Credit Crunch - is it affecting your business and what are you doing about it ?

[ppentertainments]

I am sure we have all suffered either business or personally from the credit crunch, and dare I say, immenent recession.

Sky news are reporting that 27.8% of people are planning a more modest wedding now. I have noticed that disco bookings for birthdays have dropped dramatically and I for one am now concentrating on weddings more than before.

So is your business suffering and have you done anything to help combat the crunch. Not wanting to steal ideas but interested in how others are handling things.

My 'new tactic' is to combine my photography package and disco together to offer a 'reasonably priced' package for both. This has been very successful for me so far and can see it helping me no end next year. Further details will be on my website soon. I am also advertising race nights more as I can offer a system where people can raise money to cover my fees BEFORE the night making it a risk free option for an evenings entertainment.

Any others ??

[discomobiledj]

Without a doubt.

It's been really quiet this year compared to last year. Am thinking of buying a camera then having the pictures available on the website to purchase after, even offering 10% off at the moment as well, but is very very hard.

[kd_entertainments]

At the end of the day, people still get married no matter what the economic situation is.

People might just cut back on having a band before the disco. As compared to a band, a disco A: works out less expensive, B: can play every style and type of music to keep all guests happy.


I have noticed a huge decline in corporate and party work at the moment so im just focusing on wedding entertainment to keep things ticking over.

[rob1963]

I am sure we have all suffered either business or personally from the credit crunch, and dare I say, immenent recession.

Personally, no...as I have no credit (nor do I want any!) and I have no savings.

Business wise, my pub quiz nights have generally been a bit quieter over the last few weeks, although it's hard to say how much of that is due to the weather/football on TV & how much is to do with the credit crunch.

On the disco front, I probably take about 1.5 bookings per fortnight on average. However, in the last couple of weeks I've taken 7 bookings, which is WAY up on the average. Also, last night my friend (who runs an agency) gave me a couple of bookings to fill in two of my blank nights in November, and 2008 is going to be my best ever year for disco bookings, so it doesn't look like the credit crunch has reached the South East yet...certainly not MY customers of those of my friend!


Sky news are reporting that 27.8% of people are planning a more modest wedding now.

That still means that the vast majority of people (72.2%) are NOT planning a more modest wedding.

Even if people ARE planning a more modest wedding, I'm just wondering how much that will affect our mobile discos. After all, if you think about it logically, the average wedding costs around £20,000, so if they spend £400 on the disco, that only equates to 2% of their total budget in the first place, so I'm sure there are plenty of OTHER areas where they can make MUCH more significant cuts or savings.

If I was in that situation, I'd look at the most expensive things first to see what I could do to reduce their costs, and then gradually work my way down towards the cheaper things...so the disco would be virtually at the bottom of the list.

There again, maybe I'm completely wrong & we will see loads more DIY ipod discos!

Time will tell.


So is your business suffering and have you done anything to help combat the crunch. Not wanting to steal ideas but interested in how others are handling things.

My business is not suffering, so I don't need to start getting worried just yet...although that may change. Only time will tell.

[theoloyla]

I predicted this several months ago and was ridiculed because I only increased my standard fee for next year by £5. The credit crunch hasnt really affected me yet but I am sure that over the next 12 months things are gonna be tight for lots of people.

[ppentertainments]

, so it doesn't look like the credit crunch has reached the South East yet...certainly not MY customers of those of my friend!


It's that North-South Divide again :D :D :D :D (Sorry:D )

[Dragonfly]

without divulging all the grisly details with one thing and another my wife and i have been severely cacked on financially over the past 12 months , we are currently sorting through it and making headway but there is still alot of finger crossing and letter writing to do in the coming months.

[theoloyla]

without divulging all the grisly details with one thing and another my wife and i have been severely cacked on financially over the past 12 months , we are currently sorting through it and making headway but there is still alot of finger crossing and letter writing to do in the coming months.


Fingers crossed for you too.

Rob may not have felt the draught yet but I am fairly sure that he will. There have been, and will be more, job cuts in the financial and banking sector in the city and those "spivs" who earned telephone number salaries that the Daily Express takes exception to were mostly London based and they are not going to be getting those inflated salaries and golden parachutes now.

[rob1963]

Rob may not have felt the draught yet but I am fairly sure that he will.

I think you're right, Theo.

However, it probably worries me a lot less than anyone else on here, as I'm single with no debts & therefore have extremely low living costs.

I'd have to lose all 4 pub quiz nights and nearly half of my discos before I started to panic, which is why I think it's important to have your fingers in lots of pies.

For many years credit was MUCH too easy to obtain, with borrowing at record levels, and things just couldn't go on like that without something happening...so now we're paying the price.

[theoloyla]

I think you're right, Theo.

However, it probably worries me a lot less than anyone else on here, as I'm single with no debts & therefore have extremely low living costs.

I'd have to lose all 4 pub quiz nights and nearly half of my discos before I started to panic, which is why I think it's important to have your fingers in lots of pies.
Agreed. I am in the same boat as you - almost! Jan and I have no mortgage and no kids plus even on weeks when we have no gigs the linedancing still provides an income.

