Money

The Cost of Money

(March 2018) Some years ago I was reading a post on a DJ chatboard (that should tell you how long ago it was) where a fellow Mobile DJ was telling the story of starting out on a family vacation. He pulled into a gas station to fill up and while there checked the voice mail on his cell phone and discovered that he had a call from his local country club, which was a good client of his. It seems they had an event that evening and the band they hired had not shown up and now they were in a panic. In haste, the DJ called them back, got the details, and told them he was on his way. He relayed the situation to his wife, turned the car around, and headed back home. Once there he loaded his gear and headed to the Country Club, only to discover the band was there! Sorry, false alarm, the country club tells him, but thanks for being so accommodating. Now he is miffed, his wife is not speaking to him, and his children are heartbroken, so he turns to the chatroom to vent. “What would you have done?” he asks.

Of course, under the cloak of anonymity and much braver with a keyboard in front of them, most of his fellow DJs told him what an idiot he was. I agreed, not so much with his decision but with the fact that he put it out there on social media for all the world to judge him.

Truth is, in the early days I may have done the same thing, and I’m sure many of us can say looking back to our early years there are decisions that we made, or events that we undertook, that we would not do again today. But in our eagerness to build our business, in our enthusiasm to be relevant in our market, we did make those decisions. It’s part of being in business, we reasoned. It’s the cost of money.

What is the cost of money?

We’ve often heard talk of balancing life between family and work, and I’m sure most of us will adamantly attest that we do exactly that—but if we put a stop watch to work activities versus family activities I’m guessing it would be quite revealing. I know myself I can boast that I was a member of our middle school’s PTA for several years, helped build sets for my children’s school plays, and took a family vacation every year, yet I also know there were family events, such as birthdays or anniversary parties, that I was not able to be present for, or be there for that photo-op moment when my son or daughters walked out the door as they headed for prom or homecoming. I looked long and hard for a quote for this article and could not find it, but I remember it came from Neil Diamond (and yes, I know I’ve quoted him before) and it went something like “We do what we do (chase success) under the disguise that it’s for our family, but in truth, it’s for ourselves and the family is the one thing it hurts the most.”

We often hear some variation of the phrase that we never arrive, 

Amen, Neil. I’m sure that explains somewhat the high divorce rate among entertainers—and it seems like there’s a song to be written in there somewhere.

We often hear some variation of the phrase that we never arrive, that we always must be evolving. Arrive where? Evolve to what? It’s like chasing the pot of gold on the other side of the mystical rainbow.

Spoiler alert: You’re never going to get there.

Recently after interviewing another DJ for an article, we talked a bit afterwards off the record. He mentioned a few of the annual DJ conventions he regularly attended and asked if I had been to those. One I had attended once, the others he mentioned I have not been to yet. He seemed a bit surprised, me being a “national industry columnist” and all. The truth is I am a big believer in education. On the book shelf in my office are books and DVDs pertaining to our craft. I’ve been to nearly a dozen national conferences or seminars. I’ve participated in several educational opportunities through our local chamber and I am a member of one of our local toastmasters groups. I have also participated in theater. But being in a mass group of DJs and their egos is sometimes more than I can take. At one seminar a fellow DJ was commenting, “I tell them the music and equipment are free, but it will take $1,750 to get ME to play at your wedding!” Yeah, that’s right, it’s all about you. Couples really get married not because they are really intent on living happily ever after per se, but because they want to throw a party and have YOU perform your magic for all of their family and friends. At another get together, a group of us went to lunch after a seminar. While discussing the just-completed presentation one in the group said he thought it went great—not because of the seminar itself but because while it was going on a bride-to-be texted him to see if he was open for her wedding. Yes he was, he replied. “Great, put me down” said the upcoming bride, and then asked about his uplights. “Sure, add them in,” she allegedly told him.

“So during that seminar I booked a $2,800 gig,” our compadre happily boasted to the rest of us.

Okay, we’ll go with that. Someone you have never met, never had a consultation with, is thrilled to drop nearly three grand just because you are all that. I could go on.

It sometimes gives you the whole Andy/Barney complex, you know, from “The Andy Griffith Show.” You attend a conference feeling like Andy, a big fish in your little pond, doing great in your market and getting tons of five star reviews. Then you attend a conference, listen to some of these stories, and leave feeling like Barney, a dope who may be your own worst enemy. I should add here that I’ve had the privilege of breaking bread with some of the most well-known and successful in our industry, those who are actually giving the seminars, and they are the most sincere and helpful people you will meet. They’ve long ago checked their egos at the door. I can tell you Mitch Taylor and Ron Ruth are the first two names that pop up in my mind, and there are others. The wannabes are a different story.

So that, and the fact that it takes a lot of time to attend these conventions and conferences, is the other detractor, and that is the true cost of money. The cost of money is time, and how much you want to make depends on how much time you are willing to spend on chasing it, and that is time spent away from family, time spent away from doing things that may really be you—perhaps participating in a sport you’ve always loved, or gardening, or camping. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in business for quite awhile now, maybe it’s because the bald spot in the back of my head is getting a bit bigger, but I’d rather now spend that time elsewhere. Last year I scheduled myself to be off at least six weekends for other activities and events—and I’m not talking just the “off” season. And you know what? All of the bills got paid and the calendar is just as full for this year.

The way I see it, if that country club would call me now with the same dilemma as our DJ faced at the beginning of this article, the answer now would be, “Sorry, I’m headed to the beach.”

Until next month,

~ Michael ~