Six Essential Tips for Building a Successful DJ Business

Always Meet With Your Clients Before Every Event

Meeting your clients before the event is one of the most important things you can do when starting your DJ business.

A lot of DJs make the mistake of not doing this. You might be booking gigs through websites or different little services where you're not the most expensive DJ in the world, and a lot of gigs can kind of just fall on your lap.

You're booking it via email, it's real easy, you get the $100 deposit and you keep it pushing. But if you don't meet with the client and figure out what their unique expectations are, you're going to be in trouble.

No matter what type of event it is, you want to have some type of meeting with the client — whether it's over the phone, on a Zoom call, or in person. Take notes. Ask them questions. Ask them what their expectations are and what their vision is for the event.

Make sure you lay all that out so you know what to do when the event comes up. Not all events are alike. You don't want to generalise all the events to be the same.

You want to have a unique game plan for every single event so you can do the best job possible — and hand out more cards and continue to build that business.

Time Management and Streamlining Your Business

Time is the most valuable asset, and you want to have things in place to streamline your business so you don't get burned out.

When you're running a business there's a lot of busy work — those mundane tasks that are just repetitive and time-consuming and just not fun to do at all. You want systems in place so you can spend time doing the fun part of the business, the stuff you actually like to do.

Practice Your Craft — Talent Is Everything

Practice kind of goes without saying, but trust me, you need to practice.

I've seen so many businesses that have amazing business models, amazing branding, amazing marketing — everything on paper. The way you look, the website, social media — it's like wow, they look great. But they end up failing because they didn't have enough talent, because the owner wasn't a good DJ or didn't have good DJs working under them.

You have to practice. If you're the owner of your business, you've got to set the precedent. You've got to be that guy or girl. You have to be good, you have to constantly perfect your craft and constantly get better.

Don't sleep on talent, because at the end of the day everything revolves around it. Talent is number one. That's all that matters.

When I say practice, I mean practice at home — not at your gigs. A big tip with that is to make it as easy as possible for you.

I found that I'm more willing to practice if I have a setup just ready to go in my house at all times. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but have some type of DJ setup ready to go at all times with a little speaker — so all you have to do is turn it on and practice whenever you want.

Because otherwise, if you've got to set a whole thing up, you're going to talk yourself out of it — if you're anything like me anyway.

Manage Your Money Properly and Plan for Taxes

Managing your money properly goes for every single aspect of your business — including your taxes, how much you're making, and your write-offs.

You have to keep track of everything. I waited way too long to keep track of all this stuff and it bit me in the ass year after year. I've been behind on taxes and all that stuff — it's just a nightmare.

Keep track of every little dollar you make and every little dollar you spend. Maybe have a separate credit card for all your business expenses. Just figure out your own systems.

I'm not a financial guru — I'm not going to sit here and tell you what to do. But definitely have a plan. If you're just willy-nilly collecting checks and at the end of the year you're like "oh damn, I owe that much" — trust me, it'll bite you in the ass one day.

Buy Equipment That Will Last You

Buy equipment that will last you, and don't get caught up buying new stuff every year.

The truth of the matter is, if you want to run an efficient business and not waste a bunch of money, the best thing to do is have really good equipment that's going to last you a long time. Then you milk it — you get your money out of it.

Before you buy any new equipment, always do an analysis of how many gigs it's going to take you to pay that equipment off. How many times do you have to sell this particular enhancement until it's paid off? Make sure it's worth it.

For example, if you're going to buy a projector for a monogram — how much are you selling the monogram for? How much is the projector? What's your profit? How long until you get it back — within a year, within six months, or is it going to take you a couple years?

Figure out if it's worth it for you. Do that every single time. Don't get caught up in the hype.

Make Content a Priority — It Will Get You Booked

Content is everything, and more and more as the years go by, it all comes down to the content.

These young couples stay the same age — we keep getting older, but the couples stay the same age. And they rely on social media to basically act as your resume.

A lot of OG DJs might tell you "I'm all referral, I don't need to do Instagram — it's all about referrals and handing out cards." Referrals are of course still a thing. But I will argue that nowadays, if you get a referral and it's a younger couple — they're 28 years old planning their wedding, 31 years old planning their wedding — the first thing they will do is Google you.

The first thing they will do is look for your Instagram, look for your Facebook, look for your YouTube, look for any type of content that can give them more of what they're looking for. They want to see themselves at one of your weddings. That's why it's so, so important.

Not only that, it will help get you couples if you put out a lot of content. Don't worry about going viral — worry about putting out great content that represents the best parts of what you do.

So what do you do best? Are you a great MC? Are you a great DJ? Are you a great song selector? Are you a great mixer? Do you scratch really well? What are your skill sets — what do you do best?

Make content around that. And don't be scared to teach other people. Don't be scared to give up the sauce.

Couples will even watch DJ tip videos just to see if they agree with you. If you're like "hey, I hate line dances, this is why" — or "hey, you should hand out glow sticks early, this is why" — couples will see that and either agree or disagree.

But if they agree, a lot of times they're going to hit you up and say "hey, we'd like you to do our wedding — we kind of vibe, we're on the same page." Any type of content you do will translate to bookings one way or another.

So just prioritise making content around your business. Trust me. Do not sleep on this.

Summary: Six Tips for Building a Successful DJ Business