Beyond the DJ Booth
Brian B and Joe Bunn tackle questions about the private event DJ industry, share music, gear/gadgets, and stories from their gigs.
Beyond the DJ Booth
Navigating Event Season: Personal Stories, Travel Tips, and Business Automation
Ready for event season? Top DJs Brian B and Joe Bunn share what they're most looking forward to as their calendars fill with diverse celebrations. Joe anticipates a beach wedding for the third sister in a family where he's already created unforgettable experiences for the other siblings. These repeat clients have become true fans, attending his events and engaging with his content—the dream scenario for any service professional.
Meanwhile, Brian prepares for an eclectic lineup: a Sangeet featuring traditional Dola drummers, a high-end private school auction in Florida, and a wedding with an unconventional EDM playlist. His reflection on challenging events has Joe making this statement: "When they go well and it's different, I walk away thinking these people made the best choice hiring me." This highlights how versatility and expertise separate elite DJs from the competition.
We explore an innovative travel solution when Brian shares how a photographer friend crowdsourced $40,000 to purchase a residence at the Venetian in Las Vegas. This creative approach allows industry professionals to stay on the Strip without paying premium hotel rates while building valuable vendor relationships. Could this be the next big trend for private event DJs?
The Gear Corner features a practical recommendation every mobile DJ needs—a specialized travel garment bag that keeps performance attire pristine. At just $47, this half-garment, half-duffel hybrid ensures you'll never arrive at an event with wrinkled or compromised clothing again.
Finally, we tackle the balance between automation and personal touch in DJ businesses. Both Brian and Jos recommend automating repetitive tasks while maintaining direct involvement in critical client interactions. As Joe emphatically states: "I don't care how big or small your company is. You have to have a CRM, period."
Subscribe to Beyond the DJ Booth for more insider tips and candid conversations about building a successful DJ business that stands out from the crowd!
RESOURCES & LINKS
Our website. Please leave a review! - https://www.beyondthedjbooth.com/
To book Joe Bunn: https://bunndjcompany.com/
To book Brian B: https://djbrianbofficial.com/
Joe’s Gear Finds on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/djjoebunn
Brian’s Gear Finds on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/djbrianbofficial
DJ Event Planner free demo: https://www.djeventplanner.com/signup.php
Brian B's Coaching Options: Https://www.thdjscreativeedge.com
what's up everybody. Welcome back to beyond the DJ Booth Podcast with your hosts Brian B and it's Joe Bunn, I'm still here from the last three episodes. We stalled on that.
Speaker 2:food grindage Dude my stomach's going crazy. We were getting ready to eat. So, if you hear anything, yeah, if you hear that that's my stomach, because I have a hard stop in 30 minutes for a phone call. So how are we going to knock out this and I'm going to be able to eat this up? You watch.
Speaker 1:He said you watch, so this is gonna be a speedy one uh, ish, okay, but I think we're gonna give them some good value. Okay, when this drops, okay, we will be in event season officially. I feel like at that point right 100. So I just was gonna ask you what events are you looking forward to? Best thing you're looking forward to in this event season? Anything popping off, Because you probably just started to schedule your finals calls.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Anything kind of that you're looking forward to, that you know are on the horizon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I definitely have some weddings coming up. I know a vendor friend of mine that I've known for a long time. She's getting married. I'm excited about that. I also know that there are three sisters and I've done two of the three sisters' weddings and they are gorgeous and they are in all my promo videos. They party together. They're just. You can tell they're super close. They almost look like triplets. Wow, same like super-colored blonde hair. All three of them are just absolutely stunning. They party hard. Where's?
Speaker 1:that going to be?
Speaker 2:That's at the beach, even better. Oh so down in Moorhead, so I'll be able to stay at my house and go to the wedding. It's at the beach club that I'm a member of, oh, and you know, it's just. I'm really looking forward to that. They're awesome. How many people will go to this, andy, probably a couple hundred.
Speaker 1:Wow, a couple hundred. Yeah, probably a couple hundred.
Speaker 2:Their parents are beautiful. They have tons of friends, Like the last one I did was at the Washington Duke Inn. I think it was one of the very few that you weren't there.
Speaker 1:Going to the beach.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can go. They're always in my comments watching my videos, like we can't wait for our wedding.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like they're just, they're like cheerleaders. They came to those North Hills public events last year and they were like yo, you know, they're just fans. Yeah, and they just that's awesome. Above anything else that they've planned or booked for that weekend. This is priority one planned or booked for that weekend. This is priority one killer dance party amazing yeah so what about you?
