When DJs Should Raise Their Rates (And When They Shouldn’t)

0:00 When DJs Should Raise Their Rates (And When They Shouldn’t) Some DJs raise the rates because they feel ready, others wait until the market forces them to. But the real question, the one nobody likes to ask is this. Are you actually delivering a show that belongs in that next price tier? 0:15 Hey, Booth heads Brian B here, one of your Co hosts of this podcast. Today, Joe Bunn, my Podcasting Co host, and I breakdown the real math behind premium pricing, including a New Year's Eve wedding that booked at 26, $1000 and what it actually took to earn that fee. 0:33 On stage and off, we talk prep, travel costs, mini set programming, and the moment you know without guessing that it's time to jump tiers, let's open the doors. 1:07 Speaker 2 What's up everybody, welcome back to Beyond the DJ Booth podcast. And we are coming to you from Raleigh, NC. And this is the podcast for private event DJs. My name is Joe Bunn. That right there is my boy Brian B and welcome. 1:23 Speaker 3 Thanks, booth heads. So we call our super fans. 1:25 Speaker 2 Yeah, welcome to you guys. If you want to be even more of a fan of the show, support the show, get all of the goodies that we don't get to on the show, which I'm super proud of, you want to be a member of our patreonpatreon.com/beyond the DJ Booth podcast and shout out some of our news? 1:41 Yeah, back there, we call them the Backroom members. 1:45 Welcome And Patreon Launch Yeah, there's two tiers. So if you're looking just to dip your toe, Yeah. And the experience? 1:49 Speaker 2 It's like 599. 1:50 Speaker 3 Yeah, I mean low risk. 1:52 Speaker 2 Low risk, low risk, low commitment. 1:54 Speaker 3 1999 get you in the backroom though, OK? And so we want to shout those folks. We got Michael Copen. 2:00 Speaker 2 Yeah, is that right? Why are you talking sex? You're not talking sexy. Like talking like going in the backroom. It sounds really sexual. Club or something. I don't know. Michael Copen. Yeah. Shut up. Michael Copen. Baxter. 2:15 Speaker 3 He's out in isn't he in North Carolina? Baxter DJ services. 2:19 Speaker 2 I think so, yeah. 2:20 Speaker 3 Think he's in. Yeah. Carolina, I think you're coming. Well, you will have come to the collector. 2:23 Speaker 2 Right, OK, what about DJ B? Do we? 2:25 Speaker 3 No idea, no idea. 2:27 Speaker 2 DJ B Keep it real simple. One that. 2:28 Speaker 3 I love that. Yeah, these guys have all joined. I'm just assuming DJ B and Baxter are males here. But and Michael but anyway, they've all joined the Patreon recently so shout out to them. 2:40 Speaker 2 Yeah, Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Yeah, everybody should be on the Patreon. Oh. 2:43 Speaker 3 1000%. 2:44 Speaker 2 So many goodies there. Unlike some Patreons I've been a member of, we are never ghosting you. We are always on there. At least a couple of things a week go inside, whether it is lists or maybe maybe something else. Well, they're tasty treats that you could play. 3:00 Speaker 3 So our giveaway for the month of December, which will be done on the 31st. 3:03 Speaker 2 So this is from a company called sound Box SOUNDB OK S they call this the light box and this thing is basically a battery powered house party light. It goes along with the music. 3:14 Speaker 3 Have you used it at a gig? No. 3:15 Speaker 2 It's not gig worthy, OK, It's not gig worthy. This is straight up like. 3:19 Speaker 3 I was like, no 1995 Joe Bunny. 3:22 Speaker 2 No, no, like set it on the table though. And like when you play the music, it, you know, it kind of goes off. It looks cool. It's cool for like a house. 3:29 Speaker 3 Party. What's the name of the place it called? Was it Claire's? Spencer's. Spencer's. 3:33 Speaker 2 Yeah, anyway, shout out to sound Box. 3:37 December Giveaway: Soundboks Lightbox And looks like you could charge a phone on the side of USBC. This shit's got auto uses. So you're like $300. Well, jeez, yeah. 3:47 Speaker 3 That's insane. 3:48 Speaker 2 Anyway, I made a video on it. 3:49 Speaker 3 Does it have a a place to put it on a stand or how do you hook it up? 3:52 Speaker 2 You just kind of set it on the table. 3:54 Speaker 3 Man, so I was like that. OK, wow. OK there. That's, I think that's like, yeah, that's right up your alley, yeah. 4:02 Speaker 2 Give it to your kids. 4:04 Speaker 3 But that's still a quiet, quality giveaway, $300. 4:08 Speaker 2 I thought so. 4:09 Speaker 3 Geez. All right. 4:10 Speaker 2 Check it out, take one and see what it was like. So we light box LIGHTB OK S. 4:15 Speaker 3 We throw all the names of our backroom members into the. 4:19 Speaker 2 Wheel of. 4:19 Speaker 3 Names. And we do it live, so you know it's not rigged. 4:22 Speaker 2 That's true. That's true. 4:23 Speaker 3 And check it out. Yeah, OK. We're getting close to the holidays. It's like going to being a Christmas. Well, this will come out on the 7th, so we're still about a week out. OK, What's your holiday plans? You got anything for Christmas? You guys going? 4:33 Speaker 2 To the beach. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we are going to the beach. My sister's coming from Montana. We're going to the beach the week before Christmas, be back I think the 24th soiree at my house. 