Latest / The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast / Episode 56 The Business Behind the Dance Floor: Bring On The Bash

Transcript

Episode 56 The Business Behind the Dance Floor: Bring On The Bash · The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to The Preferred List, a podcast about the people behind the best wedding days.
0:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm James, a wedding filmmaker.
0:07
SPEAKER_01: I've spent years in the industry working alongside incredible vendors, and this show is all about real conversations with the ones who make it happen.
0:14
SPEAKER_01: Whether you're a vendor or a couple, you'll get honest insight, good stories, and maybe a little inspiration along the way.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: Let's meet today's wedding vendor.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: Taylor, how's it going?
0:24
SPEAKER_00: Dude, so great.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: How about you, man?
0:26
SPEAKER_01: Good, good.
0:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad to have you on.
0:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, I haven't met you yet.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: Hi.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: Until right now.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, until I have had a little bit of um interaction with your brand, bring on the bash, and I'm so excited to talk all things, DJ.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: Y'all know if you listen to the show, I do really enjoy talking to DJs.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: I love talking shop, talking music.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, but before we, I mean I hit record, but before we started started, you're talking about business, and you love talking about business.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna dive into anyone who knows me is gonna be like, Taylor Bolt, shut up.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: Stop giving me recommendations.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: I'll be like, sorry.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: No, I can't stop.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna dive into all of that, hear your story, hear more about your brand that you've been building.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, but before we do, I want to tell you a little bit more about the venue that we're at today.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: Jeermore Estate is a luxury wedding venue located in the rolling farmlands of southern Lancaster County.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: The 16,000 square foot brick Georgian mansion located on the second highest elevation in the county was built in 1938 as a party house for newspaper magnate John Steinman.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: It provides robust views of forestry, hillsides, and even the city of Lancaster skyline.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: The estate's long-standing legacy of elegance and hospitality continues to flourish, becoming a place where magical memories are made and couples' most important days come to life.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: It also provides the unparalleled Drewmore Estate experience for weddings and events of all sizes.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: From the mansion and formal gardens to the grand tent and carriage house, every event at Drewmore Estate becomes more than a celebration.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: It becomes a part of history.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: So glad to have you on, Taylor.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, to kick off this episode, tell me more about how Bring on the Bash started, why wedding DJ, where did you come from to kind of get to this point?
2:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I went to school for video production.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: My plan was to start a video production company.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: And this would have been like 2010, 2012.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: I graduated college in 2012.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: And this is right at the time when mini DV was phasing out and Canon had just made their 5D on like full frame, and you could shoot for like five minutes, you know, like crazy.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: Everyone's like, whoa, you know, so clear, so much lighter.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was right at that, like kind of the the point where the tech was switching and I was broke, and I was like, man, I need like 20 grand to be competitive.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: And I'd shot about half a dozen weddings in college, and the shooting is an absolute blast.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: But as a fresh 20-year-old, the editing, I was like, I will die.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like this is not me.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: I this is not the path that I can take.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: And my sister at the time was a wedding photographer, and she's like, You should be a wedding DJ.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, No, wedding DJs are lame, they're corny, they play terrible music.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: She's like, Don't be lame, corny, or play terrible music.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, You got me there, you got me there.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: Can't really say anything about that.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: And um I, you know, my because my dad was a full-time musician, I had a huge advantage um because he had all the sound systems and everything.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: I just needed a little DJ controller.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: And through listening to DJ mixes online and then just trying to copy them, I reverse engineered how to DJ.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: So self-taught.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: I did the first wedding, um, and I was like, this is awful.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: I will never do this again.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: And then I thought, well, is the problem really weddings or is it just me?
3:50
SPEAKER_01: Your sister's like, don't be awful.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's like, Don't be be better, be better.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: And um it was really just with that mindset of just taking the responsibility of like, I just gotta up my game, just gotta up my game.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: And um here I am 15 years later, and it's my full-time job.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you have a whole team.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: I have a whole team.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's five of us, including myself, but we're we're bringing new people on for next year.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: So we'll talk about the team, we'll kind of dive into the business stuff, but I want to just pick apart some of this like origin story side of things.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's so interesting to me hearing, you know, it wasn't maybe your direct like music background, um, but what were the influences that your dad and his music kind of career, what did that have on you kind of jumping into this in the first place?
4:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you know, he's been a full-time musician since 1992, doing kids and family music.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: So growing up, music was such a huge part of my life.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: And because it was such a huge part of my life, like it wasn't really anything new.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: It was just like, yeah, there's just me, it was just music, it wasn't anything different.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I never really I never got the music writing bug.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, I would write like four lyrics and be like, this is trash.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: And I I just didn't have that type of passion for music.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: But my dad, as a lover of music, and uh as a musician, he was always giving me the history behind things.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, this Beatles album was recorded in 1964, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Here's what happened, here's where they were.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: This was the recording studio, and there was all of this context around the music, and we really bonded over that.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: So my my love of music uh really started in this almost very academic, um, borderline psychotic like research style of music.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: And that translates very well to being a DJ of just how does all of this music connect?
5:46
SPEAKER_00: So when someone they're like, I love the Beatles, is it like, Do you like the Beatles?
5:51
SPEAKER_00: Or do you kind of like that that style of music?
5:54
SPEAKER_00: Because if you like that style, I know music history enough that I see this like music web constellation of like how everything connects, and then very quickly you can make these quick music assumptions that are usually more accurate than not.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: And that's very, very helpful when you're trying to help someone plan a wedding and they don't have 20 hours to sit around and listen to music and they can point you in a direction and go, okay, I know my stuff.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: So I can I can fill in all of those gaps.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: I'm just thinking, I'm like sitting here thinking of like it feels like a couple could give you like a rough like five or ten songs that are maybe sort of different genres or maybe similar genres, but like give you five or ten songs and you could build a whole set out of that and it's gonna slap.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we can do it that way.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: I know there's other ways to do it.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm just like with that with that web that I'm picturing you having is like you're taking very little input and coming out with hey, here's a here's a whole idea of what your dance set, what that fun kind of party music could be, yeah, and kind of tailoring it from there.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and really with the whole day, you know, when someone gives you an artist like Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift is also a good example, their catalog is so huge and so expansive.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: It's like you can play those two artists at every single point in the day.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like ceremony through dance party.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: And I think striking that that balance of playing music that the couple actually likes, actually listens to, is just it's so important.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: Um and we we do a big research thing with with the couples basically, of like really getting into their music because people have nuances.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: You can go, man, I love classic rock, and like this is me.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: I love classic rock, but I hate the who.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm sorry for any who fans out there, but it's just like I don't get it, I don't like it, I don't want to listen to it.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and people always have those exceptions.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Um so being open and knowing what questions to ask people so you can find those contradictions.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: They're like, Oh, I love pop, but I hate Sabrina Carpenter.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, Cool, okay, sure, you know, there's lots of music in the world.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be just fine.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and just having that that nuance of their wedding actually sounds like them and not just like every other wedding.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not just the cookie cutter wedding playlist that is just kind of getting remixed a little bit.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm curious from that first wedding, since you've been doing this for 15 years.
8:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not like an eternity, but that's a long time in business.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: It's a long time in weddings.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: What's what's been you know changing over time?
8:32
SPEAKER_01: What's like the biggest difference from that first wedding to like what you're doing now, what you're putting on now?
8:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, just from a personal level, um there's just so many little tiny tweaks.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: I think a constellation is just like a great analogy for that.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, well, a constellation usually has like seven stars, and we're obviously we're doing more than like seven things at a wedding.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's really just that those really tiny 1% improvements and just every single aspect of what you do from setup, teardown, intros, all the behind-the-scenes stuff that DJs are doing and dance parties.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then just building up a larger and larger music web in your head.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: So when you play a song and it gets a big reaction, you go, hmm, okay, what else might they like?
