Disc Jockey News May 2017 Print Edition

Disc Jockey News MAY 2017 • Issue #150

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PAGE 2 • Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017

On This Day In Music November 23

By Mike Walter

I got an email from John Young, esteemed publisher of the fine publication you are reading right now. He was reminding me of the deadline for May articles. Problem was when I received the email I was two weeks into a three week, cross-country vacation and I didn’t have the time to sit down and craft a whole article about the amazing restorative virtues of taking regular vacations.

Perhaps that’ll be next month’s focus.

If you follow me on Facebook I in-

vite you to search the hashtag WalterPackJourney to see some of the incredible things my wife and I have witnessed on this journey. America is an amazing country and we have only scratched the surface with this vacation. I look forward to many more hours of traveling the highways and byways of our great nation and discovering even more there is to see.

Meantime, if you follow me on Facebook you probably know that each and every day I put up a post about something from the music industry. Here’s the one I shared on November 23rd. As you’ll see, it’s relevant to our industry.

Enjoy!

On this date in 1949 Marcia Griffiths was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She’s gone on to an incredible career in music, earning the nickname ‘The Empress of Reggae’ and whether or not you’ve heard of her before, it is almost guaranteed you know some of the songs she’s sung on and, unless you’ve spent the last 30 years in a cave, you’ve definitely line-danced to her most famous song.

When Griffiths was just 13 years old she was singing along with a young neighbor who was playing guitar and a passerby (who happened to be the Jamaican singer, Phillips James) overheard her and was blown away. James encouraged the young girl to try out for an upcoming show and she won a spot to perform with the legendary ska band

Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. The crowd loved her so much they called her out for an encore but since she’d only rehearsed one song she was unable to return to the stage. One song, it turned out, was enough, because the very next day she received two record contract offers. She selected the offer from Studio One and under the tutelage of the early reggae producer Clement Dodd (often called Sir Coxsone) she recorded her first song, “Feel Like Jumping,” at age 14. This lead to duets with singers such as Bob Andy, Tony Gregory and the legendary Bob Marley. Getting to work with Marley early on (with whom she recorded “Oh My Darling” in 1964) was a great opportunity and it encouraged the teenager to pursue a career in music.

A number of years later Griffiths was performing in Kingston, Jamaica and Marley’s wife Rita Marley and another singer named Judy Mowatt happened to be in attendance. After the show Griffiths asked the two women if they’d like to try harmonizing and as soon as they sang together they knew it was magic. The next night Griffiths invited them on stage and, with nary a rehearsal, the three singers blew the audience away. They formed a group called The I-Threes and began performing regularly. Bob Marley came to see them often and loved their sound and when he lost Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in his band he decided to hire the I-Threes as

his backup vocalists. This was 1974 and Marley’s star was on the rise. Eric Clapton’s cover of his “I Shot The Sheriff” had brought world-wide attention to reggae and soon enough he was touring the world. Marcia Griffiths was right there with the band during those meteoric years. She sang on some of his most recognizable recordings like “Waiting In Vain”, “Is This Love” and “One Love/ People Get Ready.”

But Griffiths career was not relegated to being a backup singer. She released plenty of her own work — 15 albums totaled. In 1982, she released a cover of “Electric Boogie,” a song written and originally recorded by Bunny Wailer in 1976 (Griffiths sang backup on the original). She had great success with it in her native Jamaica, reaching the top of the charts. Choreographer Ric Silver was hired to create a dance to go along with the song for the opening of a New York City nightclub. As his line dance, that he called The Electric Slide, took off, Griffiths rereleased her version to capitalize on the craze. In January of 1990 her cover of “Electric Boogie” reached #51 on the pop charts, making it the most successful song in the US recorded by a female reggae singer. The Electric Slide not only helped make Griffiths a household name but it made line dancing a trend at clubs and private parties.

There’s a communal feeling dancMike Continued On page 4

Chances are they are e-mailing multiple vendors and we all know the early bird catches the worm. 2-3 day response time will most likely not get you the business. The Knot conducted a survey where 50% of brides

said they booked the vendor who responded first to their e-mail enquiry.

5. Continue the conversation. Ask openended questions. Don’t forget to follow up Tamara Continued On Page 5

A Shift In Communications

By Tamara Sims

The art of phone conversation is fading fast. Our brides and grooms have limited time and would rather communicate via email or text than in person. I have fought this for a long time as I love talking on the phone and connecting with people in person, but alas, after attending various workshops the past few months I know it is time to adapt and revamp my way of communicating with today’s couples.

I was lucky enough to spend a day of education with The Knot last month in Chicago led by Bernadette Baillie. She opened with a seminar titled “Today’s Couples: Millennials on Demand,” which was eye opening to me. Did you know that today’s millennial receives 50-100 e-mails per day? No wonder they don’t have time to answer the phone when I call to follow up! 75% prefer to communicate via e-mail and do so via their mobile device. With that being said, they are in desperate need of companies that will make the wedding planning process organized and stress-free.

So what are the best ways to communicate with millennial couples?

1. Ask them point blank “What is the best method of communication for you?”

Don’t force them to use the method of communication that you prefer if you want to close the sale.

2. Keep your e-mails brief. Remember, they are most likely reading your e-mail on their phone or tablet. A 500-word e-mail will look overwhelming on these devices.

3. Be personal! Generic e-mail responses are a big mistake. The “me” generation

wants to feel special. They want to know you are speaking directly to them and addressing their specific needs.

4. Respond within 24 hours, but most brides prefer within 5 minutes. Crazy right?

MAY 2017 In This Issue:

Page 2: Mike Walter Page 2: Tamara Sims Page 4: Mitch Taylor Page 4: Brian S. Redd Page 5: Kristin Cole Page 6: Ron Ruth Page 6: Jeremy Brech Page 7: Jake Palmer Page 7: Justin Miller Page 8: Chris Politylo Page 8: Alan Berg www.discjockeynews.com 29442 120th St. Grey Eagle, MN 56336 Phone: 320-285-2323 Published by The Disc Jockey News

Editor/Educational Production Manager: John Young john@discjockeynews.com sales@discjockeynews.com 320-285-2323 office 612-597-4499 cell Sales: Rob Drachler 972-325-4470 Cell robd@discjockeynews.com

Page 9: Clay Moore Page 10: Joe Bunn Page 10: Dan Carpenter Page 11: Mike Lenstra Page 12: Dave Ternier Page 13: Brian Buonassissi Page 14: Top 50 Charts Page 14: Different Spin Page 15: Recurrent Charts Page 15: Harvey Mackay

Deadlines: Advertisement deadlines are the 20th of the month. The publication is distributed on the 1st of every month.