4:41 Speaker 3 Boys are coming down. 4:42 Speaker 2 Boys will be here, Ashley will be here, her girls will be here. My mom, little Christmas Eve dinner, presents on Christmas Day. I think my sister leaves the 26th. 4:52 Speaker 3 No gigs Nah that week. 4:55 Speaker 2 Got the New Year's Eve though. 4:56 Speaker 3 Oh, what's new wedding? I've been. I've been. 4:59 Speaker 2 On for a few New Year's. 5:00 Speaker 3 Eve, same as I, yeah. 5:02 Holiday Plans And New Year’s Eve Gigs It's a wedding where at Merriman Windhouse. 5:04 Speaker 3 Oh, quality control on the on the volume, huh? It can't be like that hardcore New Year's Eve though, I wouldn't think. 5:10 Speaker 2 To be fair to them, the entire reason they are getting complaints now is literally the historic home next door has filed A petition with the city to become a venue as well. When that happens all neighbors are notified. 5:28 This venue has filed a bit. They don't want 2 venues side by side going 345 nights a week blasting their heads off and so now they're revolting against it and therefore calling the police on Merriman when and like making them have a guy walk around with a sound meter and blah blah blah. 5:47 I think that once this other place gets shot down and doesn't get permitted to be a venue, they're going to be just fine. 5:54 Speaker 3 You think I. 5:54 Speaker 2 Do I've been playing there for 10 years, yeah. And the only time it was a problem was at the very beginning. There was no carriage house right Which? 6:01 Speaker 3 Tent. 6:02 Speaker 2 Was a tent and that was problematic. 6:04 Speaker 3 Have you talked to this couple yet as far as I'm sure you did the sales call, but like. 6:08 Speaker 2 We haven't done our like our final planning or anything like that. I'm not sure where it's going to go yet. Why? 6:13 Speaker 3 This is interesting. I think New Year's Eve weddings are interesting in general. 6:16 Venue Noise Limits And Neighbor Wars I would rather play a New Year's Eve wedding though than something open to the public. 6:20 Speaker 3 Interesting. No, I think I'd be the other way. 6:23 Speaker 2 Interesting. 6:23 Speaker 3 Well, in most of my weddings that are on New Year's Eve are destination. So they're wanting to get the photos done early before the sun goes down. OK, that's a long set to make it to midnight because people aren't going to want to turn down. They want to bridge the two together and they'll have people driving or whatever. 6:39 You're right. So there's just this weird energy of like people waiting till midnight and they feel like obligated to stay till midnight, like they may have left before or whatever. And you're just talking about like for me, in a lot of my cases, I'm dealing with guest counts of 100, 150. 6:54 We're starting at 5:00, bro. Like we're going 7 hours, you know what I mean? Like it's just a long night to get to midnight. 7:01 Speaker 2 I see what you're saying. 7:02 Speaker 3 So I've always felt like the. 7:03 Speaker 2 Dance set is too long or just. 7:04 Speaker 3 Way too long. Well, and the whole day. I would think it would be better if they said, OK, the ceremony is at 4:00 to get the pictures. Then there's a long break like we did at Jedi's wedding. You know, go to a bar, come back, we'll see you at 7:00 or 8:00. 7:15 Speaker 2 We did do that. 7:17 Speaker 3 That to me would be the way to do it because then you're you're hyped up, you're ready to go. You haven't been at a place and stuck in a room all day for five or six hours. I don't know. I just, I've never been able to really take that whole energy for an extended period of time 'cause we always start so early. 7:33 So what time are you starting here? 7:34 Speaker 2 I was probably around the same. I just didn't even think about it like that. I mean, it's been a while. Like I don't intentionally take New Year's Eve off. I just haven't gotten booked in the last probably three years. I think the last time I was on it was probably a wedding. 7:47 The New Year’s Eve Wedding Dilemma And I think you and I had even talked about doing something. 7:50 Speaker 3 We were last year, yeah. 7:52 Speaker 2 And it just didn't work out. I think we probably could have made something successful, I think, if you and I had done something like 9:00 to 12:30 with heavy hors d'oeuvres. Literally advertise it as like grown in sexy party, right? This is like a 40 and up, you know, come dance, we're going to play your music, the shit that you know, right, that you're going to enjoy and maybe do some desserts or something around 11, a couple of, you know, heavy hors d'oeuvres. 8:19 Yeah, champagne toast and it was whatever, 100, a $150.00 a ticket. I think we could have done something with that. 8:25 Speaker 3 I do feel like it's one of the most over hyped holidays. 8:27 Speaker 2 1000% right. I I think the last three upset at home. I'm not even kidding. Like. 8:32 Speaker 3 And even that that is. 8:34 Speaker 2 Because you know, you know what really fucks it up on the TV? 8:37 Speaker 3 They're off. 8:38 Speaker 2 Well, there's three broadcasts, right? There's a country one, there's there's secrets, and then there's those idiots seeing Andy Cohen and and yeah, yeah, what's his name? Which is probably the funniest one. But then they made them stop drinking. 