Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / Communicate, be brave and be nice - growing a successful wedding DJ Business with Mike Readings

Transcript

Communicate, be brave and be nice - growing a successful wedding DJ Business with Mike Readings · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

• 0:00
  Mike: It's so simple.
• 0:01
  Just be nice.
• 0:03
  That's what it all comes down to.
• 0:04
  Just be nice.
• 0:05
  Be nice and communicate.
• 0:08
  Becca: I'm Becca Pountney, wedding business, marketing expert,
• 0:11
  speaker, and blogger, and you're listening to the wedding pros
• 0:14
  who are ready to grow podcast.
• 0:17
  I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
• 0:20
  examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
• 0:23
  If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
• 0:27
  and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business, doing what you
• 0:31
  love, then you're in the right place.
• 0:33
  Let's get going with today's episode.
• 0:36
  Today I'm chatting with DJ Mike Reddings.
• 0:38
  He's a multi award winning wedding DJ and owner of Disco Factory UK and also
• 0:43
  award winning party entertainment company.
• 0:46
  I first met Mike at a party my kids had been invited to and
• 0:49
  therefore I can say firsthand that he's amazing at what he does.
• 0:53
  Mike's been a member of my Wedding Pro Members Lounge for the last few years
• 0:56
  and I'm really looking forward to digging into his business story with all of you.
• 1:00
  Mike.
• 1:00
  Welcome to the podcast.
• 1:03
  Mike: Thank you for inviting me.
• 1:03
  Really appreciate it.
• 1:04
  I'm
• 1:04
  Becca: so excited to have you.
• 1:06
  As I said, I have seen you DJ now multiple times at various
• 1:09
  kids parties, kids discos.
• 1:11
  I've never yet seen you at a wedding, but hopefully I will.
• 1:13
  So I know that you're great at what you do.
• 1:16
  So it's a pleasure to invite you onto the podcast and chat to you more about it.
• 1:20
  Now to start with I want to go right back to the beginning and
• 1:23
  I don't know this story myself yet, so I'm interested to hear it.
• 1:27
  I want to know how you ended up DJing in the first place.
• 1:31
  Mike: Sure.
• 1:31
  So back when I was young really, I was always into music when I was younger,
• 1:35
  but when I was about 16, 17, that was a time where I really wanted to be a
• 1:40
  bit of a lad and I wanted to stand out.
• 1:42
  So I thought, you pursue this and I'm going to become a DJ.
• 1:46
  So I went and bought some gear, went and got a little flat with my friends that we
• 1:51
  went and rented to live in, which ended up being taken over by all my equipment.
• 1:56
  And I was just doing bits and bobs, a few like nightclubs and pubs and all that sort
• 2:01
  of stuff, more for like the garage scene.
• 2:04
  Then I ended up going for, working for Disney in America
• 2:08
  and on one of their cruise lines.
• 2:11
  That's really where I got the bug for it because they actually asked me to
• 2:14
  DJ a lot for the crew So I started doing that and then it was about Four
• 2:22
  years after I come back from America.
• 2:24
  I married my wife and It was it was then really that That was when I went, I can
• 2:30
  make a career out of this because I felt like all the DJs that I was contacting
• 2:34
  for my own wedding were just not my style.
• 2:36
  The words I, and I tell this story to all my couples, the words I used, I
• 2:39
  just didn't find them relevant to me.
• 2:41
  I felt it was quite outdated.
• 2:43
  So that was the start of my journey, which is where I really
• 2:46
  then started thinking, how can I become a, an actual DJ for weddings?
• 2:51
  But it was then I thought to myself, well, it's going to
• 2:53
  take years for that to happen.
• 2:55
  And for these couples to find me, trust me, I haven't really done this before.
• 2:59
  So that's where I took the experience of working for Disney and I thought,
• 3:02
  well, why don't I start doing some kids parties in the daytime?
• 3:06
  I can build up a bit of a reputation doing that, I can learn from this and
• 3:11
  then I can build up to becoming a wedding DJ in the evening and yeah, here I am.
• 3:17
  Becca: I love that.
• 3:17
  Okay, I have some questions about your story.
• 3:20
  So first of all, so you said right at the beginning you were
• 3:22
  doing kind of garage scene DJing.
• 3:24
  Did you ever have another job that you were doing alongside the DJing or were
• 3:29
  you straight away like, I'm just going to be a DJ and this is what I'm doing?
• 3:31
  Mike: So I started off as a lifeguard and when I finished school, I was a lifeguard.
• 3:35
  That's how I met my wife and I was actually doing kids
• 3:38
  parties at the swimming pool.
• 3:40
  So that's how the kid stuff started.
• 3:43
  But then it was, I started working for Carphone Warehouse and I started
• 3:47
  building myself up at Carphone Warehouse.
• 3:50
  And I, I'll be honest with you, as much as I loved Carphone Warehouse
• 3:53
  I loved working there, learning, I just didn't like working for people.
• 3:57
  I really found it hard to not get my, to get my message across sometimes.
• 4:02
  So yeah, that was, it was always in my mind, I need to, I need
• 4:05
  to come out of this employment, I need to become self employed.
• 4:09
  Becca: common amongst entrepreneurs, and I'm exactly the same,
• 4:12
  is that you enjoy your job.
• 4:13
  I loved working for the radio station when I worked at Heart.
• 4:15
  I loved so much about it, but I really didn't like working for someone else.
• 4:18
  I wanted that freedom.
• 4:20
  I knew that I needed to be self employed.
• 4:21
  So it's interesting to hear that.
• 4:23
  And I think it's really important that we think about and talk about
• 4:26
  other jobs that we have, because I think that Everyone who's had a career
• 4:30
  before what they're doing now, or even if they're doing it alongside what
• 4:32
  they're doing now, there is so much that you learn from those experiences.
