How to Become a Full Time DJ
1. Treat it as Business
As you become better at your craft, you need to start thinking of yourself as a brand and a business. According to Google, the term Business also refers to the organized efforts and activities of individuals to produce and sell goods and services for profit. No matter how good you are, you need to have structures around your craft to allow you to be in business. For example: Have solid contracts because you are helping someone else with your DJ services in exchange for monetary value and you need to protect yourself and the client.
The barrier to entry is very low in the DJ arena. If you can set yourself apart from the rest by operating like a business, you will be 10 steps ahead already.
2. Find a way to stand out from the pack
It’s easy to get lost in the sea of your peers, but what can you do to set you apart from the rest?
Study your Brand!!!
What attracted your past customers to you?
What are your brands’ colors?
How is your offer or service different from the rest?
These are examples of questions to help you get the ball rolling to identify ways to set you apart from the rest. Customers don’t always see any difference between you and the next person. So, it is your full-time job to find ways to do things so you can attract the right people.
3. Figure out who your ideal client is
As you get more experience in the business, you will soon realize a few things. You will realize that you enjoy working with a certain type of client and enjoy doing a certain type of events. Once you realize what those are for you, it will help you to attract more and more of those people. You will be able to study them, figure out where they hang out, what they like and how to attract them. Not everybody will be your client. You must learn how to say “no” when you are dealing with a client type that you do not enjoy working with. If you feel unable to serve a client to the best of your ability, pass them along to another DJ.
4. Attract the right clientele to your pipeline
The way you market yourself and represent your brand online will attract a certain clientele to you and what you have to offer. A large corporation is usually looking for someone with experience, expertise and easy to work with. If you present yourself as a professional in person and from the look and feel of your website, social media posts and more, businesses will come to you. As long as you make it easy to find you.
5. Business Insurance
Having insurance will protect you and your assets from unforeseeable liabilities. As you begin to grow, you are also exposing yourself to more liabilities. So, take care of your nest egg and get your business insured.
6. Create a Legal Business Entity
Take the legal step to set up a business. I am not a legal adviser but if you want to be a business and run like one, you need to be set up as one. You can talk to a company like Legal Zoom for legal counsel.
7. Don’t Mix Business Financial with personal Financial
Once you are set up as a legal business, the next step is to separate your personal bank account from your business account. I am not an accounting but you will thank me later if you don’t mix up those two. Educate yourself on what is a business expense and what is not.
8. Know your numbers! (Personal expenses, Business Expenses, Margins and Revenue.
If you want to stay in business you need to know your numbers. The worst feeling is when you are bringing in revenue but you cannot track where it all goes. Tracking your expenses and revenue will fix that. Every month you will understand where you are standing. A lot of business owners are so focus on the day to day task of running the business and they don’t take time to analyze their numbers. If you can do that you will be able to figure out your margin and price your service accordingly.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I will personally respond to all them. As always if you haven’t done so, make sure to subscribe and follow me on all my social, Handle: DJJoune
I am a Professional DJ located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah Jazz DJ My service includes: Private event, corporate event, wedding. If you have any questions about this process I would love to help. Feel free to contact me.