8:52 Speaker 3 Right, well, I thought they brought it back. 8:54 Speaker 2 Really, I they, they definitely made him stop one year. Then they started letting them like take one shot an hour at the top of every hour. Anderson Cooper. Anderson Cooper. That's right. But then it goes off the air at 11. Oh, the news has to come on. 9:07 Speaker 3 That's weird. 9:08 Speaker 2 And then it comes back at 11:30. So you're sitting there watching and you're enjoying, you know, and you're flipping through the three or four different broadcasts, and then all of a sudden they all go to the news, you know, war, death, president. Yeah. Like what? 9:23 Speaker 3 The fuck is that? Yeah yeah, yeah. This. 9:25 Speaker 2 Is no good. Like there's nothing positive about that. You know what I mean? Like I hate the news. 9:31 Speaker 3 Well, I also hate the fact that like they cut it off as soon as it's over, it's like it's over and you're like, that was the biggest like. 9:38 Speaker 2 Like 1210. 9:39 Speaker 3 Inflating yeah, you know, hyped up thing and then it's like, oh, we're done and and also the performance are always bad too. I like the the miking. I don't know if it's the sound or whatever, but they're just. 9:48 Speaker 2 It's not great. Yeah, there's. 9:50 Speaker 4 Too many people out there. Yeah. Yeah. Like people I heard, like Times Square is disgusting. 9:55 Speaker 3 It is. You get to get there a little early. 9:56 Speaker 2 They don't go to the bathroom, you know, they wear diapers. 9:59 Speaker 3 Diapers, yeah, and. 9:59 Speaker 2 What is going on? They shit and so piss themselves. 10:03 Speaker 3 Yeah, not good. It's crazy. 10:05 Speaker 4 You never did that. I never was like that. I didn't know it was like we did. Oh. 10:08 Speaker 2 Yeah. Oh yeah. 10:09 Speaker 3 We did do Macy's, but we never were on the street 'cause I better. 10:12 Speaker 2 Thanksgiving parade we Oh yeah, 'cause your wife's office was overlooked. 10:15 Speaker 3 Sit. So they had the catered like a whole deal. That's dope. That's the move. 10:19 Speaker 2 I like the parade. I mean, I wouldn't want to stand out there in the. 10:21 Speaker 3 Cold watch it. No, but New Year's, you gotta get there so early. 10:24 Speaker 2 Little John's going on there this year, is he? 10:26 Public Party Concept And TV Rants Yeah. T Pain was on last year and killed. 10:28 Speaker 3 Right. Ever. Do you remember you saying that? 10:30 Speaker 2 Anyway, OK, so let's talk about New Year's. Yeah. So you're going to Napa? 10:34 Speaker 3 Go to Napa, bring in the family. So leave it on the 26th. We are doing 4 days, 6th, 7th, 8th. Well, no longer than that all the way to the second. 10:44 Speaker 2 Why? Why there and why? Why the family on this trip? So we've been all around the world, left them behind thousands of times. Yeah, the man has literally seen like 6 of the 7 wonders. His wife's just sitting. 10:59 Speaker 3 Well, and to be fair, like, you know, this isn't really a vacation, right? Like, you know. 11:06 Speaker 2 Anybody that's dumb enough to call a trip with a child a vacation, you're using the wrong word right. It's not a vacation. 11:13 Speaker 3 But my wife wanted to do like an all inclusive thing, you know, beach. And I'm like. 11:17 Speaker 2 Wait, what beach? 11:19 Speaker 3 Like just in general like. 11:20 Speaker 2 I'm like, there ain't a beach out. 11:21 Speaker 3 There. No. And I'm like, I can't do that right now. Like I got like if we want to go in the next two months, it's gonna have to be tied to an event. Yeah, right. And, you know, lately, I've been trying to stay home for these holidays. You know, I haven't been taking holiday gigs, so it has to really be worth it for me to take it. Yeah. And this planner who I love to work with, I've done many events with, and she always has the right clientele, pairs it perfectly. 11:43 And I told her, So listen, if I'm gonna do New Year's Eve, I'm going to have to bring my family. It's going to have to be part of the equation because I can't leave them on New Year's Eve. Come back New Year's Day. It's just not going to work. Yeah. So they're coming. Yeah. That's going to be part of the price of what we charge to do this. You've been out there. Oh, I've been out there many times. 11:58 I did one earlier this in in October for an you're. 12:01 Speaker 2 Not. You're not a wine guy though, are you? 12:03 Speaker 3 I mean, I could do it. I don't really like go hard on it. 12:06 Speaker 2 Tara. 12:07 Speaker 3 She loves it. Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. She could not come back. 12:10 Speaker 2 We know that. 12:11 Speaker 3 So, yeah, so I was like, I could bring Tara by myself, get a babysitter, but on New Year's Eve, who's gonna want a babysit? Yeah. So I did a Google search, San Francisco, down the coast and around for four days. 12:22 Travel To Napa And Family Logistics And then the other thing was like, do I really want to leave on the 1st after the gigs over and be on a plane the very next day when there's football on? Probably premium. Yeah, it's like, Nah. So we're staying an extra day and leaving on the 2nd. Yeah. And that way we can enjoy the games, not have to be out of the hotel. 