October 3, 2024 • 49 mins
Unlock the secrets to thriving in a crowded DJ landscape with our special guest, Ilia, who shares his unique approach to elevating your DJ career. Discover how to turn your passion for music into a lucrative business by offering more than just sound—think personalized experiences and multimedia magic. Learn the art of capturing the essence of every event through video and photos, creating lasting memories for clients while using these as powerful tools to promote your brand. Ilia's journey offers a treasure trove of tips for honing your skills and standing out in a saturated market.
Imagine transforming every gig into a multimedia spectacle that leaves your clients craving more. Ilia walks you through the power of customized audio clips and remixes, emphasizing the importance of compensating the talented individuals who help make it all happen. By leveraging these strategies, you can build a loyal clientele who appreciate the extra effort and attention to detail. Plus, he shares his insights on lighting and multimedia setups, offering practical advice on starting small and expanding as your business grows.
But it's not just about the technology—it's about people, too. Ilia talks about the importance of networking and collaboration, sharing how he transitioned some of his services into premium packages and created additional revenue streams like merch tables. Learn how to forge strong professional relationships with fellow DJs and event professionals, setting the stage for long-term success. Whether you're just starting out or looking to elevate your game, this episode is packed with actionable advice to help you create unforgettable experiences and build a thriving DJ career.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ilia (00:00):
Today's topic standing out in a saturated market, aka how
to hit the ground running andmaking real money and happy
clients.
This is going to be a hustlingone-on-one for DJs, if you will.
All that coming up, welcomeback to another episode of the
(00:28):
Clever DJ.
A quick intro before I get intothings.
My name is Ilya and I've been aDJ for just about three years
now.
This podcast is here to justdocument my journey from
absolute beginner to pro andshare what has worked for me
ever since the beginning andwhat's still working for me
(00:48):
today and not just for me, formy colleagues as well.
Ever since I started DJing, Ialways knew it was really
important to have proper DJingskills, like always knew it was
really important to have properDJing skills like reading a
(01:09):
crowd you know, knowing how totransition, knowing your music,
all that stuff.
Of course, that's being a DJ,but I always focused on making
myself unique in the way that Ideliver the experience, and
that's because I knew that I'mone of many hundreds thousands
in my area who are DJing.
Probably hundreds who arereally good and thousands who
are just like me are juststarting out and wanting to make
(01:32):
a name for themselves, and Iknew that I have to offer
additional personalized servicesfor people to feel that their
experience is enhanced and thatwith me, they get something they
don't get with anyone else.
Now, while everything I'm goingto discuss today is not the
(01:53):
simplest to achieve, this is areally awesome industry.
It pays a lot of money if youdo well, and it's not going to
be easy achieving optimalresults and getting lots of
clients.
But if you are willing to putthe work into it, then I can
tell you a few things thatworked for me and worked for my
(02:15):
friends, and some of them evenwere way more advanced than me
and they saw me doing it andthen they decided to do it too,
and once they started doing it,they saw how it actually gave
them an edge over others, eventhough they were already
professional and they alreadyhad an amazing business with
lots of clients.
It just gave them somethingthey didn't have before and kind
(02:38):
of refreshed their business.
So I'm not saying thateverything I'm going to mention
here today is a must, but at thesame time, if you want to get
there quicker and you don't wantto wait two years, three years
before you know you getconsistent clients, these are
some of the things you can do,amongst many other things.
(02:58):
These are just some things I'mgoing to cover today in order to
make a name for yourself, inorder for you to be noticed
among so many other DJs outthere.
So I have a set of tips herethat worked for me and they
still do, and some of thesethings were tried by other DJs
whom I am in touch with and itworked for them as well.
(03:18):
Again, it will take time to setthis up in terms of planning it
, knowing how to break it to theclient, pricing it, maybe doing
it for free in the beginningjust to get a name for yourself,
or for a very low cost.
You know, kind of like baitingthe client to go for you because
(03:39):
you offer all these extraservices, offer all these extra
services.
Whatever manner you choose togo about this, as long as you do
it and you kind of personalizeit to yourself, the way it works
for you, then it's going towork out right.
We can't really copy each other100%.
So my friends who actuallytried this tried some of the
things that I mentioned here.
They did it in a manner thatthey felt comfortable doing it
(04:05):
right.
They have their own pitch theirown prices, um, their own
methods of achieving all ofthese things that I'm going to
talk about.
Some of them are very obvious.
Some of them a lot of DJs knowabout.
Some of them people know aboutbut they don't really do because
they don't think it's going towork.
They thought about it butthey're like you know what,
probably just busy work and it'sbetter to just DJ regularly and
(04:28):
hope to get more clients.
But I'm telling you this stuffworks and I'll tell you why I
know it works.
I started DJing about threeyears ago.
I had a break of about a yearof not doing any gigs because I
was focusing on the podcast andI was doing a few other things.
Every time I jumped back intothings, especially in the
beginning when I was trying toget my own clients.
I was doing all of this and itwas amazing how easy it was for
(04:53):
me to beat my competition andI'm not talking about other
beginners, I'm talking aboutpeople who already had a year,
two, three, five, 10 years overme.
And sure, it also requires tobe a good salesperson and know
how to market yourself.
I mean, some people don't havethat skill, I have that skill,
and some people's skill is evenbetter than mine, but it's all
(05:16):
kind of a balance.
It comes together.
So you got to focus on what youdo best and find a way to make
this happen Everything that I'mgoing to list on here and find a
way to make this happen,everything that I'm going to
list on here.
So I have a list here and I'mgoing to start reading from it
and we'll have a discussionabout each point.
Number one is offering to shareevent videos and photos.
Now, before I even get intothis, I recommend it to everyone
(05:39):
who's not recording their gigsRecord your gigs.
Now.
There's one more thing I got tospeak about before we get into
this point Make sure that youtell your client you're going to
record the gig.
It's extremely important because, while probably eight or nine
out of 10 times nobody's goingto care Maybe in your case it's
10 out of 10 times.
(05:59):
In my case it's also 10 out of10 times Nobody cared.
Nobody ever minded that I'mdoing this right.
But you'll see why it'simportant later, because you're
going to do something with thatfootage, not just keep it for
yourself.
And if you do all those things,they will kind of wonder why
didn't you tell me, or you knowthey might say it, they might
not, but it's better to tellthem.
(06:20):
All right, that's thefoundation of everything.
Tell them that you're going torecord it and now this is where
I'm not going to be able to tellyou exactly how to do it.
You need to put on your big boypants and just know how to sell
, feel.
You know you gotta.
You gotta speak in a confidentmanner to them.
Don't say something like uh isit okay if I record your entire
(06:42):
um, wedding, uh for myself tohave, uh for myself to have for
later?
Obviously they're probably notgoing to say yes, because it
sounds really creepy.
And also, no matter how you sayit, if it's something that's not
confident, if you say it in anon-confident manner, they're
probably not going to want to dothis.
Like, psychologically, they'lljust the first thing they'll
think is no.
So what I'll do, what I do isand they even have a clause in
(07:06):
my contract that they're goingto be recorded.
If they said no, which neverhappened before, I'm not going
to include that clause and I'mstill going to record the gig,
but I'm going to record justmyself, because I like to record
myself and make sure that youknow, uh, I have something like
a reference of the gig, ifanything cool happened for my
promotion or anything like that.
Again, it's just not realisticfor me to think about a
(07:31):
situation where I was told notto record it.
So I'm just trying to thinkwhat I would do.
But, yeah, probably just recordmyself and that's it.
So recording the gig is goingto really help you capture all
of these special moments fromthe event, whether it's a live
performance or the crowd'sreaction.
If you did something cool orsomeone else did something cool
(07:54):
and just behind the scenemoments right, maybe yourself
DJing, or the bride and groomdoing something funny in the
background, or on the birthdayor house party, something else
funny that happened and nobodyelse noticed it but they
wouldn't mind sharing it All ofthose moments can be recorded.
Now, the best way to do that isto get an assistant.
(08:17):
Some people even hire.
I know of one DJ who hires aprofessional photographer.
She's, she's his friend, but hepays her to come to gigs and,
uh, she, she has a video camera,a photo camera.
While she uses the DSLR, rightand um, she records really
special moments from the gig andthen edits it together and he
(08:42):
uses it as promotional materialfor himself, for the clients,
for whatever it may be.
So what I do personally, I bringan assistant.
I obviously pay my assistant,but it's not going to be as much
as paying a professionalvideographer or photographer,
and I'll get there as well.
But right now I have a coupleassistants.
(09:03):
They're great with their camera.
I got them a gimbal, I got them, you know, everything they need
in order to get pretty coolfootage.
Now you'll think, well, howgood is that going to be?
Trust me, even if you recordsomething with your phone and,
um, you know it's just okay,they'll still appreciate it
(09:24):
because of what I'm about to say.
You know, in the next fewpoints this is all going to come
together.
Now I record myself and then Ihave my assistant.
If my assistant doesn't comewith me, I have a tripod and I
have my camera I mean my phoneand I just find moments in
between to record.
I might even get off my mighteven get out of my DJ booth and
(09:48):
get on the dance floor and justparty with them.
Right, and it depends on theclient.
Sometimes you can't do that.
They will never appreciate itright, but some of them, you
build that rapport with themthat they want that from you,
right, and that's what I do.
That's what my mentor actuallynoticed.
He said, wow, you're reallygood with the clients, you're
really good with the people.
(10:09):
They always want to party withyou, dance with you, sing with
you, right, and I'm just good atthat.
So that's what works for me.
So, find some way to recordhighlights from the event is
what I'm saying.
So I recommend to get a camerathat records the whole event.
Get the main part of the, ofthe, of the venue or wherever
(10:34):
you are, that also captures youand your and your deck and
everything.
And yeah, and then be mindfulthat you're being recorded.
So don't you know, do or sayanything that you wouldn't want
to be on the recording because,again, we're going to use all
this footage later potentially.
All right, we'll get there.
Now, one thing you can do withthose videos and those photos
(10:56):
and that footage you get is tocreate social media content.
So obviously, for yourself andfor the client.
Now, if it's a wedding likely,you're not going to do anything
like that.
This is mostly for corporategigs, um, or uh, like private
events that are not weddings orwakes or something else.