[Vectis]

Hard to tell at the moment because my wedding work tends to start coming through around December/January mainly because most of the venues here on the backwards IoW won't take bookings more than a year out.

Christmas is as busy as usual, and I've a sprinkling of gigs in Oct/Nov which is normal.

However as my tortoise shows I'll be doing this full-time from December so I've got a rather big hole to fill in terms of maximising income. I'm still working through ideas at the moment but in essence looking to extend the services offered and get into event management whilst tapping the holiday market much more than previously. It'll all crystalise in the next few weeks (I hope!).

[ppentertainments]

Hope it goes well for you vectis, hopefully all your hard work will pay off. I can see a lot of people going in the opposite direction - Full-time dj's taking on part time work.

[Vectis]

Hope it goes well for you vectis, hopefully all your hard work will pay off. I can see a lot of people going in the opposite direction - Full-time dj's taking on part time work.

Hmmm... maybe. I guess it all comes down to what you're good at. If you were a carpenter by trade before your DJ calling then I guess the temptation when money's tight is to do some chippying on the side. My trade is project management so seems sensible to tie the two together.

Been keeping an eye on the webstats and the trends so far are looking to be in keeping with last year.

I guess the thing to do is consider how best to make the most of whatever money IS out there... if that's throwing in extra services then that's one way of building a compelling USP. Maybe the future is in bankruptcy discharge parties :D Or "let's wreck the house before they repossess it" parties :D :D More seriously, maybe it's about downsizing the service to meet the budget and going out an extra night or two each week to redress the balance. Who knows?

[CRAZY K]

Fingers crossed for you too.

Rob may not have felt the draught yet but I am fairly sure that he will. There have been, and will be more, job cuts in the financial and banking sector in the city and those "spivs" who earned telephone number salaries that the Daily Express takes exception to were mostly London based and they are not going to be getting those inflated salaries and golden parachutes now.

Are you suggesting they might become DJs around the Soth East and put us all out of business Theo??

:Laugh: :Laugh: :Laugh: :Laugh: :Laugh:

CRAZY K

[BeerFunk]

Exactly who is the 'credit crunch' affecting? It's certainly not affected me, yet. People who have borrowed close to their limit of what they can pay back will be in trouble, but I don't really fall into that category.

What has had a bigger impact on my pocket is the increase in fuel and food prices. I have made cutbacks in certain areas to compensate though, less luxuries and so on - it's not a disaster by any means.

[Jiggles]

I have been spending more in this "Credit Crunch"!

[daz226]

I have been spending more in this "Credit Crunch"!

#
Snap so far in the last week alone i have spent just over £1200 but i think apart from the chart music that will be it for this year well thats what the wife tells me any way ;)

[nigelwright7557]

I am finding this year a bit odd.

I have averaged one disco a month since March.

I did two discos last month and refused 5.

This month I have 2 offers of weddings for at least a year in the future !
I wont take bookings that far ahead, I could be dead by then !

[rob1963]

This month I have 2 offers of weddings for at least a year in the future! I wont take bookings that far ahead, I could be dead by then !

If you think you won't make it to 52, you must be even more unhealthy than ME!

:jawdrop:

[ppentertainments]

I am finding this year a bit odd.

I have averaged one disco a month since March.

I did two discos last month and refused 5.

This month I have 2 offers of weddings for at least a year in the future !
I wont take bookings that far ahead, I could be dead by then !

Get a good price for them and if you are going to die pass them onto me. :D :D

Always here to help :D :D

[Vectis]

Just reading on BBC News about sham marriages...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7647086.stm

... maybe there's an untapped market here? I mean, we could provide all the documentation, take a (large) deposit, pretend that we were going to deliver a service but then simply not show up on the day?

Oh, but hang on, someone's already done this haven't they? :zip:

[rob1963]

Just reading on BBC News about sham marriages...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7647086.stm

... maybe there's an untapped market here? I mean, we could provide all the documentation, take a (large) deposit, pretend that we were going to deliver a service but then simply not show up on the day?

Oh, but hang on, someone's already done this haven't they? :zip:

It's one rule for some people, and another for the rest.

The police turned up and arrested a woman for being involved in a sham marriage.....but when did they ever turn up & arrest a "DJ" for being involved in a sham DISCO?

:shrug: :p

[ppentertainments]

It's one rule for some people, and another for the rest.

The police turned up and arrested a woman for being involved in a sham marriage.....but when did they ever turn up & arrest a "DJ" for being involved in a sham DISCO?

:shrug: :p

You are entitled to a phone call once arrested - so let us know when it happens :D :ner: :D

[rob1963]

You are entitled to a phone call once arrested - so let us know when it happens :D :ner: :D

:rofl:

[Vectis]

It's one rule for some people, and another for the rest.

The police turned up and arrested a woman for being involved in a sham marriage.....but when did they ever turn up & arrest a "DJ" for being involved in a sham DISCO?

:shrug: :p

Rob you're such a noob sometimes :p

A marriage is a legal thing whereas having a disco isn't :cool:

[Shaun]

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