12:39 Speaker 2 Yeah, run out of there and. 12:40 Speaker 3 And that was all part of the equation for me was thinking about all of that when I decided to take it on. 12:45 Speaker 2 Well, this episode we'll we'll leave the gear for last on this episode, but we're going to talk about selfishly. I'm going to be the question asker this time. OK, So we don't have questions from the viewers because I have two and one of them I posted yesterday, which this would have been a month ago. 13:02 Once you're listening to this or the day before and got an overwhelming, resounding, absolutely. And the question was, all right, booth heads, we made a move, and it's a bold one. 13:14 Speaker 1 We officially launched A Patreon. We've got 2 tiers, one for 599 and one for 1999. Basically the cost of a coffee or a cocktail depending upon how you roll. 13:25 Speaker 2 Listen, this isn't some support us or we disappear kind of thing. You actually get some things that are useful that we think that you are going to need to run your DJ business. 13:34 Speaker 3 Like. 13:34 Speaker 1 Early access to batched episodes? Bonus episode that we couldn't post publicly, maybe. And our weekly Top 10 Banger lists songs that absolutely crushed at our events this week. 13:45 Speaker 2 You know, the stuff that you really want to steal from us anyway. 13:48 Speaker 1 But if you want to go deeper, jump into the booth backroom at 1999 a month. 13:54 Speaker 2 That's where the Extra Love lives monthly prize drawings like headphones, merch, coaching calls, We've got Serrato, exports of our history, discounts on exclusive merch, and record pool hookups. 14:07 Speaker 1 Backroom members aren't just listening, they're actually shaping what this podcast is going to become. I'm probably making your DJ sets better in the process. 14:15 Speaker 2 So stop texting us asking what remix was that and get in the booth for real. 14:20 Speaker 1 Patreon.com/beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. Choose a tier. 14:27 Speaker 3 Grab your spot. 14:28 Speaker 1 And let's keep building. 14:29 Speaker 2 Booth head, you know where to go. Question of the day, do you charge a premium or an up charge for New Year's Eve? And I think I'm the only one that does not do that. 14:46 So I texted Rainy. I go if anybody calls for New Year's Eve from this day forward. Not necessarily this year, but fuck it, yeah, this year. Charge them $1000 more or something. I don't care what it is, but like, I think we are in the minority now. 15:02 I don't know if catering's doing this. I don't know if the limo company's doing this. I don't know. But you said you do it right. 15:09 Why Family Travel Shapes Pricing I do. 15:09 Speaker 2 I guess my rationale is it's still just another day like any other day. Nah, no, Nah. It's not OK. 15:18 Speaker 4 Because let me, he's saying family. 15:20 Speaker 3 Like I mean, you may not. 15:22 Speaker 4 Necessarily do a whole lot, but I feel like majority of the the world kind of. 15:28 Speaker 2 OK. 15:29 Speaker 4 Would rather be home. 15:30 Speaker 2 OK, you know what I mean. Or at a party or Yeah A. 15:33 Speaker 3 Party mine is your. 15:34 Speaker 2 Rationale I. 15:35 Speaker 3 Mean well the whole thing was when you posted that question, everybody's answer was yes, charge double. But my whole retort back would be I love that word retort. 15:43 Speaker 2 That's a great word. 15:45 Speaker 3 Is why that's. 15:46 Speaker 2 What I'm going to get so I'm I'm asking you to give me the answer. 15:48 Speaker 3 To give up. OK, so most people will say yes, because of the fact that, oh, it's just supply and demand. You haven't worked the last how many three years Eve, right? Probably 3. So it's it's just kind of like this thing that's out there, like, oh, you can do it. So let's see what we can get away with. It's kind of like the tenor of that is the way I feel about it. 16:05 And I'll be honest with you, I never felt good about it. I would do it, but I never felt good about it. What can I get away with? Can I go double? Can I go triple? I don't know, right. Over the last two or three years, I've really kind of thought about the holidays as like those are and even the summer summers for me are tough for me to take on gigs because that's when Annie's out of school, you know what I mean? 16:24 And like, we need to do family stuff. So my deal with my couples on the summer is if I'm going out of town, I'm have the option to bring my family. So my rates go up in the summer. And that's my rationale. I was like this and this is a holiday. I don't have very many of them with her. 18 you know is going to be here before I know it. 16:41 Speaker 2 Now you trust me, right? She's done about 14. She's going to think you're not cool anymore. 16:47 Announcing The Patreon Tiers And Perks I want to have those moments now and I'm not willing to give it up unless like there's a a cost. So what is that pain point for me? 16:54 Speaker 2 Would you verbally say that? Yeah. 16:55 Speaker 3 I would have no problem saying that, and this is what it's going to take for me to get off my couch, you know, to go do it. 17:01 Speaker 2 So I asked you if it was OK to ask you this. Yeah. People know you. And people that listen to the show now know you for over a year. And you're not a braggart. You're not. No, I'm. You don't really have an ego. You really we are kind of against the norm of most DJ's or a lot of of some DJ's that are just kind of a the ego, you know, leads before they even walk in the room. 17:21 You told me the other night it was Halloween we were talking about, I think. 