentions can make or break professional relationships. We share a specific incident where miscommunication led to tension, illustrating the need for transparency and cautious trust-building. Authenticity emerges as a crucial element, with genuine interactions paving the way for meaningful connections and opportunities. Tune in to hear our advice on balancing trust and skepticism, bringing value to every collaboration, and why being real and honest is the only sustainable path in this industry.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ilia (00:21):
How's it going, everyone?
Welcome back to another episodeof Clever DJ with Ilya.

Nino (00:26):
And Nino.
Welcome back, guys.
It's great to be back.

Ilia (00:32):
I'm back from a vacation.
My sister got married.

Nino (00:34):
I actually was gonna just ask you, man, how was your
vacation man?

Ilia (00:37):
25 days away on the beach wedding.
The DJ was amazing, Nice, nice.
A lot, yeah, ethnic stuff oreverything, everything,
everything it was just like Imean, that guy really knew what
he was doing.
It was just very impressive andI thought, you know, I'll be
like on his case, I, you know,hoping that he's not gonna screw

(01:01):
up the wedding.
And he made a couple ofmistakes here and there with
some, some things, but he was avery, very good DJ.
Solid, very solid.
That's good, solid guy.
All all the vendors, I, just mysister is so.

Nino (01:15):
I saw the pictures.
Man, they're fire.
Man, yeah, they're a fire.
Thank you.

Ilia (01:20):
Thank you.
Yeah, it was amazing.
It was an amazing event and,yeah, she's just very, very like
organized.
She knows how to throw events,she knows how to organize trips.
Like obviously her wedding isgoing to be amazing, yeah.

Nino (01:33):
It looked amazing by the pictures and the videos and
stuff.

Ilia (01:35):
Yeah, yeah, man.
So another special episode.
Special episode For the CleverDJ.
What's new?
Another special episode,special episode For the Clever
DJs what's new?
So today, this is an episodethat I think we should have done
a long time ago, but I thinkit's coming in the right time.
It's okay.
Yeah, how to build a healthyrelationship with your mentor

(01:59):
and just other business partners.
So, let's say, somebody whotook you on, like you know, took
me on.
Uh, there's other people Istarted working with throughout
this uh journey of mine as abeginner for the last couple of
years, and then there are otherpeople that were on my level and
I had to build a relationship,a professional relationship and

(02:21):
also a friendship, with them.
Where are the?
Where are the landmines?
Where are the like?
Oh, you shouldn't have steppedthere, you shouldn't have said
that, yeah, like, what shouldyou say?
What should you not say?
How should you behave?
What is too much?
Sometimes people are very, veryfree and care like easy going,

(02:46):
and it can really that's me,rick you can really bite them in
the ass, yeah, and sometimesthey're very careful and then
that can bite them in the assbecause they're not become,
they're not their true selves,exactly.
Yeah, there's just so manythings about this topic and
we're gonna get into it rightnow for you guys.
Yeah, so let's start with thefirst point.
You, you, you take, you, takeit.

Nino (03:07):
Well, as a beginner, dj uh , you with your mentor, you need
to watch and followinstructions very carefully and
you are really really good atthat.

Ilia (03:17):
And, um, especially in the beginning, mostly in the
beginning, yes, yes, I can seeyou're trying not to say that,
but I know I kind of like wentmy way after the first few gigs.

Nino (03:28):
Be very attentive, step back and see how things are done
with your mentor, right,because every DJ does things
their own way.
Now, the final product may bethe same, but everything's done
differently in different, uh,different ways.
All together, right?
So um just make sure that youjust listen and don't um just do

(03:52):
things like he how he wants itdone.

Ilia (03:54):
Pretty much right, so do things the way he wants it done
yes, exactly exactly.
Um, yeah, so made a little jokethere earlier, but uh, uh, the
way, the way it started with usis obviously big opportunity for
me.
Someone with 20 years plus istaking me on and is promising to
teach me everything I need toknow.