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PAGE 4 • Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017

Drive You, Destroy You, Define You

By Mitch Taylor

I recently thought about this, I wanted to share it with you here, and that was the concept of “Drive you or Destroy you.”

Whatever the moments are that happened to you, whatever goes on in your life, your reaction can drive you or destroy you.

What is your reaction? Now, not only will anything that happens to you, for you, with you, really drive you or destroy you, but they will also define you. Let’s explore these 3 concepts deeper.

Drive. It’s part of why I started my LiveAt755 video series. Haven’t seen it?

Send me a friend request on Facebook to get it live every weekday morning or go Mike Walter Continued From Page 2 ers get when they are stepping in unison and it is something that is highly requested by some partiers. The repetitive nature of a line dance is what makes it popular, it has to be simple and easy to learn (and easy to execute after a few cocktails). It’s this redundancy, along with the frequent playing of the associated song, that drives some people crazy. Line dancing is one of those things most people have strong opinions about, either for or against. Some people can’t wait to take four steps to the right and four to the left, etc. etc., while some people will only do it at gunpoint.

The Electric Slide swept across the US in the early 90’s and it was still popular when “The Macarena” came along and took over dance floors with a fury. Then towards the end of the millennium, an artist named DJ Casper took The Electric Slide and added some extra steps, rebranding it as “The Cha Cha Slide.” Artists were seeing the immediate connection between creating a popular dance and record sales. In 2007 “Cupid Shuffle” with its corresponding

to TayloredSales.com and search the blog for #LiveAt755 to watch previous episodes. LiveAt755 was created because I wanted to have something to inspire me, selfishly. I also wanted to share thoughts and ideas and hoped that others would appreciate the positive words and encouragement each morning to start their day.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Where do you get your drive?

Let’s see how this applies to our business.

Here’s a sales situation that most people would jump at. What if I gave you a group of people who all wanted to buy what you are selling? You would love that right. All sales people want to have a group of people who want to buy what they are selling. Here’s the rub. It doesn’t exist unless you work for it. The sales funnel of people wanting your services doesn’t work unless you’re making daily connections every single day. In the world of sales, you MUST be a self-starter and have DRIVE. Okay…so how can I build up that sales

funnel? Go back through your customer database of people that already believe in people that already bought from you and people that already want to help you. What have you done to be able to show your past customers some love to earn future referrals? How are you ensuring that your name is on the tip of their tongue the next time one of their friends says they need entertainment for an event? I encourage you to take the daily steps that are needed.

Reach out to someone today and actually see what you can do to help him or her.

It might be something simple. It might be something just as simple as a hello or maybe a thank you card in the mail. What causes are near and dear to your heart?

How can you align your business with the cause to give back and also get exposure for your business? Recently we were a part of Toys for Tots campaign that helped less fortunate families in our community have a better Christmas. The key is you have to put in the work, every day.

Maybe you are struggling getting leads. It’s okay to take a mental break occasionally. It’s okay to take one day off if necessary to re-focus your brain on what’s important in your business. Sometimes we need that. However, don’t wallow in self-pity over your situation. This can destroy you if you let it. Mental fortitude and a positive attitude are the enemies of

line dance, was another big hit. The following year V.I.C. released a song called “Wobble” and to show how connected at the hip the dance is to the song’s success, that single was out for three years before it entered the charts. When it did, it’s because The Wobble dance had final- By Brian S. Redd ly become popular at parties and in clubs One question that keeps popping up (which thus, helped sell records - or in “Wobble’s” case, downloads). “Crank from my viewers is “What’s up with the That (Soulja Boy)” and “Watch Me Startec Series?”

A D J (Whip/Nae Nae)” are two more recent launched examples of songs that benefitted from this prodhaving an associated dance. All of these uct line a songs and dances can trace their roots to couple of Marcia Griffiths’ “Electric Boogie” and years ago Ric Silver’s simple and repetitive Elecstarting tric Slide. with the So now you know who to credit. Or Starburst. blame, depending on your opinion of Fast forline dancing. ward to Mike Walter is the owner of Elite Entertainment of New Jersey and a natoday and tionally recognized expert in the area of we’ve seen multisystem company development and several adstaff training. You can contact Mike at ditions, mikewalter@discjockeynews.com. such as the Mini Dekker LZR, Stinger, Stinger Spot and four-in-one effects like the Boom Box FX1 and FX2.

You’ll probably be seeing a lot of Startec Series lighting on my channel in the future, and here’s why: Back in the early days of mobile DJing, it wasn’t always easy to find the right light. We wanted something that was light-weight, affordable and could work well for an event, such as a wedding reception or a school dance.

To keep costs down, there was a lot of homemade stuff out there. I remember at one DJ company I worked for, we used to build these 6-foot tall colorchanging columns. We started with a pair of giant metal par strip casings that must have been made for theatrical stage lighting installation. There was something like 12 hollow par openings complete with gel casings. That was it. No sockets or wires inside. The rest of the effect was DIY hardware store. We ran it with a “light computer,” which was basically a sound active par can chase device with probably 30 pounds of cable snake attached to it.

When companies started to offer affordable lighting effects, built specifically with the Mobile DJ in mind, this made our jobs much easier and added several cool new visual effects to our parties.

destruction. Use them wisely. Read positive daily affirmations. Pick up Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Gold Book Of YES! Attitude for help in this area. Do something kind for someone else. Staying positive regardless of the situation you are facing will ensure that the destroy mindset doesn’t remain in your head.

Ultimately, your reaction to any situation will define you. In today’s world where everyone has a camera on their phone and you are being recorded virtually everywhere in a public setting, your actions are out there. Think First. Act Second. Take moments to say thank you.

