So you’re a successful DJ and small business owner. You’re out there killing it, making money and rocking parties. You’ve got your hustle shoes on. You’re either running a business full-time, or making some serious side income. The more you work, the more you make. But you are quickly heading towards a trap that plagues many sole proprietors and even big-name touring DJs. You aren’t taking any time off.
You may be thinking, how can I afford to take a vacation? Every day I’m not working is a day I don’t get paid. My DJ friend, I’m hear to tell you that you are hurting yourself, your family, and your business by not taking a vacation every year.
You Need a Break
Nobody does well working all year long, especially DJs. The long hours and late nights are physically exhausting. Touring DJs have it the worst. Many of them have a team of people that don’t make any money unless the DJ performs. Sometimes it’s the DJ themselves that’s pushing way too hard. DJs and other artists often get worked to the brink of exhaustion and end up in the hospital.
This is an extreme example, but if you are working all year long, you are experiencing something similar. You need to take time each year to decompress and regroup. Be lazy, sleep in, get some fresh air and some good food. Go see something you’ve never seen before. A couple weeks off each year will help your body heal and expand your mind.
Your Friends and Family Need to See You
DJing can be tough on relationships with friends and family. You are working nights and weekends when everyone else is off. You need to take the time to reconnect and strengthen those relationships that are most important to you. I have a 3 year old son now, and it feels like he was just an infant yesterday. I’m quickly learning that the years go by in an instant. You must take the time to soak up those connections and make lifelong memories with your friends and family. The only thing in this life that you cannot buy is more time, no matter how much money you have.
Your Clients Need You to Rest
Study after study has shown that people get a significant productivity boost after a vacation. You will be even more successful when you take time off. I cannot tell you how many brilliant ideas I have come up with in quiet moments. Just giving yourself the space to relax will free your mind to come up with great new things. You will come back to your DJ business with new energy and new ways to better serve your clients.
If you use your time to travel, you can also explore the music scene of each place you visit. Be on the lookout for great DJs, and take some time to listen to them. You can learn new skills and relax at the same time.
How to Do It
Plan for Slow Times
The easiest way to get time off for vacation is to plan ahead. Event DJs tend to have very seasonal businesses, so carve out some vacation time for your slow season. For me, this is usually early fall or mid-winter. Wedding season is over, and school events haven’t really started yet. Block out a chunk of time to take a vacation, and simply don’t accept any bookings during that time. You are the master of your schedule, so you can arrange it as you see fit. I live in the US, so 2 to 4 weeks of vacation seems pretty luxurious to us. But, why would you be taking on all the stress of running a business to be stuck in the typical rat-race nonsense? You should really be working on the European model, and taking 4 to 8 weeks of vacation a year.
Save Your Money and Raise Your Rates
How the heck am I gonna take 8 weeks off, you say? You are the master of this business, so you just need to plan for it. Set your rates appropriately and save up your money for when you won’t be working.
When was the last time you changed your prices? I’ll bet if you went right now and just increased your rates 10%, you would have enough extra money to take another few weeks off each year. Your clients will barely notice.
Hire Somebody
If you truly can’t see yourself giving up that extra income while you are on vacation, then don’t! Hire another DJ to work while you are gone. You can either find someone who has their own company, or hire a second DJ for your company.
The key is to have someone you trust to do as great a job as you would. They will be representing you while you are gone, and will likely be on their own. You probably have an existing relationship with another DJ to act as your backup in case of emergency, so that’s a great DJ to start with. Negotiate with them to be your subcontractor, and you’ll have a way to make money while you’re on vacation.
It’s also a good idea to be more selective of the events you will take while you’re on vacation. A middle school dance has much less that can go wrong, as compared to a formal wedding. Be completely upfront with your client about who will be running your event while you are on vacation.
Depending on the event, you may even want to use a straight referral fee model, where you connect the client with the other DJ directly and just get paid a percentage of the event fee. This would work well for more complex, one-off events like weddings that require a high level of communication and you aren’t likely to lose repeat business.
Get Organized, so You Can Truly Disconnect
Take the time before you go on vacation to set up a way for your business to run automatically while you are gone. Update your voicemail and email with message that say you are out of the office. Reach out to your big clients that may need you while you are gone and let them know you will be out. Take care of as much as you can in advance. You may also consider hiring an answering service or virtual assistant who can help while you are gone. They can be a great filter to make sure you are only contacted if there is a true emergency.
You also have to be disciplined to stay off of the phone and out of your email. They are very few actual DJ emergencies. Anything happening can be handled once you get back. At the very least, restrict yourself to checking email one day per week.
Accept That You Will Miss Some Business
You may miss some opportunities while you are on vacation. But guess what? You may have missing those opportunities if you were at home sitting by the phone. Luckily in life, the opportunity of a lifetime comes by about once a week. You’ll get another shot at it. But, you won’t have another 10th wedding anniversary. Your kids will only be 5 once. Life will pass you by if you don’t take time to enjoy it.
In Summary…
Make vacations a habit that sticks. Take 10 minutes right now, and find some time in the next year to take some time off. Start planning right now how you can make that work. It will be worth so much more than the effort it takes.
