The DJ business continued to grow in popularity as I continued to leverage my perfectly crafted Craigslist ads. Being able to advertise on the site was amazing (seriously, when is the last time Craigslist got a shoutout?! Thank you Craigslist!).
Reviews = GOLD.
The absolute best marketing tool is reviews. When you’re looking to buy a new anything these days, the reviews should be the first place you visit on a website. What do other people think of the product? I owe much of my success to testimonials from happy clients.
After each gig, I made sure to send a follow-up congratulatory email and ask for a review.
I also started getting a lot of word of mouth advertising through referrals from past clients, guests that attended weddings I performed at and event venues. For a few years I also paid for a small advertising subscription through WeddingWire which proved to be a successful advertising opportunity for me and also provided me with a popular platform to house over 60 reviews from clients. Those reviews became an amazing sales tool and I was reassured for brides to hear from other brides’ perspective on why they should choose my services.
I used reviews and polished positioning points for why I was the best DJ someone could hire, and it worked! The thrill of getting bookings for my service was so exciting! I had all of the work I could have ever wanted. I would meet with many couples for a sales consultation, but once I got busy with a demanding full time day job and having kids, found a way to master the close over email and only sometimes phone if needed. I also learned an elementary yet important and foundational concept of supply and demand. There were only so many peak Saturday dates to have a wedding in Minnesota and I was set on maximizing my earnings through finding the right balance of price and availability.
My wife Megan was along for the ride with me and often came with me to the gigs. When I ask her why in the world she spent many of her college Friday and Saturday nights hanging out with me at stranger’s weddings, she says that was her only chance to hang out with me. I totally hit the jackpot in the wife department, but that is a story for another blog post.
We kept this up for over a decade! When we had our daughter in 2015 at the age of 25, we scaled things back significantly, but still typically did at least a couple of events per month throughout most of our twenties. Owning a DJ business is surprisingly hard work! Hours of preparation goes into planning the details and organizing the music for each event, it also takes a couple of hours before and after the event to setup, take down and haul heavy equipment. Giving up so many weekends was definitely a sacrifice (at least it kept me out of trouble some of the time) and I did not get to do much traveling during my twenties which I do regret, but it was all worth it. It was rewarding and I had a ton of fun. I also earned a great income that contributed to paying off Megan’s student loans, buying two investment properties and getting huge head start on saving for retirement.
Now, let’s be real, it would not be very probable to get rich off of being a wedding DJ alone but you can make an amazing income in relation to the amount of hours you have to work. Toward the end, I had increased my price for weddings from $495 to $1,195 and $1,695 with the photo booth. Depending on how many events you are able and willing to do, you can definitely earn an additional $2,000 to $5,000 per month depending on the season/demand. Over the course of the year an extra $30,000-$50,000 of income is enough to make a meaningful impact in your financial life. It can cover your mortgage payment, help you save for your children’s education or retirement, live a rich life and splurge on things that are important to you and help you. We were fortunate enough to be able to do all of those things and I will be forever grateful for the experience and opportunity it provided. When we found out that we were having our third child, we decided it was time to at least temporarily retire from the DJ business, but do still have the itch to find something equally as rewarding to replace it with.
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