That's inappropriate, um,because you're not going to
(11:19):
promote a wedding, right?
But, um, you know, and it'sgreat footage for certain
companies, especially if it'snot a very large company and
they need the promotion.
This is really good for them tohave that, because you just
created something for them.
And you'll be surprised how manyclients hire you in industries
where you think they'll knowwhat to do and how to create a
(11:39):
video, promotional material, andthey don't know anything about
it.
They're not technological aboutit.
They're not technological.
So when you take, let's say, a20 minute video and you cut it
out nicely, you cut it nicely,you edit it nicely and you
create, let's say, four or fivevideos out of that.
Each of them is like 30 secondslong or a minute long and you
(12:02):
show them those videos, they'regoing to be mesmerized.
They're going to say, wow,you're not just a DJ, you just
created all this footage for us.
And, of course, you're creatingwork for yourself.
I'm not disputing that.
But now you got them bookingyou for the next gig and that's
what happened to me and I didn'tmind doing that.
(12:22):
I don't have thousands ofclients.
I don't have hundreds ofclients, right, I have
consistent clients.
I started out.
I'm doing well, now my businessis picking up and what happens
is, as you grow, you hire people, you create a team.
Now, if you're just a DJ andyou're an amazing DJ and you
don't care to do all this extrastuff, then okay, then this is
(12:44):
not for you, but it worked forme and I know it works for
others, and that's what thisepisode is all about.
You're going to create whateveryou need.
You're going to put in placewhatever's necessary for this to
work out.
So in the beginning, you do ityourself.
You start simple.
Then you, you know, you get anicer camera.
You learn how to use your phonebetter.
(13:05):
You get a gimbal.
You learn how to DJ your phonebetter.
You get a gimbal.
Uh, you learn how to DJ andalso step away from the deck for
like 30 seconds to get anothervideo.
It just you got to hustle.
This is pretty much a hustlingguide and you need to find a way
to make it all happen, and Iwouldn't be talking about it if
this wasn't working right.
This is the reason why I'mtalking about this is because I
decided to share my secrets and,again, a lot of the stuff that
(13:35):
I'm talking about.
You'll say, well, I know aboutthis.
I mean, obviously you'rerecording, you'll record your
gig and obviously you'll maybeoffer something to the client,
but I noticed that a lot ofpeople don't do it.
I don't know if they don't knowabout it or it's just too much
work for them, but you have noidea how many gigs this is
getting me and how, how muchsuccess this is bringing,
because I'm making someone happyand giving them full value for
(13:59):
what they paid me.
And at the same time, I loveediting.
I love taking videos, photos.
This is just another hobby ofmine, so it's great for me.
I'm enjoying myself.
So let's say, you took a fewvideos and you shared it with
your client who has some sort ofcompany and next year they're
(14:20):
going to have the same event.
So they're going to share that.
They're going to use that video, they're going to see you on
that video.
If they don't use the one whereyou are DJing and they have
like a different view, finePoint is now they can use that
video and recycle it every yearto promote an event or just for
them to have for their, fortheir memories.
(14:43):
Right and likely.
They're going to see you onthose videos because you're
going to give them a few whereyou are also in the, you know in
the footage and they'reprobably going to hire you again
.
You're just going to become thego-to person for that, for that
gig or for that company and itworks, it works and you know
what it's.
(15:03):
It is more work for you becauseyou're not just djing now,
you're also taking videos andphotos and you're thinking about
so many other things other thanjust you know the music and
especially for a beginner, thisis so much work.
So you're not going to do thisfrom your first gig, right?
But keep, keep that in mind.
You know, once you, once youyou're able to control the music
(15:25):
and everything, and and you,you get a good grasp of the
crowd and you feel like you'reable to control the music and
everything, and you get a goodgrasp of the crowd and you feel
like you're confident enough tostart taking footage, then do
that.
If you're still not comfortable,I said it before bring an
assistant right, Pay themsomething to make them feel good
.
Maybe they just want to learnhow to DJ, right, a lot of
people will come with you forfree.
Now I did say don't, you don'thave to listen to me, but don't
(15:49):
make people work for free fortoo long.
All right, they'll appreciateyou bringing them with you and
showing them how everythingworks behind the scene and
getting the free meal and youknow the party and the free
drinks and everything.
But after five, 10 gigs, youknow they'll probably wonder you
know, I mean, this was fun, butyou're getting value from me.
(16:10):
Can I get something for it,right?
So you make a thousand bucksper gig, 2000 bucks per gig.
Give them 10 percent, right,gas money, money for their time
for the day.
I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
And one more thing you can doyou can actually tag your
clients in those videos.
If they're okay with it, youcan tag them and now that
(16:31):
creates promotion for them onyour page and other pages and
also it promotes you becauseanyone who's going to see that
is going to see that you werethe one DJing that event.
So definitely win-win foreveryone.
And, once again, only when itactually makes sense to do that,
right.
This is not going to be verylogical for every gig, but I had
(16:55):
plenty of gigs where I could dothis and it was great for
everyone.
Number three customized audioclips or event recaps.
You can create personalizedaudio clips or remixes for
clients, especially if they havea favorite song or a moment
from the event.
For example, if there are somesongs which you transition a
(17:17):
certain way and they reallyenjoyed it, and they'll come to
you and say, wow, that was anamazing transition, or you know
that these are their favoritesongs.
All you got to gotta do and Idid that before I come home
after the gig.
If I'm still, you know, alllike hyper from the gig and I'm
not tired yet and I don't wantto go to sleep yet, um, then
(17:39):
I'll get on the computer.
Uh, I know how to use musicproduction software, so that's
what I do.
Um, another skill you have tolearn, but it's so easy.
A couple of videos GetFL Studio, ableton, Audacity.
I don't know how well it willwork in Audacity, but it's so
(17:59):
easy to put two tracks side byside and merge them exactly
where they should betransitioned.
It's actually easier than DJing, because you have all the time
in the world to find that spotand then edit exactly how it's
going to transition.
It's super simple.
You know what I should actuallyupload, that I should upload a
guide on how to do that.
(18:19):
It's so easy.
Once I show you, you'll bedoing that all the time, because
people will really appreciateit.
So I come home and I create,let's say, three transitions for
them for tracks that I reallylike, and then I put it all
together, kind of like a mixtape, and then I will send it to
(18:40):
them via email and I'll say, hey, I know you really like those
songs and you liked how Itransitioned them and I saw you
were really vibing to it witheveryone.
Here you go, you can listen tothat in your car or anywhere you
go, and that's it.
Now they have something thatthey couldn't download anywhere.
It was a one-time experienceand if you hadn't sent that file
to them, they would never haveit.
(19:01):
So now you gave them something,likely for free, right, I
wouldn't charge them for that.
Um, that's more like to to getthem to to call me again next
time and to keep in touch withme throughout the year.
Um, so little things like thatreally really help.
And how long did it take me?
What?
10, 20 minutes.
It's worth it, um, and it's fun.
(19:23):
Again, I do it because I loveit.
I'm not doing this just for themoney.
I do it because I enjoy everymoment of it.
I love music, I love takingvideos, I love taking photos, I
love being on the mic.
Um, you know I love DJing.
So all of this is not busy workfor me.
I enjoy it, especially with thebusiness.
It's bringing me right, it'sbringing me consistent business
and I'm not drowning in clientsyet, but it's getting there.
(19:47):
I'm doing much better and a lotof these tips are why I'm doing
so much better.
You can also offer them a shortrecap mix of the night that
includes key songs or just keymoments from the event that
highlight specific parts thatyou know they're going to like,
and it can be pretty much like atailored memento, something
(20:09):
that is going to be with themforever, and it can be marketed
as a thank you gift post eventor an additional paid service.
It really depends how you wantto go about it.
Again, if you're an absolutebeginner, this will be a great
bonus to give them right.
We'll talk about it later,about actually offering that as
(20:30):
a service, but for now, this ismore like hey, this is how you
can stand out from thecompetition and do a bit extra
work, but get more clients,retain them, et cetera.
So the first one that Isuggested in this point was
taking a couple of songs thatyou know they love, two, three,
(20:51):
four songs and creating um andtransitioning them, uh, those
songs, for them.
By the way, I should have saidthat earlier.
If you don't know how to use,um, uh, you know music
production software.
I mean there is a record buttonin Serato, music production
software.
I mean there is a record buttonin Serato, in Rekordbox.
You just create the mix forthem, record it and send it to
(21:12):
them.
So that's another thing Ithought.
I mean I probably should havesaid it, but it's pretty
self-explanatory.
I like doing that with themusic production software
because I just create more thanjust a transition.
I remake it, I create my owntrack out of it pretty much.
But, yeah, you could also do itlike that.
(21:34):
Both ways work and clearly theyliked it with you DJing it.
So it's going to be pretty muchidentical if you do it by
recording it from Serato orRekordbox.
So that is the first thingyou're going to do.
You can give them just, uh,three or four files of two,
three song transitions that youknow they're really liked, they
(21:54):
really liked from the event, uh,and then the second thing is
give them a longer file withmore of these moments from, uh,
from the gig, and you know wherethat file comes from.
That comes from the recordingyou have already from the event,
because you recorded yourentire set and I'm not talking
about the video, I'm talkingabout recording your actual set
(22:15):
within Serato, which is why Ialways record my set, and if I
can see that everyone went wildduring a certain part, then I'm
going to write down on my phone.
You know, I'm going to 29minutes 45 seconds or 45 minutes
26 seconds, and I'm going totake those moments and create
like a little mixed tape out ofit.
(22:37):
It's going to be a longer one,right?
And that's something else youcan send them or you can put it,
you know, on a USB drive, butwe'll get to that later on a USB
drive, but we'll get to thatlater.
So, number four branded eventmaterials.
You can create a personalizedplaylist post-event with the
event's logo or the couple'sname and their venue and the
(22:58):
date if it's a wedding, and it'svery simple to do that, and you
can upload that to YouTube,privately or publicly, depends
on the client.
And now they have that.
They have that video thatusually, let's say, a
videographer would, would createfor them, and but it's from
your own point of view, from theDJ's point of view, which is
(23:19):
something really cool.
It's very different.
A lot of people told me oh, youknow what?
We hired a videographer butwe're so happy you gave us this
like your own video.
