Bottomed Out Last January/February???

[StarZSoundS]

I've got a feeling that all the predictions of doom(from myself included) were probably not warranted....:eek: :eek: :eek:


Apart from one residency last year in Jan/Feb I had little else for those Months.Whilst I'm not exactly fighting them off for these Months in 2011 there does seem to be a considerable improvement.:) :) :)



Is it possible the business botttomed out last year and is making a recoovery??:confused: :confused: :confused:

[Charlie Brown]

January and February not really...but I've got about 12/15 weddings lined up for next year. I'm hoping I'll have more on the way!

First for me.

[Andy Goodtimes]

I am lucky because one of my venues are doing Winter Wedding Deals whereby they are discounting for Jan, feb and Mar in order to fill those traditionally quieter months. I have 42 Weddings so far for those 3 months for that same venue and the odd other dotted about...but lets face it with those booked there isn't a lot of other stuff I can take. bit annoying though as I have several runs of 3 and 4 nights on the trot and with the room being used for the service and Wedding Breakfast I haven't got that many when I can leave the kit set-up.

Generally speaking the rest of the year is looking good and 2012 is booking steady so I reckon it is picking up slightly. thing is the venues that I do are the higher end and that end of the market doesn't appear to have been effected too much by hard times. Don't think the bottom end has been effected much either and it always amazes me that folk on benefits can always find money to get pizzed and buy drugs. For me its the middle bracket that appears to have been effected mostly because I still get lots of enquiries for pub back rooms when the first question is how much for the disco mate but I get fewer enquiries for middle of the road com centres and hotels from working class folk etc.

[paulg]

2011 looking very, very good. Just taken on a couple of new clubs so very happy indeed!

[CRAZY K]

I've got a feeling that all the predictions of doom(from myself included) were probably not warranted....:eek: :eek: :eek:


Apart from one residency last year in Jan/Feb I had little else for those Months.Whilst I'm not exactly fighting them off for these Months in 2011 there does seem to be a considerable improvement.:) :) :)



Is it possible the business botttomed out last year and is making a recoovery??:confused: :confused: :confused:

Nope

If you bother to read the newspapers and listen to the serious news ( not who won X Factor or the Football results) its not terribly encouraging--

Yes you can slash your prices, give discounts and reductions to grab business off others in your market or become sixty Quid Sid but a Royal Marriage isnt going to boost anything.

I believe the overall amount of work available will be less in 2011 than 2010 or previous years in the entertainment business so we will all have to work extra hard to gain our market share in a shrinking market.

How you do it and if your willing to work for less is entirely up to you.;)

If anybody has evidence ( not fairy stories) of how this may be wrong I would be delighted to hear it and it will cheer me up no end.

I enter 2011 with more advanced gigs than ever before ( not that many in number) but dont get a good feel factor.

[NKR]

Despite my predictions for a rough year we actually saw business turnover grow by 13.02% over 2010 from 6 less jobs, which also meant we grew the income per job by 28% as well.

However, I think next year will see turnover fall by probably 20% or more and the price per job on the 10 jobs we have booked in for 2011 is already 27% down on 2010's average.

So I think we will see business move backwards in 2011, before recovering into 2012.

We only have 5 jobs in total in Jan / Feb / March so we will be playing catch for the rest of the year as we try and get to our usual mid 40's to 50 jobs.

The VAT increase in Jan and continuing inflation at 3.3% (well nearly 5% if you use a true figure of RPI) and the 'How much' is going to become more regular I think, as peoples finances become increasingly squeezed.

[TONYTIGER]

Nope

If you bother to read the newspapers and listen to the serious news ( not who won X Factor or the Football results) its not terribly encouraging--

Yes you can slash your prices, give discounts and reductions to grab business off others in your market or become sixty Quid Sid but a Royal Marriage isnt going to boost anything.

I believe the overall amount of work available will be less in 2011 than 2010 or previous years in the entertainment business so we will all have to work extra hard to gain our market share in a shrinking market.

How you do it and if your willing to work for less is entirely up to you.;)

If anybody has evidence ( not fairy stories) of how this may be wrong I would be delighted to hear it and it will cheer me up no end.

I enter 2011 with more advanced gigs than ever before ( not that many in number) but dont get a good feel factor.

I think you are spot on with your predictions,i am sure some areas will buck the trend i have done less jobs in 2010 but turnover was nearly the same as the previous year.
What worry,s me is that West Dorset has the greatest number of retired
people in the UK and growing every day and Weymouth which is just down the road has the third most unemployed people in England not a ideal area to be based in.
Even Dorchester which is the County Town does not have a club or late night venue which is the first time in 60 years.
Now were are Yellow pages i need to find a few nursing homes like Dave.
Who said the South was a bowl of Cherrys.

[Davy]

If you go into the new year with a negative attitude then you will do worse than before because people will pick up on it. Everything from when you answer the phone a simple sigh when someone asks how much may be enough to put them off as they may have spoken to someone who sounded happy and delighted that they choose them to be the entertainment at their wedding.

We are entertainers , people expect us to be bright and bubbly not giving lectures on the economic downturn.