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Where could I possibly take this?
9:22
SPEAKER_00: That also might surprise them a bit.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: Like when you hear that throwback you actually haven't heard from high school, and you're like, oh my gosh, I forgot about this song.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Like it was on my iPod, and you're like, Yes, yes, that's more of that.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of memory that that we're going for.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: It's so fun too, because I feel like you probably look back at that first one and you're like, ooh, right?
9:44
SPEAKER_01: Like you did.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: You just said their last name wrong.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: Someone came up and they're like, Can you play sexy back by Justin Timberlake?
9:49
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I don't have it.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Don't have it.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: I don't have it.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: Of all the songs, who should have sexy back?
9:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it really is like a launching point for what you are now, right?
10:01
SPEAKER_01: Like every wedding, like you're saying, if it's 1% better over 15 years, like that's a ton of percentage.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: A lot of one percent better.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: Um what what was the journey like though?
10:12
SPEAKER_01: Going from here's me, I'm Taylor doing this DJ thing to let's branch out and build a team and be able to serve more clients and couples with the same intentionality.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: So the first people I ever got, shout out to Joel and Sean.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, they were great.
10:29
SPEAKER_00: Sean, how's it going?
10:31
SPEAKER_00: You're doing it, guys.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, I got really lucky.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: I got really, really blessed.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, the God put the right people on my team.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Like, it wasn't my ability to recruit or hire people.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, and honestly, uh, I would say I wasn't, you know, a very efficient manager probably till like four years ago.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I brought people on the team eight years ago.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, but one of the biggest things with just wanting to have a team and grow a team is you know, no one's gonna be you.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: No one's you're the business owner.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like it's kind of like saying, you know, um it's like if you have kids, it's like your that your kid's best friend is really gonna know them, but they're not gonna know them like you do, you know, as their dad or their parent.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's okay.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: That's totally okay because that best friend can be absolutely incredible to that child.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: And I really think that's how employees can be as well.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: So um, one of the kind of like main philosophies I I have with parenting, I have seven children, so I have lots of opinions on parenting.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, seven kids.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, seven kids.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it comes up in every conversation.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: Um my wife has one of seven.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: Really?
11:46
SPEAKER_00: What number is she?
11:47
SPEAKER_00: She is two.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: Number two?
11:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's my son Gray.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: Big families are great.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, with parenting and and managing people, there's a lot of overlap there.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that my wife and I talk about a lot is what are the least amount of rules that we can create and still have order and still reach success?
12:09
SPEAKER_00: Because if we have too many rules, if you have too many policies or standards or whatever that a team is supposed to hit, it's just crushing.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: And they always fail because they'll never do the 500-step checklist.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: You know, they get 490, and you're like, well, you didn't do that.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, but if you don't have any rules, any guidance, any framework, then it's all just loosey-goosey and things get real wild, and it's like, we well, we don't want that either.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: So, what is the least amount of structure that we can have that still allows individual team members to flourish?
12:46
SPEAKER_00: But we know very clearly that line drawn in the sand of being like, everyone does this the exact same way while still really allowing individual DJs to have their style.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Because um, you know, just like in in shooting and cinematography, like there's some people that just get like certain shots just better than others.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, okay, you keep doing that, you keep shooting that, and I'm gonna get this other angle, and then adding that to the team as a strength rather than being like, Well, you didn't shoot it like I you're different than me, and that's a bad thing, as opposed to like your difference is a good thing.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's totally a strength.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: But in the confines of how we manage and work with our couples, yeah, do the same thing, but just in the case.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like if someone came to you and they're like, I want a super cinematic, you're like, Okay, that gives me a vibe.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: But you know the guy on your team shoots like I the first thing I thought of was like the office, like fast zooms, that type of thing.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: Like root pants like totally different, but could totally work for the right couple.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: And it's like just sell that.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: Be like, well, this guy, Jeff on my team, he actually absolutely crushes this style of shooting and editing.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: It's like, do you want that?
13:52
SPEAKER_00: If you're like, no, then you're like, Well, do you want me?
13:55
SPEAKER_00: I do cinematic and smooth, and you know, so just doubling down on people's strengths rather than trying to make everyone like me.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: I think that's just like the foundation.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: I can already tell, even just from this like one question, that your brain is just so wired into like business functioning.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't even know what it is specifically, but um, if there's a vendor out there that's maybe just started, um dude, I hoped you would ask this question.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm just gonna go like generic.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: What what's your best advice for them?
14:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: Getting started.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: Are we talking like like year one?
14:29
SPEAKER_01: Like fresh.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: They just started or they want to start.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: Love it.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: Love it.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: So when you start a business, you you don't know what you don't know.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: And that's fine.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, and even if, you know, unless you went to business school, like which I didn't, um, it's like you don't know what you don't know.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: So you need a way to fill those gaps because the biggest thing that holds your business back from growing, and this is true.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, I've had some great mentors who have had like massive, massive, huge like tech companies and they've sold them for like millions.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: And they say the same thing.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: They're like, the biggest thing holding your business back from growing is you.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: It's like you are the biggest bottleneck, you are the biggest problem/slash opportunity in the business.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: Because the majority of the decisions, especially when it's very, very small, is all gonna flow through you.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: So you got to fill up those gaps very, very quickly.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, you either go to school for it, it's like that's very expensive and takes a long time, and you're like, I want to do weddings now.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Ideally, you would find a guide, a mentor that's probably about 10 years ahead of you.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: 10 years is a great spot.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: They're far enough out that they're like not where you are, but they're still close enough that they're gonna be able to be like, this is how you build a website.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's still gonna be very practical and tactical, but not everyone has that opportunity of just being like, I need a DJ that's 10 years ahead of me and is completely willing to share absolutely everything for free.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: For free, yeah.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: It's like, or you hire someone to do it, and that costs a lot of money, which a lot of people, when starting out, it's like they don't have five grand to be like, I'm gonna hire a coach.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like so really the only thing you have left at that point is books.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: It's like you need to be reading and absorbing business books.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Now don't go blast through a hundred business books in a year.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: It's like that's not helpful.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: It's like you need three to five, and you're just gonna live in those books for like a year.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: It's like read each book four times and actually do what the book says.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: So I love talking to people about do you have a question?
16:33
SPEAKER_01: I'm no, I'm a proponent of of I am the one that will like read a book and be like, cool, I read that.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: And then like four seconds later be like, Wait, what did I just read?
16:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, if anything, I'm like here and then I'm like, okay, I'm gonna read and I'm gonna like do as opposed to just read to consume.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: Because it's the same kind of concept of like scrolling as opposed to like building your brand on online.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: You can spend time scrolling and consuming, or you can spend time building and content creating and all of those different things that are gonna actually grow your business.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, business is this balance between just thinking about it, because you have to think about it, you have to know what decision to make.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: But so many people find the thinking process just so fun and the research process.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: That's me.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, you know, everyone falls into that.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then you also have to be able to execute.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: And there's other people who only execute and then they never think, they never research.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, you gotta do both.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, and depending on what phase of business you're in, um, Mike McAllowitz actually has a book about this.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: It's called Clockwork.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is more like like growing and scaling a big team, but he talks about doing time studies and how much time of like you should actually be putting into thinking versus doing.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's not my first book recommendation.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: Don't start with clockwork, um, especially if you're just starting.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: So I think the best book to start work start with is by Donald Miller.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: It's called Hero on a Mission.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: And it's actually not a business book, it's a life plan book.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: Because you need to make a decision kind of early on, and it doesn't mean this decision can't change, but like, what's your intention with the business?
18:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, one of my friends, um, he does coaching and he got asked, I think her name's, I can't think of her name.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: She's this huge online coach and he knows her.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: And she asked him, Are you trying to grow your lifestyle?