It's so different.
It's like an action view ofeverything, right from your
point of view, and, um, it'sjust additional material for
them.
I mean, why wouldn't they likeit, right?
Uh, so you can, you can do thatfor them.
They can use that for forpromotional material, for again
(23:42):
keepsake, you know, like theirown memory.
Honestly, in any way, it's awin-win.
Again, you can also offer customlighting effects that will
match the theme.
For example, if you know, theirtheme is purple and gold.
What I do is and that's veryimportant If you don't have any
(24:04):
lights, like as a DJ, that's, inmy opinion, a problem.
You should definitely havelights.
Every person who called me saidif you don't have any lights,
like as a DJ, that's, in myopinion, a problem.
You should definitely havelights.
Every person who called me saiddo you have lights?
Are we going to have to pay forthe lights?
So in the beginning it was justyou know, whatever lights I had.
I was.
I said, yes, it comes with a,with a package, with a basic
package, and that's the onlypackage I had.
Right, I didn't say I didn'thave the basic package, whatever
(24:25):
like silver, gold package.
I couldn't do that in thebeginning.
I just I took whatever gigs Icould take, I tried to get as
much money out of it and I gavethem everything I had.
Right, once I had somepromotional material, once I had
some experience, you know Istarted inflating the price a
little bit because I had reasonto do that.
Right, I could stand behindthat price.
(24:46):
But definitely get some parlights.
You know those up lights, putthem around the venue, around
the whatever location whereyou're DJing.
If they're going to have andthat's not even like an extra,
that's I believe every DJ shouldhave it.
But I'm going to.
I added it to the list becauseI saw so many DJs who don't have
that.
Beginners obviously specificallyGet get those lights, put them
(25:10):
around the venue.
If they have purple and gold,for example, then uh, then make
them either like cyan or purple,something that will accent it,
something that will make it lookreally like the, make the event
look more prestigious with thelights.
It's it just it looks so muchnicer.
And then obviously get, um, getsome spotlights.
(25:30):
Uh, there there's this, um,this, um, bar this light bar on
on Amazon super cheap.
Uh, bar this light bar on onamazon super cheap again
something else I should probablypost on the website.
But, um, you can get that, setit, set it kind of offset from
your, from your uh, from yourbooth and um, and aim it at you
(25:54):
know, at the dance floor.
And it just the differencebefore and after dance floor and
it just the difference beforeand after is incredible.
It just it makes everythinglook so much more professional,
so much nicer.
And in the reviews that I getafter the event, they actually
speak about the lighting.
The lighting was amazing.
They speak about the djing, butthey also mentioned the
(26:15):
lighting was great.
Thank you for uh, for makingour, our venue look so much
better.
They're noticing it.
It's actually important.
So that.
And now, more specifically, andas a beginner, I'm not saying
you have to get it right away.
It's not cheap and it's moretime to set something up.
But get a monogram goboprojector.
(26:38):
So it's pretty much a lightthat has a little template like
a metal template or something infront of it which projects like
some sort of like logo or somesort of shape, and you can
obviously also project thecouple's name, the date, the you
know, a congratulations message, anything you want, and that
(26:58):
makes things so much nicer forthe video, for the photos, it
makes things look more official.
A lot of clients actually likethat and that's something you
can upsell, it's something youcan make more money from.
But again, in the beginning, ifit helps you get a gig, get the
gig.
So I would definitely recommenddoing both of those things.
Start from the lights.
(27:19):
Definitely don't skip that.
You have to have it from thestart.
You don't have to get the bestones and you don't have to get
too many, but get at least ahandful and get some light bar
something.
I'll tell you how I started.
So what I did was I had onlytwo of those power lights, those
up lights.
I had only two of them.
I got almost the cheapest ones,um, but they were still good
(27:41):
enough.
I didn't go for the absolutecheapest.
Uh and um.
I know some pros even use thembecause, uh, they have lots of
them and then they have the moreexpensive ones for other things
.
But uh, I got them and I, Ijust put those two in the most
obvious spot, maybe at theentrance, uh, wherever people
are coming from, and it wasn'tfor weddings I wasn't doing
weddings yet Maybe beside my DJbooth, right?
(28:04):
Because a lot of people weregoing to take videos of me in
those like private events, likeparties, like house parties and
stuff like that, and they wereall going to be facing towards
me where the videos are going tobe taken in the dance floor.
And then I thought, okay, twois really too little, so I got
four more and then now I have alot more than that because I'm
(28:26):
covering the entire venue, but Ihad six.
Now I can get a much larger, Ican cover a much larger area,
and I would go, you know, maybeevery 10 feet or every six feet
I would put a light on eitherside of the of the venue or
location where I was.
And then I decided to take fourof those lights and put them on
(28:49):
a T bar, so a bar that has atripod and another line across,
and this way I would have like alight bar and a much cheaper
one than you know, the, the onesyou get that already come set
up and all the cables are withinthe housing or whatever, right,
(29:10):
and I did it myself and it waslike 20 to 30 minutes to set it
up every time.
And I told myself you know what, next time I get a big gig, I'm
going to buy that light bar.
And then I got a gig thatrequired more lighting.
So I took some of the money andbought that special light bar
that did not require me usingpower strips and finding a way
(29:31):
to kind of wrap the cablesaround the bar.
It was so much work to make itlook nice.
It was so much work to make itlook nice.
But as a beginner you have tofind a way to make it look nice
but also save money, becausewhen you only get one gig a
month or one gig every twomonths, it's hard to afford all
these things, especially whereyou already spend so much money
(29:53):
on all of this gear and maybe acourse and music and everything
else right.
And then now where I haveseveral gigs a month, I can
easily take some of that moneyand say, hey, you know what it's
time to get this or it's timeto get that, and I invest back
in the business.
Now it's easier, but I rememberwhat it was like when I just
started on the first year.
Yeah, it was, um, it was hardto part with that money and and
(30:18):
wonder will I really ever usethis piece of equipment that I
just purchased?
But I had to believe in myselfand say you know what you will,
you will.
You'll get more clients.
Go and get that, it's worth it.
But you've got to know where tostop.
Don't go and get moving headslike lights that cost $1,500 a
piece or $2,000 a piece thatcosts 1500 bucks a piece or 2000
(30:40):
bucks a piece, because somethings you have to only get if
the, if the gig demands it, andyou also need to know if you are
going to actually be able to toset it up right.
If you don't have the knowledgeon how to set it up, make sure
you have sufficient time toactually learn how to use it.
It's not easy.
Setting up those, those lightssome of those lights it's a lot
of work.
Learn how to use it it's noteasy.
(31:00):
Setting up those slides some ofthose slides it's a lot of work
.
I've seen how much work ittakes sometimes to set up those
slides, especially like when youhave to program them and
everything.
Yeah.
So all of these touches that youadd to the event can really
create a lasting impression onthe client and it will really
show them that you care abouttheir event and you treat it as
your own, because you're reallytrying to bring out all the
(31:23):
potential of the event, of thevenue, and you're really trying
to make it the best it can be.
You're not just coming there toDJ, do your part and go home
and never talk to them again.
And they will know, they'llnotice it, and even if they
didn't know that you could domore for them, if you do more
for them, they'll be so muchmore impressed.
So there's just no way thiswill work against you Absolutely
(31:46):
no way.
Exercise common sense.
You know logic.
Is this tip appropriate forthis type of gig?
Or I want to use this tip forthis gig, but I am not very good
at selling yet, so let mebecome good at selling.
So practice, speak to yourself,speak to a friend, try to sell
(32:08):
it before you actually go andspeak to the client.
But all of this stuff works.
It's 100% guaranteed.
It works if you know how to doit.
So I'm giving you the tips andhopefully you can actually make
it work for yourself, because Iknow this works and I know it's
going to help you.
Number five live streaming andinstant content sharing.
(32:28):
That's something that I didn'tget to do too much of, but I did
it a few times and peoplereally appreciated it.
I'll tell you where I did it.
I did it at a Sweet 16 wherethey had a huge family from
Italy and a lot of peoplecouldn't come because most of
the time, people wouldn't justtravel for a Sweet 16.
(32:50):
But it was a big birthday.
It's a very long story why itwas so important for everyone to
show up.
It was just a lot.
It was just uh, a lot of peoplecame from overseas, but not
everyone could, and that was oneevent.
That was uh.
There were two weddings and Ithink there was something else.
Yes, I think there was one more.
(33:10):
I forget what it was right now,but there were like three or
four instances where I did this.
I live streamed the entire eventand I created the link.
I gave it to the clients and Itold them listen, for those who
can't attend your event andstill want to be able to
experience it, here's a link.
They can see it live and alsoit's going to be recorded.
(33:32):
So if they want to download itlater, you can give them the
permission to download it.
So you have the link, you havethe password, you can decide who
gets to download it and whodoesn't.
So one link is for viewing, onelink is for downloading, and
they were mesmerized that youcould even do this.
They had no idea that was evenpossible.
(33:53):
Right, it's like it was like2023 and they didn't know you
could do something like that.
So don't assume that peoplewill know that all of this stuff
is possible.
Lots of these clients have noidea when it comes to technology
.
So I really recommend offeringthat, especially in weddings,
especially when you know theyhave a large family overseas and
(34:16):
they can't make it to thewedding.
It's just such an amazing bonus, such an amazing way to still
celebrate with people whom theylove and couldn't make it to the
main event.
Number six event souvenirs andpersonalized merch.
Now, this is going to bedefinitely a part of a premium
(34:36):
package, because it's going tocost you money.
Some of it is cheaper, but mostof it is not going to be cheap.
So if you're going to do it,that's where you're going to
draw the line.
That's where I would tell you,don't do this just to get a gig.
This is going to be tooexpensive, too much work, too
much money and just like you'rereally, at this point, really
(34:57):
lowering from your own value.
If you're going to do this, soonly do this if they agree to
pay for it, kind of upfront.
So let's say, if you were goingto charge them $1,500 for the
wedding or whatever event theyhave, then you're going to
charge them $1,750 or $1,800 or$2,000.
(35:18):
And then you're going to offerthis $1,750 or $1,800 or $2,000.
And then you're going to offerthis so it can be custom branded
, merch, like USB sticks withyour DJ name or your face on it,
however you think people willremember you when they look at
it, right?