(04:15):
Uh, you know, taking me to allthese gigs, I get behind the
scenes Um, here's all my music,here's this, here's that, and I
don't want to lose thisopportunity.
So I'm completely usually Imake jokes Usually like you know
.

Nino (04:28):
Yeah, you were very careful at the beginning.

Ilia (04:31):
Yeah, usually like I, you know, I'll say whatever comes to
mind, but I was not myself.
For the first, what three, fouror five gigs at least I noticed
that I was very like timid.
Yes, sir, yeah, I'll do this.
Yeah, do you need help withthat?
And that's how you should be.
Yeah, very, with us it's adifferent story.
We just clicked.
But we became good friendsalmost right away.

(04:52):
Yeah, but I had, I had,encounters with other DJs who
did not appreciate certainthings that were perfectly fine
with us and at first I was likeall djs are like that.
No, you know, they're not gonnamind.
And I learned.
I learned I wouldn't say thehard way.
Everything is fine with all thepeople I worked with, but it's
because I caught it.

Nino (05:13):
I caught on, you know, pretty early oh no, at the end
of the day it's it's a business,right, and they want things
done their way, right.
So, but for me, I was a littlebit more relaxed, and just as
long as everything was uh, likegood, good vibes, right,
everybody's having a good time,and everybody was on the same

(05:35):
page, and the final result wasthe same, I'm good with it.
Here's an example.

Ilia (05:40):
I wasn't sure I was gonna say that, but I'm just gonna say
it.
It I'm going to fall on theknife, on the sword, whatever
you say, whatever they call that.
I remember at least on twodifferent occasions I walked up
to a table and I asked themeither what song they wanted or
something like I, whatever itwas.
I'm very good with people.

(06:01):
It's very easy for me to to getthe response I want, so I was
very confident when it came tothat.
It was great.
I did the right thing duringthat event.
It proved to be the right thingto do.
Everyone loved it.
But the thing is, whether theydid or didn't, it was a big risk
to take.
Most DJs or any business reallywon't appreciate you going as a

(06:22):
trainee and speaking to theclients like you know, like
they're, like they're yours.
You never know what they likefor us.

Nino (06:28):
We think what's this guy gonna say to these guys?
Right, and I just went I didn'task you yeah, I know don't
worry, I got this you knowyou're, you're good, you're, and
I knew you were a good.
Uh, you were a people personsort of thing, right, but, um,
anybody else would be likewhat's's this guy doing?
What are you talking to them?
And it could really, you know,piss off the DJ because it's

(06:48):
their client, right?
So why are you doing that?
So some people will take thatto offense.

Ilia (06:54):
Because you let me have my free, like let me roam free
pretty much and do what I dobest.
It led to pretty awesomemoments.
Do what I do best.
It led to pretty awesomemoments Like that's when that
older Italian lady yes, prettymuch explained in Italian to the
rest of the table she wantscertain songs, and then they
told me that I went and told youthat we played those songs for

(07:16):
her.
I went there and dance with her.

Nino (07:18):
Yeah, and that was the moment of of, like the actual
wedding.
I think that made it the main.

Ilia (07:24):
Yeah, like we both created it.
Yeah, I went and you know, gotsome recon.
You got the intel right.
Yeah, came to you and you justexecuted it professionally.

Nino (07:34):
It was a great moment.
You went down and danced withthem and everything, and that
was great Singing with them.

Ilia (07:39):
It was just yeah, but like that's, that's my thing, that's
what I do.
Some people don't have thatskill.
They're great DJs, like I meanthe great song selection, you
know.
Transitions are really likereally cool and professional,
but they can't interact with thecrowds like that.

Nino (07:53):
Then again, you have to be very careful with who you're,
who you're working with you haveto know it can really backfire.
Yeah, it can.
It can, so just can.
It can, so just be.
We have to read them first ifit's okay with them, and don't
be afraid to ask questions,right?