18:15
SPEAKER_00: Like, do you have a business to improve your lifestyle, or are you trying to build an empire?
18:20
SPEAKER_00: Because those are two different things, and one is not better than the other.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: If you want a little side hustle that goes, you know, I make some money on the side, but you know, the majority of my week is free, it's like, that's great.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: Or if you're going, I'm trying to have 10 employees and I'm trying to have an exit, I'm trying to sell a wedding venue in 10 years.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: It's like, that's very, very different.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: And Don's book, Hero on Emission, really breaks down with like, what do you actually want out of life?
18:47
SPEAKER_00: And then you just reverse, you just reverse engineer it and break it down step by step.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: So you can actually take those goals of being like, if I'm trying to sell a wedding venue, and I know that's gonna be let's just say five million dollars.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what a wedding venue costs.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: Um being like, okay, what do I need to do to get to that point?
19:03
SPEAKER_00: Now, if someone just starting out is going, I'm not trying to sell a wedding venue.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: They're going, I want to sell cookies.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: But I do feel like there's a lot of power to having that end in mind because it's gonna change the way that you start.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: Or change the way that you get started.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: And the book really goes into this just mental mindset of what you should have about your life.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: And it's incredibly I cried, I cried when I read the book.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, I could talk about that book for like an hour, moving on.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: But it's it's interesting that you would take a business question and go inward as opposed to let's get really tactical business first.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, because it shows to me that there's work that we have to do.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: And I'm even I'm sitting here and my brain's just like spinning.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: I have a little ADHD, but my brain's just spinning.
19:49
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking, like, man, how am I not setting myself up in my own business?
19:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, with that end in mind, as opposed to just like, okay, let's just keep plugging away.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: Let's, you know, make rent, do this thing, make the money that I need to make to support the family.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, well, how long am I gonna do that as opposed to like having the mindset of, well, what do we want to get to?
20:12
SPEAKER_01: What do we want to have as this end goal?
20:14
SPEAKER_01: As you know, and I just I'm like, starting with that in mind, starting with this like internal work first, it's gonna set you up, I think, for a potential for more success.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: And it also like appropriately sets expectations for yourself.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people when they're first starting, they're like, I'm gonna freaking blow up.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: Because you always hear those stories.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, someone starts their business and it does happen.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's usually just they're unbelievably lucky, yeah, or they, you know, have some wild God-given talent, but they're usually in the right place at the right time to some capacity.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: And that's not most people.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: Like it wasn't me.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it wasn't my dad, you know, it wasn't um, you know, my sister and brother-in-law who also own businesses.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: It's just like, no, they worked their butt off for 20 years and now they are where they're at because they worked so hard.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so start with Donald Miller's Heroine Mission.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: Now, to get more tactical, um, there's two books that you should read at the same time because they really have to go hand in hand.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: The first is actually by the same author, Donald Miller.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: He has a book called Story Brand.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: And this is all about messaging.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: Have you read Story Brand?
21:18
SPEAKER_01: I have.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: And I we in this podcast film day, two guests before you brought up Story Brand just a little bit.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: Just super fun.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, because Story Brand lays out messaging.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: What is messaging?
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Messaging is the foundation of what you say in your sales and marketing.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: Because I think, you know, particularly when someone is shopping wedding vendors, you know, say they're looking for a videographer, you know, they're on the knot, they blast 15 people at the same time.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: Or even if it's just like off a venues list, something like that, they're getting a lot of recommendations at one time.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: And I like to tell people it's like, imagine you're in one room and the couple's there, but so is every other videographer, and you have 10 seconds, you're all lined up and they like make it to you.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: It's like you have 10 seconds.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: It's like, what do you say?
22:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: And story brand kind of talks you through that of like how do you actually make yourself stand out from someone who who potentially is very similar to you.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: And it also helps you find your nuances.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: It's very interesting too because I feel like I've said this to couples a whole bunch of times on the video side of things.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, you can really give a lot of people a camera and they can film your day.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: You can come back from it and have a beautiful film, shows you all the visuals, shows you all the moments.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: In my mind, cool.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: But what I want for my couples is like a memory in the film, and you only get that with the intentionality with audio.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: And so for me, I'm like, I want to capture literally, I will interview anyone that will talk to my camera with a microphone that's close enough that it sounds good.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: Right?
22:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: I will do that with anyone.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: And so, like, coming back with basically the whole bridal party interviewed, the bride and groom interviewed, them doing letters to each other, them doing private vows, having the parents talk to me in the camera, getting grandparents to talk to me on the camera.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that's I don't feel like that's very common.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: That's gonna get you a film, though, that is intentionally put together with story in mind.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: So to your point, if you have clarity in your messaging as a newer business owner, doing the work internally, but then also story brand and whatever other book that's still a mystery.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, but you have that clarity of messaging of like, hey, this is how I'm different, and this is what we do that's different.
23:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then past that, you got like, hey, I like your films, I like your personality, yeah, your vibing, right?
23:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but what's the other book?
23:47
SPEAKER_00: So the other one is called Hundred Million Dollar Offers by Alex Hormosy.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is like we're it's a day of Alex and Donald.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: Dude, he's both of them, yeah, like life life-changing for me.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, have you read$100 million offers?
24:02
SPEAKER_01: I admittedly, like half.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: But that's some of the clarity of messaging and clarity of the offer that I've kind of pulled from.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: I admittedly have not read and done, but I have read half.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, quick preface on like Alex Hormozzi's stuff is he owns companies.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: He does like$250 million in aggregate, you know, across his portfolio company.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: So when he lays out information, he's laying out information for someone who's just starting and also that$10 million company.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Right.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: So that is one thing.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Alex has a lot of content, especially online, his great books, but you have to be ready to parse through because it's a lot of information.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: And some of it you're gonna go, I will hopefully do that someday.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: But that's not me right now.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: That's just completely over.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: I want to clarify one thing, and maybe you can do this with some of what you have already kind of outlined a little bit.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: There's I ask this question sometimes when we get business minded, I kind of go here is like the wedding world, you're either this like weekend warrior that just does a little thing on the side, like you said, yep, a little extra money here or there, a little bit of passion for what you're doing, but maybe it's not the main thing.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: And then you have maybe someone more like yourself who is intentionally building a brand, building a business.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: You know, you maybe you don't have an exit strategy, maybe you do, but like I don't.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: It's like, but it's it's the mindset of the business.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: What's your take on that sort of weekend warrior versus full-fledged business owner?
25:36
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I actually, in many senses, I don't think I have a very strong opinion on it.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: Because I definitely started as the weekend warrior, and that transition between the two was so subtle and so long.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: Took me eight years to go full time.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: It's just interesting to me because I feel like you could have a successful side thing and take some of these pieces that we've talked about.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: And it could be your main thing and you could be trying to take it to the moon.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: But and they're both fine.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: But I I just it's the wedding world is such an interesting world to me.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I always come back to I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, but I said to her, How much do you think, you know, if you could guarantee a booking from an ad, a meta ad, you know, Facebook, Instagram, what would you spend for that for a guaranteed booking?
26:22
SPEAKER_01: I have math for that.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: I have math for that.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: And her response to me was fifty dollars.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: And so if I disagree with that.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah um, but the wedding world is either this like super heavy referral network-based thing, yeah, or it's super heavy marketing cold leads thing.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: A seasoned wedding vendor would think$50 for ad spend for a guaranteed booking would make sense.
26:52
SPEAKER_01: In my mind, it's like if I was gonna guarantee making, for number's sake,$5,000,$500 would be fine.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: You're getting like honestly incredibly good.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: You're getting a huge ROI on that.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: But uh the super technical answer.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's hear it.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: Because I've got one.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: All right, before we keep going with today's episode, I wanted to take a quick second to tell you about something that fits really well with what we're building here on the Preferred List podcast.
