Business of the Week 02/10/2010

So, once, when I got stuck with no job, I was looking for anything to bring in money. I checked with temp services, called every person I know, checked online sites, and newspaper ads, and on and on and on. And, of course, the whole time, I’m a single mom. No child support, and desperately needing quick cash. Not just extra money, but survival money.

Amazingly enough, what tided me through was actually a lot of fun, too.

Now, keep in mind, I had lost one job, and gotten another where I was injured and extremely limited on what I could do. I had injured both wrists, and sometimes couldn’t even use my hands.

But, one thing that rarely bothered me was using a computer.

So, this friend of mine is a mobile dj. I went to several of her gigs as a lowly chaperone/cleanup type person when I was so desperate I would do almost anything for gas. Then she started trusting me to be her backup when she needed to check on people or take a break. Eventually, she decided I was trustworthy enough to do my own shows. So, I loaded up my laptop with some tunes, rented speakers from her, arranged to pay for rental after the gig, and set out on my own. Oh, and I dragged my kid along with me to some of the teen parties. Not only was she a huge help with hauling speakers and taping wires, she got to meet lots of new kids, and look cool in the dj booth, too.

The good thing about this? Tons of fun if you can get along with people for a few hours at a time, like music, and are reasonably outgoing. And you can charge between $150 and $700 per event. You get paid at the end of the party, too, so it’s an instant paycheck!

A few tips I learned:

• Preview,Preview,Preview!
  • Always preview your tunes. If you don’t like to get paid, make sure you have the “f” word right in the middle of a song. If you like to get paid, and want to go for a quick, casual event, try teen parties. No bad words allowed, though, and parents don’t like to pay up if they hear bad language. And, they will never, ever use your service again.
  • Another reason to preview: Remixes. These go over well at certain types of events, but sometimes you run into a 9 minute remix of a 2 minute song. And the intro is 3 minutes of drums. Especially if there are people dancing, this does not go over well! You don’t want to have people staring at you saying “What is this? This is terrible!” When they were just having the time of thrie lives-until you screwed up.
  • Depending on the quality of your cd or download site, you could have weird tones or blank spaces in songs. They are always noticeable. Stick with legitimate sites like iTunes if you download, and double check any tunes you pull from a cd.
• Dress appropriately for the event.
  • The way you dress will vary from a teen pool party to a wedding reception. Dress nicely for the reception, and check with the parent who is paying for a teen party.
  • If you are not sure, always ASK. Most people want the dj to be heard, not necessarily seen. But, you will have to do the occasional announcement and take the occasional request, so even if you’re at a casual event, wear nice, clean clothes.
  • Always keep in mind that you are responsible for setup and breakdown of your equipment. So, skip the really tight pants and short skirts-sometimes you end up crawling around on the ground to hide your wires!
  • Shoes-some of us can comfortably wear 3 inch heels for hours at a time, but not everyone! You generally have to stand behind a booth or table, so wear comfortable shoes.
• Equipment
  • I always rented speakers and a mixer. These are essential.
  • Dual deck cd player or laptop.
    • I always ran my show from a laptop computer, eliminating the need to carry in crates of cds. I also took a backup computer, and a portable hard drive with copies of songs, just in case. You can buy a used laptop for about $100 on eBay that will do the job, and the hard drive for as little as $30 from someplace like geeks.com.
    • The Dual deck cd player may be better for you if you have an extensive cd collection. My friend has been in the business for years, and prefers cds. (I also like to carry less stuff:)You would plug the player into a mixer, which also has jacks for microphones and speakers.
  • Mixer-A must have for everybody! Use it to fine tune your speaker’s balance,volume, bass, etc. It’s less of a load on a laptop, and faster changes to the sound. Same applys for the cd deck.
  • Microphone- another must have. If you are running from a laptop, you can get a cheap USB mike for around $8.00, or a nicer wireless one for about $40. Try announcing the bride and groom without one. It doesn’t work very well.
  • Speakers-You have GOT to have these!  Rent them ,or buy them used, but don’t ever use the ones from your home stereo! And don’t get the tiny ones, even though they may put out a lot of sound. When people are paying you to play music, they need to see that you are bringing in things they don’t have access to. You come in with those cute Bose 3×3 inch speakers, your sound could be great, but whoever is paying tends to think ” I could do that, the speakers in my living room are bigger than that!” Not good for repeat business. May even end up with a gig cut short.
  • Lights-Get a light bar, unless the place you will be at already has built in lights. (Some theaters or event halls will already have lights you can use.) A couple of spots are good to have, and definitely have the lights that are sound-sensitive, and go on and off in time with the music. They are inexpensive, and much easier than trying to keep up with music and run a light board and take requests and keep the kids from dancing on top of the speakers while you are talking about appropriate music with mom…
• People-
  • Well, you may have just gotten the idea this gets hectic sometimes!The hectic part is usually fairly easy to handle as long as you have previewed music beforehand. Cuts down on anger from the people paying you.
  • Get a song list in advance-if at all possible, have the client send you a list of songs they would like you to have on hand at least a week before the gig.
  • Have fun-if you do this, it actually makes the party run much more smoothly! The parents, bride and groom, kids, and everybody will like you much better if you are halfway having fun, and you are nice to everybody that has a request.

Wondering how much to charge? Check on what other djs in your area are charging. I used to charge at least $200 for a casual 4 hour event, such as a teen dance. If you are good at marketing and chasing down leads, this could turn into a very nice source of extra money for you.