• 4:36
  And I can imagine, and I don't know anything about what you did at Carphone
• 4:39
  Warehouse, but I can imagine there's been elements that you learn and did
• 4:43
  at Carphone Warehouse that have come in handy when running your own business.
• 4:46
  Tell us about that.
• 4:46
  Mike: Do you know what my sales pitch, right, what I give to couples, is
• 4:50
  all learned from Carphone Warehouse.
• 4:53
  There is.
• 4:54
  So much I owe Car From Warehouse for teaching me that, that I
• 4:59
  absolutely nail every single Zoom call I have with couples.
• 5:02
  And when I'm at open days and all that sort of stuff, that all comes
• 5:06
  from the Car From Warehouse days.
• 5:08
  But then I also learnt a lot from Disney, you know, what they teach you.
• 5:12
  So actually I'm very lucky to be taught by two incredible companies.
• 5:18
  And actually it probably has molded me into the person I am today and why
• 5:21
  my business has become so successful.
• 5:24
  And it was only a few years ago that I actually contacted one
• 5:26
  of my old managers on Facebook.
• 5:29
  And I just wanted to thank him.
• 5:30
  I actually, I messaged him, asked how he was.
• 5:33
  And I just said, look, you know, I want to thank you because you took your time.
• 5:37
  to really teach me to progress to management and all that sort of stuff.
• 5:40
  And I said, that is really still happening now within my own business.
• 5:45
  What I'm actually talking about, I'm always reflecting on what you taught me.
• 5:49
  Becca: Absolutely love that.
• 5:50
  And I think as well for people listening, it's important for
• 5:53
  people to change their mindsets.
• 5:54
  If you are listening.
• 5:55
  And you're thinking at the moment, I'm in this job that I hate, I'm trying to
• 5:58
  build up my wedding business and I'm just frustrated going to work every day.
• 6:02
  I want you to reframe that right now and think, okay, yeah, I don't want to
• 6:05
  be in this job, but actually what can I be learning from this employer day
• 6:09
  to day that's going to help me grow my business so that I can get my business
• 6:12
  to a point where I can go full time rather than hating your job every day.
• 6:16
  Start thinking what training opportunities are there here that they might pay for?
• 6:20
  What can I learn?
• 6:20
  What, who can I talk to within this business that I can learn
• 6:23
  what to do or what not to do?
• 6:24
  in my business.
• 6:25
  So stop being frustrated about your job and realize you're going to
• 6:28
  learn some incredible things from it.
• 6:29
  Now, there's something else, Mike, that we have to touch on before we move
• 6:32
  forward, which is obviously Disney.
• 6:34
  You know, I'm a massive fan of Disney.
• 6:36
  I think their business is incredible.
• 6:38
  I love learning business from them because I think they do it so incredibly well.
• 6:42
  How on earth did you end up on this dream job on a Disney cruise ship?
• 6:46
  Was it as magical as it seems, or was it just a big fairy tale?
• 6:51
  Mike: Okay.
• 6:51
  How did it happen?
• 6:52
  It happened purely because I was, I was a lifeguard and I was getting a bit
• 6:57
  bored and I was just on the internet one day and I was, I was thinking
• 7:01
  about going out to do a Camp America.
• 7:03
  That was always like the dream to go and just have a new challenge.
• 7:09
  And I just stumbled across Disney and they invited me for an interview,
• 7:13
  got invited over to London to their head office, which was really weird.
• 7:16
  I walked into the head office and it was dead silent.
• 7:19
  Everywhere is dead silent and the guy who is walking us from the entrance to where
• 7:23
  we've been interviewed said that it's a, this particular day is a silent day.
• 7:29
  It was the freakiest thing.
• 7:31
  I will never ever forget that.
• 7:32
  It was like literally walking through thinking, there's hundreds of people
• 7:36
  here and not a single person's talking.
• 7:38
  It's really weird.
• 7:39
  So we went into this, bit like a cinema and we were told to go and
• 7:45
  watch some Disney films while we were waiting to be interviewed.
• 7:48
  And I'll be honest with you, I'm not a big Disney fan, yeah?
• 7:52
  And I had half an hour of watching, I think it was like
• 7:55
  Finding Nemo or something.
• 7:57
  I was like, I think I'm just gonna walk out.
• 8:00
  And I thought, I'll give it ten more minutes.
• 8:02
  And my name got called, they asked me some very simple questions, it was
• 8:06
  nothing complicated, I really thought it was going to be a really intense
• 8:10
  interview, it was, it was very basic, very basic questions, and then next
• 8:15
  thing I know, a week later I get a phone call to say they'd like to offer me the
• 8:18
  opportunity to fly to America and do the training, so That happened very quickly.
• 8:25
  I just met my, my wife as well.
• 8:26
  So I was, we just got together.
• 8:28
  So I was leaving her off.
• 8:30
  I went, I'd like a six month contract turned up into America.
• 8:34
  Now this was probably, out of everything the best thing that ever happened to me.
• 8:39
  I was going somewhere.
• 8:41
  I knew no one and no one knew me.
• 8:43
  So I had to very quickly learn to ask questions, to get to know people.
• 8:49
  For me to say the right answers to people when they're asking questions
• 8:53
  about me and I really quickly worked out that's how relationships are built and
• 8:59
  The training was really really tough.
• 9:01
  It was very military very strict.
• 9:03
  I remember our trainer She was like a some kind of court martial of some kind
• 9:07
  and she was on us all the time It's very much if we start at 9 you turn
• 9:12
  up at 10 to 9 if you're not there at 10 to 9 She closes door even though it
• 9:16
  starts at 9 It was very much like that.
• 9:19
  Day one of actually working for Disney after the training.
• 9:22
  Again, a little bit bizarre.
