Prepared

Prepared

(October 2013) September has been a strange month for us at Alexxus Entertainment—mostly for personal reasons, but they do tie back into the business. On August 30, while I was in the shower, my wife yelled into me that my brother had just called. No surprise; my brother lives in Texas and we talk three or four times a week. It was probably less than a minute later, though, when my wife yelled in again that my sister was calling on the other line. She lives in Reno and we don’t talk nearly as often, so this was a surprise. And that’s when I knew. I knew before I shut off the shower–my father had passed away. There could only be one reason why both of them had called within moments of each another. It was too coincidental. I returned the calls and my suspicions were confirmed. Even though he had not been sick or shown any signs of ill health, my father had suffered heart failure in his sleep. Truth be told, if I were able to choose how to go when my time comes, I’d hope to go that peacefully, too.

My father had told my brother that he wanted to be buried back in Iowa (he lived in Texas).

Because of the Labor Day weekend, the funeral home told us that arrangements would have to wait until the following Tuesday. On Labor Day night I got a call from one of my longtime business partners, Bob, who told me that his mother, who had been battling cancer, had taken a turn for the worse, and they were calling the family in. He asked if Brian, one of our other DJs, was available in case he was not able to do his scheduled wedding that week. I told him that, as far as I knew, Brian was not scheduled for anything and I would call him the following day.

I made that call but Brian did not get back to me until Wednesday. His father, he told me, had passed away the night before. Bob’s mother held on for another week. So, in a matter of 12 days three of the four of us that comprise the Alexxus Entertainment family had lost a parent. I’d often heard the saying that bad news comes in threes, but in less than two weeks?

Because my father was to be cremated and then returned home to Iowa, his burial was scheduled for Saturday, September 14, which coincided with the funeral for Bob’s mother (services for Brian’s father would be even later in the month because he had donated his body to science). Fortunately for us, even though we had four weddings scheduled the weekend before and the weekend after, we had nothing scheduled around September 14. It was our first completely open weekend since the end of March (an amazing coincidence . . . or maybe the Lord working in mysterious ways).

These unfortunate events did give me a moment to think about our backup plan 

Before all the funeral service dates were set, though, we made arrangements to cover any events that were scheduled around that time period. We checked with other DJs in the area about their availability if we needed help and double-checked the calendar just in case the services fell on a day that we had appointments scheduled. Everything worked out well though, considering the circumstances, and we were able to accommodate everything that was on our schedule. Fortunately, we know many of our fellow DJs because of the number of years we’ve been in business in our area. After a couple of calls we already had offers to help—and if any of my fellow colleagues end up in the same situation, they know I’ll do the same for them.

These unfortunate events did give me a moment to think about our backup plan in case something like this happens again—this time during one of those weekends where we have a full schedule. Now that things have returned to normal I’ve re-evaluated many of our “what if” scenarios. Do you have an emergency backup plan? Do you network with other DJs in your area and offer them help if they are ever in a similar situation? Do you have a few reliable numbers that you can call? Truth is, if we are in this business long enough something will occur that will interfere with our planned schedule.

Speaking of contingency plans, it may also be a good time to take a closer look at some of our other “insurance policies.” First of all, do you carry liability insurance? If not, can you guarantee that you will never have an incident where a speaker pole fails during an event and comes crashing into a crowd, or a gust of wind at an outdoor event topples one of your light poles? Or maybe someone catches his foot on one of your extension cords, falls, and gets injured.

What about backup equipment? Do you carry an extra amp, laptop, or other music sources? Do you bring backup cables, extension cords, and microphones?

Is your vehicle’s scheduled maintenance up to date? Do you give yourself extra time when leaving for an event? Do you have a physical checklist that you survey to make sure you have everything packed before you pull out of the driveway?

The way I see it—as Ben Franklin said many years ago—if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

Until next time,

~Michael ~

Michael J. Lenstra is a 21-year veteran of the Mobile Disc Jockey Industry, a full time entertainer, and owner of Alexxus Entertainment in Dubuque, IA.