So usually it's going to beyour DJ name or your DJ business
name and it's going to have allthe music from the event.
(35:40):
So either it's just like a kindof like a spotify playlist for
them to listen to, or you'reactually going to include the
recording of your set on there,which you'll have to edit
because, uh, they might not wantto have the dinner music on
there.
So you're gonna you're gonnatake the best part of that night
and put it on there like anhour or two hours of dance floor
(36:02):
, right, and that's going to beon that um, on that uh USB stick
.
If you can get uh the speechesand stuff like that recorded as
well, you can put it on there aswell.
But I think just putting uh sofar for me, just putting the
music on there, was enough.
I started that's one thing Istarted doing as a a gift.
(36:24):
I never charged for it and youknow it helped me kind of create
a more, more of a name formyself and get a return, return
business, return clients.
And then later I startedcharging for it.
Later I would not offer it forfree anymore, right.
So now I don't offer it forfree, but that's how it started.
And and I actually had a coupleof clients who were wondering,
(36:45):
hey, you used to give us thoseUSBs at the end of, at the end
of every gig.
So you know, I broke it to themin a way that it was respectful
.
I told them, yes, that'ssomething I used to offer for
free, but now it's part of apremium package.
When I told them, yes, that'ssomething I used to offer for
free, but now it's part of apremium package and I was like
you know what, for this yearI'll do it for you, cause you
didn't know, I'll give it to you, let's say, if we didn't speak
(37:06):
about it or or if somehow theydidn't order it, but now they
want it, I'm not going to losemy business over over USB stick
right, like over over a USBdrive and like 15, 30, 45
minutes of work putting, puttingsomething on it.
So if it's a return client I'vehad several, several gigs with
(37:27):
them I'll do it for them anyway.
But then for next time they'llknow, they'll know that's going
to cost money.
So that's part of sales.
You can't just be, you know,like nope, that costs money.
No, that's too bad, I'm notgiving it to you.
You got to know how to speak topeople who are already your
clients, people who are brandnew, people who you know are,
(37:49):
you know, just trying to save atevery point and you really need
to come towards them and aidthem a little bit with something
.
Maybe give them a bit of adiscount.
Just try to help everyone inorder to help yourself.
Right, use, exercise commonsense.
The more expensive stuff wouldbe and I actually ordered that
(38:10):
from Amazon or from othercheaper places but it takes
longer to come online.
You know when you order it.
And that would be, let's say,light up shirts, shirts with
like a light, with a soundspectrum, and it lights up to
the sound of the music, anddifferent you know, neon light
(38:32):
bracelets and just a bunch ofstuff.
And I would have a table like amerch table where I would just
put all these for people to takeand that's it.
I'm not manning that tablebecause all that stuff was
already paid for.
I already got 250 bucks, 500bucks on top of everything, to
get that stuff put there.
And again, there are some otherthings you can do to make extra
(38:54):
money, for example, that's onething.
You know what I'll give youlike an extra point.
Number seven Let me see if Ihave anything else here and
number six before I move tonumber seven, um, no, I don't,
okay, there we go.
Number seven I'll give you anextra point.
Did you know that you canactually make connections with
(39:15):
the people who you work with?
So you do a wedding or anyother gig where there's
photographers, videographers, asax player, a singer, a
violinist, take their contact,share your contact.
You have business cards right.
They're not just for the guestsin the event.
You actually probably get morebusiness from the professionals.
You work with the othercontractors the videographer,
(39:38):
photographer, violinist, saxplayer, anyone there who's also
working always, also always makea good impression in front of
the coordinator, the eventplanners.
They have a long reach in theseindustries and you want to make
, you want to keep them happy.
They'll remember you and Iremember that.
(39:58):
I remember them.
So, yeah, I hear someone's name.
Oh, I worked with her before orI worked with him before.
So make sure that you sharecontacts and that you are
helping them, because thesepeople will appreciate it and
they'll remember you and they'lloffer you gigs.
And you offer them gigs becauseyou're always doing weddings,
(40:21):
birthdays, like you'll need eachother at some point, right?
So, for example, I'll give youan example Uh, a videographer
came a little late, had to setup super quickly at a wedding
and, uh, he had to have me, um,uh, connect him to my speaker,
uh, to my mixer and everything,and I, I did it so quickly for
(40:42):
him and I, you know, I noticedthat when he came in that I knew
right away that he will needthat right.
So I approached him.
I said you probably need toconnect to my mixer, right, you
need sound.
And he was so relieved that Ijust I already was two steps
ahead and I was helping him withwhatever he needed Every time
there was something.
Cause now he's like 15 minutesbehind, 20 minutes behind, so
he's already stressed out.
So I'm helping him catch up.
(41:03):
I tell him hey, listen, we'regoing to have speeches.
Hey, listen, they're going todo their first dance.
So I always prepare them forsomething that's going to happen
.
A lot of DJs just go for it.
They don't think about thephotographer, the videographer.
They assume that they're alwayson the ready waiting for
something to happen.
They might be sitting eating,they might be setting something
(41:24):
up, setting lights, settingsensors.
There's so much gear they haveto handle and they appreciate it
.
So I had a sax player call menot too long ago this year and
he said hey, ilya, I have, uh, awedding for you.
(41:48):
They're looking for a DJ.
Uh, I already told them thatI'm going to speak to you.
Uh, it's a family, uh, it's afamily friend.
Um, do you want the gig?
It's on this and this date.
Um, like, it's on this date atthis location.
And luckily it was available.
And look at that.
Now I have a new branch, likenow.
Now I have a new kind of set ofclients.
Now, uh, this guy'srecommending me he is a
professional in this industry aswell and then I have all these
(42:11):
new clients that are, uh, allthese new potential clients from
this gig and, um, I got thisgig.
That's amazing, and I got itbecause I was really cool with
him and I did a good job.
So it's important to do thatNow.
What I wanna finish this with isyou can actually create a team,
(42:31):
and that's what I'm working onnow.
I'm doing that now.
I've had a couple of thesesituations where I had, like, a
team for a wedding or some eventthat required the people I'm
talking about A sax player, avideographer, a photographer, a
photo booth right, I'm still inthe process of creating it and
(42:53):
creating a team where, if, let'ssay, one person is not
available, I have another one.
But so far I have a few peopleI can select from and I already
used them a couple of times andit made me more income and it
saved the client a lot of time.
So what I'm talking about is theclient, let's say, is looking
for a photo booth for avideographer, a photographer, a
violinist, a sax player, asinger, this that you know
(43:15):
lights, uh, or sorry, um, um,fireworks, or you know, like, um
, anything, anything thatthey're looking for.
Let's say, you have thosecontacts, now you're going to
charge a small premium becauseyou have a database of people
that you know are going to begreat for the job.
And instead of let's saytelling them, hey, go for this
(43:38):
client, they're looking for that, give them a call, you're going
to say, okay, I'm going to setup a team and I'm going to come
with them.
So it's like they're comingwith you, like your entourage,
and the client is going to payyou an extra $200, $500, $700 to
bring those people with you to,to pretty much create that
(44:02):
experience for them, because nowthey don't have to call anyone,
they don't have to worry aboutit.
You're going to be the onemitigating, you're going to be
the one who is the middleman andbringing all those people to
the gig.
Of course, you're going to givethem the client's contact and
the client's gonna discuss stuffwith them, but point is,
they're going to pay you andyou're going to pay them, and
(44:23):
there's other ways to go aboutit.
This is how it works for me Now.
You made so much more money andyou save the client so much
more time, and they know how itis.
They know that if they find itthemselves, it's going to be
cheaper.
But they don't have the time tothink about it.
They have a wedding to preparefor, right.
They have so many things toplan.
They don't care droppinganother 500 bucks and making
sure that you bring them theabsolute perfect people for the
(44:45):
job and that you're going tohandle everything right.
You're not just calling someoneand telling them hey, speak to
this client.
You're handling a lot more thanthat, but it's worth it for
them.
(45:06):
So all of these points here aresome of the things I did over
the last few years, ever since Istarted DJing myself, in order
to have an edge in this industry.
It's so competitive, it's sosaturated.
There's so many people doingthat.
I found ways to becomedifferent in a good way, to be
unique in a way that helps mestand out in this industry and
win over a client and to bringme pretty much return clients,
and all of that stuff reallyhelped me and I thought to
(45:28):
myself you know what?
It's time to share it, becauseI honestly really want to help
you guys, all of you who arejust starting out, and you know,
getting one gig every couplemonths or one or two gigs a year
Uh, I was there, right, thatwas my first year and um, and
then I just it just skyrocketed.
(45:51):
For me it was actually thebeginning of my first year and
then I started doing all thesethings and then I just it, just
it, just it just elevated rightand then I took like a not a
full year, but I took quite afew months off from gigging and
um, and then I continued withwith the same method and it
(46:13):
still works.
Yes, it's more work.
Yes, it, yes it's going torequire you to learn new skills,
but isn't this what it's allabout?
So, if you actually do thisbecause you love it, if you
actually do this because youcare about the clients and you
love the music and you lovegigging, going to gigs and
(46:35):
making good money, all of thesetips work.
It's just that you need to knowwhen to approach clients about
some of these tips, how to sellthem, and it's going to be the
journey that you have to take asa beginner.
We all have different skills.
For me, I was always good whenit came to sales.
You know dealing with people,marketing.
(46:56):
So that's why I took thisapproach with my DJing, because
I had to find something elsethat will help me stand out, and
I took one of my skills and Ikind of mixed it together with
something that I wanted to do,right, um.
So now I'm sharing it with youand if there's anything that you
don't know how to do and youwant some extra advice and you
(47:19):
want to discuss something,you're more than welcome
reaching out through the email.
That's under every episode onYouTube, any platform you're on
Spotify, apple Music in thedescription there's an email.
You can send us an email.
Send me an email and I willrespond as quickly as possible
with as much detail as possible,because I believe that in this
(47:44):
industry, there's a lot of workfor everyone and you know,
helping each other is not gonna,you know, take away work from
you.
We're all in this together andI really believe that if we help
each other, it's going to beeven that much better for all of
us.
Definitely, reach out and let meknow if there's anything you
(48:04):
think I can help you with,whether it's questions.
