How Private Event DJs Stay Ready For Anything

Welcome, Patreon, And DJ Collective

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Welcome back, everybody, to Beyond the DJ Booth, your favorite podcast in the entire world. You're number one in your favorites. Yeah. The Private Event DJ Podcast. I'm Joe Bunn. That is Brian Bonacisi. Brian Keith Bonacisi. Wow, you remembered. You always ask me my middle name. Leon is what I thought it was the other day. Then I was like, no, I think it's Keith. I think Gary would be good. Gary? Yeah. Gary. It sounds like a dog, bro. No, that's no way. I ain't never met a dog named Gary.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Episode five. Episode five, season eight. Season eight? We're doing it. We're getting closer and closer to the hundredth episode ever of Beyond the DJ. We're like couple off. Okay. So that'll we gotta think of something to do good for that, by the way. Yeah. I don't know what we're gonna do, but we'll come up with something. Uh well, let's talk about our Patreon for a hot second. We got uh back room, is what we call it. Why are these people always from crazy places? We got the latest shout-out, another international guy? I mean, we're international, bro. Think about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Name that city, by the way. Uh that's what I'm saying. Nicholas Trimblay from Magog. Magog? It's not Magebec, it's not Magie Maglob. Magog, bro.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Magog biblical.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Is it Magog, Quebec, Canada? Shout out Canada.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Do you know your Canadian geography? No. I'm wondering if it's I can't I know that Toronto is up west, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Like above Maine, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Is it? Oh, so it's east.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Ontario's east.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

I know that.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

I know like British Columbia, like Whistler, where I skied before. That's West. Right. That's the only thing I know.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

What's right above like New York or whatever? That's Ontario, right? Yeah, Toronto. Toronto.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Ontario.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Shout out to six. Quebec. Six God. Okay. Man, what if we're what if we're totally off? Six.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

We don't even know what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

No, I know Whistler's on the West.

unknown 2:13

Jeez.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Oh shit. DJ Collective announcement.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

The DJ Collective is coming up November 16th through 18th in Raleigh, North Carolina. You have to be here. Four months from now. Yeah. When this drops. Yeah. You have to be here. Like, what are you doing? If you haven't gotten a ticket, it's the DJ CollectiveOfficial.com. What do we got today? My guy, the general session DJ on stage. The best energy, the best smile.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Is he going to wear the glasses? I see him with glasses every almost every year. The dark glasses.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

No, it's meta. It's meta. He's the meta king. I told him that the other day. He has mastered the art of DJ content with the meta glasses.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

I'm going that far. But they're look like sunglasses. Well, they make the uh I don't know. Okay. I guarantee he's got them on. Okay. I bet he doesn't even need prescription. He seems young enough to not be able to do that. Anyway, DJ Nick Nystrom, all the way from Iowa? I think you're right. Idaho.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

I think it's Iowa.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

It's Iowa. Iowa. Shout out Iowa. Yeah. Iowa. Your boy Rhodes is from Idaho. That's right. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Eric Rhodes, Idaho. Yeah, he is. I think Iowa. My boy, Nick Nystrom. Nick Nystrom in the building. All right. So please stop dicking around. Get your ticket. The prices are going to go up closer to the show.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

We'll see you in Raleigh. Hey, real quick, Joe, should we explain the back room or just let people figure it out? I think we should explain. All right. It's our Patreon. We call it the back room, a community for you, our listeners, the booth heads. And if you're not in there, you are missing a ton of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Things like bonus episodes, exclusively recorded monthly for backroom members. Plus the tracks that we pull that actually work for the events when we play them and when you play them. Early bashed episodes. Giveaways. Look, we have the good stuff there, not junk. We're not going to email you some sticker.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

And it's $19.99 a month. For now.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yeah, for now. Go to patreon.com beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. Again, Patreon.com slash Beyond the DJ Booth Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Join us and our booth head community in the back room. Let's hit the pop culture minute. Let's do it. Brian B. Jobon. Dropping heat just for fun.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Pop talk spinning like a wreck of spine.

unknown 4:39

Woo!