Ilia (08:07):
that's the next point.
Sponge everything you see, askwow, you're a lot and ask lots
of questions.

Nino (08:15):
Um, when you have one, um, take everything in, yeah, yeah
what I mean by spongingeverything is just just watch
and just, uh, just surveyeverything.
Right, you don't have tounderstand what they're doing at
the time, maybe you don't right, but, um, as you're watching
you, you, you just get to know,like, what's okay, this is what

(08:36):
he's doing, okay, this is thisis, this is the outcome.
Okay, oh, that was cool.
So you're, you're just kind ofgetting a feel of the actual
person and how they work and dothings.
So sponge it just like.
Ask questions, be in the moment, like in the moment of the
actual what's, what's going onwith everything?

Ilia (08:53):
yeah, so no one to see and take it in and no one to speak
and ask a question.
Yeah, sometimes you just haveto memorize it, write it down.
You can't just interact withthe, the person that's teaching
you 24-7.

Nino (09:06):
Because, of course, we're busy doing all this stuff, but
there are no stupid questions.
Ask a question If you have aquestion about why do you do
this?
Why do you press this buttonand not this button?
Well, this is how I'm going toshow you what to do right, and
why do you do this?
Why do you do it this way andnot this way?

Ilia (09:26):
I'm like, well, this is how it's done and just, it's
just how, how it's supposed tobe right, and normally a
beginner would think you'llthink I'm stupid if I'll ask him
that question.
Well, he knows you're abeginner, yeah, and he knows
you're there to learn yeah,there are no stupid questions,
it's just you know.
The question that wasn't askedwas yeah, it's stupid not to ask
it, because that's probablywhat's going to make you look

(09:48):
worse.
If you're just standing thereand not asking anything, not
inquiring cause he'll think youdon't care.
He or she will think you don'tcare or that you're not getting
it, you're just being quiet.

Nino (09:57):
If you're, if you're the shy type and're going to learn
right Quickest way you're goingto learn.

Ilia (10:07):
So this is a very important one.
I put it right out after thatpoint because it goes well with
it.
So it's all obviously veryoverwhelming, but don't give
into the stress.
All right, like if you're shyor if maybe you're a very like,
different type of person and youhave to be different with, with
the, that environment you're in.

Nino (10:28):
yeah, don't let that take over, you like I'm just saying
this, but a lot of djs nowadaysare introverts, right and um,
sometimes you can't.
You have being out in thepublic eye, playing in front of
people.
You gotta kind of let yourselfgo out, get out there a little
bit more.
So you got to be extrovert inthat moment, right.

(10:50):
So you got to, you got to kindof get out of your shell, sort
of thing, right.

Ilia (10:54):
And what I was trying to get at earlier.
That's a good point.
But what I was getting at withthis point was that it's
overwhelming, it's stressful andyou'll want to ask a lot of
questions and double-check andtriple-check if you did
something right or if youunderstood something.
But keep in mind, as much asthat mentor wants you there or

(11:15):
understands you have to be there, even if they maybe don't like
somebody coming with them.
But they have to train you.
They want you to be independentand not to have to babysit you
eventually yeah, throughout theevent.
So they'll understand in thebeginning that you know you have
questions like maybe you needto be babysat a little bit, but

(11:35):
they need to.
They need just the right handperson and to show them that
you're there to help and not tojust kind of leech off of them
for the event, uh, and providereal value, right you keep
saying that is implied realvalue.

Nino (11:48):
You showed your value when you started off with me because
you you actually like thespeakers right.
I actually would ask you wheredo you think that's like the
second or third gig?
I was like, where do you thinkI should we should put the
speakers and this is veryimportant for a newbie right.
So how did you feel when Iasked you that?