• 9:24
  Eight o'clock in the morning, we turn up for a meeting and
• 9:26
  we're given loads of sweets.
• 9:28
  We are being bombarded with sweets.
• 9:30
  And then we're being told to eat these sweets.
• 9:33
  And then on the table was loads of fidget toys.
• 9:35
  Now, fidget toys is quite a new thing, but in America back then,
• 9:40
  and you're all given a fidget toy to play with during the meeting.
• 9:44
  So you're given sweets, you're given this fidget toy, and I'm
• 9:46
  thinking, what is going on here?
• 9:48
  And that's every single morning was the same.
• 9:50
  We were given sweets in the morning, fidget toys during the meeting.
• 9:55
  Very interesting.
• 9:56
  The, the, the fidget toy I learned was a very psychological thing.
• 10:01
  And it was all about.
• 10:02
  you know, paying attention and all that sort of stuff.
• 10:05
  The sweets was just to wake you up, get you hyped up.
• 10:08
  But then you, I'd always find everyone went on this low about 11 o'clock.
• 10:12
  So everyone was on a sugar high and then it went slowly down.
• 10:15
  It was great.
• 10:15
  Disney was absolutely great.
• 10:16
  I absolutely loved it.
• 10:18
  I come back.
• 10:19
  I was thinking about going back, but I met my wife beforehand and I come back
• 10:24
  and I was like, I can't leave you again.
• 10:26
  So, I stepped away from Disney and that's when I took on the Carphone role.
• 10:31
  Becca: Absolutely love that.
• 10:31
  I think there's so much fascinating information in there.
• 10:34
  I love the fact that they shared with you or made you watch those Disney films
• 10:38
  for 20 minutes before your interview and you nearly walked out because
• 10:41
  actually having been on a Disney cruise and knowing how often they pump out
• 10:45
  Disney music, Disney films like...
• 10:47
  all the time.
• 10:48
  If you couldn't even handle 20 minutes in a cinema, there's no way you could
• 10:51
  have gone and worked on that cruise ship.
• 10:52
  Like you had to be able to handle it.
• 10:54
  Mike: Becca, listen, I watched, on the ship itself, I watched Finding Nemo,
• 11:00
  yeah, twice a week for six months.
• 11:03
  Becca: Yeah, exactly.
• 11:03
  So if you couldn't even watch it in an interview.
• 11:04
  That's what I had to do.
• 11:07
  Mike: I know, I know, Finding Nemo, word for word.
• 11:11
  Word for word I know that film because we had to sit there
• 11:14
  with the kids and watch it.
• 11:15
  Becca: I absolutely love it.
• 11:16
  And also what I find really fascinating is I didn't know this about you, I
• 11:19
  didn't know you worked on this Disney cruise ship, but as I said at the start,
• 11:22
  I've watched you at kids parties and I believe you are above and beyond
• 11:26
  when it comes to entertaining kids, keeping them engaged, keeping them
• 11:31
  going, giving them loads of sweets.
• 11:32
  And it makes so much sense to me now that you've had that experience
• 11:35
  on that Disney cruise ship.
• 11:37
  What an incredible training.
• 11:39
  And I can see where you've taken what you've learned from that and
• 11:41
  built on it yourself and put it into the business you have today.
• 11:44
  And I love that you had the balls quite, quite frankly.
• 11:48
  So just go on that website and apply for that job where most people would
• 11:51
  have thought it would never happen.
• 11:52
  So I absolutely love that.
• 11:53
  So much great information in there.
• 11:55
  So you came back from Disney, you're like, right, I'm going
• 11:57
  to do this DJ thing myself.
• 11:59
  Where did you find your first clients?
• 12:01
  How did you do that?
• 12:03
  Mike: Google ads.
• 12:04
  So I remember I built my own website.
• 12:07
  I went on Google ads and basically when I think I ended up phoning someone
• 12:12
  up from Google Ads and them setting it up for me and it just popped off.
• 12:18
  Literally, I just started getting all these bookings.
• 12:20
  There was, there was, it was me and my wife who, she was more the admin side
• 12:24
  of things, but what we learned straight away is that people absolutely loved
• 12:29
  the quick responses, the answering the phone, replying, all that sort of stuff.
• 12:34
  People loved that.
• 12:34
  So we always said from like day one, that's what we could
• 12:36
  need to stay consistent with.
• 12:38
  It was just me on my own.
• 12:39
  I was just going out, but I was still, I was still working for Carphone.
• 12:43
  This went on for a few years and I was probably doing about one or two a weekend.
• 12:47
  Then it got a bit out of hand.
• 12:50
  Then I actually, I started doing my rotor for Carphone Warehouse, my staff
• 12:54
  rotor based around the birthday parties.
• 12:57
  And it was at that point I went, I'm pushing my luck here.
• 13:00
  There was a few question marks with being asked by people.
• 13:03
  Cause you, as you can imagine, Saturdays are the busiest day in the shop.
• 13:06
  So when they were saying that I was finishing at one o'clock every Saturday
• 13:10
  and, or having every Saturday off.
• 13:12
  And so I've always had Sundays off.
• 13:15
  Yeah, question marks with that.
• 13:17
  And then that was the point I went, I think I'm going to have to make
• 13:20
  a bit of a grown up decision here.
• 13:21
  I come home to my wife and I said to my wife, I think I'm going to...
• 13:25
  quit carphone warehouse to pursue this.
• 13:27
  And she was like, it's such a risk Mike, you can't, you can't.
• 13:30
  I said, I really believe I can.
• 13:32
  She wouldn't have none of it.
• 13:33
  She really, you know, said, look, I just don't think this is the
• 13:36
  right, you've got a secure job here.
• 13:38
  We had private healthcare, which is fantastic.
• 13:40
  We had all the benefits, but I said something quite outrageous.
• 13:44
  And I said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do.