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Pop culture clash where the stories collapse. Two DJs bringing the flavor world wild.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Alright, I didn't do too well on the last one with the DJ edition, so we'll go with the uh wedding edition. Okay, alright. This is just stuff that's popping off that I'm seeing on the socials. And uh a lot of um cake stuff is happening. And I've actually seen one of these, not to this extent that this is like over the top, okay. But I'm seeing cake cuts coming back. Yeah. It's a little different, okay? So check this one out.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

What are those berries? They're making the cake in person. It's like a flat cake, and they're making it together like in real time. Which is an interesting cake. What are those berries? Yeah, they're berries. Parfait?

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Is it a parfait or a cake?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Yeah,

Wedding Trends With Cakes And Snacks

SPEAKER_00 5:48

but it is a cake. It is a cake. It is a cake, yeah. Check this out other one out. Okay. Again, there's there's definitely sound on this. Oh, I saw this one. They're putting all that dust on there.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Look at this thing. Ah, dang. What is that? A cannoli? Tiramisu. I love tiramisu.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

I like that angle too. What a cool moment. Yeah. Right? Anyways. That's cool. And then this one, we gotta make sure we have sound for this one. Yeah. I don't know why it should be sound. It's weird. Anyway, late night snack. Okay. What do you think that they're burning dogging? Chick-fil-A? Pizza? Yeah, they're just going like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that it's coming in. It's gonna come in a second. It's building anticipation.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Make you watch it longer. Oh, she's stoked. She's stoked. He's stoked. She's hungry. They're like, I can't believe Mickey. Mickey tees. Wow, with the branding. With the branding? Wow. Bootleg branding. Dude, I'm seeing more and more of these kinds of things with the late night snacks that they're bringing in the branded. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

We've definitely seen billet. Yeah. Ice cream. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

I don't know. I'm just, it's things to be pay attention to. Yeah. You know? It's pretty interesting. I don't know how it plays into DJ's. You eat late night like that? Like if you were at a wedding in the city. Actually, that's not true. Trust me, if I haven't eaten my meal, I might go grab it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

No, I'm saying, like, if you're a guest and you had like a nice dinner, which I'm assuming these people probably did.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yeah. I mean, if it's four or five hours later and you've been drinking, yes. Stop it up. Maybe you're right.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Make double, bro.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Maybe you're right. Maybe make double. You got to. Okay. All right. Anyways, I don't know. I didn't really have a point with it. It was just more things I'm just seeing. And just I the cake cut thing is crazy though, because that stuff's coming back. I don't I've had it happen.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

The the cake cutting thing never bothered me in the first place. The only thing that would bother me is if I'm, you know, I'm dancing people for 30, 45 minutes and then they go, Hey, let's do the cake.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Just do it and then let's dance. Because I'm not a fan of the um let's not announce it, but they still do it during dinner. Because then people look over there, they think you like you made a mistake. I'm like, I kind of agree. I'm like, it doesn't serve like do it way early or do it lately. Don't do it like actually go somewhere. Right. If it's in the main room, it makes you look like you made a mistake.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Yeah, that you didn't announce it.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Hey, face announce it. Yeah. I'm not supposed to. I'm pointing to my D my event sync planner. Let's do it. Shameless plug for that. If you're still sending your couples a bunch of forms and emails trying to collect event info, or if you have wedding planners sending you a 10-page PDF, you already know how messy that gets. Event sync is something we've been building for the past year to fix that. One place for all your event details, timelines, communication, everything. No more chasing people down, no more missing info. Stop spending hours prepping for events. Stop spending hundreds of dollars a month on multiple apps. Check out geteventsync.com and get in on founders pricing right now. That's geteventsync.com.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

So it's story time.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Bro, you went on tour.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Man was gone for two weeks. Two weeks. Did your family know you when you got back? Yeah, I mean, I got the I had to get the sign off that I could be gone that long. Because this is summertime. I know. Kids home. I know. It's a little rough. She did hit that basketball camp though. Yeah, that was a that was a last minute ad. Yeah. But uh we went together to New York City. Yeah, we did. And uh man, you had a baller suite out there. And I had a it's fun to go. We I got to hang out with Drew Pierce and even Steve. Even Steve's living there.