Ilia (12:08):
So that's one of the I don't.
I don't know, maybe I don'tremember correctly, but I don't
think I ever decide.
I ever came forward and said,hey, the speaker should be here,
or hey, let me do put thatspeaker over here.
No, so you went and asked me,you gave me the chance, but it
would have been better if, gigtwo or gig three, I just opened
up the stands and put thespeaker, put the stand here,

(12:35):
start setting up the speaker.
You'll be like be like, okay, Ididn't have to ask him.
He knows he saw me doing it acouple times, right.
So when you asked me, I waslike, hmm, I probably should
have been, I probably shouldhave done it, so you won't have
to ask me.
That's, that's the first thingthat went through my mind.

Nino (12:45):
Yeah, if for me but for another person, another dj, it
might go the other way around.
Yeah, you kind of understand.
Some of them don't even likeyou touching don't touch my
equipment yet right you don't, Iknow you don't know where to
put anything right, but againgauge who you're with exactly.

Ilia (13:05):
It goes back to the first uh, first point, yeah, are they
friendly?
Are, are you?
Did you build a specialconnection with them like you
know, like a relationship withthem?
Um, maybe they're your friendsalready.
Yeah, right, maybe right.
Uh, are they very territorial?
Are they very like ocd abouttheir gear?
Yeah, exactly use common sense.
We're not going to go overevery little thing, right, but

(13:29):
um, we are going over quite abit though, but it's okay, this
is a.

Nino (13:33):
This is an episode on its own.

Ilia (13:34):
Yeah, so it's.
This could be just that.
One point could be its ownepisode.
Yeah, yeah and um, yeah, I justhonestly.
I realized that you're alreadygonna ask me more questions, so
I started rushing through likewhat else is he gonna ask me?
I'm gonna come up with theanswer ahead of time because I
wanted you to learn, right, I'm.

Nino (13:54):
I'm there to teach you and you're there to learn.
So I'm like, okay, I gotta makesure this guy knows what what
to do, like for for next gigs,right?
So he shows value and yeah.

Ilia (14:05):
So then you know, at the end of gig I go home and I'm
thinking, okay, so today we didthis, this that I I just made,
made mental notes, some things Ieven written down and I was
like, next gig I'm going to makesure I do this by myself, that
by myself, because I already sawyou were comfortable.

Nino (14:23):
And you did yeah, you did, you set up the speaker stands.
I'm like, oh okay, this guyknows how to open.
A lot of things were likeopening the speaker stands,
because people do that reverseand like I don't I had some
experience with av work, so well, you have value there, you know
right, I liked that.

Ilia (14:42):
You were impressed when I started handling the wires and
like all the, all the gear andyou're like, okay, so he knows
what he's doing.
But you know, the the odd timeI would like connect it to the
wrong input.
You know, and, um, it happened,it happened, even recently.
It happened.
It's okay, it's the way it is.

(15:03):
Yeah, so, and you know what.
I didn't write it down, butthat's something really
important.
I remember connecting somethingreally incorrectly, one gig, uh
, and that that wasn't enough.
Then I did it again next week.
Remember, wasn't with you, butI told you.
By the way, I did it again.
Yeah, yeah, you know what wasthe main reason?
I was on my phone or I wasdoing something else, you're
distracted fully.

(15:24):
You weren't fully there, rightso it's like a new driver who's
like texting while they'redriving.
I'm not saying anyone should dothat, but if you're brand new,
yeah, probably focus on the road, because you don't have much of
that skill of that multitaskingright.

Nino (15:40):
Again, it's just being in the moment, being there, present
right.

Ilia (15:44):
Yeah, same thing with like anything really multitasking,
like you're doing something youprobably should do.
Only that, right?
Yeah, exactly.

Nino (15:53):
Especially if you're there to learn it too right.
It's kind of not very it'sdisrespectful to be on your
phone or whatever, doingsomething else when you're here
to learn from a mentor.

Ilia (16:05):
Yeah, so I remember I was even like kind of showing you my
screen in the beginning, soyou'll see that I'm either
making notes or taking videosfor you or whatever so you'll
know I'm not just messing around.

Nino (16:17):
Yeah, I know.