You have stuff maybe that Ididn't cover on this podcast yet
, or things that we covered inthe past and stuff that you
probably want to discuss tounderstand better.
Or, for example, any of thetips from today, if it's too
complicated for you and youdon't know how to approach it,
because today was a bit of adifferent episode.
(48:25):
These were a bit of moreadvanced tips, but they
definitely work, and if you needsome help incorporating this
into your business, then I candefinitely help you with that.
So just send an email, get intouch, and I'll do my best to be
there for you guys.
So thank you very much forjoining another episode of the
Clever DJ.
I'll see you next week.
Stay clever.
(49:05):
We'll see you next time.
Today's topic standing out in a saturated market, aka how
to hit the ground running andmaking real money and happy
clients.
This is going to be a hustlingone-on-one for DJs, if you will.
All that coming up, welcomeback to another episode of the
(00:28):
Clever DJ.
A quick intro before I get intothings.
My name is Ilya and I've been aDJ for just about three years
now.
This podcast is here to justdocument my journey from
absolute beginner to pro andshare what has worked for me
ever since the beginning andwhat's still working for me
(00:48):
today and not just for me, formy colleagues as well.
Ever since I started DJing, Ialways knew it was really
important to have proper DJingskills, like always knew it was
really important to have properDJing skills like reading a
(01:09):
crowd you know, knowing how totransition, knowing your music,
all that stuff.
Of course, that's being a DJ,but I always focused on making
myself unique in the way that Ideliver the experience, and
that's because I knew that I'mone of many hundreds thousands
in my area who are DJing.
Probably hundreds who arereally good and thousands who
are just like me are juststarting out and wanting to make
(01:32):
a name for themselves, and Iknew that I have to offer
additional personalized servicesfor people to feel that their
experience is enhanced and thatwith me, they get something they
don't get with anyone else.
Now, while everything I'm goingto discuss today is not the
(01:53):
simplest to achieve, this is areally awesome industry.
It pays a lot of money if youdo well, and it's not going to
be easy achieving optimalresults and getting lots of
clients.
But if you are willing to putthe work into it, then I can
tell you a few things thatworked for me and worked for my
(02:15):
friends, and some of them evenwere way more advanced than me
and they saw me doing it andthen they decided to do it too,
and once they started doing it,they saw how it actually gave
them an edge over others, eventhough they were already
professional and they alreadyhad an amazing business with
lots of clients.
It just gave them somethingthey didn't have before and kind
(02:38):
of refreshed their business.
So I'm not saying thateverything I'm going to mention
here today is a must, but at thesame time, if you want to get
there quicker and you don't wantto wait two years, three years
before you know you getconsistent clients, these are
some of the things you can do,amongst many other things.
(02:58):
These are just some things I'mgoing to cover today in order to
make a name for yourself, inorder for you to be noticed
among so many other DJs outthere.
So I have a set of tips herethat worked for me and they
still do, and some of thesethings were tried by other DJs
whom I am in touch with and itworked for them as well.
(03:18):
Again, it will take time to setthis up in terms of planning it
, knowing how to break it to theclient, pricing it, maybe doing
it for free in the beginningjust to get a name for yourself,
or for a very low cost.
You know, kind of like baitingthe client to go for you because
(03:39):
you offer all these extraservices, offer all these extra
services.
Whatever manner you choose togo about this, as long as you do
it and you kind of personalizeit to yourself, the way it works
for you, then it's going towork out right.
We can't really copy each other100%.
So my friends who actuallytried this tried some of the
things that I mentioned here.
They did it in a manner thatthey felt comfortable doing it
(04:05):
right.
They have their own pitch theirown prices, um, their own
methods of achieving all ofthese things that I'm going to
talk about.
Some of them are very obvious.
Some of them a lot of DJs knowabout.
Some of them people know aboutbut they don't really do because
they don't think it's going towork.
They thought about it butthey're like you know what,
probably just busy work and it'sbetter to just DJ regularly and
(04:28):
hope to get more clients.
But I'm telling you this stuffworks and I'll tell you why I
know it works.
I started DJing about threeyears ago.
I had a break of about a yearof not doing any gigs because I
was focusing on the podcast andI was doing a few other things.
Every time I jumped back intothings, especially in the
beginning when I was trying toget my own clients.
I was doing all of this and itwas amazing how easy it was for
(04:53):
me to beat my competition andI'm not talking about other
beginners, I'm talking aboutpeople who already had a year,
two, three, five, 10 years overme.
And sure, it also requires tobe a good salesperson and know
how to market yourself.
I mean, some people don't havethat skill, I have that skill,
and some people's skill is evenbetter than mine, but it's all
(05:16):
kind of a balance.
It comes together.
So you got to focus on what youdo best and find a way to make
this happen Everything that I'mgoing to list on here and find a
way to make this happen,everything that I'm going to
list on here.
So I have a list here and I'mgoing to start reading from it
and we'll have a discussionabout each point.
Number one is offering to shareevent videos and photos.
Now, before I even get intothis, I recommend it to everyone
(05:39):
who's not recording their gigsRecord your gigs.
Now.
There's one more thing I got tospeak about before we get into
this point Make sure that youtell your client you're going to
record the gig.
It's extremely important because, while probably eight or nine
out of 10 times nobody's goingto care Maybe in your case it's
10 out of 10 times.
(05:59):
In my case it's also 10 out of10 times Nobody cared.
Nobody ever minded that I'mdoing this right.
But you'll see why it'simportant later, because you're
going to do something with thatfootage, not just keep it for
yourself.
And if you do all those things,they will kind of wonder why
didn't you tell me, or you knowthey might say it, they might
not, but it's better to tellthem.
(06:20):
All right, that's thefoundation of everything.
Tell them that you're going torecord it and now this is where
I'm not going to be able to tellyou exactly how to do it.
You need to put on your big boypants and just know how to sell
, feel.
You know you gotta.
You gotta speak in a confidentmanner to them.
Don't say something like uh isit okay if I record your entire
(06:42):
um, wedding, uh for myself tohave, uh for myself to have for
later?
Obviously they're probably notgoing to say yes, because it
sounds really creepy.
And also, no matter how you sayit, if it's something that's not
confident, if you say it in anon-confident manner, they're
probably not going to want to dothis.
Like, psychologically, they'lljust the first thing they'll
think is no.
So what I'll do, what I do isand they even have a clause in
(07:06):
my contract that they're goingto be recorded.
If they said no, which neverhappened before, I'm not going
to include that clause and I'mstill going to record the gig,
but I'm going to record justmyself, because I like to record
myself and make sure that youknow, uh, I have something like
a reference of the gig, ifanything cool happened for my
promotion or anything like that.
Again, it's just not realisticfor me to think about a
(07:31):
situation where I was told notto record it.
So I'm just trying to thinkwhat I would do.
But, yeah, probably just recordmyself and that's it.
So recording the gig is goingto really help you capture all
of these special moments fromthe event, whether it's a live
performance or the crowd'sreaction.
If you did something cool orsomeone else did something cool
(07:54):
and just behind the scenemoments right, maybe yourself
DJing, or the bride and groomdoing something funny in the
background, or on the birthdayor house party, something else
funny that happened and nobodyelse noticed it but they
wouldn't mind sharing it All ofthose moments can be recorded.
Now, the best way to do that isto get an assistant.
(08:17):
Some people even hire.
I know of one DJ who hires aprofessional photographer.
She's, she's his friend, but hepays her to come to gigs and,
uh, she, she has a video camera,a photo camera.
While she uses the DSLR, rightand um, she records really
special moments from the gig andthen edits it together and he
(08:42):
uses it as promotional materialfor himself, for the clients,
for whatever it may be.
So what I do personally, I bringan assistant.
I obviously pay my assistant,but it's not going to be as much
as paying a professionalvideographer or photographer,
and I'll get there as well.
But right now I have a coupleassistants.
(09:03):
They're great with their camera.
I got them a gimbal, I got them, you know, everything they need
in order to get pretty coolfootage.
Now you'll think, well, howgood is that going to be?
Trust me, even if you recordsomething with your phone and,
um, you know it's just okay,they'll still appreciate it
(09:24):
because of what I'm about to say.
You know, in the next fewpoints this is all going to come
together.
Now I record myself and then Ihave my assistant.
If my assistant doesn't comewith me, I have a tripod and I
have my camera I mean my phoneand I just find moments in
between to record.
I might even get off my mighteven get out of my DJ booth and
(09:48):
get on the dance floor and justparty with them.
Right, and it depends on theclient.
Sometimes you can't do that.
They will never appreciate itright, but some of them, you
build that rapport with themthat they want that from you,
right, and that's what I do.
That's what my mentor actuallynoticed.
He said, wow, you're reallygood with the clients, you're
really good with the people.
(10:09):
They always want to party withyou, dance with you, sing with
you, right, and I'm just good atthat.
So that's what works for me.
So, find some way to recordhighlights from the event is
what I'm saying.
So I recommend to get a camerathat records the whole event.
Get the main part of the, ofthe, of the venue or wherever
(10:34):
you are, that also captures youand your and your deck and
everything.
And yeah, and then be mindfulthat you're being recorded.
So don't you know, do or sayanything that you wouldn't want
to be on the recording because,again, we're going to use all
this footage later potentially.
All right, we'll get there.
Now, one thing you can do withthose videos and those photos
(10:56):
and that footage you get is tocreate social media content.
So obviously, for yourself andfor the client.
Now, if it's a wedding likely,you're not going to do anything
like that.
This is mostly for corporategigs, um, or uh, like private
events that are not weddings orwakes or something else.
That's inappropriate, um,because you're not going to
(11:19):
promote a wedding, right?
But, um, you know, and it'sgreat footage for certain
companies, especially if it'snot a very large company and
they need the promotion.
This is really good for them tohave that, because you just
created something for them.
And you'll be surprised how manyclients hire you in industries
where you think they'll knowwhat to do and how to create a
(11:39):
video, promotional material, andthey don't know anything about
it.
They're not technological aboutit.
They're not technological.
So when you take, let's say, a20 minute video and you cut it
out nicely, you cut it nicely,you edit it nicely and you
create, let's say, four or fivevideos out of that.
