Part time djs

[aj.promotions]

There are a lot of "cowboys" out there. I agree djs should pay tax have ppl and pli. I work full time and pay tax on all my incoms have my equiptment pat tested for piece of mind etc.
I have been doing discos on and off since 1980.
I have only done 3 shows so far this year due to work commitments.The average price of a disco in south Yorkshire is only £100.
Unless i go out every time im not working or find a agent/manager to get me the work ill have to stop doing something I love,I cant keep running at a loss.:bang:

[theoloyla]

Glad to hear that you tick all the boxes on responsibility and sorry to hear that you are not getting much work and that prices are so low in your area. I rthink most dj's are part timers but that doesnt make them cowboys. There were times in the past when I was a full time professional dj but most of the time in the last 40 years I have had a secondary income.
Many dj's branch out and run quiz nights or other associated activities. I teach line dancing three times a week. Others can manage with a partime job whilst some treat dj'ing as the part time job.

[Dragonfly]

re think and re market your show I did this about 2 years ago when i was getting only a little over the figure mentioned . I have spent money on the gear and saught marketing advice and am now getting alot more and turning work away daily as im a sole trader. More money really is out there it is tapping into it that is the difficulty..... when i redid everything I had not a single thing for 4 months....... yes i did start to panic .... but stuck it out and slowly the work came in and still does.

The same happened the beginning of this year end of jan half the gigs booked in of ast year but slowly they came in and now as said im turning work away ... and no from my market research im far from cheap.

I also maintain that calling part time DJs cowboys is wrong and not at all necessarily true ok non tax paying ones yes but pat and pli are not legal requirements (maybe pat is? if so I gladly stand corrected) so technically they arent cowboys ..... irresponsible and uncaring about their customers yes .

my advice change your marketing strategy and target a different type of person.

DJing is my only source of income and luckily I have a massively supportive family but If I was on my own and was soley responsible for mortgages,rent,bills etc. there is no way I'd be typing this ....I'd be at my 9-5 job.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

There are a lot of "cowboys" out there. I agree djs should pay tax have ppl and pli. I work full time and pay tax on all my incoms have my equiptment pat tested for piece of mind etc.
I have been doing discos on and off since 1980.
I have only done 3 shows so far this year due to work commitments.The average price of a disco in south Yorkshire is only £100.
Unless i go out every time im not working or find a agent/manager to get me the work ill have to stop doing something I love,I cant keep running at a loss.:bang:

But you just said you've only been out 3 times this year because of work commitments?

Surely this would have something to do with you running at a loss?

[DMX Will]

am now getting alot more and turning work away daily as im a sole trader.

Sole traders can employ.... The name "sole trader" doesn't have to mean you work by yourself, although often does.

[aj.promotions]

I feel i need to clarifie before i up set most of the djs in the country.
i used the term "Cowboys" loosley NOT aimed at part time djs but at djs who dont take this job seriously and use gear that is not tested and will let customers down chasing money.Or even undercutt.
The point of my thread was if i only choose to do a few shows a year (which is not my intention) what chance have djs got having to pay tax,pli pll etc.
i agree we should pay something but where will it stop what next will the gov. make us pay for next.:zip:

[soundtracker]

Sorry - think you may need to clarify again - I'm now more confused!