27:19
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27:30
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27:35
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27:39
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27:43
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27:58
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28:03
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28:09
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28:10
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28:13
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28:16
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28:19
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28:20
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28:21
SPEAKER_01: Now back to today's episode.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, so this is I've learned this from Alex Hormozy.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so yeah, and and how much money do you spend on an ad or really just to get a new client?
28:32
SPEAKER_00: This is a business term called cost of acquisition, which is usually abbreviated to cack, just like sounds offensive.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: All right.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, so cost of acquisition, this is really measuring the effectiveness of your sales and marketing.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: And at a minimum, what you want is so okay, first you have to know your cost of goods.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: So let's go with that$5,000 example.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: And let's say you have an associate guy.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: And just to keep math really simple, um, couple pays$5,000.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: You send that videographer, they're a thousand.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so$5,000 total,$1,000 off.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: That's your cost of goods.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, what the money you spent just for that wedding.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: And then you have$4,000 left over.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: That's that's your gross profit.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: This is what the business has to work with.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: You pay yourself taxes, et cetera.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: Everything goes off that$4,000.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: And that's the number you need to be working with.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: So at a minimum, what you could spend for total of sales and marketing would be about uh a third of that, which like blows a lot of people's mind.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: Like you're going, I could spend$1,000 to get a lead, and you're like, yeah, hypothetically, yeah, that's the minimum.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: Like that's actually the maximum that you'd want to spend.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: That's called MCAC, maximum cost of acquisition.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, but businesses, at least from an ad perspective, really don't start to grow until you hit that three to one ratio because there's just not enough cash coming into the business.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's like you're trying to run a business and you're holding your breath and you're just like, I'm just gonna use a tiny bit.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is gonna be fine.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, you you need to be able to breathe.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: That's why a lot of business coaches just associate cash with just breathing.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: It's like when you have cash, it can flow really well.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Like you can breathe easily.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: So that that three to one is a minimum, sorry, maximum.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: Businesses really start to grow and become.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't like using the word scalable sometimes because growth and scale are actually different things.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: Just let me adjust my monocle here.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: Um it in the wedding industry, though, through referrals, that cost of acquisition can be 50 bucks.
30:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Um or ideally nothing.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: And that's where um you know it gets kind of different.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: But if you're really getting into ad spend, um you need to take your gross profit at a minimum, divide it by three, I would say four, and then that gives you your maximum amount that you could spend.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's interesting.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: The the wedding world just has this stigma to it, I think, that it's like like we can be in the wedding world, we can be serving our couples and doing a great job, and also be business minded and be wanting growth and scalability and all of those things.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is one of the things.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: So, going back to word of mouth, this is one of the things I've been experimenting with a lot recently, because it's just it's so much more effective, just like from a math perspective, but also just like from a practicality perspective.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: When someone refers you, it's like, you know how they work, they know how I work.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: It's like this is this is gonna be a lot easier and things are gonna flow.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: Um but in in the wedding industry, because it's someone's wedding, I think that's where things, you know, it's not like you're doing a corporate event and you're like, well, say next year, yeah, we'll we'll do it again, or you're just gonna hire someone else.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's one shot.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: And you know, like that's obvious, but because of that, referrals come very cautiously because it could, it could have a very, very if you make a recommendation and it ends up being a bad recommendation, like you it's on you, yeah.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: Like you feel bad, you genuinely feel bad.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: I talk a lot of uh about that with venues, being that um it's that weird thing of like if you had a bad experience with some other vendor, any vendor type, and it's at a venue, it's almost that like unspoken thing.
32:29
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's like, well, I was at such and such venue, and it was a bad experience.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it could have nothing to do with the venue.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: So it's like you're like you're saying, that weight of the recommendation, like you're not just willy-nilly just throwing names out there.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and um, there's this really interesting email list.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: It's actually free.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: I think it's called the wedding report.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to the wedding report because whenever he sends out like a blast email, I like almost always respond.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping he learns my name someday.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: Which is funny because I don't know his name.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: That's um he he gets like super crunchy into wedding data.
32:59
SPEAKER_01: Is there any other besides book recommendations, or is there any other like topic that you would like love to talk about business wise?
33:05
SPEAKER_00: Not really, because I'd want a more specific question.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: If they're like, I need leads, I need to help you.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's talk about that, you know, or sales.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: I know the most about sales, um, you know, and how to go.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: Basically, basically.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, with with the hundred million dollar offers book of and why I think it's so important to pair that with Story Brand, is because when someone finds you, a story brand is gonna tell them why.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, why do you choose this person, or at least what gets their attention?
33:37
SPEAKER_00: But you can have the best pitch in the world, but if you don't have a good offer, actually a good product and service, yeah.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: It's like it doesn't matter, it's the other side of the coin.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: And hundred million dollar offers walks you through all these different tools that you can use.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: And in the book, he talks about creating a grand slam offer, an offer so good that people feel stupid saying no.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: And it's really incredible how just a few tiny restructuring of things, little tweaks to go like we're a DJ, and here's what we offer that can make people go, Oh, you're right.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: I do need that, or I do understand why that's important, and I do want that experience, service, etc.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: at the wedding.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I have one more book recommendation.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: Let's hear it.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: Because I think this is one of the biggest um problems that people have when they're starting a business, and it has to do with cash flow.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: It's like a hundred dollars comes into the business, and it's like, now what?
34:34
SPEAKER_00: Now what happens with it?
34:36
SPEAKER_00: Do I keep this?
34:37
SPEAKER_00: Do I keep all do I keep this hundred dollars?
34:39
SPEAKER_01: I have a guess.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, no.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: I have a guess for your book recommendation.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: No, yes.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: So book recommendation is um profit first.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that it is profit first.
34:48
SPEAKER_01: I I did read that and I did implement.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: I read and did.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, I feel so proud of myself.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: Hey, hey.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, because when your money is coming in and it's actually going to the right places and you know how appropriate it is, how much do you pay yourself?
35:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's such a big question, especially when you're first starting out and you're like, I'm trying to grow.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: Am I a weekend warrior?
35:11
SPEAKER_00: Am I trying to make this an empire?
35:13
SPEAKER_00: Like, where am I going with this?
35:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: That cash flow is just so important.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: Cause like what I think a lot of people do,$100 come in, and you know, especially if it's their first year, they just keep it all and then taxes come and they're like, oh crap.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I did not keep it all on taxes, still came.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: And it it just breaks down of kind of where your money needs to be, and then it talks about growth.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: So the first year you did 10,000 and then you went to 50, 100, and you know, now you're doing a half a million dollar thing.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: It walks you through all of that.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: Now I would say I actually don't do the full system anymore.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: I've actually simplified it, and it works much, much better for me.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: There was just like too many envelopes, too many like yeah, pockets of of where cash was going.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: And I actually felt like it was restricting growth.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Because I was going precisely off the recommendation.
36:02
SPEAKER_01: It has to be this percentage.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, yeah.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I was just paying myself too much.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: And I put a lot of money back into the business, and it's like, what do you know?
36:09
SPEAKER_00: The business grows.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:11
SPEAKER_01: It is interesting because even outside of the paying yourself sort of number.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: And don't worry, we will get back to DJ stuff in just a second.