EventSync And Timeline Clean Up

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Drew Pierce claims he's moving there. Yeah. And then from I even had a good time, man. Yeah, it was great. And you know, I don't like that place, and I had a great time. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah. From there went to Tucson, did a corporate gig. Tuscon is how you spelled it on there, but we're gonna let that slide.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Okay. Uh, and then we moved to Florida for two weddings. Yeah. So went West Coast all the way east coast. Yep. Then went all the way back to Hawaii. Oh shit. For the engaged conference. Yeah. That was a long ass day, by the way, that travel day. Oh my God, so long. And then you have impression socks on? I did. I forgot them. Jesus. Swelled up like a crazy guy. The cankles, man. The cankles were in full effect.

Two Weeks Of Travel And Gigs

SPEAKER_00 10:23

And I go all the way back to meet you in uh Newburn airport.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Boy, that place is a bit. The plane was bigger than the building.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

I don't know what made you say that.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Because I was like, by the time I get to Raleigh, it was gonna be late, like six o'clock. I might as well just go a little bit further so I can be closer to the beachhouse.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

We came there from the beach to the beach. I picked him up.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yeah, and then we just were only 40 minutes from the beach house. So it worked out perfect. We still made dinner. We still made a reservation.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Oh man. Let me put you this one. One terminal. Yeah, one terminal, one three. One terminal, one conveyor. Yeah, one conveyor. Uh I had an aisle and a window. See, that's how small the plane was. So I was like, I was like, because I paid for first class the whole way. Uh you know, because you're going that long haul, you got to. Yeah. And then there's no first class. Everybody's got a first class seat on this plane. Basically, my man was like 12. Uh, it was 12 seater or 16, maybe it was 16. Not many. But that was just from Charlotte. From Charlotte. Charlotte and But good gigs, all around, good, good events, and um, they all they all were a lot to do. Um, but they're all good. And then you were on the road, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Oh, well, where did I go?

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Well, you went to New York first. Yeah. I went to New York. Well, I went but circle back. You went to Columbus, Ohio. I did. Saw our girl, Dana.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

I did see Dana. Dana is doing as well as she can. Shout out, Dana. Yep. If you haven't been following her journey, she's awesome. Follow her. Dana Solomon. One of two speakers. That was nuts. I did not know. I thought everybody That's when you know you've made it, bro. When you're on the Everybody was gonna stand up and say something nice about Dana. And then it was Access. You know him. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. And he's like, All right, uh Joe, come on up. And I was like, Oh, okay, I'll be the lead-off. Like, I'm I'll I'll just take one for the team, you know. And I just kind of said a few words.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

I'm like, Did you have it prepared or off the dome?

SPEAKER_01 12:17

I'll just no, off the dome. Nothing on like paper or anything. I was just like, you know, Dana fighter, and no, I didn't chat it. I just I just I just from the heart, yeah. It was short, short, short. Yeah, yeah. It was three minutes, yeah, whatever. And then Dana's sister, she has a lot. I don't know. Yeah. Three sisters plus her, four girls. And then her sister, and then it was just like, all right, let's dance for a little while. And I'm like, oh shit, it was just like us two. Yeah. One of them being her actual blood related and me. So I felt like I'd made it. Um but it was a great event, man. They definitely had some raffles. A bunch of people brought stuff to raffle. Yeah. I won nothing, but they raised a bunch of money. Um I mean, it was broad daylight still. We danced a little bit. It was early. It was like a three to six party. And I think they let us stay an extra hour. And then I went to some steak place before the. How did you like Columbus? Dude, I love Columbus. First, first time going. Whatever that area that I was in called Easton is very, very nice. Cool. Like elite, like Fenton. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like totally. But but even nicer stores. Gucci, Chanel, like restaurant I ate lunch in was fantastic. The steakhouse I ate dinner in was fantastic. And then, like you say, got up, went to New York, met you, went to the not gala. Yeah. Elite. We went to the pre-party the night before at the rainbow room, which I've I've never been there. I've never been there. And lived there for 11 years. Not gala, completely over the top. Saw Jan I saw a few other people I know. Some uh Malik was there, some other people we know, some people you've introduced me to. Yeah. Some engaged type people, people that have spoken at the DJ Collective. Uh and then came home. Came home. Did the fitness thing. Did the fitness thing, yep, right. That was for Ashley's Studio Valare. It was like a it wasn't a bikes class because they don't like to move the bikes out of the studio. It was more of a bar class. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Bar. Is it bar or bar A? Bar.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Spell bar A.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Okay. I've heard people say it different ways, maybe because they don't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