17:24 Speaker 3 We started talking about. 17:25 Speaker 2 Oh, I had 7 to 8 topos, but we were talking about I guess going forward, the next two holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas or New Year's Eve, I guess. And you know, we were what are we doing, blah, blah, blah. And you told me about the nappy gig and, and you go. I got to be honest, man, this is the biggest payday I've ever gotten from gig. 17:44 So it's this gig coming up this New Year's Eve and what is it all in and what does it include? Give us the number. And before you say the number, I want to tell everybody I actually, I fell off the couch like I actually like was like, but it made me not being funny. 18:02 It made me like proud. I was like, God damn, man. Like think about how we started. Even you, right, me and you and doing this so long in my wildest dreams. I never thought that a a mobile DJ, which is what we are. Yeah. Somebody that goes sets up gear and plays at a party would ever get that kind of money, right. 18:21 What is that number and what does it include? 18:24 Should New Year’s Eve Cost More Let me give you the back story. 18:25 Speaker 2 OK, first I'll take the back story. 18:27 Speaker 3 So, you know, I think in general when I was building my multi OP, at the most I was getting like 3500, you know, average ticket that's still comparable to what's in that market. I'm not embarrassed by that number, $2000 more like most people are getting 1500 on average on average. 18:45 And you'd have a couple people who get some pops every. But 3500 was where I was kind of going. Sure. So I did the my first big jump was to 5000 and I thought I'd made it, You know, I mean, I'm like $5000. This is I'm doing it. I'm doing it and I'm like, I started doing the math like. 19:00 Speaker 2 I still think that's doing it. 19:01 Speaker 3 I think it's great. OK. And what that typically included was, you know, standard lights, sound for any space ceremony up to three spaces. Typically if it's an after party, I wouldn't include it in that. And then time, you know, all the prep, all the doesn't matter. 19:17 I don't charge overtime, whatever. It was all part of that 5K package. And then I got to a point where it was like I couldn't get over that number. Anytime I tried to creep up 55106 thousand even, it was like, Nope, cricket. And I'm like, is this the cap? Is this it? 19:32 You know, and that's when I took on a business coach and I was like, I got to figure out how to like break this ceiling cause yeah, Sean. Yeah. Sean Lowe. 19:40 Speaker 2 Shout out Sean Lowe. 19:41 Speaker 3 And he goes, man, you are at the top end of the clientele that you serve in that market and you're pissing people off. That's why the revolting, not just the clients, but also these planners who have put you out there. And now you're just like, what else can I get? Let's add another 250 just to test the water, dip my toe in. 19:57 He's like, you got to get out of that sphere, sphere of people, and move on. And the only way you can do that is he encouraged me to double my price 10K. I'm like my heart like basically fell out of my chest. I'm like, there's no way. At the same time, there was also a guilty part of me that was like, I feel like I'm robbing just to get a money grab. 20:18 So and he's like, absolutely, if you feel that, then you shouldn't raise it. 20:21 Breaking Price Ceilings With Strategy He's like, you need to figure out how to be worth that. And I was like, all right, so let me go back and think, rethink this stuff. And so started rethinking my planning process and also realizing that if I'm charging that much, let's just call it 10K, at the very minimum, half my gigs can go away and I can give more to a client because I'm not working 2 events every weekend or whatever the case may be. 20:42 So that kind of went into the calculation of kind of moving to that 10K level. And for about, I don't know, it's called maybe two or three years, maybe longer. I was at that number at 10K and I made the jump, but I felt like it wasn't a money. 20:53 Speaker 2 Great year with that to be in pandemic. 20:56 Speaker 3 Yes, just before 2019, or maybe 18, 2018, 19, I made the jump. Crickets, bro. But the problem was I hadn't moved into the new sphere yet. I was still dealing with the old sphere of planner referral sources, same venues and all this stuff. And I wasn't getting it. And I had to move into the new tier. 21:12 And there is a transition that happens when you do that. And but once you make the jump, you can't go back because then it was like, you really weren't serious. You were like just thrown out of the TV, right? Yeah. So you guys said This is why it's worth this. And I felt like I had the reasons behind it. And during the pandemic, I even full throttled it. 21:30 And I basically said, OK, I'm going to spend my time putting together not just a 30 minute set where I can feel like I can crush it for 30 minutes and it just balls to the wall. I want it to feel like that for four hours. So can I put together some mini sets that will have that punch throughout? 