Speaker 1:I have a bunch of eclectic events. I would say, so I've got any internationals no, none of those coming up okay next, but they're out of the state for sure. I've got one in south carolina. That's a sangeet, yeah yeah yeah, so I'm kind of looking forward to that. It's actually after the indian, yeah but they want it to be very like. The music's very eclectic too. It's not all Indian music, it's going to be more housey stuff. They do have the I forgot what they're called the Dola drummers, the big drums.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So they're coming out to play a little bit With you. Yes, in the beginning, that's the transition, oh my. And then we're going into um stilt walking robots. Yeah, like it's going to be a massive production.
Speaker 1:A scene, a scene, yeah and then I have an auction for a high-end school out in tallahassee, florida. Interesting, I love those corporates, I love those non-profit ones where it's like I'm playing a little bit of the dinner stuff, yeah, and then they have a little bit of a party time as far as that stuff goes. And then I have another wedding where it's all like flume, like this EDM, that's not like your normal stuff, odessa, like those kinds of tracks, I love those. I love those.
Speaker 1:And they're always kind of interesting to see if it's going to resonate with the rest of the crowd, or if it's just the bride and groom and there's snow in me a bit.
Speaker 2:Is it going to go off, right?
Speaker 1:But when they do, they do so you have to prep for it, just in case. Yeah, and it's not stuff. I'm normally playing a lot of Right, but I do like I love those artists.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and those producers yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of on deck Flume can get weird, though, but especially stuff that I'm not 100% dialed in on it makes me better as a. Dj 100%. So I always walk away from those events going man. I'm glad I got a chance to do those.
Speaker 2:And when they go well and it's eclectic or different, I walk away from it going. Man, I feel like these people just made the best choice they could have made. Even I'll look at it and go. I don't think anybody but me or Randy could have played this show. You know what I mean. Out of all my DJs, I think anybody else might've tanked this and I could be wrong. I mean it could be ye of little faith, but sometimes I just leave a show and go. Damn, anybody else would have really messed that show up.
Speaker 1:So I thought I'd tell you about this crazy story. I uh, you know we go to Vegas every now and then not as frequently as I'd like, but it's's always. You get hosed on the hotels, sure, all those different things. So a wedding friend of mine who's a photographer put out on his instagram hey, I want to crowdsource getting a place in vegas that anybody can stay at like actually buy something, buy a spot oh damn.
Speaker 1:So he did the go fund me for his crash pad, which is at the venetian, I believe. What do you mean at the venetian? Like they have a? It's one of the few, I'll show it to you here in a second. But look what he raised in money for this spot 40 grand To put down on this spot. So he's got the deposit already and bought it as his investment property and had all these people just sending him money. I was like what, I'm going to do it, I'm going to. I'm going to.
Speaker 2:I would have done it. Why didn't you send me the link Now? I missed out.
Speaker 1:No, I could get you still in on the back door with it. But I just thought it was an interesting concept because, especially as DJs, there's a lot of shows.
Speaker 2:How much does it?
Speaker 1:really cost that I don't know. Off the top of my head I mean, I'm not like an he's making it work is basically just say, hey, I'm coming to vegas this week. Can I reserve the spot?
Speaker 2:yes, you can have like a time share essentially right yeah, right sort
Speaker 1:of my take was that he's probably with a lot of photographers, not a lot of djs. So the one times that I need it, or whenever I want it, it's going to be awesome for me to be able to like, have that. How many people does that hold? So I think this one holds three, three spots. His goal is to get a three bedroom and work up to the penthouse level as people get used to this idea. So he put it on the gram and I was just going to show you kind of all this Is this guy known Like has he got a lot of followers?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, totally so. As you can see here, these people are asking him is it on the strip right? And he says yeah, it's literally tied to the venetian. Essentially, it's the only acceptable residential on the strip. That's why all my friends are part of my gofundme and they know they're going to use it and eventually he's going to upgrade to the penthouse when he has enough cash. So I just thought what a great idea for djs. Yeah, a bunch of us djs went on this if you want to get onto a gofundme or you want us to start one, maybe we get one is it a half a million dollars?
Speaker 2:a million? We don't, we don't. I need to look, dude. I'm down with the idea because I'm am. I usually go at least once or twice a year that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 1:And then why not have it out for other people who would want to go?