Each of them is like 30 secondslong or a minute long and you
(12:02):
show them those videos, they'regoing to be mesmerized.
They're going to say, wow,you're not just a DJ, you just
created all this footage for us.
And, of course, you're creatingwork for yourself.
I'm not disputing that.
But now you got them bookingyou for the next gig and that's
what happened to me and I didn'tmind doing that.
(12:22):
I don't have thousands ofclients.
I don't have hundreds ofclients, right, I have
consistent clients.
I started out.
I'm doing well, now my businessis picking up and what happens
is, as you grow, you hire people, you create a team.
Now, if you're just a DJ andyou're an amazing DJ and you
don't care to do all this extrastuff, then okay, then this is
(12:44):
not for you, but it worked forme and I know it works for
others, and that's what thisepisode is all about.
You're going to create whateveryou need.
You're going to put in placewhatever's necessary for this to
work out.
So in the beginning, you do ityourself.
You start simple.
Then you, you know, you get anicer camera.
You learn how to use your phonebetter.
(13:05):
You get a gimbal.
You learn how to DJ your phonebetter.
You get a gimbal.
Uh, you learn how to DJ andalso step away from the deck for
like 30 seconds to get anothervideo.
It just you got to hustle.
This is pretty much a hustlingguide and you need to find a way
to make it all happen, and Iwouldn't be talking about it if
this wasn't working right.
This is the reason why I'mtalking about this is because I
decided to share my secrets and,again, a lot of the stuff that
(13:35):
I'm talking about.
You'll say, well, I know aboutthis.
I mean, obviously you'rerecording, you'll record your
gig and obviously you'll maybeoffer something to the client,
but I noticed that a lot ofpeople don't do it.
I don't know if they don't knowabout it or it's just too much
work for them, but you have noidea how many gigs this is
getting me and how, how muchsuccess this is bringing,
because I'm making someone happyand giving them full value for
(13:59):
what they paid me.
And at the same time, I loveediting.
I love taking videos, photos.
This is just another hobby ofmine, so it's great for me.
I'm enjoying myself.
So let's say, you took a fewvideos and you shared it with
your client who has some sort ofcompany and next year they're
(14:20):
going to have the same event.
So they're going to share that.
They're going to use that video, they're going to see you on
that video.
If they don't use the one whereyou are DJing and they have
like a different view, finePoint is now they can use that
video and recycle it every yearto promote an event or just for
them to have for their, fortheir memories.
(14:43):
Right and likely.
They're going to see you onthose videos because you're
going to give them a few whereyou are also in the, you know in
the footage and they'reprobably going to hire you again
.
You're just going to become thego-to person for that, for that
gig or for that company and itworks, it works and you know
what it's.
(15:03):
It is more work for you becauseyou're not just djing now,
you're also taking videos andphotos and you're thinking about
so many other things other thanjust you know the music and
especially for a beginner, thisis so much work.
So you're not going to do thisfrom your first gig, right?
But keep, keep that in mind.
You know, once you, once youyou're able to control the music
(15:25):
and everything, and and you,you get a good grasp of the
crowd and you feel like you'reable to control the music and
everything, and you get a goodgrasp of the crowd and you feel
like you're confident enough tostart taking footage, then do
that.
If you're still not comfortable,I said it before bring an
assistant right, Pay themsomething to make them feel good
.
Maybe they just want to learnhow to DJ, right, a lot of
people will come with you forfree.
Now I did say don't, you don'thave to listen to me, but don't
(15:49):
make people work for free fortoo long.
All right, they'll appreciateyou bringing them with you and
showing them how everythingworks behind the scene and
getting the free meal and youknow the party and the free
drinks and everything.
But after five, 10 gigs, youknow they'll probably wonder you
know, I mean, this was fun, butyou're getting value from me.
(16:10):
Can I get something for it,right?
So you make a thousand bucksper gig, 2000 bucks per gig.
Give them 10 percent, right,gas money, money for their time
for the day.
I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
And one more thing you can doyou can actually tag your
clients in those videos.
If they're okay with it, youcan tag them and now that
(16:31):
creates promotion for them onyour page and other pages and
also it promotes you becauseanyone who's going to see that
is going to see that you werethe one DJing that event.
So definitely win-win foreveryone.
And, once again, only when itactually makes sense to do that,
right.
This is not going to be verylogical for every gig, but I had
(16:55):
plenty of gigs where I could dothis and it was great for
everyone.
Number three customized audioclips or event recaps.
You can create personalizedaudio clips or remixes for
clients, especially if they havea favorite song or a moment
from the event.
For example, if there are somesongs which you transition a
(17:17):
certain way and they reallyenjoyed it, and they'll come to
you and say, wow, that was anamazing transition, or you know
that these are their favoritesongs.
All you got to gotta do and Idid that before I come home
after the gig.
If I'm still, you know, alllike hyper from the gig and I'm
not tired yet and I don't wantto go to sleep yet, um, then
(17:39):
I'll get on the computer.
Uh, I know how to use musicproduction software, so that's
what I do.
Um, another skill you have tolearn, but it's so easy.
A couple of videos GetFL Studio, ableton, Audacity.
I don't know how well it willwork in Audacity, but it's so
(17:59):
easy to put two tracks side byside and merge them exactly
where they should betransitioned.
It's actually easier than DJing, because you have all the time
in the world to find that spotand then edit exactly how it's
going to transition.
It's super simple.
You know what I should actuallyupload, that I should upload a
guide on how to do that.
(18:19):
It's so easy.
Once I show you, you'll bedoing that all the time, because
people will really appreciateit.
So I come home and I create,let's say, three transitions for
them for tracks that I reallylike, and then I put it all
together, kind of like a mixtape, and then I will send it to
(18:40):
them via email and I'll say, hey, I know you really like those
songs and you liked how Itransitioned them and I saw you
were really vibing to it witheveryone.
Here you go, you can listen tothat in your car or anywhere you
go, and that's it.
Now they have something thatthey couldn't download anywhere.
It was a one-time experienceand if you hadn't sent that file
to them, they would never haveit.
(19:01):
So now you gave them something,likely for free, right, I
wouldn't charge them for that.
Um, that's more like to to getthem to to call me again next
time and to keep in touch withme throughout the year.
Um, so little things like thatreally really help.
And how long did it take me?
What?
10, 20 minutes.
It's worth it, um, and it's fun.
(19:23):
Again, I do it because I loveit.
I'm not doing this just for themoney.
I do it because I enjoy everymoment of it.
I love music, I love takingvideos, I love taking photos, I
love being on the mic.
Um, you know I love DJing.
So all of this is not busy workfor me.
I enjoy it, especially with thebusiness.
It's bringing me right, it'sbringing me consistent business
and I'm not drowning in clientsyet, but it's getting there.
(19:47):
I'm doing much better and a lotof these tips are why I'm doing
so much better.
You can also offer them a shortrecap mix of the night that
includes key songs or just keymoments from the event that
highlight specific parts thatyou know they're going to like,
and it can be pretty much like atailored memento, something
(20:09):
that is going to be with themforever, and it can be marketed
as a thank you gift post eventor an additional paid service.
It really depends how you wantto go about it.
Again, if you're an absolutebeginner, this will be a great
bonus to give them right.
We'll talk about it later,about actually offering that as
(20:30):
a service, but for now, this ismore like hey, this is how you
can stand out from thecompetition and do a bit extra
work, but get more clients,retain them, et cetera.
So the first one that Isuggested in this point was
taking a couple of songs thatyou know they love, two, three,
(20:51):
four songs and creating um andtransitioning them, uh, those
songs, for them.
By the way, I should have saidthat earlier.
If you don't know how to use,um, uh, you know music
production software.
I mean there is a record buttonin Serato, music production
software.
I mean there is a record buttonin Serato, in Rekordbox.
You just create the mix forthem, record it and send it to
(21:12):
them.
So that's another thing Ithought.
I mean I probably should havesaid it, but it's pretty
self-explanatory.
I like doing that with themusic production software
because I just create more thanjust a transition.
I remake it, I create my owntrack out of it pretty much.
But, yeah, you could also do itlike that.
(21:34):
Both ways work and clearly theyliked it with you DJing it.
So it's going to be pretty muchidentical if you do it by
recording it from Serato orRekordbox.
So that is the first thingyou're going to do.
You can give them just, uh,three or four files of two,
three song transitions that youknow they're really liked, they
(21:54):
really liked from the event, uh,and then the second thing is
give them a longer file withmore of these moments from, uh,
from the gig, and you know wherethat file comes from.
That comes from the recordingyou have already from the event,
because you recorded yourentire set and I'm not talking
about the video, I'm talkingabout recording your actual set
(22:15):
within Serato, which is why Ialways record my set, and if I
can see that everyone went wildduring a certain part, then I'm
going to write down on my phone.
You know, I'm going to 29minutes 45 seconds or 45 minutes
26 seconds, and I'm going totake those moments and create
like a little mixed tape out ofit.
(22:37):
It's going to be a longer one,right?
And that's something else youcan send them or you can put it,
you know, on a USB drive, butwe'll get to that later on a USB
drive, but we'll get to thatlater.
So, number four branded eventmaterials.
You can create a personalizedplaylist post-event with the
event's logo or the couple'sname and their venue and the
(22:58):
date if it's a wedding, and it'svery simple to do that, and you
can upload that to YouTube,privately or publicly, depends
on the client.
And now they have that.
They have that video thatusually, let's say, a
videographer would, would createfor them, and but it's from
your own point of view, from theDJ's point of view, which is
(23:19):
something really cool.
It's very different.
A lot of people told me oh, youknow what?
We hired a videographer butwe're so happy you gave us this
like your own video.
It's so different.
It's like an action view ofeverything, right from your
point of view, and, um, it'sjust additional material for
them.
I mean, why wouldn't they likeit, right?
Uh, so you can, you can do thatfor them.
They can use that for forpromotional material, for again
(23:42):
keepsake, you know, like theirown memory.
Honestly, in any way, it's awin-win.
Again, you can also offer customlighting effects that will
match the theme.
For example, if you know, theirtheme is purple and gold.
What I do is and that's veryimportant If you don't have any
(24:04):
lights, like as a DJ, that's, inmy opinion, a problem.
You should definitely havelights.