• 13:46
  If you, I will go part time carphone warehouse, I will go window cleaning.
• 13:51
  around our local area, okay, until I can go full time as a DJ.
• 13:58
  I said that's how much I believe I can do this because I do not
• 14:01
  want to go window cleaning.
• 14:03
  So, off I went, used my Carphone Warehouse skills, built up a bit of a cleaning,
• 14:08
  window cleaning round, done that for about six months, built up a massive
• 14:11
  amount of people, to the point where I could no longer work with Carphone
• 14:17
  Warehouse, same problem happened, I had too many window cleaning to do, too much
• 14:21
  Carphone Warehouse part time to do and too many kids parties to do, and I started
• 14:24
  doing little weddings here and there.
• 14:27
  So that's where I went, right, I ended up going and selling my window cleaning
• 14:30
  round for quite a few thousand pounds.
• 14:33
  So that was done and dusted.
• 14:34
  That was the point where my wife went, yeah, fair enough.
• 14:36
  You know, I think we can push this forward.
• 14:39
  And then I, done carphone warehouse part time for about four or five more months.
• 14:44
  And then I went, right, was driving me crazy.
• 14:48
  I was no longer a manager.
• 14:49
  I was back at the bottom of the pile.
• 14:51
  and I stepped away and that's where we went full time.
• 14:54
  And that's where I basically went, like, Disco Factory UK all the way forward.
• 14:59
  That went really well for about a year.
• 15:00
  I invested in the business quite heavily and we decided to recruit.
• 15:04
  So we went and recruited three DJs who had never DJed before to do
• 15:08
  some training, provide them the equipment, add them to the website.
• 15:12
  That went completely bonkers.
• 15:14
  And we got up to about doing about 25 kids parties a weekend.
• 15:18
  That was Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
• 15:21
  So then.
• 15:22
  Covid hit and then it all changed.
• 15:24
  Becca: Yes, that was a whole nother chapter in the story.
• 15:28
  What I love about the story so far is that real honest take on what it took for
• 15:33
  you to step away from Carphone Warehouse because I think a lot of people have
• 15:37
  this dream of going full time in their business or that that's the ambition.
• 15:41
  But it really is a scary step to take and having that income regularly that
• 15:46
  you can rely on, it's really hard to say goodbye to, but I'm also a massive
• 15:50
  believer in people who are entrepreneurs will find other ways to make money.
• 15:53
  And that's, you proved that with your window cleaning business, because
• 15:56
  actually you could have spent that time building up your DJ business.
• 15:59
  You did it as a, as a.
• 16:00
  stopgap, basically, and then ended up building another incredible business.
• 16:04
  And I do think people are business minded.
• 16:06
  Yes, it takes a lot to step away from that position.
• 16:09
  But when you need that money, and you are entrepreneurial focused, you
• 16:13
  will find ways to make that money.
• 16:15
  And again, that's exactly what you did in COVID.
• 16:17
  Because I know, and I said it, I say it to people all the time, if you quit
• 16:21
  your job, and you go full time in your business, and you need extra money, you
• 16:24
  can always go out and get another job.
• 16:26
  And that's exactly what you did in COVID.
• 16:27
  The work disappeared and you just went out and got another job, didn't you?
• 16:30
  Mike: Yeah, I ended up working for Sainsbury's delivering food.
• 16:34
  I was also doing, like Zoom kids parties, which that popped off as well.
• 16:39
  That went crazy, but that was only at the weekends.
• 16:41
  So yeah, Sainsbury's was, I'll be honest, I hated it.
• 16:45
  Absolutely detested it.
• 16:47
  I hated going to work.
• 16:48
  I hated being told when I can have a lunch break.
• 16:50
  I hated the pay.
• 16:51
  I hated everything about it, but it got us through quite a tough time.
• 16:54
  But what Sainsbury's done was really motivated me to really
• 17:00
  try and go to the next level.
• 17:02
  So during COVID, my little saying was, I did not want to waste this opportunity.
• 17:07
  So I tried flipping it.
• 17:09
  So rather than it being a negative, I saw COVID, lockdowns as that opportunity to
• 17:14
  take a step back and rethink about things.
• 17:17
  And it was at that point, I was talking to one of my old brides
• 17:22
  who I become good friends with.
• 17:24
  And she said to me that the advice she gave to me that actually she
• 17:28
  wasn't going to book me originally.
• 17:30
  And I asked her why that was.
• 17:31
  And she said, because I didn't want to kid's entertainer as my wedding DJ.
• 17:35
  And I never, ever forget that.
• 17:36
  One sentence, and that was the moment I went, okay, I said, right.
• 17:43
  And that was, it was literally just this, that conversation
• 17:46
  actually was just before COVID.
• 17:49
  So that it was at that point, we decided not to rebrand, to
• 17:54
  actually create a second business.
• 17:56
  So we was going to separate my weddings.
• 17:59
  And we're going to call that DJ Mike Readings and then Disco Factory UK
• 18:03
  was going to just do the kids stuff.
• 18:05
  So that whole time during COVID, I was just driving the DJ Mike Readings train.
• 18:11
  New website, networking, branding, photos, videos, contacting venues, all
• 18:18
  that sort of stuff was my motivation to really take advantage of that opportunity.
• 18:23
  I think that's the first time we met was we, I didn't know that you'd
• 18:27
  see me at one of the kids parties.
• 18:30
  So I messaged you during COVID.
• 18:33
  I didn't even know about your group or anything.
• 18:34
  And I just said, look, I've heard great things about you talking to others.
• 18:39
  Let's, let's connect on Zoom.
• 18:39
  I want to know more about you.
• 18:43
  And that's how we got to know each other.
• 18:45
  And that's how I sort of like took advantage of that whole situation.
• 18:49
  I was just so focused.
• 18:51
  And I think it's worked.
• 18:53
  So, so Rosie.