Take a moment to acknowledge those who came before you. Take moments to react and act in a responsible manner.

Your definition is waiting to be written and the best thing about that is that you are the author. You get to decide. Will you be driven or will you be destroyed?

Your definition is all up to you.

Mitch Taylor is an 18 year veteran of the mobile disc jockey industry, starting out on the cruise ships of Carnival Cruise Lines. He is a member of the American Disc Jockey Association. Mitch owns and operates Taylored Entertainment in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and can be reached at 906.786.6967 or via email at mitchtaylor@discjockeynews.com.

You Want To Know About Startec?

Who remembers the original American DJ Vertigo? Halogen bulbs and all?

That was the most amazing futuristic mobile DJ effect we had ever seen. If you had one of those in your rig, you were on the cutting edge.

Ten or so years ago, LED technology for DJs came along and changed everything we knew about lighting. It doesn’t get hot, is more compact and our light shows can now have a big impact without blowing circuit breakers.

Today, many DJs have grown leaps and bounds in their careers, catering to a higher-end clientele. Their needs and wants in lighting effects have become much more sophisticated. Many of ADJ’s offerings in advanced lighting technology start at around the $800 price point and go up from there.

What about the beginner DJ? Or the budget-minded DJ who doesn’t have $800 to spend? How about those of us who just don’t particularly need install quality lighting? This is what the Startec Series is all about. This is budget lighting offerings for the mobile DJ. A lot of this stuff is cool, too because it’s smaller, lighter weight, updated versions of classic effects, such as the Mini Dekker LZR. There are also several all-in-one effects, like the six different Stinger models. Fixtures like these could be perfect for micro system builds.

That’s it, really. If you are looking for install stuff, then Startec isn’t going to be for you. However, If you are a mobile DJ and want to step into a new lighting effect for under $300, or even well under $300 in many cases, then you may want to check out Startec.

Have a great May everyone! Enjoy Wedding DJ season and we’ll see you on DJNTV Practice and Enjoy.

Brian S Redd is a Mobile/Club DJ in Milwaukee WI, DJ Youtuber and an official “American DJ” Artist/ You can reach Brian at: brianredd@discjockeynews.com/

Social Media = Relationship Marketing

By Kristin Cole

We all know that Social Media is a powerful marketing tool and a great way to connect with prospective clients. The virtual world is full of people who may be interested in our services, which is awesome!

But how well are we using social media as a way to make connections with people who will refer business to us? What if you could generate as much or more business from other vendors than directly from potential clients on Facebook and Instagram? At Sound Wave, we have found that more than half of our new clients come from referrals from wedding and event vendors we have relationships with. This is exciting! One of the ways we have accomplished this is by utilizing social media as a resource to develop and strengthen those vendor relationships.

Remember, relationship marketing is all about friendship and connection. It is about knowing people, people knowing you and offering value to those people. Social media platforms have created the perfect way to nurture those relationships. Here are some ideas and strategies of how to do this on Facebook and Instagram. These principles can also be carried over to any other platform you use!

1. Facebook a. Try to post photos from photographers you have worked with. Tag them in the photo, not only to give them credit but also to connect with them and build value. If it is

a photo of florals, also tag the florist. Photo of the venue, include tags for the venue and decorator. Being selective about the photos you post allows you to not only share great content, but strategically connect with vendors in the process. Two birds, one stone. b. Check in at venues when you are at events and/or when you post an event photo. c. Comment on other business’ posts with your business page. This builds brand recognition and helps people remember your business. d. Selectively share your business page posts on your personal page. Don’t overdo it — it can get annoying for people that follow your business and are friends with you to see your posts multiple times. For this reason, I also recommend not doing Facebook share from your Instagram account. On the flip side, sharing impactful business posts on your personal page will generate more engagement for you and your business. e. Make personal connections. It isn’t enough to like someone’s page or for them to like your business page. Being friends on Facebook means they will see more of your personal posts and the more you interact with people on Facebook, the more you will show up in their feed. Comment on their posts, share something with them, and generate discussion on your personal page with creative posts. A great example of this was a post Dave Ternier made last month. He asked people to comment on his post with a photo of the view out their front door. It was a fun and unique idea and generated engagement and cool photos being shared! f. Don’t keep it 100 percent business. Part of developing relationships means connecting about real things beyond business. Keep your business page business but mix it up on your personal page. Share a family photo, a hobby, inspirational quote and some business things too. But remember, nothing con-

Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017 • Page 5 troversial! Controversial content is a great d. Comment on vendor’s posts and show way to get unfollowed and then your ability them you care about them and admire the to connect will go down. great work they do. People like hearing they 2. Instagram are awesome — so tell them! a. Follow vendor friends businesses and As with all marketing, it is important to send them personal invitations to follow keep in mind that consistency is key. The your page through a direct message. more consistently you connect with someb. Like on Facebook, tag all the creatives one, the stronger the relationship will be. in your posts that helped create the image Test it out this month — use social media you are sharing. We prefer to tag vendors in to connect with your (even potential) referthe actual post versus using the tag feature. ral base and share your results on the Disc This allows for more exposure of the ven- Jockey News Facebook page! dors because it is a direct click. We have Kristin Cole is the owner of Sound Wave found that most people don’t click on the Events in Boise, Idaho. Her passion for unphoto to look at who is “tagged” in the tag forgettable customer experiences, relationfeature but will see the creatives in the post ship marketing, and online branding have description. been the driving factor behind the success of c. Replying to comments on a post is a her company. She is a committed small busigreat way to start a mini conversation with ness coach and teacher, who helps business someone. This can then be continued in a owners develop into their full potential. You direct message, over coffee or at your next can reach Kristin at kristincole@discjockevent together. eynews.com Tamara Continued From Page 2 after a few days. After all, they are receiving 50-100 e-mails per day, so gentle reminders are helpful. Top of mind awareness, right?

So how do we get these busy brides and grooms to actually respond to our e-mails?

