I was recently featured in the July issue of Disc Jockey news for my article 6 Characteristics of Highly Successful DJs and I wanted to share with you the article in detail.
6 Characteristics of Highly Successful DJs
Over the course of my DJ career, I’ve been inspired in different ways by a diverse group of people. Some whose creativity is on a planet I didn't even know existed. Some whose drive and curiosity for more goes deeper than the ocean. Some as simple and as impactful as leading with their heart first, which is a hard trait to come by. All of which inspire characteristics that we should all aspire to achieve.
Leading with Passion
It all begins and ends with passion, right? As DJs, we infuse it anywhere we are through music, whether that’s a ballroom or a club or a stadium. Music starts with passion and evolves into energy, and both passion and energy are the driving forces behind our decisions. Ask yourself this: Does DJing or Music or your business get you excited to wake up in the morning and hit the ground running? Figure out your passions and the ‘why’ behind what you do, and let that feeling spread throughout your team. The people who follow you, who work with you, need to be just as passionate about the end goal as you are in order to help you get there.
“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.” - Jennifer Lee
Have Integrity
Another key piece of leadership is integrity. Integrity means you are honest and have strong moral principles. You can eat, breathe, sleep, and live your passions, but without integrity to back them up, you won’t be successful in leading your team. And this doesn't just apply in one scenario - it applies to all. It means that sometimes you have to be honest when things get ugly. When you act with integrity, you are the same person in all scenarios.
Without integrity, you’re only as good as your worst review and your biggest critic. People can’t tell you apart from what’s been said about you, because they don’t know what your moral principles are and you haven’t acted with integrity in every situation. That can burn you to the ground, and your career won’t go very far because you don’t have a team to help back you up. But when people know what they can expect from you no matter the situation, you build a trust that’s invaluable, and a stronger reputation than any review could ever give.
Most importantly, when you have integrity, you understand that you don't know everything, which humbles you to surround yourself with a tribe of successful people, as your personal board of directors who help keep you accountable. Having integrity also means you are probably producing better service and a happier work environment. And when your team is happy, your clients are happy, and you thrive. Because if you’re passionate about what you do, and passionately lead with integrity, you will be able to motivate your team to help you accomplish your goals.
“Let me define a leader. They must have vision and passion and not be afraid of any problem. Instead. They should know how to defeat it. Most importantly, they must work with integrity.” - Abdul Kalam
Collaborating
Embrace strong relationships. By understanding and valuing the differences in another person’s perspective, we have the opportunity to create synergy, which allows us to uncover new possibilities through openness and creativity. Harmonized synergy not only creates EPIC celebrations, it also creates constant growth in our own profession. We do it with each other, with clients, and with other event professionals. When we keep an open mind, there’s never an end to what we can talk about, who we can learn from, and how we can collaborate with each other. It’s what lifts the entire industry up and propels it forward.
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” - Michael Jordan
Begin with the End in Mind
DJing is more than pressing play. It’s programming music, creating a flow of events, advising clients on the vibe, and more. As a DJ, we also have to be highly organized. If we have 5 events in a row coming up, we have to keep that in mind when planning out the rest of our week. Allow yourself time to be able to check emails, answer phone calls, and still get your admin or creative work done. Think about how you want the event to be, and work backwards to ensure you take the steps to get there along the way.
I work with many different event planners locally in Orlando as well as across the US. Their #1 pet peeve about DJs is that even though we are top notch at our craft of music and MCing, most DJs aren’t great at event prep or planning. We tend to have a strong creative side, and are lacking in the organization and prep work that doesn’t tie in to music and mixing. But those DJs that have found a way to manage it all and stay consistent in the work they put out are the successful ones. My company has a team to help us with every step so nothing gets missed - sales to keep us going, operations to make it happen, administration so that no detail is overlooked. And each piece always has the end goal in mind - thrilled clients. If you start your tasks with the end result in mind, then you’ll be better equipped to get to that goal while also setting yourself up for success with the next one.
“Begin with the end in mind.” - Stephen Covey
Sharpening the Saw
I believe it’s important to remember where we started - with music. Think about all the ways we’ve already evolved as an industry: some of us started DJing on records, some on CDs, and others have only ever known digital. Through each evolution we’ve learned to adapt and we’ve sharpened our skill set.
DJing isn't cookie cutter. We may have some of the same skills, but you have to cut through the crap to find your niche market and be you. Be authentic. Some big name DJs will never touch a country song in their 40 year career, and that’s ok. But for others, they will sift through remixes and squeeze in every genre if they can. Make it your own, and own it when you do.
We are constantly learning what’s new in music, technology, and events to keep our minds and our sets fresh. We attend conferences and webinars to learn from one another. We build relationships from those to continually push ourselves and level each other up.
But to remain effective and relevant, we must devote time to rejuvenate ourselves physically, spiritually, mentally, and socially. Continuous renewal allows us to sharpen our ability to put the other characteristics into practice.
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” - Abraham Lincoln
Creating Moments
Whether it’s with piercing lyrics and word play, heartstring-pulling feels with music programming, or the first-pumping, high-energy BPMs of banger after banger, use your skills to create moments for your clients. Ultimately we are creating feelings for people to remember years down the road.
Music can literally make your heart dance. Studies have shown that your body's breathing and heart rate can change rhythm and synchronize to the music that’s being played around you. That also explains why you get chills when listening to something awesome.
Has a song ever come up on Pandora or Spotify and you immediately think of ‘that one time?’ That’s what I mean! Songs can be little time capsules of moments in your life. Successful DJs understand that. They read the room. They play songs that open those time capsules for people and they introduce songs that create new ones!
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
What all of this ultimately comes down to is having a moral compass and a set of unbreakable core values. People want to do business with people they like and trust. You’ve heard it time and time again, and it’s just not going away.
So I leave you with this: Follow your purpose with passion, live your life with integrity, and collaborate with people who you can learn from. Begin each day with your end goal in mind. Continue to enhance your skills, learn everything you can, and sharpen your saw. And live every area of your life with the purpose of creating moments that move people to follow you.