• 18:54
  Becca: Definitely, definitely has worked.
• 18:57
  I remember that Zoom conversation well.
• 18:59
  I remember us jumping on that Zoom together.
• 19:01
  And I also remember your attitude in COVID being really positive because
• 19:05
  you had to take this job that you didn't want to take and you hated.
• 19:08
  But I also remember you used it because you were driving around
• 19:11
  all the time, taking these food deliveries, and you were listening to
• 19:14
  every training, every podcast, every live video from your van because you
• 19:17
  suddenly had all of this time to do it.
• 19:19
  And I definitely think that Best thing you've done for your business is to
• 19:22
  separate out the DJ Mike Readings from the Disco Factory UK because it's set
• 19:27
  you up to do what you want in the future.
• 19:29
  You could sell that business.
• 19:30
  You can expand that business.
• 19:31
  You can franchise that business for the parties if you want to, and yet you've
• 19:35
  still got this really solid wedding focused DJ and there's a really great
• 19:39
  lesson in there for people to listen to customer feedback because sometimes you
• 19:43
  don't want to hear what they have to say.
• 19:45
  You don't want to hear why people didn't book you or didn't want to
• 19:47
  book you or nearly didn't book you.
• 19:50
  But actually you'll get the most.
• 19:51
  Golden insights.
• 19:52
  If you listen to your customers to move your business forward to the next level
• 19:56
  Mike: Let me just jump in there quickly, because I just want to say
• 20:00
  that you can listen to your customers through views, but who wants to
• 20:05
  talk bad about her own wedding?
• 20:07
  Okay.
• 20:07
  All their own.
• 20:10
  whatever it's gonna be.
• 20:12
  So sometimes it's worth just actually speaking to people offline, and
• 20:17
  that's where you'll learn the most and thats I do this on a regular basis.
• 20:21
  So yeah, just thought i'd share that with you.
• 20:23
  Becca: A hundred percent.
• 20:23
  You're so right.
• 20:24
  You need to have that personal conversation with them.
• 20:26
  They're not going to share it or you don't want them to share it
• 20:28
  in the review publicly online, but just asking them how they found
• 20:31
  the process, how they found things.
• 20:33
  definitely worth doing.
• 20:34
  Now, Mike, people love hearing success stories, but they also love to hear
• 20:38
  where things didn't go quite so well.
• 20:40
  So I would love to know, as you look back over all these different years of having
• 20:44
  your business, growing your business, are there any mistakes you made early
• 20:48
  on that you kind of regret now, or you would warn someone against doing now?
• 20:52
  Mike: I'm going to say.
• 20:54
  Doing things, doing things yourself.
• 20:56
  So the DIY of the industry.
• 20:58
  I've tried to do things in the past, which I felt was very good.
• 21:03
  And actually, when I look back, it's not very good at all.
• 21:06
  I really believe that there's people out there who are incredible
• 21:11
  at things that we're not.
• 21:13
  And sometimes you have to bite the bullet and pay someone to do stuff.
• 21:17
  But delegating...
• 21:19
  And paying for something to be done is, is by far, there's, it's more than just
• 21:25
  the outcome of what you're expecting.
• 21:27
  It's more about taking away the stress, the worry, the time, and
• 21:31
  then you've still got the outcome as well that you are looking for.
• 21:35
  And I, everything from copywriting, which I've recently done, to website
• 21:41
  design, to brochure design, to anything.
• 21:46
  There's so much out there.
• 21:47
  There's so many things we can do ourselves.
• 21:50
  You know, even to the point of social media, sometimes if you just
• 21:53
  invest and you don't have to invest long term, just investing a little
• 21:57
  bit can, can save so much time.
• 22:00
  So I have wasted too much of my own time trying to figure things out, maybe because
• 22:05
  I've listened to too many books and.
• 22:07
  podcasts.
• 22:08
  But yeah, that, that's, I would say that's probably my, my biggest mistake
• 22:12
  trying to always do things myself.
• 22:13
  Becca: Absolutely.
• 22:14
  I have a saying that I like to say just because you can doesn't mean you should.
• 22:18
  So just because you can jump on Canva and design your own logo or design your
• 22:21
  own brochure doesn't mean you should do it because there's someone out there
• 22:24
  that can do it a million times better.
• 22:26
  And often I will look at people's websites and we do, we look at wedding
• 22:30
  businesses websites and you can usually tell the people that have done it
• 22:34
  themselves because it's adequate.
• 22:36
  But it's not outstanding.
• 22:37
  And you can look at other people's websites where they have invested
• 22:39
  that bit of money in getting someone to design it professionally.
• 22:43
  And it does become outstanding rather than adequate.
• 22:45
  But also to your point where you're saying about listening to too many
• 22:48
  podcasts and books, I'm also a believer that we should understand everything,
• 22:51
  even if we get someone else to do it.
• 22:53
  So we should have a good understanding of how the social media should work.
• 22:57
  We should have a good understanding of how marketing works.
• 22:59
  How brand design should work so that we know that when we pay someone else
• 23:03
  to do it, we understand it enough to talk to them about what we want and
• 23:08
  to make sure they're doing a good job.
• 23:09
  Because I think when we go into something blind, it's a lot harder
• 23:13
  than when we have a good understanding.
• 23:14
  So you knowing what good branding is, what a good website is, what a
• 23:18
  good sales process is, then helps you outsource that work to someone else.
• 23:22
  Do you agree?
• 23:22
  Mike: A hundred percent.
• 23:24
  Funny enough, your podcast with the lady from America.
• 23:27
  who does the copywriting.
• 23:29
  If it wasn't for that podcast, I wouldn't have had my website rewrote.
• 23:33
  So it was really understanding because, again, going back to what I was
• 23:38
  saying, I tried copywriting myself.