Ilia (16:18):
So that lasted about three or four gigs and then we just
like really hit it off, becamealmost like very close friends
right away and yeah, but it'snot likely going to be the case
for every person, right, goingto be the case for every person,
right?
I had another um mentor who youknow, I've gotten to know him

(16:39):
over the gigs and everything andone of the venues.
So we were, we already had somesort of like relationship, but
he was more type a personalityand when we were working I could
tell that he's like bossy.
I'm like, okay, he likes beingbossy, I'll let him like bossy.
I'm like, okay, he likes beingbossy, I'll let him be bossy.
Right, like I'll, I'll let him.
You know, as long as herespects me and you know,
doesn't overdo it, I'll let himbe boss.

(17:01):
Man, that's what he wants,right?
I worked with another another,uh, actually a female DJ, not
didn't get a chance to work withmany of those, but she has a
huge business and same she likesthings done her way.
If she said something, don'ttry to go and be creative.
If you want to go and ask herto go and suggest something,

(17:23):
don't just go in and do it.
That's what I was thinking,because she will not appreciate
it, and that's not that she is abad DJ or a bad mentor.
That's her style.

Nino (17:33):
That's her personality too .
That's what she wants done.
She took the time to make thisbusiness how it is right, and it
is what it is because of howshe does things.
So that's how she sees it.

Ilia (17:44):
So you know, djs with a team, with an entourage like
that usually build this businessover many years, many, many
years, at the very least, fiveto seven years, but likely 10 to
15, 20 years.
Right, most of the people withyour um caliber of, like you
know, a number of weddings and,uh, the team you have, um, you

(18:07):
know, available 15 to 20 yearsand um, don't think you're going
to go there and just take over,yeah, and like you know, okay,
you know what I got a better way, let's do it this way.
Respect it.
Right, this is their baby, thisis their, this is their hard
work over many years, exactly.
So some of them won'tappreciate you just kind of

(18:28):
jumping in and starting makingdecisions for them and exactly,
just read the room yes, right.
Like sometimes you can be overlyexcited.

Nino (18:40):
This guy is very excited.
He's very gung-ho.

Ilia (18:43):
Yeah, very passionate.
I'm going to prove myself.

Nino (18:45):
Yeah, I'm going to learn how to do weddings in three
months.
Yeah, how long has it been?

Ilia (18:51):
Yeah, so that's the thing.
You can be passionate, you canbe assert.
How long has it been?
Yeah, so that's the thing.
Like it's, you can bepassionate, you can be assertive
, you can be like all those goodthings, but understand that
they may not be feeling yourvibe the way you're feeling your
vibe.
It will come off the wrong way.
So there's no one size fits all.

(19:12):
No, it's different.
Read the room, understand whoyou're working with, build a
relationship.
And for those who can't reallyread people, it's hard for you
guys, you know what?
Too bad.
That's a very important skillin this industry.

Nino (19:27):
So work on it, Work on it.
It's just like reading a crowdYou're going to have.

Ilia (19:33):
We want to learn how to DJ right Number one thing is to
learn how to what they want, soyou're gonna have to read the
crowd and to give you a tip andnot kind of like that's too bad
if you can't, like I literallyfeel people's kind of what they
want, what they need, it's easyfor me.
It's like it's almost likeyou're talking to me but you're
not talking to me.
I can just tell but.
But if you can't, then ask, ask, ask, inquire, right.

(19:57):
A lot of people I worked withwho are beginners like even way
more beginners than myself, whonow want to come with me to gigs
, which is really cool Um,they're just quiet the whole
time and I feel like, are theylike bored?

Nino (20:11):
or something.

Ilia (20:12):
And then at the end I'm like, oh sorry, we didn't want
to bug you.
I'm like you should have buggedme.

Nino (20:16):
Yeah, it shows that you, you're, you're, you want to
learn right.
Then you're there to learnRight.