The first step is to review your e-mail responses to see if it needs a makeover. Does it sound like a mass e-mail? Does the tone fit with your brand/personality? Is it personalized to the specific couple or do you send the same e-mail response to every inquiry?

Is it too wordy? Are you asking too many or too few questions? Do you share too many details in your “out of office response?”

They don’t need the specific personal details (nor do they care) why you are out of the office. Just let them know you have read their e-mail and will respond soon.

Ok, now you may be thinking, but Tamara I have done all of this and I still have a low e-mail response rate. According to The Knot, the top 5 reasons why brides don’t respond are: 1. They already booked someone.

2. They are in the “initial research” phase and are not ready to set a meeting.

3. The pricing doesn’t match their budget.

4. They weren’t a fan of your website.

5. You responded too late. We can’t beat ourselves up about the clients we lost, but we can always make room for improvement.

Always be the best that you can be, take the time to learn from others in the industry and never be afraid to embrace change. For if there is one thing in life that will always be constant, it is change.

Please feel free to share your comments with Tamara at: tamarasims@discjockeynews.com Tamara is the Director of Sales and Marketing for Something 2 Dance 2 DJ Entertainment in Schaumburg, IL, which she proudly owns along with her husband Jay Sims. She has over 20 years experience in the wedding industry and loves creating wonderful wedding memories for her brides and grooms.

PAGE 6 • Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017

Love Breeds LOVE

By Ron Ruth

L-O-V-E. Countless songs, poetry, books, plays and movies have been written about love. And why not? Love is universal. And, as humans our need to be loved is just as strong as our need to love others. Love is rewarding. It’s comforting. It makes us feel valued, special, important and happy. Although it may seem like an odd stretch, these are the exact same emotions we want our customers to feel through the experience we deliver to them in our businesses.

The emotion of “love” is often used to describe everything from how we feel about our mate, the last movie we saw, or our new car, to how we feel about the latest Starbucks concoction. But it can also apply to how you feel about your customers and how they feel about you.

The cool thing about love is that it has a trickle-down effect. If you truly love your customers, your work will reflect that love and your customers will be more inclined to reciprocate by loving you back.

My dad made a career change when he was in his early fifties. He had spent most of his life as a husband and father, providing for his family as a delivery man for a local bread bakery. But in the early 1970s he took a risk, changed professions and accepted a position as a clerk and stocker at a grocery store that was owned by a large, national chain.

And, because of his excellent work ethic and his incomparable people skills, my dad was quickly promoted to management.

My dad had a smile that could light-

up a room and he was sincerely happy to see every customer that came into his store. He greeted many of them as they came through the door and he knew a lot of them by name. He’d often stop whatever he was doing to ask not just about them, but about their families.

My dad treated every customer with the same courtesy, whether they came into his store to buy a loaf of bread or to do a weeks’ worth of shopping. Money played no part in his relationship with them. In his eyes, every customer was special.

Some of my dad’s customers would even drop in, not to shop, but just to say hello to him. A good many of the customers who shopped at my dad’s store did so just because my dad made them feel valued and welcome. My dad was known to stop by the homes of his elderly customers if he hadn’t seen them in a while just to check in on them and make sure they had food.

My dad had no formal training at delivering extraordinary customer experiences. That terminology didn’t even exist at the time. That skill came naturally to a man who also came from what was known as the “greatest generation” where relationships were never taken for granted and where giving a helping hand was done without fanfare and with no absolutely no strings attached.

Even after he retired from the grocery business in the early 1990s, he continued to work at the store part-time. When he passed away, my sister and I were overwhelmed by the crowd of customers who came to his funeral to pay their respects. You see to them my dad was not just some guy who worked at a grocery store, he was a friend who they had come to love because my dad had shown love for all of them. In my opinion, he was the ultimate role model for how, even in the world of business, love breeds love.

He was also a great dad.

“It turns out that caring for people is

a useful shortcut to trust, which leads to all the other things that a growing organization seeks.” – Seth Godin There are five things I learned from my dad about delivering extraordinary client experiences and about how love breeds love.

The first, be personal. Know everything you can about each of your customers from their wants, needs and expectations to the little things that make them happy and then set out to do just that. Second, be accessible. Don’t just wait around for your customers to contact you. Remind them often that you would be happy to be of assistance to them any time they need it. Third, be genuine. Your customers can tell if you really care about their happiness or if you’re faking it. Fourth, be transparent.

Nobody likes to be misled or kept in the dark about issues that affect them. Don’t be afraid to let your customers know if you’ve made an error, but also be ready to apologize and make it right. Trust

is crucial if you want the relationship to last. And the fifth and final thing I learned is to be gracious. Say “thank you.” Kindness and gratitude for a customer’s business is the ultimate way to make them feel appreciated for the long term.

How do you show love for your customers or clients? Share your stories with me at the email address below and get a complimentary copy of my brand spanking new DVD, “The Client Experience Demystified.”

Ron Ruth is a 20 year veteran of the wedding and DJ industry and the owner of Ron Ruth Wedding Entertainment in Kansas City. He’s also a self-described “Disney Geek” and a nationally recognized speaker who presents seminars at conferences for DJs and wedding professionals on the topic of delivering quality service. Ron can be reached at 816-224-4487 or ronruth@discjockeynews.com

How Important Is Lighting?

By Jeremy Brech

How important is lighting? Imagine going into a club with one of the best DJs in the world and the only thing happening was hardpumping music.

Imagine going into your venue no house lights and no ambient lighting—or even bright florescent lighting filling the room with its stale light. It reminds me of the Cinderella song: “You Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone).”

Once you realize how impactful lighting can be or better yet when your clients realize how important lighting can be then it becomes a necessity. I did a prom event this last weekend and I think about how much of an impact and energy is created through lighting. Now — when you think of a wedding — yes, people will dance and celebrate and have a great time and might not need lighting to create the moments, but it sure can make an impact. The reason I bring up the prom is because as I was in Vegas over Mobile Beat, I actually got to go out one night, believe or not, to Omnia.

As cool as Omnia is without the lighting, the energy would be so much different.

So the lighting I bring to my shows have to create what my client sees day in and day out. Not that I am working a club, or planning on it, but as I do the proms, and even my weddings, I understand that lighting can create energy.