Every person who called me saidif you don't have any lights,
like as a DJ, that's, in myopinion, a problem.
You should definitely havelights.
Every person who called me saiddo you have lights?
Are we going to have to pay forthe lights?
So in the beginning it was justyou know, whatever lights I had.
I was.
I said, yes, it comes with a,with a package, with a basic
package, and that's the onlypackage I had.
Right, I didn't say I didn'thave the basic package, whatever
(24:25):
like silver, gold package.
I couldn't do that in thebeginning.
I just I took whatever gigs Icould take, I tried to get as
much money out of it and I gavethem everything I had.
Right, once I had somepromotional material, once I had
some experience, you know Istarted inflating the price a
little bit because I had reasonto do that.
Right, I could stand behindthat price.
(24:46):
But definitely get some parlights.
You know those up lights, putthem around the venue, around
the whatever location whereyou're DJing.
If they're going to have andthat's not even like an extra,
that's I believe every DJ shouldhave it.
But I'm going to.
I added it to the list becauseI saw so many DJs who don't have
that.
Beginners obviously specificallyGet get those lights, put them
(25:10):
around the venue.
If they have purple and gold,for example, then uh, then make
them either like cyan or purple,something that will accent it,
something that will make it lookreally like the, make the event
look more prestigious with thelights.
It's it just it looks so muchnicer.
And then obviously get, um, getsome spotlights.
(25:30):
Uh, there there's this, um,this, um, bar this light bar on
on Amazon super cheap.
Uh, bar this light bar on onamazon super cheap again
something else I should probablypost on the website.
But, um, you can get that, setit, set it kind of offset from
your, from your uh, from yourbooth and um, and aim it at you
(25:54):
know, at the dance floor.
And it just the differencebefore and after dance floor and
it just the difference beforeand after is incredible.
It just it makes everythinglook so much more professional,
so much nicer.
And in the reviews that I getafter the event, they actually
speak about the lighting.
The lighting was amazing.
They speak about the djing, butthey also mentioned the
(26:15):
lighting was great.
Thank you for uh, for makingour, our venue look so much
better.
They're noticing it.
It's actually important.
So that.
And now, more specifically, andas a beginner, I'm not saying
you have to get it right away.
It's not cheap and it's moretime to set something up.
But get a monogram goboprojector.
(26:38):
So it's pretty much a lightthat has a little template like
a metal template or something infront of it which projects like
some sort of like logo or somesort of shape, and you can
obviously also project thecouple's name, the date, the you
know, a congratulations message, anything you want, and that
(26:58):
makes things so much nicer forthe video, for the photos, it
makes things look more official.
A lot of clients actually likethat and that's something you
can upsell, it's something youcan make more money from.
But again, in the beginning, ifit helps you get a gig, get the
gig.
So I would definitely recommenddoing both of those things.
Start from the lights.
(27:19):
Definitely don't skip that.
You have to have it from thestart.
You don't have to get the bestones and you don't have to get
too many, but get at least ahandful and get some light bar
something.
I'll tell you how I started.
So what I did was I had onlytwo of those power lights, those
up lights.
I had only two of them.
I got almost the cheapest ones,um, but they were still good
(27:41):
enough.
I didn't go for the absolutecheapest.
Uh and um.
I know some pros even use thembecause, uh, they have lots of
them and then they have the moreexpensive ones for other things
.
But uh, I got them and I, Ijust put those two in the most
obvious spot, maybe at theentrance, uh, wherever people
are coming from, and it wasn'tfor weddings I wasn't doing
weddings yet Maybe beside my DJbooth, right?
(28:04):
Because a lot of people weregoing to take videos of me in
those like private events, likeparties, like house parties and
stuff like that, and they wereall going to be facing towards
me where the videos are going tobe taken in the dance floor.
And then I thought, okay, twois really too little, so I got
four more and then now I have alot more than that because I'm
(28:26):
covering the entire venue, but Ihad six.
Now I can get a much larger, Ican cover a much larger area,
and I would go, you know, maybeevery 10 feet or every six feet
I would put a light on eitherside of the of the venue or
location where I was.
And then I decided to take fourof those lights and put them on
(28:49):
a T bar, so a bar that has atripod and another line across,
and this way I would have like alight bar and a much cheaper
one than you know, the, the onesyou get that already come set
up and all the cables are withinthe housing or whatever, right,
(29:10):
and I did it myself and it waslike 20 to 30 minutes to set it
up every time.
And I told myself you know what, next time I get a big gig, I'm
going to buy that light bar.
And then I got a gig thatrequired more lighting.
So I took some of the money andbought that special light bar
that did not require me usingpower strips and finding a way
(29:31):
to kind of wrap the cablesaround the bar.
It was so much work to make itlook nice.
It was so much work to make itlook nice.
But as a beginner you have tofind a way to make it look nice
but also save money, becausewhen you only get one gig a
month or one gig every twomonths, it's hard to afford all
these things, especially whereyou already spend so much money
(29:53):
on all of this gear and maybe acourse and music and everything
else right.
And then now where I haveseveral gigs a month, I can
easily take some of that moneyand say, hey, you know what it's
time to get this or it's timeto get that, and I invest back
in the business.
Now it's easier, but I rememberwhat it was like when I just
started on the first year.
Yeah, it was, um, it was hardto part with that money and and
(30:18):
wonder will I really ever usethis piece of equipment that I
just purchased?
But I had to believe in myselfand say you know what you will,
you will.
You'll get more clients.
Go and get that, it's worth it.
But you've got to know where tostop.
Don't go and get moving headslike lights that cost $1,500 a
piece or $2,000 a piece thatcosts 1500 bucks a piece or 2000
(30:40):
bucks a piece, because somethings you have to only get if
the, if the gig demands it, andyou also need to know if you are
going to actually be able to toset it up right.
If you don't have the knowledgeon how to set it up, make sure
you have sufficient time toactually learn how to use it.
It's not easy.
Setting up those, those lightssome of those lights it's a lot
of work.
Learn how to use it it's noteasy.
(31:00):
Setting up those slides some ofthose slides it's a lot of work
.
I've seen how much work ittakes sometimes to set up those
slides, especially like when youhave to program them and
everything.
Yeah.
So all of these touches that youadd to the event can really
create a lasting impression onthe client and it will really
show them that you care abouttheir event and you treat it as
your own, because you're reallytrying to bring out all the
(31:23):
potential of the event, of thevenue, and you're really trying
to make it the best it can be.
You're not just coming there toDJ, do your part and go home
and never talk to them again.
And they will know, they'llnotice it, and even if they
didn't know that you could domore for them, if you do more
for them, they'll be so muchmore impressed.
So there's just no way thiswill work against you Absolutely
(31:46):
no way.
Exercise common sense.
You know logic.
Is this tip appropriate forthis type of gig?
Or I want to use this tip forthis gig, but I am not very good
at selling yet, so let mebecome good at selling.
So practice, speak to yourself,speak to a friend, try to sell
(32:08):
it before you actually go andspeak to the client.
But all of this stuff works.
It's 100% guaranteed.
It works if you know how to doit.
So I'm giving you the tips andhopefully you can actually make
it work for yourself, because Iknow this works and I know it's
going to help you.
Number five live streaming andinstant content sharing.
(32:28):
That's something that I didn'tget to do too much of, but I did
it a few times and peoplereally appreciated it.
I'll tell you where I did it.
I did it at a Sweet 16 wherethey had a huge family from
Italy and a lot of peoplecouldn't come because most of
the time, people wouldn't justtravel for a Sweet 16.
(32:50):
But it was a big birthday.
It's a very long story why itwas so important for everyone to
show up.
It was just a lot.
It was just uh, a lot of peoplecame from overseas, but not
everyone could, and that was oneevent.
That was uh.
There were two weddings and Ithink there was something else.
Yes, I think there was one more.
(33:10):
I forget what it was right now,but there were like three or
four instances where I did this.
I live streamed the entire eventand I created the link.
I gave it to the clients and Itold them listen, for those who
can't attend your event andstill want to be able to
experience it, here's a link.
They can see it live and alsoit's going to be recorded.
(33:32):
So if they want to download itlater, you can give them the
permission to download it.
So you have the link, you havethe password, you can decide who
gets to download it and whodoesn't.
So one link is for viewing, onelink is for downloading, and
they were mesmerized that youcould even do this.
They had no idea that was evenpossible.
(33:53):
Right, it's like it was like2023 and they didn't know you
could do something like that.
So don't assume that peoplewill know that all of this stuff
is possible.
Lots of these clients have noidea when it comes to technology
.
So I really recommend offeringthat, especially in weddings,
especially when you know theyhave a large family overseas and
(34:16):
they can't make it to thewedding.
It's just such an amazing bonus, such an amazing way to still
celebrate with people whom theylove and couldn't make it to the
main event.
Number six event souvenirs andpersonalized merch.
Now, this is going to bedefinitely a part of a premium
(34:36):
package, because it's going tocost you money.
Some of it is cheaper, but mostof it is not going to be cheap.
So if you're going to do it,that's where you're going to
draw the line.
That's where I would tell you,don't do this just to get a gig.
This is going to be tooexpensive, too much work, too
much money and just like you'rereally, at this point, really
(34:57):
lowering from your own value.
If you're going to do this, soonly do this if they agree to
pay for it, kind of upfront.
So let's say, if you were goingto charge them $1,500 for the
wedding or whatever event theyhave, then you're going to
charge them $1,750 or $1,800 or$2,000.
(35:18):
And then you're going to offerthis $1,750 or $1,800 or $2,000.
And then you're going to offerthis so it can be custom branded
, merch, like USB sticks withyour DJ name or your face on it,
however you think people willremember you when they look at
it, right?
So usually it's going to beyour DJ name or your DJ business
name and it's going to have allthe music from the event.
(35:40):
So either it's just like a kindof like a spotify playlist for
them to listen to, or you'reactually going to include the
recording of your set on there,which you'll have to edit
because, uh, they might not wantto have the dinner music on
there.
So you're gonna you're gonnatake the best part of that night
and put it on there like anhour or two hours of dance floor
(36:02):
, right, and that's going to beon that um, on that uh USB stick
.
If you can get uh the speechesand stuff like that recorded as
well, you can put it on there aswell.
But I think just putting uh sofar for me, just putting the
music on there, was enough.