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I went self employed 14 months ago after years of lining other people's pockets. I always did jobs that were quite well paid but at the end of the day, I didn't enjoy what I was doing. It came to a head one morning when my boss obviously woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I was working on the front line customer services desk for a software company and travelled from Basingstoke to Newbury everyday. The road to Newbury is a bad one and there are always accidents. Even though it's a 20 minute journey, I left myself an hour everyday to get there in plenty of time. On this particular morning there was a huge accident with 3 fatalities and I ended up being late for work by 2 hours. When I got there, my boss took me straight into the office where she proceeded to give me a warning. I'd never been late before and I hadn't been off for ages and my timekeeping was excellent (as she said in my appraisal a few days earlier)....but I still got the warning. Anyway, I went back into my office with my colleagues and they all asked if everything was ok. I said that I thought it was "bloody outrageous" just as my boss walked in behind me and once again I was back in the office 2 minutes later with another warning. I lasted the day and went home and had a good talk with my wife saying that I never wanted to go back again but I got up the next morning and went in with a smile on my face. I knew exactly what I was going to do and as soon as my boss walked in, I asked if I could see her in her office!! I told her that I wanted to leave and I wanted to go asap. She was amazed, she couldn't understand why. I explained that a few days earlier in my appraisal, she had said my work was excellent, my time keeping was excellent etc etc and I had a £2500 pay rise too yet because some unfortunate people had died and therefore I was late, add to that my use of bad language (is bloody a swear word?), I had warnings which to me was unbelievable. I left that day and never went back. I had my holiday pay and I was also put on gardening leave.

The reason for that story is that I don't have to put up with any of that anymore. Now I absolutely love my life and what I do. Do what makes you happy mate. It's hard work and I had to build up my client base, get advertising, equipment etc etc etc but if you are good, it builds quickly and after just over a year, I have a lot of equipment (4 whole set ups now), a number of regular contracts (Just had the hotel I am contracted at book 14 christmas parties today) and a better life. I don't answer to anyone now and I work as hard as I can because it's my business and not someone elses. The most important thing I have learnt is how not to treat people. I could've been a part time DJ too but I didn't want to. I took the gamble, maxxed out every single one of my credit cards and used all of my money in my bank account (and some of my wifes) and it wil take me a while to pay for it all but I'm happy.

Do what makes you happy.

Sorry if most of this is off topic, move it if you have to.

[DMX Will]

Sorry - think you may need to clarify again - I'm now more confused!

Seconded.

[aj.promotions]

Ok forget the bit about cowboys,my point is,i was looking at the treads about pat testing,pli etc. all this has to be paid for as well as the equiptment,transport and running costs as well as the music,all out of what we charge for the gig.
if we dont work every weekend what chance have we got to pay the bills for the running costs.
it takes the shine of doing a job i love and going out and being able to entertain people which gives me such a buzz seeing a dance floor fill all because of what im doing.
because of work at the moment its just a hobby to me,but i take every booking seriously, do the best to entertain,give the customer what they want and never let them down.
been djing since 1980 but had a break so you can say im new to mobiles,so my point is some one new has a lot to shell out.and if the work doesnt come in fast you are out of pocket.
hope i have got my point across this time,thanks for reading.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I think I understand what you are saying, but even if you are charging £100 a booking, PLI and PAT is a small amount to pay.

PAT obviously dependant on amount of items you need testing and PLI, even for £10m can be had for little over £100.

So, in effect, a couple of bookings and it's paid for.

There are obviously other running costs, but those were the two that were mentioned.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

If you have had a break then yes, it is like starting over again isn't it. As you more than likely know, things just don't happen overnight. After 3 months and just the odd bit here and there, I felt like giving up and said to my wife that maybe I had made a huge mistake. She said to hang in there. What made it all the harder was that I paid for advertising in february and the new edition (yellow pages) wasn't due until June....BUT...work started coming in via my website and an advert on UK Discos as well as word of mouth. I suppose I was lucky too and in the right place at the right time as I went into the hotel near me and asked to speak to the conference and banqueting manager. He said my timing was spot on as he wasn't happy with the suppliers he was using at the time and had received complaints. This was at christmas 2005 and he wanted me to start straight away but I couldn't. I made up a contract, we agreed pricing and from Feb 1st 2006 (when I went self employed) I was to be given all functions. They did that without even hearing me although saying that, I had done a one off there before for another company and the staff recognised me. It's how you sell yourself etc... Every bit of dosh I have earnt has gone back into my business because I have a game plan. My equipment has quadrupled and there is quality stuff there and my plan is beginning to work.