21:45 And now I think I told Trego recently that I think I'm up to like 10 of these like mini sets. And the great part about how? 21:51 Speaker 2 Long would a mini set be. 21:53 Speaker 3 If I were to run it in full 60 minutes. 21:55 Speaker 2 Oh, so it's not really a mini set at? 21:58 Speaker 3 All. Well, the reason why I call it that is because I never play them the whole 60 minutes #1 now that I have so many of these, I jump from like four or five songs of a mini set into another mini set. So a different thing. So it's constantly moving. I never play it the same way twice. 22:13 Yeah, right. Yeah, they're going to be the same four or five songs in a row. 22:16 Building Mini Sets That Punch For Hours But the whole 60 minutes I would never play its entirety. I got you. And because some songs aren't on their list, you know the ones we've ran through in today's taping of batches stuff we, you know, the promiscuous. I've got 5 different versions of that with something else over it and I will swap it out if a new song comes in and change that routine around so it still feels fresh, you know what I mean? 22:37 And so from the pandemic, I think I got three or four of those routine sets down in that year and a half. I'll call it 2. Now, since then, I keep building on it. So whenever I have downtime, my weekends off, I'm building these routines so that literally I can walk into space and I feel like for four hours, there's never going to be a wall. 22:55 It's going to be like, how in the world does this guy keep doing it? Or I can do three or four parties in specific days with the same couple and they're going to be like, dude, you keep crushing it like every night, You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And because of that work and pairing it with the process piece of the planning and all. 23:11 Speaker 2 Of that, that's huge, yeah. 23:12 Speaker 3 I felt like I was worth it, you know? And so since then I've jumped another 5. So I've been at 15 for a while. And again, that jump was paired with OK, I've gone from 4 routines to now 10. 23:27 I can walk into pretty much any space and like, I can hold it down for six or seven hours. 23:32 Speaker 2 Other than Latin. 23:33 Speaker 3 Yeah, Latin, no, yeah, yeah, that one's that's on the list. And so I've been at 15 for a while now for holidays and this has only happened 2 times. I think I've gotten close to or over actually over 20K and that was been all in with travel. So I don't want it to make it sound like it's just the, the extra 5K has been like additional bringing my family or whatever. 23:54 So this New Year's Eve, I was like, you know what, I need to set a new a new threshold. And so this one all in is 26. 24:02 Speaker 2 For 100. 24:04 Speaker 3 Yeah, 26,000 and that was my first time hitting that number, you know so. 24:11 Speaker 2 That's but but. OK, but what? 24:13 Moving To A New Client Sphere Does that include? Yeah. 24:14 Speaker 2 What does it include? I mean, what do you put in the bank on January 2nd for clarity? Yeah. So everybody listening, I mean. 24:20 Speaker 3 Part of that equation was, listen, I'm bringing a kiddo. We're we're flying six hours direct from Raleigh to San Francisco. Three of us. It was like about $3000 or maybe a little less, 2500 something around there because of the time of year. 24:37 I was like, listen, I am going to bump this up to first class. That ticket was not cheap for three of us. 24:46 Speaker 2 Annie Chilling, first class. 24:47 Speaker 3 And she does that cuz I she with my status she gets it anyways right? 24:51 Speaker 2 OK. 24:52 Speaker 3 Brian Beast. But like, Sir, I was telling Jen I the other day I was like, listen, like I'm a United fan now cuz I've taken it. I did this one in October. Yeah, I upgraded my ticket cost me 700 extra bucks, but I wanted to experience it to see if it was worth it. Yeah, it was like 2 meals. Like it's just like super solid. 25:08 The food's good, they treat you well. Had to lay flat all that. So that cost me 5000 out of that 26 is just the flights. Okay. Then I told her I was like, listen, I wanna be able to be there for a couple days. I don't wanna be in and out. So I haven't had an extended hotel stay. So that, let's call it $1000 I think was what it ended up being then rental car. 25:29 Hitting 26K On New Year’s Eve Yeah, right. Yeah, Meals. I'm factoring all this stuff and I think we did it like 200 bucks a day basically in meals gear and then gear that's gonna run me probably 2500. 25:41 Speaker 2 Any musicians or? 25:42 Speaker 3 Anything. No. Yeah. So the rest is talent basically, which ended up being about 15. 25:48 Speaker 2 Seventeen, $18,000 in the. 25:50 Speaker 3 Bank, Yeah, for New Year's Eve, so I don't know. 25:54 Speaker 2 I'm telling you, man, it's it is very inspiring. I never feel jealous about it. I feel like inspired. I text you like the next day. Yeah. And I was like, man, I let's have a serious conversation about how I can get a better rate for myself because I do feel like I am worth more than 4500. 