Let’s Start a Home-Based DJ Business! Part 2: Let’s Start a DJ Business!
Learn about the joys—and downfalls—of being your own boss. I know, I know—you’re here to learn the inside track to succeeding specifically in the DJ business, so this might seem like repetition—but trust me. You’ll want to learn how to be the consummate self-employed professional—alongside how to “hit the decks” like a pro.
Last week in Part 1: Do what You Love, Love What you do, you go a taste of what it takes to run a profitable and satisfying DJ business from your home. This time around, just for a second, let’s forget what kind of business you’re starting and talk about self- employment in general. Starting a business is a really difficult task—one that eats up and swallows many well-meaning people every year. What does being self-employed mean to you? To some, it’s a chance to abandon a desk that they’ve lived behind for one day too long. For others, it’s being able to write their own schedule while following a passion. And for some, self-employment can even be an effective survival tactic in this turbulent economy that’s consumed so many good jobs the last few years. Flexibility is one of the main benefits of being your own boss!
Starting your own DJ business is going to be hard. But keep this in mind: Even though you’re going into an in-demand and constantly evolving business where you’re going to have a lot of fun, there’s also a lot of hard work behind the scenes. There’s a reason why the other self-employed people I know are some of the toughest people anywhere: It’s going to be a lot of hours of work, a lot of time sitting around waiting for your customers to start pouring in, and adjusting to both the benefits and the drawbacks of being self-employed, even part-time, isn’t going to be easy, either.
This week, you’ll learn about the joys—and downfalls—of being your own boss. I know, I know—you’re here to learn the inside track to succeeding specifically in the DJ business, so this might seem like repetition—but trust me. You’ll want to learn how to be the consummate self-employed professional alongside how to “hit the decks” like a pro.
Is a Small Business Profitable?
Being a small business owner isn’t easy, especially because the financial success of your business is directly tied into the hard work you put into your business daily. But how much money can you expect to make from your new business? Well, that’s up to you, how good your business’s product is, and how well that monetizes with your market’s demand for your product.
According to Payscale.com, the average small business owner reports an income between $36,000 and $75,000 per year. Some make substantially more, and many make less.
How Long Will Starting Your Business Take?
Impatient already? That’s not a good sign as a new small business owner! According to About.com’s business law expert Jean Murray, the average small business, based in a home, requiring no bank loan and no large equipment purchases can be ready to open for business in as little as two months; businesses that require more infrastructure generally require longer—six months to a year or longer. Generally, the thing that takes the longest is also the most important: obtaining financing for your new business.
Self-Employment and You
My first months of being a self-employed person were a disaster. I’m not afraid to admit that—we all start somewhere, right? Somewhere between waking up past noon every day and not showering until sometime immediately before dinner, I realized that I wasn’t living the life of a self-employed person—I was acting as though I was living the life of somebody who’s got independent wealth and a reason to sit around and be unproductive. Being self-employed isn’t easy, and it takes a lot more work than you might think.
Being successful as a self-employed person means a lot of discipline. It means a lot of hard work and a lot of behind-the-scenes hassle that’s not nearly as much fun as being a DJ. Learning your right combination of what makes your business run successfully while providing you, personally, with a high level of satisfaction is something that will likely take some time. It’s also highly dependent upon your personal situation, so there’s no one-size-fits-all cure. Keep your head in the game, and you’ll find success a lot easier to come by.
Are You Ready to be a DJ?
How long have you been interested in being a DJ with your own small business? How much experience do you have behind the decks? According to one survey of self-employed business owners, 65 percent have more than ten years’ experience when it comes to their chosen field; 37 percent of those people have almost twenty years of experience. Self-employment has room for people of all skill levels but keeps your skills as sharp as possible.
Competing with other small businesses means a lot of brainpower out there—along with a lot of ambitious businesspeople like you trying to make a living with something they love best.
Balancing Work and Family
Before becoming self-employed, you should ask yourself about your personal priorities. Starting your own business, even one as fun as a DJ business, can mean a lot of work, and a lot of time away from home. Depending on your clientele, your schedule will change a lot; you might be DJing a corporate party one afternoon followed by weddings throughout the weekend—all night long. And don’t forget the set-up and tear-down time that will come with every gig, too—that’s where you start adding on the real time-consuming activities.
One of the reasons why most self-employed individuals choose this path for themselves is their family obligations. Whether you’ve got kids or aging relatives to care for or are just looking forward to being able to plan on more time to spend with your significant other, being self-employed can give the flexibility you seek. Being your own boss is an amazing, liberating experience—but it’s also one that’ll scare the pants off of you when you realize just how much work is involved. Just keep this in mind: Finding that right balance is going to be hard, and it’s going to take a lot of work. Don’t let that discourage you! Being able to properly balance work and family as a newly self-employed person will be a huge key to your overall happiness and success in your new venture.
Although it’s safe to say that most of your work will take you outside the home, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that you’ll be doing—and being able to cope with having work and family so close together is an issue that many self-employed people have to deal with. Not having a separation between your personal life and your work life can be stressful—and it’s something that can kill relationships even if you thought that going self-employed would have the opposite effect.
So, as a newly self-employed person, how can you make sure that your family life and your newfound work responsibilities don’t clash? I asked several of my self- employed friends, and we came up with the checklist on page 5 based on our experiences. Remember that every situation is unique—but these are some general rules that some successful self-employed people live by.