36:19
SPEAKER_01: Wiki wiki.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: Um there's there's money in the account, and you go, Oh, cool, I have money, so I can buy XYZ camera for me.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I spent probably two or three years doing that, and then realizing, like, shoot, I need to pay my second shooter for this wedding, and now I'm getting other money in from other projects, and then paying my second shooter out of that money, and then it's just like you just like run this rat race of like, oh, I didn't actually have money for the camera.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: I had money to run the business and I spent it on said camera.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I've talked to people about that before.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: You know, I uh I overpaid myself for a long time and just absolutely stunted growth.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: And then there's other people who just put so much money into the business, yeah, and then they're like, I'm starving.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, Well, that's not good either.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's you know, it's got to be this balance, and the book really breaks it down very clearly.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: And if you're like, I'm not a math person, it's like me neither.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: I got algebra, literally, algebra one clicked for me as a sophomore in college.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I get it.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: That's like all that makes sense.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: I get it now.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is kind of fun, you know.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: So eight years later, you know, after all of my classmates, um, like I'm not a math person, which I think is always funny when people talk to me.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, let's open a spreadsheet.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: And like, please excuse my dear aunt Ally.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: It's like, if you could do that, it's like you can run a business.
37:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, I love the bit if you're listening and you're a vendor and you're not like fired up to grow your business to the moon, I don't know what you've been listening to.
37:49
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm I'm ready.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: If you have questions, DM me on Instagram, bring on the bash.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: I yeah, I would literally talk about this stuff all day.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: And we could, but we're gonna jump back to the DJ world because I love music, you love music.
37:59
SPEAKER_01: I just want to pick your brain and and just learn more about the experiences that you've crafted for your couples.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, but before we kind of dive into the experience, how has your DJing shifted?
38:12
SPEAKER_01: The the way that you mix the music, the way that you work with the music on the actual dance floor, dance set kind of stuff.
38:20
SPEAKER_01: How has that shifted over the years as you like your own DJ?
38:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: So when I first started, because I was terrified and I didn't know how to read a room yet.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, because that's a very weird skill that just takes a really long time.
38:34
SPEAKER_00: I actually just listened to an interview the other day of Diplo, like one of the biggest DJs in the world.
38:40
SPEAKER_00: And he was saying he's like, all of the best DJs in the world are like in their 50s.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: And the guy interviewing him was kind of like, What?
38:47
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Yeah.
38:48
SPEAKER_00: He's like, they have so much experience, and the the amount of just music they have in their head, any type of party, a festival, anything that's thrown at them, they can do it.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: And not, and it's not like a jack of all trades, it's like they're a master of all.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's really what comes with with time, you know, as with any skill.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, but as more music comes out and as you know, the the age of people getting married changes, like that's very, very interesting.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: Like music that's really popular right now, well, it's always been popular, but it's like Disney um, like Disney origin TG, uh Disney original movies, like on the on the TV show, like Cheetah Girls and like Miley Cyrus, um, that type of thing in the last like two years is just like so popular.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: People are just asking for that kind of stuff.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: Where five years ago, if someone asked her, like, can you play can you play the cheetah girls?
39:43
SPEAKER_00: you'd be like, sure, like it's gonna bomb, you know.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get like six people that are gonna be excited about it.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: But now, with just like the current generation that's getting married, music changes.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's very, very interesting.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: So, how it's changed over time, when I was first DJing because I was so scared, I had basically like pre-made set lists.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they were kind of like in chunks, like it'd be like five, five songs planned out, and then have a little gap, and then I have like 12 songs planned out, be like, oh, thank goodness, you know, I'm I'm at my hip-hop set, I'm safe now.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm safe for 12 minutes.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then over the years, and then I just got so sick of it, I was like, I'm not enjoying this.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm literally hearing the exact same thing every single weekend, even if it's different for what people are used to hearing on the case.
40:24
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say, because that's what's funny about it, is you hear the same thing, but the what everyone else is dancing to is like, oh, this is a good set.
40:31
SPEAKER_01: I like this.
40:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: Um but you're sitting there like creatively, like, after a few years, I just scrapped it.
40:38
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I'm gonna go in with no plan.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: No, like I would still know what like the cup, I just made it up.
40:43
SPEAKER_00: I didn't listen to anybody.
40:44
SPEAKER_01: No, I would only I can see the couple smelling like, wait, he doesn't have a plan, what I have no plan.
40:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I came in much more free form of just being like, I'm gonna feel it out.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, because it like a great game to play, and it's kind of funny to play it with vendors, is like, is the song classic or is it cliche?
40:59
SPEAKER_00: And it's like sweet Caroline.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: And you know, you're gonna get some people, most vendors go cliche, but a lot of people go, uh, it's not my wedding unless we play Sweet Caroline.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, that's a great point.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: And and is Sweet Caroline classic or cliche?
41:14
SPEAKER_00: It's like, I don't know.
41:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't know.
41:17
SPEAKER_01: For that couple, that's the one time that they hear Sweet Caroline and they're dressed up, they have their stuff on, they're the center of attention.
41:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they're you know, yelling out Penn State, and you know they've got all their inside jokes and all the memories associated with that song.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: So I would say I came in um with just truly being open and really being okay with like, if I don't hear a lot of music that I personally like tonight, like that's fine.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can go listen to it in my car.
41:44
SPEAKER_00: That's always what I tell people.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: You're like, you know, they request just like the absolute most wild song.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: You're like, that's a great song.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna work.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, they're like, Can you play Adele?
41:52
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, she's great, gonna absolutely end a dance party, you know, which I've been building for an hour and a half.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: It's like, you know, I I would never actually say this to it.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: So I'd like to like our kids though, like yeah, my daughter's building this big old like magnetile castle, and our son is like, smash, yeah, and you're like, fun for you.
42:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, fun for you.
42:12
SPEAKER_00: So now it's really just coming in just totally free form, almost like with this Zen mindset of like, I have no expectations.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go really wherever you guys want to go.
42:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
42:24
SPEAKER_00: Because then from a like a challenging artistic perspective, that makes you play different things, and then you start finding really interesting transitions.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: And every once in a while you'll just like wing a transition and you're like, well, that was really cool.
42:36
SPEAKER_00: I've never done that before.
42:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, so just being very, very, very flexible.
42:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love it.
42:43
SPEAKER_01: And maybe that helps you read a room because if you have too much of a structure, I'm assuming when you're trying to read the room and you have your structure, it's like, well, this is a song I have coming up next.
42:52
SPEAKER_01: No one is having fun.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: It's the same kind of song that no one's having fun too.
42:56
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, like some groups just don't like hip-hop.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: It's like, what do you do then when the group like, you're like, I tried a couple hip-hop songs and like nothing landed.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:04
SPEAKER_00: You can't be like, Well, two hours left, and I always play 45 minutes of hip-hop.
43:08
SPEAKER_00: Let's get to it, you know.
43:10
SPEAKER_00: It's like you have to be able to throw a party with absolutely no hip-hop or the complete opposite where they're like, only hip-hop.
43:18
SPEAKER_00: And that's very rare.
43:19
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm giving dramatic examples.
43:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: Most people want a huge mix of everything.
43:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, but just having that flexibility of being like, yeah, I could throw a three-hour dance party, that would be awesome, and it's only hip-hop, or vice versa.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:33
SPEAKER_01: What's one of the biggest things that's helped you like in that technical side of mixing to make your transitions really stand out or not get in the way?
43:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think from a technical perspective, um I I would actually kind of go the opposite direction of being like that that you can get like super ultra technical, which I think like so I think if When I'm teaching someone to DJ, I think of it like the old school, like food pyramid.
44:03
SPEAKER_00: You're like, you have grains at the bottom.
44:05
SPEAKER_00: And in this case, it's song selection.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: It's like you can have all the technical skill in the world, but you play the wrong song.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: And it's like it just doesn't matter.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter, yeah.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't matter.
44:11
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter how you get into it or what you do to get it.
44:13
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter.
44:14
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: And then as you work your way up, things get more and more technical.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, but when you go to the very top of the pyramid, you get like scratching, and scratching is really cool, but it you rarely makes people dance more.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: If anything, it takes away.
44:30
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to say this, like, but it can take away when done poorly, it can take away from the dance party and suddenly it becomes this performative aspect of the DJ that's really making it more about themselves.