Speaker 2:we know enough people go to vegas but when you go do you have to?
Speaker 1:rent it from him?
Speaker 2:no, no, it's part of what the but, but surely you can't, but, but you had. I mean, maybe there's a cleaning fee, but what was the minimum investment? It was five hundo.
Speaker 1:No, no, it was. I'm put anything towards it. Basically is the way he framed it.
Speaker 2:So I, this is crazy, yeah, I mean, yes, I love the idea, but but we need to do it like a better way or something, maybe.
Speaker 1:I mean, the thing is, you don't live there, right, so you're not going to be there every week? No, absolutely not.
Speaker 2:I only like to go once a year, if that Right. Like I don't think I went once last year for Randy's birthday, right, I'm not going to go at all this year.
Speaker 1:So the idea came from him, because there's a friend of ours from New York who does this yeah.
Speaker 2:He bought a spot but it's for the business.
Speaker 1:Jordan Kahn yes, and basically he lets planners stay there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, you stay there. Builds the relationship.
Speaker 1:Yeah, then he started at a certain level. Now he's at the house level, yeah, and so his thought was Vegas seems like it's a no-brainer idea to do it, because a lot of people go to there, and if you're trying to work out a relationship.
Speaker 2:It's a great idea. I just need to need to flesh it out a little bit well, now that you got a little bag, maybe we can uh I got a little bag.
Speaker 1:We can look a little for damn sure so, anyways, that was on my list of things I wanted to bring up. That's so cool. Hey, brian b here, sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled podcast, but let's be real, you're here because you actually care about your DJ business. And if you've been nodding along like yeah, I should totally step up my game, then let me make it easy for you. I've got a coaching platform, the DJ's Creative Edge, where I help DJs like you stand out, raise their prices without feeling guilty and actually get paid what they're worth. We're talking one-on-one coaching, a killer course option to help you define your uniqueness, and a group coaching option with other DJs who actually get it.
Speaker 1:The website, thedjscreativeedgecom. That's TheDJsCreativeEdgecom because you know repetition works. And if you want to just lurk for now, hit up Instagram at the DJs creative edgecom because you know repetition works. And if you want to just lurk for now, hit up Instagram at the DJ's creative edge. All right back to the show. Before Joe starts yelling in his extra thick North Carolina accent about how, back in his day, dj's use CDs and still had to walk uphill both ways to a gig. Your corner segment hill both ways to a gig gear corner segment.
Speaker 2:Here we go. This is a travel bag. It's by. You said that like it was damn louis vuitton or something.
Speaker 1:This is I believe this is an amazon brand okay to be completely honest. But the idea here is that if you have setup clothes, that you wear the polo, yeah, gotta keep the suit nice, sometimes putting it in the van it can get dinged it can get a little bit of whatever on it, yeah this is more of like a garment kind of bag, but like a half a half a garment, yeah. Folding half, yeah.
Speaker 1:However, it's got pockets, so shoes, socks, even a bag, you know down here man pawn holder, but then it just hooks in and if you're going on like a short flight, yeah, or but even locally, I think this would be a great I do too bag just to have, yeah, full disclosure, these things don't last long they're it's amazon brand bro so it's not going to be like you know, louis v, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1:no, right, but to get you through a gig season. Yeah, I think it's a solid move because I've had some times where it's like falling off the rack in the van Right. This keeps it super clean. You could even put the steamer, the iron, in there.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, right, the steamer from previous episode. Yeah, shout out the steamer.
Speaker 1:Let me give you the price tag on this. I'm going $26.92. $47.49. I really 47, 49, I really have blown it yeah trego was hyping me up.
Speaker 2:He was like I would hate to compete against this guy on the price right, or was that mike via?
Speaker 1:I think it was mike anyway. It was mike via. Shout out mike via. Anyway, I think you need something for your clothing. I do including your shoes. You don't have to carry another bag and all those things. This keeps it all in one I do I clean deodorant?
Speaker 2:completely fair with you. I definitely need that. I have shunned and shat on garment bags in the past because I don't like how long they are right, this is a shoulder bag. It literally goes on your shoulder, or you can carry it like this folded in half style, is the way to go right a regular garment bag it's just not the move, and they're heavy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't like it. No, that was nice. I mean I've gone on. Let me check out the ziger. This is a girl, this is the guy. It's got a back log too. So I mean, there's a lot of storage in this.