What “Self-Employed” Really Means
Where did you come from before deciding to start your own DJ business? What line of work were you in? Being newly self-employed means juggling a lot of things— discipline, as we talked about earlier, being the biggest of them. If you’re coming into the land of the self-employed after time working behind a desk or mastering a trade, you’ve probably gotten used to the daily 9-to-5 grind that comes with those types of jobs. You’ve also undoubtedly gotten used to the fact that you’re easily able to leave work at work; after your quitting time rolls around, you clock out, and that’s it until tomorrow. And what about the amazing benefits of working a salaried job—health insurance, steady paychecks, and all the other benefits that you’ll surely miss when they’re not there. Those benefits, and the overall stability of having a “real” job, go right out the window the day you open your business, and all of that responsibility for keeping the ship sailing smoothly falls directly on your shoulders—if you don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. Sure, it’s a heck of a lot of pressure for one person, but that’s par for the course.
Being self-employed, even in such an energetic, fun business as DJing, means you’ve got to take everything head-on. It also means becoming an expert at managing your time and resources in ways you never would have thought necessary. There’s a lot to do behind the scenes to make sure your business runs smoothly: (click here for a checklist for managing your time)
Take care of advertising and marketing, including social and industry networking; this is one of the easiest things to do in today’s Internet-based advertising world, but don’t let it fool you! Marketing still takes time and a lot of patience.
Be your own paralegal, which includes taxes and local business law.
Dedicate time to customer service, from quotes and specs for potential clients to customer complaints (yes, we all have them).
Manage your business’s complex finances, including billing clients.
Being a full-time self-employed person has another complication: Those benefits that come from being employed by a large business suddenly disappear—and your family might depend on them. Whether you were working in the IT industry with its famous officewide perks or just receiving a nice salary, retirement savings, and health-care insurance from a local or regional company, your benefits package is likely to change. Being self-employed means that you’re going to have to find (and fund) your own benefits, and this can be a daunting task. We’ll talk more about specific aspects later—including the big-ticket items such as retirement savings and health insurance—but rest assured that even the biggest tech company with in-house dog walkers and gourmet lunch-hour chefs can’t, ultimately, hold up to being able to set your own schedule, do work on your outdoor patio on a nice day, or simply take a well-deserved day off in the middle of a stressful week if your resources allow it—without having to ask the boss.
Being self-employed isn’t for the faint-hearted, and it isn’t for everybody—but the rewards can be outstanding if you’re able to put the work into it. And although a certain amount of freedom comes from self-employment, it’s also a ton of responsibility. So, how confident are you that being self-employed is right for you? I’m sure that you, as an aspiring professional DJ, are eager to dive in and get started. But keep this in mind: Running a small business isn’t for everybody. It takes a specific motivation to stay on task and run your business’s finances properly.
Are you ready for self-employment? Click here for a Self-Employment Worksheet.
Knowing When to Quit—And the Risks of Not Listening
Although we’re optimistically starting to talk about the rewards of being a full-time self-employed person, there’s also a lot of risk, the biggest of which is financial devastation from failure. I’ve seen it happen, and I’ve been lucky to not have experienced it myself. Knowing when to quit is one of the biggest things you need to know before starting your own business.
I know, I know—it’s depressing to even think about at this early stage in the game. You’re filled with optimism and a newly found fire to hit the streets with your new DJ business. But keep this in the back of your mind: You should always set a goal for yourself and stick to it. If you can’t meet your goals, and you’re falling behind financially and emotionally, it’s probably time to step back—and you should always develop your endgame way before it ever becomes necessary. Letting a small business fall into neglect can mean a lot of bad things for you, personally—it can ruin your credit, it can leave you in financial ruin, and it can leave you with a lot of problems if you should want to open a business again in the future.
Be Optimistic!
Later we’ll talk about developing that business endgame—what happens when it’s time to pack it up. For now, though, let’s start putting together your DJ business—with an optimistic eye to the future. Just keep in the back of your mind what your quitting point is—the point where your new business is more burden than it’s worth and where you’ll need to consider closing up shop. Having this in mind will make that hard decision easier if the time should come.
[From, How to Start a Home-based DJ Business by Joe Shambro available on Amazon.com]
Next Week: Part 3: Why Is a DJ Business Such a Good Idea?
There are thousands of professional DJs around the world, and it’s no secret that pro-level DJing is a multimillion-dollar industry. If you want to grab your piece of the DJ market, there’s a lot of work you have to do to officially set up your business…
Until next time, keep learning, keep practicing, keep building, and keep growing!
Questions?
If you have other questions along the way, which you undoubtedly will, you can certainly email them to me at info@djkwah.com. I’ll try to respond right away.
DJ K. Wah! playing at a sweet sixteen
WHO IS DJ K. WAH!?
DJ K. Wah! is the owner and operar of DJ K. Wah! Entertainment which is currently a professional mobile disc jockey operation serving the New York City area. DJ K. Wah! Entertainment offers the best quality music, top-of-the-line equipment, emcee and line dance routines. Music genres include Mainstream and current hits, House and Gospel House music, 70's, 80's, 90's music, Rock and Alternative Rock music, Reggae & Dancehall, Soca, Calypso, Salsa, Cumbia, Merengue, and Bachata.
DJ K.Wah Entertainment also provides a variety of lighting, sound, and video services to help make your event a success! Contact us to discuss options that best suit your event.
DJ K.Wah! Entertainment has provided entertainment for many and varying venues including Bronx Museum of the Arts, Nuyorican Cafe, The City University of New York, New, Boogie on the Boulevard, Parkchester PEP for Seniors, Gennaro’s Catering Hall, Alhambra Ballroom, Tropical 128, The Grand Slam Ballroom, Numerous weddings, engagement parties, baby showers, birthdays, and outdoor events within New York City, New Jersey, Long Island, AND EVEN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!
Contact K. Wah! Entertainment
Business Line: 347.640.4529
Email: info@djkwah.com
Website: www.djkwah.com
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