26:13 Speaker 3 Dollars, I agree. And to be fair, like I'm not. That's the first time I've ever hit that number. I know I'm not going out. 26:18 Speaker 2 There and you do have to get on a plane and you have been to 20 different Engage conferences and you have parlayed these investments into networking with people that are doing 5 weddings a year Max, right? I thought Andrea Polito about something the other day and she was like yeah I only do 4 weddings a year now but they're all $1,000,000 plus. 26:36 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, totally. 26:37 Speaker 2 She wouldn't. If you say your budget's less than $1,000,000, she's going to tell you to go find somebody else. I guarantee it. Yeah. So you're dialed in with these people, right? And if they say we want a DJ, you're on the very short. 26:48 Speaker 3 List of people call Yeah. 26:49 Speaker 2 I'm not saying you're going to get everyone, but you're going to be on a short list of less than five people, yeah, that they're going to call. 26:55 Speaker 3 Yeah. And I think the biggest take away from this is like you have to make sure that you're not fishing for what you think you can get. You should believe that you are worth this commit and there should be a significant difference. Your show should totally feel different than anybody else in the local market. 27:11 What The Big Fee Actually Includes Like there should be significant differences in that stuff. And that's in. 27:15 Speaker 2 Everything. 27:16 Speaker 3 And that's why, you know, I am so big on like with we've gone through all these music episodes before where we're talking music like I spend the time. 27:23 Speaker 2 To put those things together, you. 27:24 Speaker 3 Know what I mean? You. 27:25 Speaker 2 Spend the time on the music, you spend the time on the pre planning, you spend the time on researching the couple, where you're going, the culture there. Like it is an art. And it does make sense when you say, OK, I'm doing less shows for more money so I have more time to spend on your show. 27:43 Speaker 3 Right. And then the other thing with that too is I think we feel like, oh, we've been doing this for at this rate for so long, we are deserve this. But if the show doesn't dramatically improve and you've been charging this for the last year, well, why all of a sudden are you going to go up? There's a disconnect there. Yeah. And people need to feel the difference. 27:58 And my other take away would be I think it's a mistake and you and I have, I may have differing opinions on this. It's an inflection point where the incremental jumps have to stop at some point. So like when I hit that 5K, that was for me in my local market, I couldn't get above that. 28:13 I had to make a clear distinction that we're going way up now. My business coach told me to go 10K up. He wanted me to go to 15 immediately. And I'm like, I had, I believe it for myself and I said, I don't think I am worth that. And I'm really was being transparent and saying that. But I said, I think I can get to 10K and I will feel confident when I get this system in place. 28:32 So my contracts changed when we meet, changes how we meet the questions I'm asking. None of it is anything I did when I was at 3500 or even 5K. And I think it's like super important because some people just jump up and then people are like, well, what are you doing differently? Well, I've been doing it for 10 years. I've been and people like, doesn't matter. 28:49 You're like, well, yesterday you were 5K where you've been under charging the whole time. Like it doesn't make any sense, right? And you were OK with it right Now all of a sudden I'm taking on the hook for this. So you really have to spend the time to think about like, how can I retool this? That it makes me worth that and I can believe selling it and it doesn't come off as salesy. 29:07 Less Shows, More Prep, Better Show Great shit man, let's hit the gear real quick and then and put a button on this. The gears here, the gear gear is here. What you got over there? 29:19 Speaker 3 Well, we're completely gonna go lighter being on planes or doing double s. And again, this is maybe an age thing. I feel like I'm tight, like my body is just like I'm like tore up. And it's mainly like just the stretching. Like I didn't realize, like I work out all the time and I know you do too, but like stretching is underrated. 29:37 Speaker 2 It is. 29:38 Speaker 3 Super underrated. I went to that stretch lab lab. 29:41 Speaker 2 Place. Yeah, you used to love that. 29:42 Speaker 3 Place I used to go and because I was just so tight like it took me like 3 or 4 months to going I don't go anymore yeah and I'm like I need to figure out a way to do this on my own. Yeah And where I notice is like literally getting on off planes or driving along distances when you get out of the car you just kind of feel like everything's tight and then you're standing in the DJ spot for another 3 or 4 hours right. 30:01 Getting back in you're just like locked up. Yeah. So I found this strap it's kind of a stretching strap. OK and what's great about it I'm gonna have you give us a demo. Actually, this is gonna be. I gotta lighten this episode up somehow. 30:15 Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm enlightened. 30:18 Speaker 3 So the cool thing about this is that it's not elastic. Like it's hard. 30:22 Speaker 2 OK, I see. I thought it was straight. 