• 23:40
  I tried multiple different avenues of copywriting, but to actually get someone
• 23:44
  who specializes in the wedding industry.
• 23:48
  That, that's the important part.
• 23:49
  Becca: Yeah, a hundred percent.
• 23:50
  And it is difficult when we have to outsource things and we have to pay
• 23:52
  for things, but it's, it's that whole speculate to accumulate as well.
• 23:56
  Because if you invest in a killer website, you're going to get better
• 23:58
  inquiries, better money coming in.
• 24:00
  And the whole thing is like chicken and egg.
• 24:02
  If you wait till you've got the money, it takes longer because your website
• 24:05
  isn't attracting the right people.
• 24:06
  So it is difficult and you don't have to do it all at once either.
• 24:09
  You can upgrade your website and then wait six months and then upgrade your
• 24:12
  copywriting and then wait six months and then invest in SEO, whatever it is.
• 24:16
  You don't have to do it all at once.
• 24:18
  Now, Mike, one of the things I love about your approach to your business is the
• 24:22
  way that you work and build relationships with suppliers and with wedding venues.
• 24:27
  So I know now you've got good relationships with
• 24:30
  wedding venues in your area.
• 24:31
  You have great relationships with the suppliers in your area.
• 24:34
  How have you built that up?
• 24:36
  What's kind of your go to method for building those great relationships?
• 24:40
  Mike: Sure.
• 24:41
  So it's so simple.
• 24:43
  Just be nice.
• 24:45
  That's all comes down to just be nice.
• 24:47
  Be nice and communicate.
• 24:49
  So, for me, I want to be useful.
• 24:53
  I don't want to just be DJ Mike Readings.
• 24:55
  I don't want to be, I want to be the guy who's there to help others when needed.
• 25:01
  I, I want to be known as the person who will adapt, who's flexible.
• 25:05
  Who doesn't take over, and there's multiple, I call them tactics.
• 25:09
  There are multiple tactics that I do.
• 25:11
  So I always try to lead.
• 25:13
  I always try to take the lead at a wedding.
• 25:15
  And that is everything from, I will send an email a week before a wedding.
• 25:19
  I'll make sure all the supplies are copied, copied in.
• 25:23
  And I'll introduce myself to everyone.
• 25:24
  I'll give a breakdown of everything I'm doing.
• 25:26
  So they know exactly who I am before I turn up.
• 25:29
  So there's no awkward, Hi, I'm Mike and I'm here to be this and do that.
• 25:35
  I want people to be fully engaged with me before I turn up.
• 25:39
  And you'll find as well that couples absolutely love that.
• 25:43
  And do you know that you've
• 25:50
  got your in order.
• 25:53
  So, just that one email a week before the wedding really just showed that
• 25:58
  you're organised, you're professional, you know what you're doing,
• 26:01
  they've got nothing to worry about.
• 26:04
  And, do you know the funny thing about this?
• 26:06
  So, I'm going through a very, very busy period at the moment.
• 26:09
  And there was one week where I'd done seven weddings in ten days.
• 26:13
  And it was them seven weddings, I just did not have time to be sending emails.
• 26:18
  I did not have time, okay?
• 26:21
  So them seven weddings, two of them, two of them venues, phoned me on the
• 26:27
  day to ask what time I was turning up.
• 26:29
  Now, there are multiple suppliers out there who don't
• 26:33
  send emails to venues, okay?
• 26:35
  Now I know the reason why they'd called me is because previously...
• 26:39
  They'd receive emails from me.
• 26:42
  So now they're not receiving an email from me, they're questioning it.
• 26:45
  Which is absolutely fine, I actually love that, that means they're on the ball.
• 26:48
  But that's, that really made me rethink how powerful that little bit of
• 26:53
  communication, which It's a template.
• 26:56
  It's a template that gets slightly edited so it's in line with all the plans that
• 26:59
  the wedding and it doesn't matter if I'm with them all day as their emcee
• 27:03
  or it doesn't matter if I'm just there in the evening, just a little email to
• 27:06
  say I've spoken with a wedding couple.
• 27:09
  We've put plans in place.
• 27:10
  They've decided what music.
• 27:13
  I hope that the blow notes is in line with your plans.
• 27:17
  If you've got any questions, please reply and it's literally just a list
• 27:22
  of everything from what time I'm turning up to what time we're doing
• 27:24
  first dance, what time we're doing this, everything I'm going to be
• 27:28
  announcing, et cetera, et cetera.
• 27:30
  So that's been a big thing for me.
• 27:31
  And the other thing is really just saying thank you.
• 27:34
  To people, certainly venues.
• 27:36
  So if venues are going out their way to recommend you, there's big companies
• 27:39
  out there paying a lot of money to be marketed to the right people.
• 27:43
  You can spend an absolute fortune on Google ads.
• 27:46
  You can spend thousands of Google ads to just, to find engaged couples with
• 27:50
  the right amount of money in that area.
• 27:54
  It's an incredible amount of money you pay.
• 27:55
  But, but if you've got someone at a wedding venue is mentioning your name to a
• 28:00
  couple who are booking you at that venue, Hold up, surely that's, that's, all your
• 28:06
  eggs should be placed in that basket.
• 28:09
  And if that venue is doing five, six weddings a week, and it's not costing you
• 28:16
  a penny, you know, what would Apple do?
• 28:19
  What would Coca Cola do?
• 28:20
  And that, that's the way I see it.
• 28:22
  So if someone's going out their way to promote you, make you thousands,
• 28:27
  then the minimum we should be doing is just saying thank you.
• 28:31
  And if we can buy them a coffee, or we can buy them a thank you present.
• 28:34
  or if we can, you know, just really just show loads of appreciation, talk good of
• 28:41
  the venue to the couples, talk how great they are, it all feeds back and if no
• 28:46
  one else is doing that, it's a win win.
