Howdy every one! 8 years ago my church came to me and asked me if I would start DJing the youth (ages 14-17) dances. I have always loved music and played music at a few weddings for family or friends but nothing serious. My church wanted fun music for the kids but wanted it to abide by some criteria: No use of the Lord's name in vane. No profanity. Nothing overtly dealing with sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. So I started updating my music and reading lyrics... tons and tons of lyrics. I figured if I was going to do all this work I should probably see if I can make any money on the side as a DJ and thus my company was born: A Family Friendly DJ, llc.
As you can guess my niche is being a 'clean' DJ. I found a great DJ program called Otsav that allows me to categorize songs and sort by those categories. I sort by genres, decade, fast or slow, clean lyrics or not, how well known, and a ton of other criteria. If I want a song from the 90s that is country, fast, clean, and well known I can find all songs that fit that criteria with a couple of key strokes and decide from there.
I started doing gigs with gear borrowed from my brother's grunge rock band. To say it was in pretty rough shape is an understatement. I charged very little at first and did mostly stuff for various church congregations around my area (Portland, OR). I made an arrangement with my wife that I could keep 1/2 of what I made and at the end of the year I could apply that money to purchase/upgrade gear. That first year I made very little. The second year I cleared around $6k and my wife started pushing very hard to let her apply it all to a credit card instead. Talk about peer pressure! But I stood my ground, slept on the couch for a few nights, and got some new gear. By the end of year 3 when we went over the numbers again my wife's tune had changed. She actually asked me if I needed a new laptop, lights, anything! Granted, we are not making a ton of money with me doing this part time, but enough where we are living in the black and putting some away. DJing has become a real blessing for my family. All 3 of my daughters have even taken turns DJing on their own a few times and it has been a great way to stay connected with them at a different level.
I get most of my gigs from Thumbtack but am looking to diversify. I think TT is great for the right kind of DJ so long as they know how to bid correctly and, more importantly, know when to NOT bid. About 2/3 of what I do are weddings.
I hate rap. I tolerate hip-hop because it often has a great dance beat. I graduated in 85 so older music is my love. I cringe every time I play Gam Gam Style but I still enjoy YMCA. What does that say about me? I don't beat match. Some think I am not a DJ because of that. They are entitled to their opinion even if it is wrong.
Bobcat told me about this forum and I am excited to chime in from time to time.
Galager
BTW, if you aren't already a member, you may want to check out School Dance Network