Ilia (20:31):
So we're all creative individuals.
We'll have lots of amazingskills and you'll want to sell
yourself to the person.
Um, I came up to you.
I'm like, oh, I'm, you know, Ido this, I do this, I do this.
Well, I just told you I'm abeginner producer.
I'm sure I can help you.
I didn't start telling you Iplay guitar, I play piano, I
sing.

(20:51):
I didn't tell you all that.
I said I'm a you know, hobbyist, beginner producer Like I I.
I know it well enough that Ican support your business and
and maybe teach you somethingthat you might not know.
I'm not sure if you're aproducer, but I would love you
to.
I would love if you taught mehow to DJ.

Nino (21:11):
Yeah, that's actually what got me interested, because
you're thinking of producing,yeah, and you like that, and I
didn't know that about him.

Ilia (21:20):
That wasn't my skill of knowing people.
I just got lucky right and itwas a very good area to take a
shot with.
Yeah, it sparked a conversationthat I was uh and it's, you know
, it rolled into this sort ofthing our, our situation, our
relationship right now andactually, like normally, I'd be

(21:40):
very happy to tell people what Ican do, because I just, like
you know, I wouldn't say I'marrogant, but I'm just happy to
like show my skills.
And uh, I wasn't like that withyou, like I I was, I was very
careful to slowly show you myskills and what I can do.
And if let's say, let's say, ifI screwed up something small

(22:02):
during gig, then the next gig Iwill show you something I can do
that you didn't know that Icould do, right, so always have
that leverage.
Don't sell yourself right awaywith everything you can do.
Use that.
Have a few things up yoursleeve right and don't overwhelm
that person.
That person already knows youwant to work with them.
All right, if they'll need you,if they want you, they'll have

(22:24):
you on the team.
Yeah, so we already went overthe not taking over someone's
business.
So I had that incident withsomeone wanted to be partners
and you brought it up twice andyou know I don't appreciate that

(22:56):
and you, you misunderstood.
I just wanted to subcontractyou and I was like, what is she
saying?
She completely misunderstood me.
What I told her was that I justwanted to partner in such a way
that she said she wanted to docertain things in life that she
couldn't because the all of herclients, her DJ business, were

(23:19):
consuming her life and shedidn't have time with the kids
or anything else she wanted todo.
So I said, hey, how about Ihelp with those areas?
It's still your business.
I'll just get more experience.
Right?
You know, I like ourrelationship, uh, the way we met
through another DJ, through theother DJ I was telling you
about, um, when she neededsomeone last minute and I said

(23:43):
yes to that gig, uh, and we just, we just hit it off.
But then I had no idea how shewas feeling about that thing I
brought up a couple of timesbecause maybe with her
personality I was too fast andloose with that, with that, with
that, with that uh offer.
He understood me right awaywhen I offered that to him.
You knew exactly what I meantand you liked it Right.

(24:05):
I helped you with certainthings.
You know you, you weren't upsetabout it unless you can tell me
, okay.
But with her, she, she took avery kind of strong stance like
hey, don't, don't think you cantake over my business, my baby,
yeah, but again, I, I spoke toher, I explained to her what I
really meant and she and sheunderstood, she apologized.

(24:26):
She said that you know she'sbeen, you know people try to
piggyback, piggyback on her andher business.
In the past she's been, she'sbeen burned before.
Yeah, and it happens a lot whenyou have a successful business
and somebody else is trying tolike kind of piggyback on you
and take, take credit for whatyou did Right, or like try to

(24:48):
kind of step over you to succeed.
And that's not what I wastrying to do and luckily we had
the chance to talk about it.
So be careful with that.
Yeah, worse, all right.

Nino (25:00):
So next point Don't open up fully with every person you
start working with right,because you'll be surprised.
You never know what ulteriormotives they have.
Right, yeah, kind of like what,what they're really like.

Ilia (25:17):
So I worked with some people or or almost worked with
some people who I thought weregoing to be really awesome.
They're very friendly and inthis industry it's a very
cutthroat industry.
Anything music, creative, youknow it's you gotta be careful.
A lot of people here will stepon you to to get ahead.
Yeah.

