What does a Full time DJ do all week?

A typical workday begins around 9 am at the office with several phone calls and emails following up with prospective leads and client questions. On a given day we average about 5 to 10 prospective leads. We spend quite a bit of time with each prospective customer either answering their question via phone or by way of email. Spending that extra time with each potential is very important as it gives us an understanding of exactly what they’re looking for and they know if we’re a good match for them. Following up with leads can be a real time guzzler so we try to get that done in the morning when we’re most productive.

As soon as I finish with the follow-ups I move into client mode. Every morning I get a printed sheet of all our current wedding, school and private event clients. I then take this sheet and log into our website and track each client’s progress with their online planning forms or just to see if any online requests have been made. Wedding clients tend to take the most work and on average there are about 20 wedding clients to work with. So keeping tabs on their progress is essential to make sure we meet their expectations and demands. I’ll occasionally check in with a client and see how things are going and see if they need any assistance with choosing songs or setting up a timeline. I spend about an hour a day checking the progress of each client to make sure everything is moving smoothly.

As each client fills out their online party planners I’m secretly in the background collecting their requests and making sure they’re immediately added into our music library. This way there is no worry as to if I won’t have the music ready for them for the weekend. Adding the music to the library is a big time guzzler. On a giving week I average about 50 songs to our music library. We’re still mailed the “old fashioned” compact discs and we have to digitalize them for our computer systems. This takes about 20 minutes per CD to rip them into the computer and then backup all 6 of the hard drives. It’s a time guzzler but it needs to be done otherwise the overall success of your event could be at jeopardy.

The nice thing about this job is each week brings a different show and there is always a different task that is demanded for each type of show. Every Wednesday prior to the event we spend a good hour or so talking with all the other vendors who are involved with your event. It could be the photographer, caterer, videographer, banquet manager or even the florist. We like to get all the formal introductions out of the way before your event. This way when the big day comes we’re focused on talking to you and not your vendors.

Along with all of these important tasks there are also very important things that need to be taken care of on a daily schedule. Things like working on designing new marketing materials, balancing the checkbooks, paying the bills, loading trailers, training new employees and equipment maintenance all need to be taken care of. Each of these tasks requires quite a big of time and are essential to providing you with top notch service. We often wonder how part time DJs are able to pull this off without cutting a few corners. Being a full time DJ is busy and definitely not an easy job. Along with doing all these tasks I feel like I’m always in learn mode. I read several industry related magazines, blogs, forums and even good old fashioned books to make sure I’m caught up on all the industry trends.

As soon as 4:30 rolls around its then time to jump into consultation mode. Now consultations to me are one of the most exciting parts of my job. Almost every day I get to meet with new and current prospects to talk about their big event or wedding day. With each client they have new ideas and goals they like to set for there day. I love creating strategies and game plans on how we can complete the tasks they have at hand. After doing this for so many years I can now bring forward ideas that I’ve seen work at other shows that will really make their event stand out from the others. Consultations are always just a great time for me to shut and listen. A lot of great things can come from these meetings and I feel without them you also miss out on building up a relationship with a client. This could later on hurt you if the time is not spent working together.

After reading this blog post I hope you can now see how the average wedding DJ spends his days. I have a real passion for what I do and I love the pressures of delivering the absolute best performance and service that my clients expect and demand each weekend. With this being said, I think it’s important to ask your potential wedding vendor whether they are full time or part time. It could really tell you a lot about their priorities and viewpoint on your event. Just my .2 cents! Over and out!