I started that's one thing Istarted doing as a a gift.
(36:24):
I never charged for it and youknow it helped me kind of create
a more, more of a name formyself and get a return, return
business, return clients.
And then later I startedcharging for it.
Later I would not offer it forfree anymore, right.
So now I don't offer it forfree, but that's how it started.
And and I actually had a coupleof clients who were wondering,
(36:45):
hey, you used to give us thoseUSBs at the end of, at the end
of every gig.
So you know, I broke it to themin a way that it was respectful
.
I told them, yes, that'ssomething I used to offer for
free, but now it's part of apremium package.
When I told them, yes, that'ssomething I used to offer for
free, but now it's part of apremium package and I was like
you know what, for this yearI'll do it for you, cause you
didn't know, I'll give it to you, let's say, if we didn't speak
(37:06):
about it or or if somehow theydidn't order it, but now they
want it, I'm not going to losemy business over over USB stick
right, like over over a USBdrive and like 15, 30, 45
minutes of work putting, puttingsomething on it.
So if it's a return client I'vehad several, several gigs with
(37:27):
them I'll do it for them anyway.
But then for next time they'llknow, they'll know that's going
to cost money.
So that's part of sales.
You can't just be, you know,like nope, that costs money.
No, that's too bad, I'm notgiving it to you.
You got to know how to speak topeople who are already your
clients, people who are brandnew, people who you know are,
(37:49):
you know, just trying to save atevery point and you really need
to come towards them and aidthem a little bit with something
.
Maybe give them a bit of adiscount.
Just try to help everyone inorder to help yourself.
Right, use, exercise commonsense.
The more expensive stuff wouldbe and I actually ordered that
(38:10):
from Amazon or from othercheaper places but it takes
longer to come online.
You know when you order it.
And that would be, let's say,light up shirts, shirts with
like a light, with a soundspectrum, and it lights up to
the sound of the music, anddifferent you know, neon light
(38:32):
bracelets and just a bunch ofstuff.
And I would have a table like amerch table where I would just
put all these for people to takeand that's it.
I'm not manning that tablebecause all that stuff was
already paid for.
I already got 250 bucks, 500bucks on top of everything, to
get that stuff put there.
And again, there are some otherthings you can do to make extra
(38:54):
money, for example, that's onething.
You know what I'll give youlike an extra point.
Number seven Let me see if Ihave anything else here and
number six before I move tonumber seven, um, no, I don't,
okay, there we go.
Number seven I'll give you anextra point.
Did you know that you canactually make connections with
(39:15):
the people who you work with?
So you do a wedding or anyother gig where there's
photographers, videographers, asax player, a singer, a
violinist, take their contact,share your contact.
You have business cards right.
They're not just for the guestsin the event.
You actually probably get morebusiness from the professionals.
You work with the othercontractors the videographer,
(39:38):
photographer, violinist, saxplayer, anyone there who's also
working always, also always makea good impression in front of
the coordinator, the eventplanners.
They have a long reach in theseindustries and you want to make
, you want to keep them happy.
They'll remember you and Iremember that.
(39:58):
I remember them.
So, yeah, I hear someone's name.
Oh, I worked with her before orI worked with him before.
So make sure that you sharecontacts and that you are
helping them, because thesepeople will appreciate it and
they'll remember you and they'lloffer you gigs.
And you offer them gigs becauseyou're always doing weddings,
(40:21):
birthdays, like you'll need eachother at some point, right?
So, for example, I'll give youan example Uh, a videographer
came a little late, had to setup super quickly at a wedding
and, uh, he had to have me, um,uh, connect him to my speaker,
uh, to my mixer and everything,and I, I did it so quickly for
(40:42):
him and I, you know, I noticedthat when he came in that I knew
right away that he will needthat right.
So I approached him.
I said you probably need toconnect to my mixer, right, you
need sound.
And he was so relieved that Ijust I already was two steps
ahead and I was helping him withwhatever he needed Every time
there was something.
Cause now he's like 15 minutesbehind, 20 minutes behind, so
he's already stressed out.
So I'm helping him catch up.
(41:03):
I tell him hey, listen, we'regoing to have speeches.
Hey, listen, they're going todo their first dance.
So I always prepare them forsomething that's going to happen
.
A lot of DJs just go for it.
They don't think about thephotographer, the videographer.
They assume that they're alwayson the ready waiting for
something to happen.
They might be sitting eating,they might be setting something
(41:24):
up, setting lights, settingsensors.
There's so much gear they haveto handle and they appreciate it
.
So I had a sax player call menot too long ago this year and
he said hey, ilya, I have, uh, awedding for you.
(41:48):
They're looking for a DJ.
Uh, I already told them thatI'm going to speak to you.
Uh, it's a family, uh, it's afamily friend.
Um, do you want the gig?
It's on this and this date.
Um, like, it's on this date atthis location.
And luckily it was available.
And look at that.
Now I have a new branch, likenow.
Now I have a new kind of set ofclients.
Now, uh, this guy'srecommending me he is a
professional in this industry aswell and then I have all these
(42:11):
new clients that are, uh, allthese new potential clients from
this gig and, um, I got thisgig.
That's amazing, and I got itbecause I was really cool with
him and I did a good job.
So it's important to do thatNow.
What I wanna finish this with isyou can actually create a team,
(42:31):
and that's what I'm working onnow.
I'm doing that now.
I've had a couple of thesesituations where I had, like, a
team for a wedding or some eventthat required the people I'm
talking about A sax player, avideographer, a photographer, a
photo booth right, I'm still inthe process of creating it and
(42:53):
creating a team where, if, let'ssay, one person is not
available, I have another one.
But so far I have a few peopleI can select from and I already
used them a couple of times andit made me more income and it
saved the client a lot of time.
So what I'm talking about is theclient, let's say, is looking
for a photo booth for avideographer, a photographer, a
violinist, a sax player, asinger, this that you know
(43:15):
lights, uh, or sorry, um, um,fireworks, or you know, like, um
, anything, anything thatthey're looking for.
Let's say, you have thosecontacts, now you're going to
charge a small premium becauseyou have a database of people
that you know are going to begreat for the job.
And instead of let's saytelling them, hey, go for this
(43:38):
client, they're looking for that, give them a call, you're going
to say, okay, I'm going to setup a team and I'm going to come
with them.
So it's like they're comingwith you, like your entourage,
and the client is going to payyou an extra $200, $500, $700 to
bring those people with you to,to pretty much create that
(44:02):
experience for them, because nowthey don't have to call anyone,
they don't have to worry aboutit.
You're going to be the onemitigating, you're going to be
the one who is the middleman andbringing all those people to
the gig.
Of course, you're going to givethem the client's contact and
the client's gonna discuss stuffwith them, but point is,
they're going to pay you andyou're going to pay them, and
(44:23):
there's other ways to go aboutit.
This is how it works for me Now.
You made so much more money andyou save the client so much
more time, and they know how itis.
They know that if they find itthemselves, it's going to be
cheaper.
But they don't have the time tothink about it.
They have a wedding to preparefor, right.
They have so many things toplan.
They don't care droppinganother 500 bucks and making
sure that you bring them theabsolute perfect people for the
(44:45):
job and that you're going tohandle everything right.
You're not just calling someoneand telling them hey, speak to
this client.
You're handling a lot more thanthat, but it's worth it for
them.
(45:06):
So all of these points here aresome of the things I did over
the last few years, ever since Istarted DJing myself, in order
to have an edge in this industry.
It's so competitive, it's sosaturated.
There's so many people doingthat.
I found ways to becomedifferent in a good way, to be
unique in a way that helps mestand out in this industry and
win over a client and to bringme pretty much return clients,
and all of that stuff reallyhelped me and I thought to
(45:28):
myself you know what?
It's time to share it, becauseI honestly really want to help
you guys, all of you who arejust starting out, and you know,
getting one gig every couplemonths or one or two gigs a year
Uh, I was there, right, thatwas my first year and um, and
then I just it just skyrocketed.
(45:51):
For me it was actually thebeginning of my first year and
then I started doing all thesethings and then I just it, just
it, just it just elevated rightand then I took like a not a
full year, but I took quite afew months off from gigging and
um, and then I continued withwith the same method and it
(46:13):
still works.
Yes, it's more work.
Yes, it, yes it's going torequire you to learn new skills,
but isn't this what it's allabout?
So, if you actually do thisbecause you love it, if you
actually do this because youcare about the clients and you
love the music and you lovegigging, going to gigs and
(46:35):
making good money, all of thesetips work.
It's just that you need to knowwhen to approach clients about
some of these tips, how to sellthem, and it's going to be the
journey that you have to take asa beginner.
We all have different skills.
For me, I was always good whenit came to sales.
You know dealing with people,marketing.
(46:56):
So that's why I took thisapproach with my DJing, because
I had to find something elsethat will help me stand out, and
I took one of my skills and Ikind of mixed it together with
something that I wanted to do,right, um.
So now I'm sharing it with youand if there's anything that you
don't know how to do and youwant some extra advice and you
(47:19):
want to discuss something,you're more than welcome
reaching out through the email.
That's under every episode onYouTube, any platform you're on
Spotify, apple Music in thedescription there's an email.
You can send us an email.
Send me an email and I willrespond as quickly as possible
with as much detail as possible,because I believe that in this
(47:44):
industry, there's a lot of workfor everyone and you know,
helping each other is not gonna,you know, take away work from
you.
We're all in this together andI really believe that if we help
each other, it's going to beeven that much better for all of
us.
Definitely, reach out and let meknow if there's anything you
(48:04):
think I can help you with,whether it's questions.
You have stuff maybe that Ididn't cover on this podcast yet
, or things that we covered inthe past and stuff that you
probably want to discuss tounderstand better.
Or, for example, any of thetips from today, if it's too
complicated for you and youdon't know how to approach it,
because today was a bit of adifferent episode.
(48:25):
These were a bit of moreadvanced tips, but they
definitely work, and if you needsome help incorporating this
into your business, then I candefinitely help you with that.
So just send an email, get intouch, and I'll do my best to be
there for you guys.
So thank you very much forjoining another episode of the
Clever DJ.
I'll see you next week.
Stay clever.
(49:05):
We'll see you next time.
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