I th I thought I think it's bar. She says bar. And she taught about an hour-long class, and I just kind of played the 128 BPM soundtrack for that. Yeah. And that was at the Merriman Wynn House where we had the collective last year. Right. And then Father's Day Weekend. And then Father's Day weekend uh rolled out on Friday morning. Breeze direct to John Wynn Airport, Orange County. Did you get the twists? Yeah, I got the whatever you call that. The Elite package. Still the deal of this entry. It is. And they only fly, I think, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So I rolled in on Friday and then rolled back out yesterday. That's great. I didn't know you were taking them on the way home. That's amazing. It worked out. Yeah. And it left it like one, I got home. Was it full?

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Um, it was full. Both ways.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Yeah. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

I left it one, I got home at nine because you lose three hours.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Yeah. Well, this is the first time you've actually not had to do work really and you got to just kind of hang out. I did, just totally hang out. And you, you, dude, I I laced you up.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

You you did me right, man. And I probably hit 85% of what you said on those on those three days.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

I sent him a full itinerary of things to do with Colin. Took me two hours to put this thing together, bro.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

But you chat, but it was it was chat, it was chat voiced.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

No. That was all me. Yeah. Oh, I thought it's No, I didn't do any chat. Brian B. Excursions. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Because I I I was thinking about No, I knew you didn't on the places, but I thought you had maybe said like I it sounded chat-ish. Really? No, no. Even Colin was like, chat wrote that. And I'm like, no, no, this was your boy. Maybe I've been I haven't I wouldn't do that. He's been using chat so much, he said. Maybe chat. But uh no, because give me the places because you live there for well that and also knowing that Colin's kind of into like fashion and stuff, I was like, he hit all those malls, and they were everyone was like prettier than the next. So that fashion island overlooks the ocean. Oh, I know. I was like, what are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Like, this is nuts. Well, uh, the ones that I I had not been to, or the only one I hadn't been to was the camp. I'd been to the anti-lab, but I he had been there.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Oh, he had been to the anti-lab. He had been there in that one week that he was there. He goes, Oh, I was here the other day because they have a place called Second Street that's like a chain that resells high-end luxury goods.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

And so he had already been there and gotten some boots, but he had not been to the anti-lab. Oh, he hadn't been to the anti-lab. Okay, so I haven't been to the camp. Yeah. Every place you put us on. Rest elite. Elite steakhouse sushi place had me sketched out. I I because that's twice that you've done this. He put me in a sushi place in a strip mall. The second time? Remember, we did it in Florida one time. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I go, bro, I just came all the way to Florida. We're going to and you go, shut the fuck up. Trust me on this. And he was right there in this place again. I'm in the parking lot. I said, Hey, bro, this place is underneath a laundromat. And he goes, You're at the right spot. And then the place beside it is a Mexican place, cranking 150 decibels Mexican karaoke. Oh, and there's a girl wailing on the mic. It's blasting out in the parking lot. I go, This can't be right strip mall. Yes, actual strip mall. And I go, the size of those rolls, if I myself, you know, over this, I'm gonna kill this guy. But the roll, I overdid it. The quality of the is everything okay? Is everything okay? And I go, I just ordered way too much. Yeah, he's not a sushi guy. Oh, yeah. He got the chicken kotsuit. The white, white. I was like, who got the chicken katsu? The fact that he knew what it was is fucking hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

