Above and beyond the magic number

The biggest and simplest question every professional DJ ponders specifically on after being trained by another professional and or acquiring sufficient years of experience is ‘What do I charge for events?’

While trying to come to terms with an average charge rate, DJs usually neglect amounts spent on pre-event communications such as in person meetings and calls, event preparation time, venue visits and breakdown time.

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Like every other professional trade skill, service delivery comes attached with a huge level of overhead ranging from fuel, equipment, maintenance, crew allowances, travel expenses, music pool subscriptions, laptops and backups, to mention just a few.

Before I started writing down every penny spent on delivering a service, my priority goal for every week was to close deals and get all available dates booked. Consequently, I inadvertently abused my personal savings by recharging daily while trying to reach out to clients for more information and event detail.

Worthy of note were numerous visits to event centers on my own expense to do short evaluations on what was needed in terms of sound reinforcement, power source and equipment placements while forgetting inexplicably that little drops of water make a mighty ocean.

Small amounts spent here and there trying to seal a deal are a significant part of what is to be considered in the charge for an event. When the emotional connection (service demand) with clients increases, experience acquired over the years delivering professional services can only produce more play time at gigs as well as value on an individual.

Above and beyond, you can only charge more when your years of experience accurately match with your reputation. Naturally, clients will pay more to engage the services of a more experienced DJ who can swing across genres with seamless transitions than a newbie.

Continuously hone your skills and perfect your craft in every legit way possible. When your hard-work meets the right opportunity consistently, pushing up and justifying your service fee becomes more convenient and reasonable to clients as well.

Party pusher of the week

My party turn up pusher for this week is Skibii featuring Falz, Teni and DJ Neptune – Daz how stars do.