Speaker 2:When I was taking more day trips and stuff, I would use this all the time yeah, this is nice man premium, I mean uh premium for premium is probably going a little far, but it's good for the zippers are great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'll last you the entire gig season, and for 40 bucks, I think, to keep your stuff clean and just to have, like you know, you ever run into a situation where, like man, you sweat through everything.
Speaker 2:At the end of the event, you want fresh clothes to tear down, even if you, just, like you, could also, like you said, put a little, if you, if I still had hair a little brush, yeah, a little spray, yeah, a little gel, a little deodorant, yeah, deodor, deodorant, toothpaste.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely A quick little toothbrush.
Speaker 2:Yeah, even your snacks you can put in there. You don't want to get in there. Snack pack, man pond, all of that stuff man wipes, don't use the wipes.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right. Even Cotton LXL. Yeah, cotton LXL.
Speaker 2:Yeah, shout, back in the day. That was back in the day. We've been doing this for a minute now.
Speaker 1:Shout out to Zagur. Check it out. It'll be on the links that we post.
Speaker 2:That's right. On our YouTube video it'll say Brian's Amazon store. You click there and all of the stuff that we talk about is on there. Some of the stuff that I recommend is on there. I'm going to start bringing these in DJs. Let's be real for a second. Your setup is your first impression. If you're still rocking a banquet table or a cheap facade, it's time for an upgrade. That's why I created Bungear lightweight, pro-grade DJ booths designed for the real mobile DJs. They're sleek, built to last and they set up in minutes. Trust me, when you look the part, your clients will notice. Check it out now at bungearcom. Order now for immediate and free shipping let's get to the question.
Speaker 1:Okay, knock it out from our boy, chris davis, from idaho. Idaho, shout out. He's a good dude, by the way you talked a lot yeah, yeah he's been to the recharge. Yeah, great guy. Yeah, I knew, I knew him. Here's a question what processes marketing, sales, prep, follow cetera do you prefer to automate and what do you prefer to do manually? You want to speak on this? Yeah, it is a good question.
Speaker 2:I think, chris, anything that is going to eat up more time than you're going to make money on, I would automate. For example, the Bun DJ company Instagram is automated by our virtual assistant. Randy sends her a big old drop box full of, you know, high energy pictures. She probably uses AI to write the captions for them. I usually go through and change the captions and then they're just scheduled for the whole month of whatever we're in right the Joe Bunn Instagram. On the other hand, I physically post those manually every day. There is no automation In terms of sales and follow-up.
Speaker 2:A lot of that stuff is in shout out DJ, event Planner, our sponsor. You know when a lead comes in, we do manually respond to that first lead. Randy does in the office and then it goes into the system and then the automation starts. You know if we don't hear from them, if they're trying to ghost us. So some of the sales is manual. You know that first response. Or if we're trying to set up a meeting, some of it is automated. If they kind of go dark, same with follow-up, it's either going to fall on the DJ, like after the DJ meets with a couple. I want them to manually follow up, but if they, you know, never even get to the meeting phase, it's going to be in the CRM DJ event planner and it's going to be automated. So it's kind of half and half. Yeah, what about?
Speaker 1:you, I'm kind of similar. Yeah, as much automation as I can do ahead of time. I try to put it into place, but then I like to be the one to actually hit, go, hit, play. So, as an example, the marketing stuff, just to your point, I have it all pre-scheduled out but my hands are on it. I'm not like completely automated. All the captions I'm looking at those to make sure they're right.
Speaker 1:The sales stuff I have all the templates written but then I go in and I edit those slightly so it's saving me a bit of time. Probably the one place where the automation is the most is in the prep, because for those we use Vibo and so all of our planning questions are on the app, so they can go in there and do that. So I literally, once we create an event, I don't touch it until we get to the meeting times on those and then the follow-up the same thing. That's probably the one place that is completely automated.
Speaker 1:I don't touch that at all, it just goes.
Speaker 2:It would be impossible, with the amount of leads that we're getting, to just sit there and follow up, follow up, follow up or remind ourselves to follow up. It's a lot easier to just put it in a CRM. I don't care how big or small your company is. You have to have a CRM period.
Speaker 1:There we go. Good stuff, light episode, a light episode, but something that's digestible.
Speaker 2:Put a bow on it, wrap it up. Thanks everybody for listening. We appreciate y'all. Leave us a review wherever you are listening to this. We much appreciate that. And a season three rolls on new episodes every single Wednesday morning. Peace y'all Later.