You kick a mare and you get chicken katsu. He did, bro. Yeah, yeah. He would have gotten chicken katsu. I'm telling you though, like that red dragon roll, you don't even know it tastes like sushi. It's like it's almost like a decadent dessert.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

It was it was really, really good. Super fresh. It was super fresh. And I was not worried about getting sick at all. Like, and the vibe was kind of once you walked through the door, I was like, oh, I get this. It's cool. It's weird how it's but in the parking lot. I'm like, yeah, I'm texting, I'm like, yo, this can't be right. He's like, you're there, bro. Go in.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Anyway. Um and then we got something coming up. Well, this was this will already be dropped, but we were talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

We'll just save it. But I but I but uh Brian B was like, hey man, if you're off one weekend, you should just come see how I do things at a wedding. I have a good one coming up July 11th in Florida. Yeah. And I'm like, Breeze Airways, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

So this will be uh the first one you've ever come to a wedding of mine.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Yeah, it'll be good. There's a lot of like crazy stuff happening with this wedding. I'm so stoked about it. It'll be a good one.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

So stoked about it. 150, 200 people.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Ash was trying to make dinner reservations for that night today, and I go, nope. Yeah, me and Brian B. Taking off. Yeah. And then I booked a book the resort for for the pool day, and then we leave at like five on Sunday. Yeah. Yeah. A little sun, a little Viking D. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

A little vitamin. Let's do it. Okay. Uh so let's hit the gear corner.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

The gear's here. The gear. The gear is here. Is here. Is here. Is here. Is here.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Is here.

unknown 19:28

Is here. Is here.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Oh shit. This is one of my finds. This was your find. Oh, you're gonna take the Amazon until you're graded on it. Probably will. I saw, I don't remember where I saw you do it. Where was the beach? I think. Well, you we were dressed up somewhere, and I go, Your your collar's fucked up. Let me put you on. This is what it is. If y'all you don't know about it, I didn't know about it. You better recognize. All right. What is it? We call working stiffs. W U. What a name. U with an umlaut over it. Ooh, you didn't think I knew what that was. I didn't. You know those two dots?

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Um lad.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Yeah. Uh oh. Working stiffs, they're the collar stays. Whatever collar stays that are coming in your dress shirts, they're gonna be plastic. Take them out, throw them in the fucking trash. If you wear open-collared shirts ever. Now, if you're still buttoning up and wearing a tie, don't eat it. Number one, stop doing that because ties are terrible. If you're wearing the open collar, show a little chest hair, right? Go to show taco meat hair. A little taco meat. Replace the collar saves with these. They have a little magnet. So when your collar

Gear Corner With Magnetic Collar Stays

SPEAKER_01 20:38

is outside of your blazer, it doesn't get all like lumpy and fold down in there. It kind of holds it up pop style.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Not pop style, but like it holds it up stout. Yeah. Firm.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Yeah, it's like uh uh what do they put the dry cleaners, you know? They got the whatever. Uh yeah. How much do you think these are? Well, you know.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

They're expensive. I don't really I mean I felt like they were expensive.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Well, maybe uh you get the three pair, so that's two of them for 29 bucks. Okay. I was gonna say 20.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

But I'm like, if they last forever, dude, they last forever, unless you lose them. Right. That's why I know that's why. Normally, even at the dry cleaners, when I leave them in the shirts. Starch is what I was thinking of. Starch. When I leave them in the shirts, they'll take them out and put them in a little baggy. They will? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Because you forget.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