44:43
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, just play the next song.
44:44
SPEAKER_00: It's like, and stop scratching and just play the next song.
44:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, so from a technical perspective, there's some technology that came out a couple of years ago called stems, and it allows you to turn almost any single song into an a cappella or instrumental, which before people like, can you just take the voice out?
45:02
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, that's just kind of saying, like, can you take Frodo out of the Lord of the Rings?
45:06
SPEAKER_00: You're like, no, it's like I don't have that technology.
45:09
SPEAKER_00: But now, and it's incredibly reliable.
45:13
SPEAKER_00: So that in the last few years, and this is just true of all DJs, suddenly you're like, I have an a cappella of anything, anything, yeah.
45:21
SPEAKER_00: And that just like it's infinite now.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's absolutely infinite.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think really just trying something out of just try it.
45:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and if it really bombs, it's like echo out and play another song 30 seconds later.
45:36
SPEAKER_00: It's like just move on, just move on, you know.
45:39
SPEAKER_00: It happens, and even the most experienced guys, you'll play a song and you go, ooh, well, that's surprising.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: I didn't think that was gonna happen.
45:45
SPEAKER_00: And it's like you just deal with it, you just move on.
45:47
SPEAKER_01: Are you a fan of playing full songs, cutting quick?
45:52
SPEAKER_01: Are there moments where it works for maybe some crowds and less for others?
45:57
SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm normally so at the end of the year, we do a DJ audit where I have everyone um send exports of of the music that they played at a wedding.
46:08
SPEAKER_00: We put it into Chat GPT because then it analyzes the start and end times.
46:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh, so I can see how long my DJs are playing songs.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: Um most the reason this why DJs often don't play full songs is because we've actually like tested it.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, this is a thing that goes back into like DJ history with um Grandmaster Flash.
46:27
SPEAKER_00: He was the guy that actually like invented looping.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: So if you've ever seen like a DJ, like they play a song and they like go to the other turntable and they like rewind it really quick and then they like switch their hand back and they rewind it really quick.
46:38
SPEAKER_00: Then I could get into the whole history of that.
46:40
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's basically how hip-hop was created.
46:42
SPEAKER_00: But he noticed um like back in the 80s that when he would put a song on, people would get really excited for the first minute, minute and a half, like energy builds, and then it just slowly goes down.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: But then like the Nicki Minaj verse comes in, it's like, whoa, you know, Nikki's here, let's go.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: And then it kind of trails off again.
47:04
SPEAKER_00: So I'm really when I'm looking at a song, I'm trying to think of like creating a musical highlight reel.
47:09
SPEAKER_00: It's like, let's play the most exciting, the most memorable parts of these songs so we can get through more.
47:15
SPEAKER_00: It's like when you watch a movie and you're like, great movie, too long.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they could have cut like 20 minutes, and then you know, the director cut comes out and they remove those scenes, they add certain scenes, and you're like, this is so much better.
47:27
SPEAKER_00: This is so much better.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: And that's really what DJs are doing is we're we're curating live in the moment to just find out what works right now because that doesn't mean it's gonna work tomorrow.
47:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it could be something that worked 10 times, yeah.
47:43
SPEAKER_01: And then you try it again, and it's like that's yeah.
47:45
SPEAKER_00: So so going back to your thing of like, do you play whole songs?
47:48
SPEAKER_00: Do you not play whole songs?
47:49
SPEAKER_00: I generally play a song.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: It's sorry, I'm like a minute and 41 seconds.
47:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, but there are times chat TV too is minute 41, minute 41, minute 41.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the average.
47:59
SPEAKER_00: Some songs are shorter, some songs are longer.
48:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
48:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you put a song on and everyone's losing their minds, it's like play the whole thing.
48:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, why would you turn it off?
48:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, why not?
48:08
SPEAKER_00: Like, just you know, just for you, if you're interviewing someone and they're giving like the greatest life advice in the world, you're not gonna be like, let's stop them.
48:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you, and you like turn it off.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: I mean, hence why we talked so much about business because it just kept coming.
48:20
SPEAKER_01: And I and I was like, we can't just like not talk about business because it's like it's right there.
48:25
SPEAKER_00: It's like keep it going, yeah.
48:27
SPEAKER_00: But also, if you're interviewing someone and they're like, Yeah, I kind of like them, you're like, thanks, cut, and you go and you find someone else.
48:35
SPEAKER_00: So, just that kind of thing.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: Of course, we're reacting to what songs, what genres, what decades, but also measuring in real time of how long a song should play.
48:45
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions when it when someone starts DJing, of just kind of like how I said almost have this like zen mindset of like, I have no preconceptions of what will happen.
48:55
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's really true because I've had the most popular artists, Taylor Swift, you know, Whitney Houston, Bruno Mars, Michael Jackson, pack a dance floor and empty a dance floor.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: I totally have a memory of playing Shake It Off, and I had like 40 people, and literally every single person walked off the dance floor.
49:11
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, they must be Kanye fans or something, you know.
49:14
SPEAKER_00: Just like this, that was unexpected.
49:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
49:17
SPEAKER_00: That was unexpected.
49:19
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, just happens, yeah.
49:20
SPEAKER_00: That's a Friday, and then Saturday you you play Shake It Off, and 40 more people come to the dance floor, and you're like, I guess they don't like Kanye, you know, I guess they like Daily Sweat.
49:30
SPEAKER_00: It's like, we'll figure it out.
49:32
SPEAKER_01: It is either one of the two, yeah.
49:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
49:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, when you're working the night, I feel like when we get to that point in the day, it's like, okay, what do we do?
49:42
SPEAKER_01: I'll we look to the DJ and it's like, what do you want?
49:45
SPEAKER_01: What do we need?
49:45
SPEAKER_01: What do you need from us?
49:47
SPEAKER_01: How do we make this whole reception run?
49:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm just curious from your perspective, as sort of like the keeper of time, the runner of things in the reception.
49:57
SPEAKER_01: How do you make sure that that collaborative process continues and everyone's on the same page?
50:02
SPEAKER_01: And photographers, good, videographers good, planners good.
50:06
SPEAKER_01: How do you keep all that working?
50:07
SPEAKER_00: Oh, one of the when I first started DJing, you know, my sister was like, Don't suck.
50:12
SPEAKER_00: One because she was a photographer, you know, at that point for like seven, eight years in the wedding industry.
50:16
SPEAKER_00: She gave me a great piece of advice.
50:17
SPEAKER_00: She's like, Don't start anything without the photographer.
50:20
SPEAKER_00: She's like, it's awful.
50:21
SPEAKER_00: She's like, I've missed first dances.
50:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
50:23
SPEAKER_00: And you have to go to the couple.
50:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm so sorry.
50:25
SPEAKER_00: We didn't know it was happening.
50:26
SPEAKER_00: Can you go out on the dance floor and just like fake a first dance?
50:29
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, we don't want to do that.
50:31
SPEAKER_00: So, and actually, before I was a DJ, because I had done video, I actually worked for a photo booth company.
50:36
SPEAKER_00: I had worked in a restaurant before, you know, not directly with catering, but I had a fairly good idea of some of the other roles that were going on around me, and being like, oh yeah, I'm not the only person here.
50:49
SPEAKER_00: And just, you know, I I know it's such cliche, you know, of like what vendors say, but it's like, it's a team game.
50:54
SPEAKER_00: It's like we're a team sport, we're the all-star team, and you know, we may never have a wedding together again.
51:00
SPEAKER_01: That's what's so funny is that you might not have ever worked with this person, you might never work with them again, but in that moment, you have to come together.
51:08
SPEAKER_00: We're like, we got this.
51:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we got this.
51:10
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of it with keeping everyone on the same page first starts with the couple and the wedding party, and before we're doing introductions, I'm recapping the timeline.
51:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking to people before they give speeches.
51:21
SPEAKER_00: It's like, here's how you hold a microphone.
51:23
SPEAKER_00: It's like, for anyone right now, if you're gonna be giving a speech, it's like, hold the microphone where I have it.
51:28
SPEAKER_00: Because listen, when I move the microphone down here, you don't hear anything.
51:33
SPEAKER_00: That's awful.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: It sounds awful.
51:35
SPEAKER_00: It sounds awful.
51:35
SPEAKER_00: So hold it really close.
51:36
SPEAKER_00: So just coaching people through that kind of thing.
51:39
SPEAKER_00: And then because um, when I first started DJing, how I learned was at the vendor table, I would just talk to people and I would just pick people's brains.
51:48
SPEAKER_00: Like, how long does it take to do sunset photos?
51:51
SPEAKER_00: And that's don't get me going on sunset photos.
51:53
SPEAKER_00: Um gosh, I hate sunset photos.
51:55
SPEAKER_01: Like five or ten minutes.
51:56
SPEAKER_01: Like, let's get out there, get what we need, and so you guys can get back to a party.
51:59
SPEAKER_01: Yes, because I live.
52:00
SPEAKER_01: I love the party though.
52:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love the party.
52:03
SPEAKER_01: We get to the party, and the I look over the photographer, is like and I'm like, let's go.
52:08
SPEAKER_01: 20 millimeter lens, I'm in the center.
52:11
SPEAKER_01: It's not about me, but I'm getting like the most fun, fun dancing clips possible.
52:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love it.
52:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so just um, you know, keeping everyone on the same page.
52:20
SPEAKER_00: And then it just that really simple idea of it, just tell people like I won't start without you.
52:27
SPEAKER_00: It's really that cut and dry.
52:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just like we need to do toasts.
52:30
SPEAKER_00: Where's the photographer?
52:31
SPEAKER_00: She's over there.
52:32
SPEAKER_00: Where's video?
52:33
SPEAKER_00: They're setting up their lights, you know?
52:35
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, yeah.
52:37
SPEAKER_00: Don't get you started on the lights.
52:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
52:39
SPEAKER_00: I understand it.
52:40
SPEAKER_00: I understand it, but it can't cause problems.
52:44
SPEAKER_00: But also, it's like if people want a wedding video and it's like, well, they need to be able to see it.
52:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like they don't just want sound, it's like we're not just podcasting a wedding.
52:51
SPEAKER_00: It's like I get it.
52:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a player.
52:54
SPEAKER_00: If you can't throw a dance party on a bright dance floor, it's like get better at DJing.
52:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
52:59
SPEAKER_01: I haven't really had too many.
53:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, I had I had some guests be like, Can you turn those lights off?
53:05
SPEAKER_01: Um but the couple, I always tell my couples, I'm like, I'm putting up lights.
53:09
SPEAKER_01: Is that cool?
53:09
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Yeah, do whatever you need to do.
53:11
SPEAKER_01: Cause if you have the ideal couple, they're gonna just trust your process.
53:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you're the DJ and you have your ideal couple and you're like, hey, this is what I recommend, more times than not, they're gonna be like, Cool, we trust you, do your thing.
53:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
53:25
SPEAKER_00: And it's such cliche advice.
53:27
SPEAKER_00: It's like, listen to your vendors.
53:28
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's true.
53:29
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
53:30
SPEAKER_00: Of course, it's always a give and take.
53:32
SPEAKER_01: But if you've done the work to find ones that people are recommending, they have the trust, you know, the reviews and all that, and that you vibe really well with.
53:43
SPEAKER_00: Like, I also think it just as a vendor coming in with like what are your expectations of of kind of like what is like I always get in like defensive of venues.
53:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, really think about like what a wedding venue is.
53:57
SPEAKER_00: It's a church, it's a restaurant, it's a bar, it's a club, it's a photo studio, you know, it's a hair and makeup salon.
54:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, a wedding venue has to be like 15 things at the same time.
54:09
SPEAKER_00: And it's like most of those things are one business.
54:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
54:13
SPEAKER_00: So I just have a lot of grace for venues of just being like, you know, when this building was being made, you know, and they're like, we sold a lot of newspapers, honey.
54:22
SPEAKER_00: Let's open a wedding venue.
54:23
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's not what they said.
54:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they said, let's build a sweet mansion to live in.
54:28
SPEAKER_00: And it's not ideal, and that's fine.
54:31
SPEAKER_00: So I often come in, and when I'm training people on the team, it's like, have expectations of, you know, from your ideal perspective.
54:39
SPEAKER_00: It's like if everything was perfect for A plus, it's like it's probably not gonna happen.
54:44
SPEAKER_00: Come in at like a B minus.
54:47
SPEAKER_00: But that's that's just the way it is.
54:49
SPEAKER_00: And I often come back to it's like, nobody knows what I know.
54:52
SPEAKER_00: They don't know, you know, how expensive this microphone is or how not expensive it is.
54:58
SPEAKER_00: You know, they can tell whether it's good or bad, but if your speakers aren't perfectly in the right thing and you have to be in a corner instead of being right next to the dance floor, it's like they probably don't know that.
55:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's like, and that's okay.
55:10
SPEAKER_00: And it's okay to work in not ideal conditions because it's not about you.
55:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
55:16
SPEAKER_01: What so being a videographer, we often are connecting with DJs for audio sources.
55:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
55:24
SPEAKER_00: What do you wish shout out to 32-bit float, right?
55:27
SPEAKER_01: What do you is there anything that you wish videographers knew kind of going into that, kind of starting that process and getting that audio feed from you?
55:35
SPEAKER_00: Come with a lot of adapters.
55:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, because every DJ is just set up is so different.
55:40
SPEAKER_00: Usually it's XLR, like it's getting real crunchy.
55:43
SPEAKER_00: But it's like have converters that if you needed to go RCA or you needed to go quarter inch, that it's like carry that RCA for years.
55:51
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and have not used it.
55:52
SPEAKER_01: But I know if I don't have it, it might happen.
55:54
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna be like, Do you have RCA?
55:56
SPEAKER_00: It might happen.
55:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, catching sound at a wedding is so interesting because it's all over the place.
56:01
SPEAKER_00: The location is constantly changing, and then you're constantly switching to different people.
56:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
56:06
SPEAKER_00: You know, one person holds it close, one person holds it really far away, one person's loud, one person's quiet.
56:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, so from a sound, sound perspective, I think actually most videographers are incredibly respectful.
56:18
SPEAKER_00: I very rarely have a videographer.
56:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, wow, that guy was awful.
56:22
SPEAKER_00: You know, they they get it, they're showing up.
56:24
SPEAKER_00: You've got all of your stuff, your whole sound system, and they're going, can I plug in?
56:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
56:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm always a I'm a huge fan of like, don't touch anything that's not yours without asking.
56:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
56:35
SPEAKER_00: And I honestly just like kind of trained them for like a minute of like, here's where you can plug in.
56:40
SPEAKER_00: I always ask, it's like, do you want the whole feed or do you just want my microphone?
56:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
56:44
SPEAKER_00: It's like, do you want me and the music or do you just want the mic?
56:46
SPEAKER_00: And it's always different.
56:47
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people say both, and like, wow, you're you're getting both.
56:50
SPEAKER_00: You're you're prepared for everything.
56:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
56:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, and to me, that just kind of comes back to that like B plus, B minus conditions of being like, um, you know, are there gonna be some extra cords and cables back here?
57:02
SPEAKER_00: Is there possibly gonna be, you know, a device that's catching audio?
57:06
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that messes with my aesthetic.
57:08
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, get over it.
57:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, get over it.
