At The DJs Guru, our mission is to help you learn, grow and succeed. In order to do that It’s very important to understand some of the fundamentals of this business. This way, you can start with a great foundation from which to grow. If you’ve been a DJ for a while and have hit a wall, it’s quite possible that you may be making one of these top 3 mistakes that hold DJs back.
While many start down the path to becoming a professional DJ, it seems that few truly reach the levels of success they’re aiming for.
Why is that? Is it the gear they buy? The music they play? Let’s look beyond all these superficial reasons. There are three underlying core behaviors that can make or break your DJ career. We want to make sure you don’t make these 3 mistakes that hold DJs back.
#1 – Got an ego?
DJs are a special breed of people, aren’t we? Of all the people I’ve interacted with in my life (counting myself in this too because I’ve been there), DJs seem to have the biggest egos. It makes sense in a way – I mean they get to party for their job.
Night after night they get to stand up in front of a crowd of people and tell them what to do. They control the emotion and energy of a room. If they want, they can change the vibe with only a few movements. They often play a pivotal role in key moments in peoples’ lives. After their events, clients often shower them with praise and admiration. This is all good stuff, right? But there’s always another side of it. This is one of the major mistakes that hold DJs back.
Ditch the ego.
While a big ego can fill a DJ with swagger and confidence, it can be a major limiting factor in their growth and progress. An ego causes a DJ to become arrogant and prideful, damaging relationships and partnerships in a people-focused industry that is driven by connections. An ego causes DJs to focus too much on their own personal agenda. They can lead to failing to consider their client’s vision and goals, whether that be a wedding planner, a club owner, or an event promoter. Most importantly, an ego prevents DJs from looking at their performance and skills honestly, hindering true improvement.
If you can’t critically evaluate your weak areas because you’re completely full of yourself, you won’t achieve your full potential. So quite simply, learn to humble yourself and ditch the ego and we promise you’ll see a big difference in your ability to network and collaborate with others and most importantly improve yourself.
#2 – Remembering you’re in the service industry.
Week after week I see DJs complaining about a nit-picky bride or a drunk partygoer requesting a song. They say things like “I’m the DJ and I let my clients know that I know best” or “If a venue said that to me, I’d just walk out.” They act as if they’re above requests or simply just “servicing” their customer.
Sometimes, DJs seem to forget they’re in the service industry. It doesn’t matter if you’re a high-end wedding DJ, a bar or club DJ, or any type of performer getting paid for your service. You’re there to do a job and serve the people that hired you. While being paid by someone to perform doesn’t give them the right to walk all over you, DJs that are willing to put their own agenda aside and do what the client asks (even if you think they know better) are the DJs that end up with 5-star reviews, tips, and referrals.
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People are a pain in the butt
Listen, I get it – I’ve had the obnoxious mother of the bride tell me to put my speaker in a place that wasn’t optimal, even though I told her repeatedly it would work better in another location. I wanted to say “Listen to me! I’ve done this a hundred times; I know it would work better over here!” But I didn’t. I sucked up my pride and gave her what she wanted. And you know what? She was happy. Did the sound suffer a little? Maybe, but it didn’t matter to her – what mattered more was the fact I was willing to work with her and accomplish what she had in mind.
Being in the service industry means creating incredible experiences for our customers and that starts from the first phone call and ends with saying good night and thank you at the end of the event. Simply stated, Make serving your clients and your audience the top priority. We promise you by doing this, you’ll gain referrals from your customers and their guests and most importantly run your business the RIGHT WAY.
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#3 – Practice, practice, practice. Are you practicing enough?
Remember no matter your craft, the best at what they do are continued students of it. The longer someone is a DJ, the more gigs they will (hopefully) have. As the weekends become busier and the calendar fills, DJs often stop dedicating time to practice their craft. Where in the past it was exciting to pull out their mixer and set up their speakers to practice blending and scratching, it suddenly becomes a chore.
They say, “I’ve done this so many times it’s second nature.” They fall into a routine of playing the same songs and doing the same transitions, even saying the same things on the mic. Their performance becomes stale and predictable. This path of laziness leads to mediocrity and keeps the bar set only so high not perpetuating growth.
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DJs that succeed are always practicing and learning.
Even if they’re a 10 or 20+ year veteran, they make (not find) time to practice. They put in the hours searching for new music, watching videos of other DJs, and mixing on their equipment. Instead of thinking they know it all, they seek out mentors and peers to teach them more. Going to a DJ conference isn’t old-fashioned or unnecessary to them, it’s one of the highlights of their year because it gives them the opportunity to network and learn from people who are doing things differently. If you want to progress and become better, you need to set aside time regularly to practice.
It doesn’t matter whether you want to practice an hour per day or three hours per week – find what works best for you and commit to it. Make your life easier by putting your mixer in an easily accessible place so it’s ready for your practice sessions. We recommend having a “Home studio” if possible so that you have a creative space to really let those juices flow! Simply stated, increase your practice time and don’t resist seeking out new knowledge and information.
From Justin M. Schwarz.
To be honest, how many of these top 3 mistakes that hold DJs back have you made? Even unknowingly (Don’t worry we won’t tell anyone)? We understand that all these things take discipline, hard work, and a true desire to be the best you can be.
That said, what in life that’s worth anything doesn’t? If you truly love music and you truly want to be a professional DJ that continues to learn, grow and succeed then you need to avoid making these 3 top mistakes that hold DJs back.
We are here to help you and can always cover any of these areas feel free to contact us for advice. Feel free to reach out with any questions and we’ll help to guide you to be the best that you can be. See you on the flip side!
Questions? Comments? Feel free to leave it below as we always love to talk to our ‘Fam.
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