You may have seen my presentation

at Mobile Beat this year where I showed real examples about what your client sees. From shows like The Voice, Dancing with the Stars and even the Grammys, these shows are brainwashing our clients and creating an expectation. If you saw my presentation at Mobile Beat two years ago, I talked about using your lighting during the Dynamics in music and how much it makes a difference. Having lighting reacting the bass or a strobe hit during a high hat — that is how we need to look and feel music through our lighting. So, yes, our job is to entertain, but lighting has become such an important part of our duties as an entertainer. Lighting helps create elegance, energy, and now it seems like an expectation.

So many times when we meet with wedding couples they ask what lighting is included. I think so many people or DJs understand the importance of lighting and now a client does as well. Yes it can make a huge difference in what we do as a performer and can raise the bar.

Even Bill Hermann wants used a police beacon during his performances as a wedding DJ. So how important is lighting? It seems to be as important as you make it. If lighting has become more important than your mixing skills, then you make that a bigger priority or hope it is a bigger priority to your client. The biggest tool isn’t the light, it is the time and knowledge you put into that light that makes it successful for you, your client and your event.

Jeremy Brech is Owner/Entertainer/ Lighting Designer of DJ Jer Events and Lighting Design. Jeremy can be reached at: jeremybrech@discjockeynews.com.`

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Look, Do You Hear That?

By Jake Palmer

Weird title, isn’t it? “Look, can you hear that?” barely makes sense. Or does it? A better way to say the same thing is: “People hear what they see.” Last month I talked about image and why it’s important to what we do and how we represent ourselves. I talked about how branding yourself pigeonholes you into an area where people might take you seriously, like judging the book by the cover. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but people do that — they judge a book by its cover. It’s human nature. We stereotype and profile. We avoid places or people based on how they look or where they are located. We make assumptions about people or businesses based on branding and image, but these assumptions are not always correct, are they?

A great example of this can be seen at a golf course. Have you ever played golf with someone who has the most expensive clubs money can buy? The newest nicest shirt? He looks like he just stepped off PGA tour stop.

Then it turns out he can’t hit the ball worth a damn, he just looks good. On the other hand, I have a buddy who has a two handicap but can’t play on the big fancy courses because he refuses to conform to their dress code, so if you saw this guy on a town course somewhere you might mistake him for some hack based on his shabby appearance and clubs. My point is that everyone makes assumptions. What assumptions are they making about you?

Branding is image and image starts with appearance. The way you and your gear looks is paramount. This is the first impression you give people and they will hold on to that image. Your setup, personality, style and look should be different and appropriate for every situation. My wedding setup is completely different than my bar setup or my karaoke rig.

The way I dress, act, talk, and the personality I convey are different for each event I do. Remember, everyone is looking at you. They are watching your every move and they take their cues from you. If they aren’t, adjust. Your image, look, attitude and presentation will affect the guest participation as well as your overall performance. Remember, you’re selling “fun.”

Every event is unique one way or another, so my performance in general revolves around the Four F’s: focus, feel, format and flow.

1) Focus – Never lose sight of what you are doing and why you are doing it. Stay off your phone and stay in the moment. If you are distracted or not in the moment, how can you expect everyone else in the room to be?

Always be aware of all of the elements in the room, what they are doing, what they should be doing.

2) Feel – How does the room feel? How does the event feel? How is it supposed to feel? I am talking more about the general attitude. Is it casual, very formal, tense, loose, humorous, ect.? If it’s not right for the event or what the clients wants, change it.

3) Format – Similar to feel, if the music right for the moment? Is the volume OK? Are you doing the correct elements in the correct order, the correct way? Format is everything, especially at a wedding where you are up against a timeline and a specific list of events and elements that need to happen in a particular order with a particular feel.

4) Flow – Time line is important, but the flow is important-er. Every event has a natural flow to the day, the evening and the night. It’s our job to recognize this flow and keep the party in it. I like to think of it like surfing. If you don’t get up to the right speed you won’t get on top of the wave and ride it, you’ll fall of the wave and float until another comes along… doesn’t sound like a fun wedding does it? The bride and groom have no idea about time or flow. By the time they say, “Hey, I think we should get to that first dance,” it could be too

Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017 • Page 7 late.

Your job is to be aware…stay Focused so you can Feel the Flow of the event and stay on Format, with a smile.

Jake Palmer can be reached at jakepalmer@discjockeynews.com.

Emergency Exit Only?

By Justin Miller

Yesterday I was flying from Midway to Phoenix to attend ICON, Infusionsoft’s annual user conference, when something caught my eye: the emergency exit sign. Situated about 2 rows in front of me in the middle of the aisle ceiling was simply a sign that says EXIT. While I have obviously seen these same signs countless times before, this time I started thing about the amount of though behind that sign and how it applies to business.

It is no longer a secret, that I sold my entertainment company a little earlier this year so that I could focus solely on helping others with marketing. I am sure this played more than a little into why the sign caught my eye now since I had recently made an “exit” myself. Here’s the thing though. It wasn’t really an emergency exit. Is the only exit in your business an emergency exit? Are you only done with disease, injury, or death prevents you from working further?

Now I am not telling you to run out and sell your business or that it is a bad business to have. That is not the truth at all. At the same time, do you have an exit plan in place? Do you know what would have to happen to cause you to either want to sell or it would make more sense to sell? I assure you that the airline has very specific rules for when that exit door opens. Have you ever thought about what rules are? It could be a certain amount of money of-

fered. It could be a lack of ability to make a certain amount of money. It could be disinterest or less enjoyment. What would it take?

Many of you will not have even considered this, much less written it down.

Next, can you even sell your business? Do you have people and systems in place so that it can continue to run without you? My business was sold as an operating entity and will live on. That is part of what made it appeal to the new owner. It was functioning and ready to go with processes in place. It just takes someone to run those processes. Admittedly, at the point I sold some more staff needed to be hired and that did lower the value many thousands of dollars. There are always ways to be better even in successful companies.

Even if you are not planning to sell, why not build as if you are? It’s the reason you pack a second reserve parachute when skydiving.

