How can you learn from a Chief on how to run a DJ business?
I love to watch reality shows about business and how they fail or succeed. My favorite is a show called “Kitchen Nightmares” with Chef Gordon Ramsay. The premise of the show is for this world class, very successful Chief to go into restaurants that are having a tough time making it and find a way to turn them around in five days or less.
To the culinary world Chief Gordon is the best of the best, all he wants to do is help teach others how to be the best that they can be and how to be successful at it. Granted his methods can be shocking and in your face, but most of the time his actions/reactions are what is needed to wake people up.
He goes into the restaurant and first tastes the food, then looks over the kitchen and lastly checks out the management and the employees and the service they provide.
His whole mission is to improve the restaurant no matter what it takes or whose feelings he hurts and make it successful.
Some times it’s a bad chief, sometimes it’s broken down equipment, sometimes it’s bad employees but most of the time the real problem that is the cause of all the other problems boils down to the Owner/Manager.
Sometimes the Owner/Manages have been doing this for a long time and just lost the edge, lost site or just continues to do everything in the exact same way they have been doing it for so long even though it isn’t working.
Most of the time these Owner/Managers started the business without any clue as “How” to run a successful business. They start it with good intentions but have little to no experience and try to fly by the seat of their pants. Getting deeper and deeper into trouble until they have to call in Chief Gordon or close the doors.
He then faces the people and tells it straight to them what the situation is and how to fix it. At first they don’t want to hear that they are the problem, they just want to get angry, run away or blame it all on someone else.
The Owner/Managers will yell and swear at Chief Gordon and tell him that he doesn’t know anything. It’s hilarious to see a Manager blame rotting food in a freezer on the Chief when it was their decision not to have the broken coolant system fixed.
You can almost see when the light comes on and they realize that the problem is really themselves. Sometimes this happens quickly, sometimes it takes much longer and every now and then they never catch on.
On one show Chief Gordon turned the business around and they actually made a profit for the first time in the history of the restaurant, but not long after Chief Gordon left, the Owner/Manager went back to their old ways and the business closed up.
You may be asking yourself what does this have to do with being a DJ?
Take what I just said and replace the words Chief Gordon with a name like Mark Ferrell or Peter Merry who for the last ten years has been trying to educate DJs just like us on how to be successful.
Ten years they have been helping us, but yet some still haven’t caught on. Some still run their business poorly, over worked and under paid. They blame their failures or lack of major success on something like the competition, the economy of their location or blame their staff.
They would rather argue with leaders like Mark and Peter then to look inward and find a way to change or to try something new and different. “It can’t be done!” when in fact many are doing it.
Now take what I have said here and put the word Disc Jockey in the place of the “Owner/Manger” or even replace it with your name.
How does it read now? Does this sound anything like you? Honestly?
Something to think about…..
Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions
http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz
If you would be interested in myself to be your "Chief Gordon" please e-mail me at www.info@partytimeproductions.biz
We can work on everything from your brochures, business cards, and web sites to your skills, talents and presentation.
Depending on your needs I can fly into your location, spend a few days and work with you one on one to succeed.