• 28:49
  Becca: Absolutely, you stand out a mile and I think sometimes it's
• 28:52
  the simplicity of it that people...
• 28:55
  just don't think about, which is ridiculous.
• 28:58
  So if someone's out there trying to sell you a course for 10, 000 pounds
• 29:00
  about how to build relationships with venues, you don't need rocket science.
• 29:04
  It comes down to being a basic good human being saying
• 29:08
  thank you and being organized.
• 29:09
  And I think one thing I noticed in the wedding industry when things fall
• 29:13
  apart is uncertainty, which is why the power of your email is so important.
• 29:17
  Because if there's uncertainty about what's happening from the
• 29:20
  venue's perspective, they panic and then it's extra work for them.
• 29:23
  If there's uncertainty about what's happening from the
• 29:25
  couple's perspective, they panic.
• 29:27
  And that's when you get the late night emails, the people ringing
• 29:30
  you up at ridiculous times going, are you still coming to my wedding?
• 29:32
  Because they're panicking, they're stressed.
• 29:34
  Whereas if you take control of that, exactly as you've said, and you walk them
• 29:37
  through it step by step, and there is zero uncertainty because you're taking control.
• 29:42
  They're going to trust you.
• 29:43
  They know you're going to turn up and it is powerful and venues and
• 29:47
  couples and supplies in general do not like that feeling of uncertainty.
• 29:51
  And is he going to turn up or is he not going to turn up?
• 29:53
  Whereas we know DJ Mike Readings is always going to turn up because he sent
• 29:56
  us the email and a learning for you Mike.
• 29:58
  Don't neglect to send those emails when you're busy, you're going to
• 30:00
  know for next season in busy season.
• 30:03
  I am going to outsource sending those emails to someone a couple of
• 30:07
  hours a week for busy season so that they get done every single time.
• 30:11
  Cause now you've noticed what happens when you don't do them.
• 30:13
  You can see how important they are.
• 30:15
  Yeah, exactly.
• 30:16
  Or at least they acknowledge that they don't have to worry about it because
• 30:19
  they've seen it and they know, right.
• 30:20
  Mike's on it.
• 30:21
  I don't need to worry about it.
• 30:22
  You don't want to put that doubt into their minds.
• 30:24
  Okay.
• 30:24
  As we draw this to an end, I would love to know what advice you've got for
• 30:29
  someone just starting out in the industry.
• 30:30
  As you know, as well as I do, there are new people starting wedding businesses
• 30:34
  left, right and centre all of the time.
• 30:35
  Some of them succeed, some of them flop, some of them pop up with the cheapest
• 30:39
  possible offer and then can't sustain it.
• 30:41
  So if you've got someone starting out in the wedding industry right now
• 30:44
  listening to this, what advice would you give them to help them create
• 30:49
  a sustainable, profitable business?
• 30:51
  Mike: Speak to the experienced people and not your family and friends.
• 30:54
  It's as simple as that.
• 30:56
  There are, when I first started, I remember very, very close family members
• 31:01
  telling me, silly, stupid, what you're doing, you know, ain't going to work.
• 31:06
  I had really good friends who, you know, some of them worked for
• 31:10
  car from where else, some of them didn't, who were telling me that,
• 31:14
  you know, ain't going to work.
• 31:16
  Now I know if a DJ approached me now, And said to me, you know,
• 31:21
  I'm starting up in the wedding, starting up in the wedding industry.
• 31:25
  What advice could you give?
• 31:26
  I've probably got a hundred things I want to say to them.
• 31:28
  And every single one of them would be positive.
• 31:31
  And I would highly suggest it as well.
• 31:34
  People just don't understand.
• 31:36
  People are, they really, really, really believe that you need a secure job.
• 31:43
  And it's secure.
• 31:45
  There's, the security's really, really high.
• 31:47
  Where I, I believe.
• 31:49
  that if you want to become successful, you've got to take risks.
• 31:53
  But the risks are actually, they're not risks, because it's just all
• 31:57
  about talking to the right people and finding out the correct answers.
• 32:01
  And if, first thing I would say to someone, if they were starting up a
• 32:05
  wedding business, I would say, these are the people you need to go look at their
• 32:09
  website, look at their social media, send them an email, ask to meet for a coffee
• 32:13
  with them, and if you do that to ten people, I bet three of them will say yes.
• 32:19
  And, because I certainly would, 100%, so just having, just sitting back and
• 32:25
  listening, just, just listening, I think is just so important and, and
• 32:32
  not rushing, it's, it's not going to take you, it's not going to take
• 32:36
  you a year to become successful.
• 32:38
  It's not going to take you two years.
• 32:40
  It's going to take you maybe four or five years.
• 32:44
  It's not going to happen overnight.
• 32:46
  And I think it's just all about being patient and having, you spoke about right
• 32:50
  at the start of this, about learning, taking advantage of the situation you're
• 32:54
  in, and I call that a hidden agenda.
• 32:56
  So always have a hidden agenda.
• 32:59
  What is it you can do to take advantage of your current situation?
• 33:03
  And if that means just using the telephone at work rather than your own, do that.
• 33:08
  You know, if that means using the wifi at work.
• 33:12
  Do that.
• 33:13
  Yeah.
• 33:14
  It's just little things.
• 33:15
  Just take advantage, talk to the right people and just have a plan.
• 33:20
  Becca: So, so important.
• 33:21
  And by talking to those people, you can learn the things you should be doing
• 33:26
  and shouldn't be doing in the industry and save yourself making mistakes.
• 33:29
  I love that your dogs had so much advice to give as well during the little answer.
• 33:34
  I love that.
• 33:34
  Tell us about your dogs before we finish.
• 33:36
  Yeah.
• 33:37
  Mike: I got two, two cockapoos.