Nobody plans to use it, yet you know the exact procedure for when you need to and you are glad it is there.

Take some time and write down what signs you need to look for in your business and life that are the equivalent of a blinking red exit sign. Start now to build your business to where it can be sold (even if you never plan to). It forces you to follow good management practices and will actually help fuel your growth. It may seem unnecessary now but you may thank me in ten years when you have options open to you when opportunity presents itself.

You can reach Justin at: justinmiller@ discjockeynews.com. For more DJ business tools, tactics, and training from Justin visit http://www.profit911.biz/just4djs

PAGE 8 • Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017

The Photobooth Section Why I Started A Photobooth Business

By Chris Politylo

I’m Chris; I’m a pastor, husband, father of 3, full-time employee, and of course photo booth rental business owner. My wife and I have run a successful and profitable photo booth business for over 2 years and have learned a lot. When I first started out in the business, I couldn’t find a really in-depth, long form blog or useful site about the ins and outs of the photo booth business. I know there are many aspiring and new photo booth business owners out there, and my goal is to provide you with valuable information and content.

where Sean interviewed Mike Tecku and Mike Hansen, owners of Strike a Pose Photo Booths. These guys started a business out renting photo booths in Wisconsin and then decided to design their own photo booth and sell it. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/4d0UADAFXFY When I got home I checked out the Strike a Pose company website and read some testimonials that some people were making $20,000 – $30,000 a year on their rental business. I inquired about the cost of the photo booth and it was significant,

How it all started In the fall of 2013, my then employer assigned me to work on a special project, which required me to commute to lower Manhattan most days. This had me in the car for about 4 hours a day, which gave me the opportunity to find and listen to new podcasts. Among many other great entrepreneur podcasts, I found Sean Malarkey’s, The Money Pillow Podcast, which was a great podcast, I’m not sure why he doesn’t produce episodes anymore. While driving into lower Manhattan on FDR drive, I listened to an episode

nearly $8,000. Needless to say I didn’t just hand over my credit card number and order it. However, after careful consideration, research and validation of the business idea, we did ultimately order the photo booth and go into business. In our first year of business we had 51 rentals and $25,000 in revenue.

Excited? Stop. Don’t just go out and buy a photo booth, you must determine whether a photo booth business is right for you.

You can contact Chris at chrispolitylo@discjockeynews.com

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When I speak about handling reviews, I encourage you to write replies to reviews, but write them for the other people who will be reading them, and don’t get into a hesaid-she-said in public. When you have an upset customer, it’s always best to keep that discussion offline and out of email, if you can. Your goal is to make your customer happy so they’ll refer you and, if you offer more than just wedding services, maybe come back and use you again.

One of my favorite things to live by: I’d rather be happy and successful, than be right.

If I have to prove that I’m right, that means someone else has to be wrong. If I tell my wife that she’s wrong about something, how is that going to work out for me? If I tell a customer that they’re wrong, how is that going to work out for me?

Long term value The long-term value of a customer relationship is the amount of money that you will earn over the life of that relationship. When a customer has a problem, that long-term value is paused, not stopped. If you handle their issue quickly, and to their satisfaction, the long-

term value not only continues, but it could get higher. Customers will usually forgive you for getting something wrong if you make it right — quickly. Some of my best customer and industry relationships are with people who first came to me with a problem. After handling it professionally, and quickly, they knew that if something else should arise, I would take care of it quickly and professionally as well. That “problem” was really an opportunity.

Give until it hurts I’ve heard countless examples of wedding pros who have offered customers more than would seem warranted to make them happy, and then they were rewarded with referral business, possibly more referral business than they would have gotten had nothing gone wrong.

I know the owner of a DJ company with seven DJs who personally calls every customer on Monday morning if he wasn’t at their event to see how things went for them. On one Monday he called a mother who had hired their company to DJ her young son’s birthday party. The woman expressed that she wasn’t happy with the performance of the DJ. He listened, apologized, which is one of the most important things to do, and then offered her a partial refund. She appeared to be satisfied, but he wasn’t. He went to a popular toy store and bought a gift card and then a note card.

He hand wrote an apology in the notecard saying, “I’m sorry that everything wasn’t exactly the way you had expected for your son’s party.

Please buy him a gift from us.” He put the gift Alan Berg Continued On Next Page

Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017 • Page 9

The Photobooth Section Will You Donate Your Booth? 一䔀圀℀

By Clay Moore

We’ve all had the call, or more likely the email: “I’m looking for someone to donate their services for lots of great exposure…”

If only “exposure” paid the bills. My typical thought is always something along the lines of: “That’s a great idea, and actually I’m looking for someone to call everyone in town to see who needs a photo booth, whaddaya say? I can’t afford to pay someone for this, but it’ll be great exposure for you!

Just think of all the people you’ll talk to. Surely many of them will be in need of your services!” Or my backup: “If the exposure we’re going to get is going to be so amazing, I’ll tell you what — you pay full price, and for every person at your event that books, I’ll pass all the profits on to you. No? But what about the exposure? You trust the exposure, don’t you?”

Let’s face it. Exposure is a hit or a miss.

We all know it depends on the event.

With photo booths there are many different ways you can advertise with the booth. From your contact information on the print, the text/email from the social stand, banners, etc.

We came up with a great practice in our company we came up with a great way for the non-profit organization to make extra money from our booths. Now, before going further with the story, I will make this super clear. Pay per pic never works.

Most of the non-profits organizations have something in common: they sell sponsorship opportunities on their advertising and the back of t-shirts. Take advantage of this!

I use to work in advertising at a local newspaper in Mount Pleasant, Texas.

We had two different rate structures. We would have one rate for a for-profit and another rate for a non-profit organization.

This is exactly the practice that we follow in my company. It’s roughly about $95 cheaper than what my normal rate is.

We have had major success with this sponsorship practice. We had a non-profit use our booth and went by our suggestions of advertising sales built into their sponsorship packet. They paid us our rate of X amount. They were able to profit an additional $1600.00 over the top of what they paid!

They quickly learned that exposure doesn’t work for us. With this one client we were able to gain another few clients by word-of-mouth of this practice! Don’t forget that in the service industry that WOM (Word-of-Mouth) is the best form of advertising.