Ok, your pricing may be different to mine (well, it is...you mentioned yours), but at the end of the day, I had no job because I left and so everything was a big risk for me, I started up from scratch and now I have 5 regular venues I play at and supply stuff for aswell as a full diary in just over a year. If you REALLY want to do it....make your mind up that you will go for it. Don't do it half heartedly. I have quite a large group of friends who are all stuck in jobs that just pay the rent / mortgage and 99.99% of them are jealous of me because I am doing something I love and making a decent living out of it. They don't realise that it's hard work and took a lot of hard work building it.

Best of luck.

[rob1963]

There are a lot of "cowboys" out there. I agree djs should pay tax have ppl and pli. I work full time and pay tax on all my incoms have my equiptment pat tested for piece of mind etc.
I have been doing discos on and off since 1980.
I have only done 3 shows so far this year due to work commitments.The average price of a disco in south Yorkshire is only £100.
Unless i go out every time im not working or find a agent/manager to get me the work ill have to stop doing something I love,I cant keep running at a loss.:bang:

Hi AJ,

I'm sorry to hear that you're not getting as much work as you want & that the price of discos is so low in your area.

Do you have a website? If not, get one. Also, do you advertise on all those free listings websites? There are also those that charge, but with most of them it's only £10-£30 a year, so get listed on as many sites as you can.

I'd also suggest that you have a good supply of business cards, and put a few on every table towards the end of each gig. After all, if people have to come up & ask you for them, many will not bother...but if there are cards on the table in front of them, they're more likely to take one.

You could also consider joining a local disco agency to get more work.

The main problem with discos is that they are mainly on Friday & Saturday nights, which leaves 5 nights a week when you're not working - so consider maybe running pub quiz nights, as has already been suggested. You could either complile them yourself or buy them for a few pounds online.

I run pub quiz nights in the week, and they actually account for about two thirds of my income...with discos providing the other third.

Pub quiz nights are great fun to do and very easy. They only run for a couple of hours & require minimal equipment (I just have a speaker on a tripod & a console with a built in mixer amp & mini disc player for the music round).

When I go off to do a quiz night, I don't even think of it as going to work. It's more of a social event really, as I'm in a pub & spend most of my time going round the teams chatting to them & giving them a few clues to the answers.
You also get extras from the regulars. Last night several people bought me drinks, I was given a big lump of someone's birthday cake, and had another regular team give me a luxury truffle easter egg!

I hope I've given you a few ideas, and good luck :)

[PropellerHeadCase]

all this has to be paid for as well as the equiptment,transport and running costs as well as the music,all out of what we charge for the gig.

if we dont work every weekend what chance have we got to pay the bills for the running costs.
it takes the shine of doing a job i love

You could apply that to any new business and it would hold true (except for the bit about music ;) ), not unique to mobile DJing at all.

[Stephen_N.I.]

Here here Shakermaker.
I was in exactly the same postion job wise, at the end of the day, life's too short.
I'm still finding it hard to get work, and it costs a lot to advertise and buy equipment etc but at then end of the day if you stick at it, your working to yourself, making a name for yourself and most of all LOVING YOUR WORK.

[theoloyla]

Ok forget the bit about cowboys,my point is,i was looking at the treads about pat testing,pli etc. all this has to be paid for as well as the equiptment,transport and running costs as well as the music,all out of what we charge for the gig.
if we dont work every weekend what chance have we got to pay the bills for the running costs.
it takes the shine of doing a job i love and going out and being able to entertain people which gives me such a buzz seeing a dance floor fill all because of what im doing.
because of work at the moment its just a hobby to me,but i take every booking seriously, do the best to entertain,give the customer what they want and never let them down.
been djing since 1980 but had a break so you can say im new to mobiles,so my point is some one new has a lot to shell out.and if the work doesnt come in fast you are out of pocket.
hope i have got my point across this time,thanks for reading.
When I was young (a long time ago!) I trained as a cost accountant and it is indeed a fact of any business that you have fixed costs and variable costs. The more gigs you do then you can spread those fixed costs to make them a lower portion of your costs per gig. It is just one of those things. It is over a month since you posted this thread. Has anything changed?