I I rarely forget, but sometimes I'll get I'm so tired and late at night. And then I'll throw it in the laundry bag and take it to the laundry and they'll take them out. Right? But anyway, I just thought it was a great, great find.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Thank you. Yeah, good job.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Hey, Brian B here. Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled podcast, but let's be real. You're here because you actually care about your DJ business. And if you've been nodding along, like, yeah, I should totally step up my game, then let me make it easy for you. I've got a coaching platform, the DJ's Creative Edge, where I help DJs like you stand out, raise their prices without feeling guilty. And actually get paid what they're worth. We're talking one-on-one coaching, a killer course option to help you define your uniqueness, and a group coaching option with other DJs who actually get it. The website, thedyscreativeedge.com. That's the DJ'sCreativeedge.com. Because you know, repetition works. And if you want to just lurk for now, hit up Instagram at the DJ's Creative Edge. All right, back to the show before Joe starts yelling in his extra thick North Carolina accent about how back in his day, DJs used CDs and still had to walk uphill both ways to a gig. Let's hit the question. Question of the day. Question of the day? I'll read it. Tommy George, I'll let you have that last name. Tommy George Kovanitas. Cavanitas.

Coaching To Stand Out And Charge More

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Okay. Greek, I believe. Tommy JK? TJK. TJK? Did you go to the three initials? Instead of M G K? Yeah. T G? Uh, how do you handle being sick and having to find a sub? Also, at what point does it make sense to start using a CRM? Those are two totally different questions.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Tommy, George, Cavanitas. Jeez. Being greedy there, mister. I'm just playing.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Maybe he doesn't have the CRM to see who's available on his team. See, I mean.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

You know what he needs? You know what he needs? I know exactly what he needs. What is it? A little DJ event planner. DJ Eventplanner.com, my boy. At what point does it make sense? Day one. Day one, because you're only going to get bigger.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

Yeah. When did you like jump onto a CRM though? Like how far were you? They weren't out when you started. They were still on tablets. DJ and tablets. They were on. I guarantee it was 20 years ago. I thought you were keeping track on tablets with the city.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Oh no, I definitely had that. You know that Staples calendar that would come out with the big white one. I think Mike Walter used to have the one that would be on his desk. That's what I'm talking about. That's the one I got. And you would flip it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I would like just write some super

Getting Sick Without Wrecking A Gig

SPEAKER_01 24:00

small handwriting in the boxes. But when it was just me, but I mean, even now, like with with Wade phones and technology. Well nowadays, yeah. You you gotta have a CRM from the get-go, Tommy. And and seriously, I would check out DJ Event Planner, and I think that just I don't care where you are in your career. It doesn't say here, but it doesn't matter if it's you, three guys, five guys, even if it was just you for the rest of your career, a CRM is critical for automation and keeping track of leads and everything else. Please just get on it now. Um the thing about being sick and handling a sub or hiring a sub or having a sub, I mean, there's there's two ways that that we would do it. I mean, number one, I think the only sick thing that ever happened was when somebody got COVID and said they had COVID like the day before the wedding. Um and we always have DJs that we keep available. I mean, out of 25 DJs, we are always gonna have, let's call it five that are still gonna be available and we would be able to call last minute. Even if it was they got in a car wreck on the way to the show. Right. Uh my wife uh just you know got in a wreck. Uh I got in a wreck. Like we're always gonna have people on standby. Some companies literally pay, and I think that you've done this before, some guy to be $200 a night, yep, and basically sit there and not start drinking and you know, just be like, hey, watch a movie, yeah, you know, with your wife, and you know, until I don't know whatever time it would be, you know, you you can't do anything until X time. Right. I just let's call it by eight o'clock, you'd know if there was gonna be an emergency or something. But that that's the way we've handled it. I and knock on wood, man. I've been to gigs. Feeling really, really, really bad. I just put out a YouTube video, I think, about two or three weeks ago where we did a we did two days in a row and I was not well. Like I just but I was not gonna cancel. Like I just had a cold. Yeah. I came off the road, I'd been to Midwest DJ's live. I did something else before Midwest Midwest DJ. Oh, I was at Garrety's wedding. Yeah. I'd been around all these people, yeah, and and partying and just and I I just was sick, man. I had a cold. And I was like, I'm not missing these shows. Like, I don't do that. Okay, you just suck it up and and act like you're feeling great and having the best time ever. And that's what I did. So I but I I will say, you know, if if somebody um was was sick, sick, like hospital sick, yeah, then we've always got people.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Right. I'm just guessing you're a single op based off of the fact that it sounds like how do you handle being sick and having to find a stuff like you don't have a company. Yeah, right. So that's where you would go the other route, which is make great relationships with some other DJ companies. I know it sounds like it's so easy, and you know, maybe you say your market's hard to do, but trust me, you can find at least one person.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