On a completely different note, you can always use exposure to your advantage with your vendors. Use it at your local networking chapter to show your vendors what you can do. We all know that our venues, photographers, DJs, PR agencies and so on are our best form of advertising.

Now, if you have a non-profit that is dear to your heart, it is perfectly OK to donate your booth for your own piece of mind!

You can contact Clay Moore at claymoore@discjockeynews.com.

Alan Berg Continued From Prior Page card in the envelope with the note and handdelivered the envelope to her house. Within two weeks, he received two referrals from her that booked him for events. I asked if he wanted me to not tell his story anymore and he said, “No, it’s fine, I just wanted you to know that I have booked three jobs now from that [referral], not two.”

Satisfaction Guaranteed!

Another wedding pro told me that his company has a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. A groom called the pro after the wedding to say that something hadn’t gone correctly. After listening, and apologizing, the wedding pro asked the groom where to send the refund check. The groom said, “You don’t have to give us back all of the money.” But the wedding pro reiterated that they have a 100 percent money-back guarantee, and since everything wasn’t to their satisfaction, they were refunding the entire amount. The wedding pro told me that they, too, had gotten at least two referrals who booked them from that couple. I asked him if anyone abused their 100 percent satisfaction guarantee and complained, even if nothing went wrong. He said, “You would think they might, but it hasn’t happened, at least not yet.”

Thinking long-term Both examples show how a little shortterm pain can lead to long-term gain. Had the wedding pros mentioned not handled their situations well, it very well could have led to poor reviews, which could have cost them other business.

A wedding DJ approached me at a conference to tell me the story of a wedding where the power had gone out (not his fault). The couple went to the DJ at the event and demanded a refund. The DJ wasn’t an owner and had no authority to give a refund. It’s certainly questionable as to whether a refund was due, given the situation. The DJ would have kept

playing, but the wedding couldn’t have gone on without power, even if he had backup power for his equipment (the venue sent everyone home).

The customer wrote an email to the owner of the DJ company demanding a refund and threatened to post one-star reviews on the top wedding sites if he didn’t comply. Instead of taking a deep breath, trying to put himself in their shoes, thinking about the possible consequences and trying to appease the customer, he wrote them back a stern email saying that no refund was warranted as it wasn’t his fault the power went out. The customer went and posted the negative reviews, exactly as they had said.

This owner asked me how he could make those bad reviews go away. I asked him how much he would be willing to pay to erase them.

Was it more than they paid him for the wedding? He said, “Absolutely.” I said, “So, now you’re willing to pay that much, why not when they first came to you?”

Doing the right thing, even when it’s more than warranted He let his emotions get the best of him.

Yes, they were bordering on extortion and unfairly targeting him. He called their bluff and he lost. Had he called me before writing back to them, I would have told him to think longterm, not short-term. I hope this never happens to you, but if it does, remember that you have an unhappy customer and your first mission is to make them happy. Try to see it from their side, as if you were the customer. Think about what you would want to happen, then act appropriately.

Alan Berg has been called “North America’s Leading Expert and Speaker on the Business of Weddings and Events”. Find out more about his speaking, website reviews, consulting, books, DVDs and audio presentations at http://www.AlanBerg.com - email or call Alan, 732.422.6362

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PAGE 10 • Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017

Cocktail and Dinner Music Time

By Joe Bunn

I know that cocktail hour and dinner music is technically considered “background music” for wedding guests that are arriving or eating, but I’ll be honest with you, I think those two-plus hours are crucial to setting the mood for the entire event.

While it may be easy to simply throw together a few Sinatra songs or put on a Pottery Barn mix, I highly suggest that you put a little more effort into these times.

Let’s start out by talking about the cocktail hour or social hour as some people call it. Since most guests are coming from the ceremony, whether it’s onsite or offsite, they are probably ready to talk and mingle. The first thing you want to do is make sure you have the right volume. If the cocktail hour is in a separate room from the main ballroom, I often times run an iPod right off RCA jack on the back of a QSC K8 speaker. However, I’m never very far away for a couple of reasons. 1) Sometimes the volume of the music jumps from song to song (yes, I know there is a setting where the pseudo corrects this, but it stinks) and 2) As more guests arrive and the conversation level goes up, so does my volume. I’m not trying to blow people out or compete with them, I’m just trying to make sure that the music is still being heard.

Now, let’s get into programming for cocktail hour. During our consultations with our couples, or that last phone call or meeting before the wedding, we ask them about this time period and if they have certain song or artist suggestions.

I love it when couples give me songs that aren’t good dance songs but are perfect for this time. It shows the guests that they actually spent time customizing their wedding. For example, if the friends of the couple hear a couple of

songs by The Cure during that hour, they can probably guess I didn’t just pull that out randomly — the couple chose it.

More often than not, we (the DJs) are responsible for cocktail hour music. I’m for going with variety in this situation.

I lean towards several different genres.

I love the Rat Pack era stuff like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Ella Fitzgerald. Of course, you have to toss in a few Motown favorites like Marvin Gaye and The Temptations. But I’m also a big fan of newer crooners like Harry Connick, Jr. and Michael Buble. And finally, acoustic singer-songwriters like James Taylor, Van Morrison and Jack Johnson round out my list. I’m always looking for more swinging or uptempo stuff from these folks, but nothing that’s really danceable per se. It’s all just really good, happy, set-the-mood kind of stuff.

After cocktail hour, the guests usually come in and have a seat for dinner.

I usually let the cocktail list continue to play here as I line up the guests outside the room for the grand introductions.

For the intros, the couple usually picks that song and then knocks out at least their first dance right after, which of course they pick the song for. And then it’s usually back to me to pick dinner selections. Again, watch your volume during dinner. You have to realize that if there are assigned seats, that the couple did this for a reason so that people could chat and catch up or maybe even meet each other for the first time. The last thing they want to be doing is screaming over an obnoxious DJ’s volume. Take the time to walk the room during dinner at a couple of different times and make sure the music can be heard but that it’s still in the background. Even more important, ask the VIPS (mother and father of the bride/groom and even the bride and groom) if everything is OK. Usually, a simple thumbs up between courses is all you need.