57:11
SPEAKER_00: If a guest comes to the wedding and they're like, absolutely everything was incredible, but the videographer had an audio recorder sitting on the DJ's table, and it's like, I'm really disappointed.
57:20
SPEAKER_00: It's like, yeah, that person's a psychopath.
57:22
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're a psychopath, go away, play on your own wedding.
57:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it is one of those things where you're trying to put on and do your thing just the same as we are, right?
57:33
SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately, part of our thing, we we need an audio source.
57:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
57:39
SPEAKER_01: Like you said, it's all over the place.
57:40
SPEAKER_01: And I can put backups in a thousand places, but you never know what's gonna sound the best.
57:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
57:47
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes the DJ stuff sounds pristine and crisp and clear, and it's like what I choose to use, and sometimes it's the random recorder I had lackluster.
57:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
57:57
SPEAKER_00: Um just for me, particularly, since I have that background in video, it's like I get it.
58:03
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
58:04
SPEAKER_00: Like a lot of people will watch a viral video.
58:07
SPEAKER_00: The video quality can be terrible, yeah.
58:09
SPEAKER_00: But as long as you can like hear and understand what's going on, they'll watch it.
58:13
SPEAKER_00: Versus the opposite of being like, it's crystal clear.
58:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, the audio is just like screeching fuzz.
58:19
SPEAKER_00: You're like, pass.
58:21
SPEAKER_01: So I get it.
58:21
SPEAKER_01: I get it.
58:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
58:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
58:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, Taylor, this has been so good, such a fun episode.
58:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, I have a couple more questions, just kind of like one looking ahead, and then one just kind of, you know, tying the bow on the experience.
58:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, we'll start there first.
58:35
SPEAKER_01: What do you hope that um couples and their guests are experiencing when they, you know, either you specifically with Bring on the Bash or one of your teammates is kind of leading that um charge on the DJ side of things?
58:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a really simple goal.
58:49
SPEAKER_00: I think couples, but I would say more so guests when they show up to a wedding, they have this like mental bingo card of like, I had cake, stamp, you know, I heard a song that I like, stamp.
58:59
SPEAKER_00: I got to slow dance with the person I love, stamp.
59:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, and just the really simple goal that we want to entertain guests with the couple's favorite music.
59:08
SPEAKER_00: And that's just like a little interesting Venn diagram.
59:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
59:19
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean we're like playing songs in your do not playlist.
59:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, but really that balance between someone at the end of the night comes up to you and go, I loved the music.
59:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
59:30
SPEAKER_00: It's like great, cool.
59:32
SPEAKER_00: That's all.
59:34
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
59:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
59:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, looking ahead, where where are you seeing Bring on the Bash going to in the next five or ten years if you put a number on that?
59:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
59:44
SPEAKER_00: So my role will be changing a lot.
59:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, as I mentioned, I have seven kids.
59:48
SPEAKER_00: And when I'm, you know, DJing 40, 50 events a year, my wife is a single mom with seven children.
59:55
SPEAKER_01: And you're like crushed the next day, like absolutely dead.
59:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
59:59
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we've got our systems in place, and my wife is very tough, very, very tough.
1:00:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, and she can do it.
1:00:05
SPEAKER_00: But just this current phase of life I'm in, me going out and DJing as much as I was is just not conducive to our lifestyle.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_00: And for me, I want um, you know, work-life balance.
1:00:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh to me, that isn't like really the right phrase for it because there's always seasons where like things get out of balance and that's fine.
1:00:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, but really I'll be changing, I'll be switching into more of just like a coach and trainer and and bringing more people onto the team.
1:00:33
SPEAKER_00: Because I've I've been finding as we bring people onto the team, there's a lot of people out there who just like would absolutely love to be DJing right now.
1:00:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:00:40
SPEAKER_00: And for me, it's like DJing is so much fun.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_00: You know what I love more?
1:00:44
SPEAKER_00: My children.
1:00:45
SPEAKER_00: And you know, surprise.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, so just in this current phase of life of really bringing people onto the team who are just like so passionate for it, and it's more conducive to their lifestyle.
1:00:57
SPEAKER_00: And whether they want to be a weekend warrior or they eventually want to come onto the team full time, it's like we're we're flexible.
1:01:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:01:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, so transitioning into kind of like CEO coach mode and working more on the business rather than in the business, which is still me going to weddings, and but I'm not the one actually DJing and being like, here's John, he's gonna be DJing today.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_00: And I'm taking notes, going, okay, here's what we need to do, here's what we need to do, here's what we can improve on.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_00: Which I'm very excited for.
1:01:25
SPEAKER_00: I love teaching.
1:01:25
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_00: I love coaching.
1:01:27
SPEAKER_01: So fun.
1:01:27
SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like you have the mindset for that too.
1:01:31
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, I can see the passion when you talk about adding people and finding the talent and growing them to maybe do their own thing or maybe jump onto your team full time.
1:01:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, but y'all, if you're listening and you've made it this far, I appreciate you tuning in.
1:01:44
SPEAKER_01: Hollow.
1:01:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:01:47
SPEAKER_01: You are the realist.
1:01:48
SPEAKER_01: Um Taylor story, if it doesn't inspire you to either build a big business, love your kids better, be excited about the next DJ set.
1:01:58
SPEAKER_01: Be excited about the next DJ set.
1:02:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, that's what I got from it.
1:02:01
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just excited for this to go out and for you guys to to experience bring on the bash if you haven't already.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, where can people find and follow along or connect with you guys and your team?
1:02:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everything is bring on the bash, bring on the bash.com, Instagram at bring on the bash, TikTok.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_00: I think it's at Bring on the Bash.
1:02:19
SPEAKER_00: So it shows you how much I post on TikTok.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, shoot us an email at hello at bring on the bash.
1:02:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, even if you're a vendor and being like, what was that thing you were saying about how much money I should spend on ads?
1:02:30
SPEAKER_00: How much money should you be spending on the knot?
1:02:32
SPEAKER_00: Like that's a big question.
1:02:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, usually the knots results are terrible.
1:02:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're probably zero.
1:02:37
SPEAKER_00: You can make it work, you can make it work, but you have to have a ton of systems in place to like actually get out of that unless you're like the first person on there.
1:02:44
SPEAKER_00: You're like, I'm the first content creator, which they don't even have a category for content creation, to my knowledge.
1:02:49
SPEAKER_00: Um that's a rabbit trail.
1:02:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah.
1:02:51
SPEAKER_00: Bring on the bash.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_00: All places, all the places.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_01: That'll all be linked down in the description below.
1:02:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're listening on audio places, it'd be really helpful is if you left us a review, let us know how you're liking the show.
1:03:04
SPEAKER_01: Share this.
1:03:04
SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you want to do this, you can do fast us.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_01: Is share this with a friend who might be interested in hearing more about Taylor's journey as a business owner, or if they're looking for a DJ just to learn more about that process.
1:03:15
SPEAKER_01: And if you're watching on YouTube, what's up?
1:03:18
SPEAKER_01: How's it going?
1:03:18
SPEAKER_01: Check out the set.
1:03:19
SPEAKER_01: I might like this set.
1:03:20
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it can't get any better.
1:03:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, but what would be really helpful on YouTube is if you could subscribe, hit that notification bell.
1:03:28
SPEAKER_00: Smash that like button.
1:03:29
SPEAKER_01: Smash that like button.
1:03:30
SPEAKER_01: But also share it with your friend.
1:03:32
SPEAKER_01: If you have a friend who's getting married looking for a DJ, or would be inspired to hear Taylor's story with Bring on the Bash, it'd be super helpful if you could do that.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_01: But that is all for this episode.
1:03:42
SPEAKER_01: Taylor, thank you for being on.
1:03:44
SPEAKER_01: We will catch you guys next time on the preferred list.
1:03:47
SPEAKER_00: Deuces sweet.