• 33:39
  One of them's walked in the room, yeah, they're great dogs.
• 33:42
  They are great dogs and, they're being nosy now, so my apologies
• 33:46
  for the background noise.
• 33:48
  Becca: It's absolutely fine.
• 33:50
  We know what it's like in life as a business owner.
• 33:52
  It's the juggle.
• 33:53
  As I said before I started recording this call, I've got builders outside,
• 33:57
  I've got kids downstairs, so you never know what's going to happen.
• 33:59
  And it's much better for us all to be honest and realize that we're all
• 34:02
  running day to day lives as well as our businesses, rather than pretending
• 34:05
  we're in some fancy recording studio in London, because it's just not
• 34:08
  going to ever happen, is it Mike?
• 34:10
  We've got, we've got a life to run and that's the benefit of being self
• 34:12
  employed because we can do it all around all of the other things as well.
• 34:16
  Now Mike, it's been so great chatting to you.
• 34:18
  I always end my podcast with the same question, which I'm going to put to
• 34:21
  you, which is what's one thing you wish you'd known sooner in your own business?
• 34:25
  Mike: Okay.
• 34:25
  So I've had a little think about this question.
• 34:27
  I was expecting this question because I've listened to all the episodes.
• 34:31
  I had probably over 10 answers for this, but I've picked one,
• 34:36
  and that is to have a life plan.
• 34:40
  So we all put these plans together, and it might be what we're going to try and
• 34:45
  do this year, next year, five years.
• 34:49
  But the one thing that I've really not taken seriously is actually what
• 34:54
  am I going to do when I'm 50 years old, 60 years old, 70 years old.
• 34:58
  And it's just something that's hit me quite hard recently, you know, I don't
• 35:01
  want to be a DJ past 50 years old.
• 35:04
  What am I gonna do?
• 35:06
  What am I gonna do?
• 35:07
  I wish I'd had a plan back then, probably when I was, I know, 30 years old on not
• 35:15
  just where I wanna get to in my business.
• 35:18
  Where do I wanna get to in life that is relevant to the, to the ages.
• 35:23
  So recently I've sat down and I've put a bit of a plan together,
• 35:27
  you know, so what's my life gonna look like in business?
• 35:30
  'cause I can never go back to getting a job that's, that's a hundred percent.
• 35:34
  So what is life gonna like look like?
• 35:36
  Between 50 and 60, 60 and 70, et cetera, et cetera, and that has just
• 35:44
  relieved a little bit of pressure.
• 35:47
  And I don't think that gets spoke about enough.
• 35:50
  My job can be a bit of a slog sometimes, you know, with equipment, coming
• 35:54
  home early hours in the morning.
• 35:56
  I know for a fact that that is not going to be something
• 35:58
  you can do until you're old.
• 36:01
  So I've got to start thinking about what is my my next, passion project.
• 36:06
  I've got a few ideas, but I want others to, to think about that as well, because
• 36:12
  even a photographer, even, you know, a cake maker, are them, are they still
• 36:19
  planning to do that when they're 60?
• 36:21
  You know, I'm not too sure.
• 36:23
  So yeah, I would definitely say that I wish I'd had a better plan for my, for
• 36:28
  my whole life rather than just 10 years.
• 36:32
  Becca: That's really thought provoking.
• 36:33
  You've, you've stunned me into silence because I think you're so right.
• 36:37
  There's so much for us to think about and it's easy for us to
• 36:39
  think, yeah, that's one day in the future, but that future creeps ever
• 36:42
  closer with each day and each year.
• 36:46
  And I think it's definitely something people need to be thinking about.
• 36:48
  And perhaps that's a whole another podcast episode that we need to get someone on to
• 36:52
  talk about thinking about how they plan out how you do go ahead planning out the
• 36:56
  50 year plan and what that looks like.
• 37:00
  And I'm glad that that's where you're at, Mike.
• 37:01
  I know you're doing a huge amount of work in that area as well.
• 37:04
  And I'm excited to see what's next for you.
• 37:07
  And I have no doubt that it will involve success because I know whatever you
• 37:10
  put your hand and your mind to is.
• 37:12
  Always successful.
• 37:14
  Mike, it's been such a pleasure chatting with you, hearing more
• 37:16
  about your story, getting to know that business journey better.
• 37:19
  If people want to chat with you more, maybe come for a coffee with you or
• 37:22
  reach out to you, where's the best place for them to find me on Instagram,
• 37:25
  Mike: DJ Mike Readings.
• 37:29
  Yeah, just drop me a DM.
• 37:31
  I'm always, I'm always on there.
• 37:33
  So yeah, that's probably the best place.
• 37:35
  to contact me.
• 37:36
  Becca: Fabulous.
• 37:36
  I will make sure that I share your Instagram link and your
• 37:39
  website link in the comments.
• 37:40
  And just a final thing from me, if you are in the Bedfordshire and
• 37:43
  Hertfordshire area and you're having a child's birthday party, then I can
• 37:47
  highly recommend Disco Factory UK.
• 37:49
  They are the best in the region.
• 37:51
  You definitely need to get Mike or one of his team down to your child's birthday.
• 37:56
  Mike, it's been so much fun chatting to you.
• 37:57
  Thanks for being on the podcast.
• 37:59
  Mike: Thank you.
• 38:00
  Been a pleasure.
• 38:02
  Becca: Wasn't that a fabulous conversation with Mike?
• 38:05
  I just love his energy.
• 38:06
  I love his determination.
• 38:07
  I love his story, especially that he worked for Disney.
• 38:10
  I think there's so much we can learn from what he shared with us today.
• 38:14
  And the big takeaway for me is just be a great person, put
• 38:18
  your mind to it and show up.
• 38:20
  Those are the things that I've taken away from today.
• 38:22
  And also let's get our life plans in order.
• 38:25
  I'll see you next time.