Nino (25:36):
It's tough.

Ilia (25:37):
But there's also a lot of cool people.
There are A lot of awesomepeople, especially in the
underground scene, like a lot ofcool people I met more like
awesome people than not, but theones who weren't awesome, um
yeah, I'm like why?
Why are you like that?

Nino (26:02):
It's just, it's just so upsetting that somebody would be
this evil to get ahead.
You know, some people are justlike that.

Ilia (26:05):
Some people are just desperate or just just hate and
they will put up a facade tojust have you believe something,
just to get a client or a gigfrom you or to get close to you
so you can introduce them toyour contacts.
Don't open up that quickly topeople in this industry.
But also it's, it's a it's adouble-edged sword.

Nino (26:21):
Yeah, you have to give them a benefit of the doubt,
right?

Ilia (26:24):
at the beginning.

Nino (26:25):
When you, when you first meet someone, you got to give
them a benefit of doubt untilsomething weird happens.
Yeah, you got to watch yourback still too.
At the end of the day, watchyour back especially when you
have a huge business.

Ilia (26:35):
I mean, did you know that guy was going to betray you when
you, when you got out of thatdeal you had with a big company?
No, no, but like, and you have,like what, 15, 20 people
working for you?
Something is bound to happensometime somewhere, right, yeah.
So, whether they work for youor somebody wants to join your
team, you know and do whatyou're doing together, like and
maybe expand with you.

(26:56):
Just be careful.
People, um, are not always whatthey seem.
Yes, and this is true to reallyeverything in life, but right
now we're, uh, we're speakingmostly about ding, yeah.
Last point, just kind of toclose this off.
I know, I know we spoke aboutit.
I think we did.
Yeah, we did.

(27:16):
But again, learn who's theperson that you're working with
in depth Right now.
That person is your gateway.
If you're an absolute beginner.

Nino (27:30):
You're a stepping stone, pretty much, and footing your
door right yeah.

Ilia (27:34):
That person said they'll teach you.
That person said they'll getyou gigs.
That person said that they'llhook you up with some stuff.
Make sure that you are not justkind of wasting their time and
that you're really there tolearn.
You never know when they'regoing to replace you with
someone else, because maybeyou're not cutting it, maybe

(27:55):
they just need to build a teamquicker, right?
So it's nothing personal.
Make sure that you bring value.
That's extremely important.
You care to learn too, right,and yeah, that's a very good
thing you wrote Be transparent.

Nino (28:10):
That's number one.
You were transparent with me.
You told me that you didn'tknow anything about DJing.
Well, you had a controller.
But you said I'm willing tolearn.

Ilia (28:21):
I'm not getting this.
I'm not understanding.

Nino (28:24):
Yeah.

Ilia (28:25):
What I was trying to say was I didn't know beat matching
back then, and in the beginningI wasn't too transparent.
I was kind of I don't know yourpersonality.
I had no idea you're such ajokester like myself.
But yeah, like, as soon as Ibecame who I was, yeah, right,

(28:45):
in this case it was great.
Same with the other djs whodon't have you know your
personality or like the way wemesh, so, so, so great.
I just you know, I, I tone itdown with them, but I still, I'm
still who I am.
Yes, because if you're not real, if you're not who you really
are, you're not gonna keep it upfor much longer.

(29:06):
No, and they're gonna see rightthrough that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't be fake.
Yeah, don't be fake.
Don't be fake.
Be true to yourself, be realwith them and real opportunities
will come your way.

Nino (29:16):
Yes, that's why I took you seriously.
Yeah, in the first place, right, right, and he needs me.

Ilia (29:24):
I need you All, right.
Well, thank you.
This is another episode of theClever DJ.
Another special episode, by theway, special, all special.
Thank you very much for joiningus and see you next.
See you guys, next time.
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