2011 is a fantastic year for me so far and i'm actually knocking back work .My jan and feb are slower than last year by far but i have a very busy and financially rewarding summer ahead and overall i'm better off.


The way I see it there are 2 options.....

1. Stay positive and things may not be great .
2. Be negative and nothing will be great as you've already made your mind up.


If you take every negative and find a way to turn it positive then you'll be fine. When someone calls me and asks how much and doesn't want any other info other than a price then the chances are they don't know there are differences between myself and the £60 sids of the industry. Tell then what they get for their money. Things as simple as a correctly insured vehicle can be enough to swing it.

For the record i have been stopped a few times heading home from a gig and have been asked if i have business insurance. The police have the power to take your vehicle and its contents off you if your stopped without it , If this happens to Sid on a Friday night when the weddings on a Saturday how will he do their wedding?

That said - You can't win them all but if you don't try then you won't win any.

[CRAZY K]

If you go into the new year with a negative attitude then you will do worse than before because people will pick up on it. Everything from when you answer the phone a simple sigh when someone asks how much may be enough to put them off as they may have spoken to someone who sounded happy and delighted that they choose them to be the entertainment at their wedding.

We are entertainers , people expect us to be bright and bubbly not giving lectures on the economic downturn.

2011 is a fantastic year for me so far and i'm actually knocking back work .My jan and feb are slower than last year by far but i have a very busy and financially rewarding summer ahead and overall i'm better off.


The way I see it there are 2 options.....

1. Stay positive and things may not be great .
2. Be negative and nothing will be great as you've already made your mind up.


If you take every negative and find a way to turn it positive then you'll be fine. When someone calls me and asks how much and doesn't want any other info other than a price then the chances are they don't know there are differences between myself and the £60 sids of the industry. Tell then what they get for their money. Things as simple as a correctly insured vehicle can be enough to swing it.

For the record i have been stopped a few times heading home from a gig and have been asked if i have business insurance. The police have the power to take your vehicle and its contents off you if your stopped without it , If this happens to Sid on a Friday night when the weddings on a Saturday how will he do their wedding?

That said - You can't win them all but if you don't try then you won't win any.

Fair comments but this is simply a theoretical discussion as to how we see the market next year and has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with our attitude to customers.

We are performers as you state so we are "on stage" when answering phones and emails and performing to the customers, thats our job.:beer1:

Its a truthful view of 2011 as someone asked the question--

[Creature]

've got a feeling that all the predictions of doom(from myself included) were probably not warranted.

2010 started out a good year by end of Feb have 73 bookings, but by April the cancellations started coming in - this year in cancellations have lost just over 6k and this Dec has been my worst since I started.

At one stage I thought It was me not doing a good job, but everyones saying the same cant afford it. As 80% of my are booked a year in advance loosing a large amount of bookings is hard for me to replace. I dont often work locally as its full of 60.00 wonders and surprisingly those booking them keep on booking them :(

2011 - nothing at all betwenn jan - end of April - would normally have a round 20 bookings during this time. but May, June, July, Aug, & Sept are currently all looking good, altho just waiting for contracts and booking fees to come back. I just heard tonight that a big booking for me has just been cancelled as they found a cheeper dj - how much i asked £50.00 - sorry I cant match that .......................

I have already decide dthat I will hang up teh cds when I am 50 - as this would be the next major ugrade of most of my equipment, seems a good time.

This year i have made my biggest loss one that i cant substain for 2011, unless things pick up I wont survive 2011. but then again I'm one of the few on hear that do it for a living. I feel 2011 will be very bad with 2012 even worse, before we see things hopefully start to improve

[Excalibur]

I haven't posted until now, but I'd have to say two things.
Firstly, I reckon Martin's got it wrong, cos I still don't think we've sen the worst of it yet. Media hysteria doesn't help, either. It will get worse before it gets better.
Secondly, I've got to say that broadly, Creature's got it absolutely spot on. I could very nearly have replaced his name with mine, and left it word for word.

[STEVE HANLEY]

I haven't posted until now, but I'd have to say two things.
Firstly, I reckon Martin's got it wrong, cos I still don't think we've sen the worst of it yet. Media hysteria doesn't help, either. It will get worse before it gets better.
Secondly, I've got to say that broadly, Creature's got it absolutely spot on. I could very nearly have replaced his name with mine, and left it word for word.

:eek: :eek: Wow! Pretty grim then Peter. I've only been doing the mobile game for just over a year and I have to say I'm delighted with how well it's gone.

I'll be gutted if I don't beat in 2011 what I've done this year.

[Excalibur]

:eek: :eek: Wow! Pretty grim then Peter. I've only been doing the mobile game for just over a year and I have to say I'm delighted with how well it's gone.

I'll be gutted if I don't beat in 2011 what I've done this year.

Two venues near me where I'm preferred DJ, one a successful Golf Club, between them used to give me on average two to three bookings a month. This year, they've only just cracked double figures over the year added together.

I can feel a concerted ad campaign coming on in 2011. ;) :D :D :D

[Twinspin]

Work for 2011 here is rubbish.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

January is the busiest for years for us. February is quiet though.