There there are going to be people that you're aligned with in your market. Right. I I know people here that that know me and respect me, and I could call and they would probably and they would be like, dude, yeah, tell me where to go.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

And then there's people in this market that would be like, eat shit and die, probably. Right. And I don't really affiliate myself with them. You know what I mean? Yep. So I I would I would say, Tommy, just whatever you need to do to take people to lunch, or even just, you know, to make that relationship and say, hey man, when I'm booked, we'd love, you know, for our clients to call you. And we uh, you know, I hope you would do the same for me.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

I've uh never called out sick ever for uh an event outside of engaged one time when I uh I think I got COVID or it was on the beginning stages and I felt horrible. And we had other DJs there to cover me. But I that was the only time I've ever personally been like, yo, like I'm I'm could infect somebody, so like I don't want to get anybody. But like, I mean, I had Mama Zuma's revenge one time, and I was like, yo, this is gonna be to navigate this. So I brought an assistant just to like watch the decks because I I don't know if if things are gonna get

Building A Reliable Sub Network

SPEAKER_00 27:57

loose or who knows, you know what I mean? Barfin, just finish drinking barfing or or shit. No, the back end, bro. And I was just like, I'm like, if this happens during the first dance, I'm screwed. Be back. Did you have backup suit or backup drawers? No, I didn't. I I knew I'd at least that's why I had the assistant because I was like, listen, if I I'll have a mix ready. Yeah, but but I mean, true diarrhea. You you can't prevent shitting yourself. I got I get too. How hard was the stool? How hard was the tool? Uh I don't remember. I don't remember. I just remember that when I mean the whole time I just was like, I could feel grumbling, and I'm just like, oh man, you know? It was in Mexico, of all places, too. So it was like, it was not a good situation. I got through it though. But I wasn't gonna let that stop me. You know what I mean? You got through with that shit running the bathroom. Oh, I had to run the bathroom a few times. Wow. But it was like during dinner, he was like, get this all out of me, get through me. Get the demons out.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Sweet mother of Mary. He's just sitting there going, oh his feet off the ground.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

So good. The ground, it's like an earthquake. Um, and you know, the thing is about those some of those venues, too, like the the one-holes, you know what I mean? Yeah, those are the worst. Because then you know, like who comes out and you're just like, yo, we just like what just happened. They're laughing and they leave. Oh, yeah. Um, and then to your CRM one, uh, you know what's funny, is you're right. You as soon as you can afford it, start. I I was gonna actually give a number, like I was gonna say like 30 gigs. But I think if you can start, I mean they're so affordable. Yeah, it's $50 a month or something. That's like the highest level for DJ Event Planner. Yeah. So yeah, you could definitely afford it. Um, I mean, that's just gonna be something in there. There's so many, if nothing else, it's not even for tracking the, I mean, sorry, for using it for the leads and contracts, although that's like a huge part. But for me, it's the metrics, like how you've grown. You know, I saw somebody the other day, was it Mike Bowman, put out a stat he had uh AI go back through his calendar and total up all of the gigs that he's done over the years because it's all in his Google Calendar. But if you don't have that kind of stuff like like in a CRM, I can do that in two seconds. I don't even need to do use AI for it. I can just pop it out. That's right. Yeah. So as soon as you can get on it, I would suggest doing it. TJ K. T G T G K. T G T G K, not T A. All right. With that, we've already mentioned our uh sponsor, but we can send it again.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Thank you, DJ Event Planner. We appreciate you, and we appreciate y'all for listening. See you next Wednesday.