30:23 Speaker 3 It's not going to be like one of those bands. 30:25 Speaker 2 Yeah, no, that's why I thought it was. 30:26 Speaker 3 That's why it's a strap. OK, Right. So you can see it's numbered if you're watching this on video. If you're not, it's got levels to. The closer it is, the harder it is. That's why that number 4 is there. And it really stretches out your hamstrings and things like that. So you actually kind of just grab it on one end. 30:41 OK, Hold it in your hand. You probably need to take your shoes off for this, though. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, you're going to be on the floor, buddy. Oh, yeah, we're getting real with it. And what you're going to do, lay on your back, put this in one hand, put this in the other hand. 30:57 And then I would, you know, we could try a three or four, whatever you feel comfortable with. All right, just on the actual thing there. All right, Laying back. All right. And then you'll just pull it back as far as you think you can go. And you can feel it in your hammies. 31:10 Stop Incremental Jumps, Make A Leap So that's right. But isn't that like a great stretch? 31:15 Speaker 2 Everybody's gonna make. 31:17 Speaker 4 Fun of those socks like. 31:19 Speaker 3 Ballet slippers. Yeah. But like, can you feel that? Yeah. So like every time I get off the plane, I will use this at the hotel room and I feel so much looser just doing that a little bit at a time. So I. 31:31 Speaker 2 Mean. 31:32 Speaker 3 Well, you have to get back. You have to get back on the mic and after a minute, but but try it on the other side. And the closer you get to the middle, the harder it is. Joe, you could even try bring it. OK, but go go to a side, maybe with it, pull it to a side or like, yeah, you can do it with the strap. 31:47 You can do it better than you can do by yourself without it. Does that make sense? 31:51 Speaker 4 Yeah, that's what the when I had a. 31:55 Speaker 3 All right, so you have to get on the mic, dude. I want to hear your your take on it. 31:58 Speaker 4 It's good for your. 31:59 Speaker 3 Side but if you are over 30 years old I suggest you get one of these because. 32:03 Speaker 2 That's I, I literally have this thing called a chirp wheel. Do you know what these things are? Looks like a a tire. It goes under my there's a drawer that pulls out under my bed. There's three different sizes. It's just a ring and you lay back on it in the morning. Try and kind of correct your posture and I am super, super tight, yeah. 32:21 I mean Ashley can get on and her head touches. 32:23 Speaker 3 The oh jeez, of course. 32:24 Speaker 2 You know what I mean? Like I can see her doing that, but me and you, like you said, I mean, and guys are just tight in general, especially hamstrings, things like that, hips, hamstrings, That thing is a solid piece of equipment. I'll buy that and just stick it under my bag. 32:36 Speaker 3 I put it in my bag. Yeah. It doesn't take up any room. It's like super thin. Yeah. What do you think it goes for on Amazon? 32:41 Speaker 2 Probably 2899. 32:44 Speaker 3 1999 OK I think it's a game changer yeah I feel so loose when I especially you know the other time I use it is actually when I get back to the hotel room after the gig I'll do it for 5 or 6 minutes afterwards and now like I've been doing it so long that like I can go further back with my leg it's not like. 32:58 Speaker 2 I will say in terms of fitness, that is my weakest link is stretching. Same, Yeah. 33:04 Speaker 3 100%. 33:05 Speaker 2 That is, that is, that is the one probably piece that I'm missing more than anything, right? Especially after this post sugar thing, Yeah. 33:12 Speaker 3 So anyway, it might be worth grabbing this wrap. I'll have the link on the episode. Let's wrap. 33:17 Speaker 2 This this is like a marathon marathon. But I feel very seriously. I feel inspired, man. Thank you for sharing that. You're gonna look back on this episode and be like, that thing has a lot of gold in it. A lot of gold. 33:28 Gear Corner: Stretch Strap For DJs Cool. Wrap it up. 33:30 Speaker 3 So if you want to get your ticket to the DJ Collective for 2026, we would encourage you to get it before the end of the year. It's a good tax write off #1 yeah, and most likely the price will be going up is my guess on January. 33:42 Speaker 2 When we go up as we approach November 2026, so. 33:46 Speaker 3 And a lot of this stuff, this candid combo that we're having, like I would never go on a normal, I'm doing this because you asked me, but like, this isn't stuff I would just volunteer out there. This is stuff I would only share at places like the DJ Collective where I feel like safe that it's not going to be, you know? 34:00 Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, used against yours. 34:02 Speaker 3 Well, and just helping out other DJs who kind of get to know who you are and you can do this stuff. So if you haven't thought about going encourage you to make it, it's going to be right here in Raleigh. Go to the DJ Collective official.com and register before the end of the year. 34:14 Speaker 2 Yep, and then shout out the sponsor one time. 34:16 Speaker 3 Yeah, DJ Event Planner. 34:17 Speaker 2 Dot com Thanks y'all, I see you next Wednesday.