Don’t forget, dinner is still a chance to set the perfect mood pre-dance party.

I’m not one of the DJs that “goes for it early” (as Mike Walter puts it) and gets people dancing during dinner. I have been asked to do so a couple of times by people up North, and it has worked just

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fine, but it’s not something I choose to regularly do. (No offense to my Northern DJ brothers and sisters.) My selections during dinner are totally different songs than the cocktail hour but some of the same artists. I also choose songs that aren’t as “swinging” and a little slower tempo, while obviously staying away from depressing stuff. I usually progress from the Rat Pack type stuff early in dinner to more “toe tappers” or “sing-along” type stuff like “Let’s Stay Together” or “Stand by Me” towards the end. I also gradually move my volume up as people finish eating. Ever notice how quiet it gets when the food first hits

the table and how loud it gets as plates are cleared?

These are just a few tips for creating the right environment as your wedding events begin. I’ll get into even more playlist detail for an upcoming article.

In the meantime, good luck and keep ‘em rocking!

Joe Bunn is the owner of Bunn DJ Company in Raleigh, NC. He is available for consulting and speaking engagements. His DVD “Marketing the Music” is now available at www.djjoebunn.com. Contact him at joebunn@ discjockeynews.com.

Your SAY You Have A Backup Plan...

By Dan Carpenter

Bride: You’re the one that will be at our wedding, correct?

Me: Absolutely. When you deal with my company, I’m the only one.

Bride: So what happens if you’re sick?

Me: I still perform.

Bride: What if you’re really really sick and just can’t go on?

Me: I have a backup plan…

I’ve talked with various DJs who claim they have a backup plan. A plan that if something were to drastically happen to you, or someone close to you, you could reach out and get the event covered. I’m a single op, and occasionally I’ll have the conversation above. I’ve been very fortunate that in my 17 years as a mobile DJ, I’ve never once had to rely on a backup. Now, I have hired two other DJs to come along and help me when the event was getting close to my wife’s due date, just in case I had to run out because she was

in labor, but fortunately I never had to actually rely on it. However, those plans were in place before the potential emergency. What about the last minute “uh oh?”

Two months ago, I got a phone call while at my day job that my mom was going to the emergency room. There was a concern that maybe she was having a stroke. My heart fell, and thanks to an understanding principal, I was able to get out of there and take the rest of the day off to be with my mom.

Now, if this had been a wedding I was working instead of my day job, I probably would have stayed and finished the event before heading to the hospital.

My mind would have been on my mom, but I would have stayed (Never let them see you sweat). That may sound harsh, but when you’ve made a commitment, I feel it’s important to follow through.

But, what if? What if, the situation was even worse — for example, what if my wife was in a massive car accident?

We have two young boys and someone would need to be there for them, not to mention my wife. I got thinking, and realized that for something like that, I really don’t have a good plan. I’m not ready should the unforeseen happen at the last minute.

My backup plan has always been a Dan Carpenter Continued On Page 13

Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017 • Page 11

The Way I See It: The Needle: Final Thoughts: Part 3

By Michael J. Lenstra

A Summary in Elapsed Time In 1991, the first Mobile Beat Magazine was published to give this new fledgling industry a place to learn and discover new products and technology.

In 1997, they produced their first national convention in Las Vegas.

One year later, Mark Ferrell addressed the gathering of Mobile DJs (MDJ) at that convention, in an effort to raise both the standards and the income of the industry particularly as it relates to weddings, which many MDJs had made their specialty.

A couple of years later, Peter Merry, as president of the American Disc Jockey Association (ADJA), criss-crossed the country taking Mark’s message one step further by letting MDJs know just HOW they could do that.

But then it all seemed like it went a different direction.

Survey Says In the early months of this year three different reports came out analyzing the average costs of weddings in 2016.

Though the numbers differed a bit, each had the DJ as one of the lowest costs in the wedding budget—all at approximately 3%—which was less than the average wedding dress, décor, and most all of the other vendors.

“How can this be so?” I wondered.

“After all of these years and with so many educational opportunities now available, why is the DJ still at the bottom of the food chain—and I imagine priority—in the wedding planning process? Hasn’t the needle moved at all in terms of the mobile DJ being recognized as a talent-based, true profession?”

So my journey began….

A Few Good Men

Peter and Mark are just two of the names that have stepped forward for the cause of the mobile DJ. After those two years on the road, though, Peter had to return to his “normal” life and take care of business. “I probably lost $30,000 in bookings during that time,” he said.

Ron Ruth has been a presenter at the Wedding MBA for the past four years, and is preparing to do so again this fall. The airfare and the hotel costs are almost always on his own dime. Why does he do it?

“I love inspiring people,” he says. “I’m not going to tell you how to do whatever it is that you do, but rather hope you find the inspiration to do it yourself.”

For Mitch Taylor, it is now a daily occurrence to get to the office early to do a morning Facebook video broadcast, #Live at 755, before his work day begins. That is not always an easy task when you live in Escanaba, Michigan, where it is not uncommon to have temperatures below zero on those January or February mornings.

Why does he do it?

“For me it’s a way to give back to an industry that has given me so much,” he says. “Live” is just one of the ways Mitch gives back. He also co-administers a Facebook page, Sales For Event Pros; helps critique and advise fellow DJs, many times free of charge; and has also done many speaking engagements Pro Bono.

You can add John Young to the list as well. As publisher of this periodical John has traveled from coast to coast attending any type of an expo or conference, in an effort to give the industry updated and relevant information. Couple that with days that start at 8 a.m. and don’t end sometimes until after 10 p.m. when he wraps up yet another episode for DJN-TV. Why take on such a burdensome endeavor? “It began in an effort to help DJs be better business people” says John.

I could add at least another two dozen men—and women—to the list who have given freely of their time and talents to help advance the industry to be recognized as a true, reputable career choice.

The Other View Not everyone feels that way, though.

Comments I have heard as I undertook this project were evident of that.

“I’ve been deejaying for eight years.

What are they going to tell me at a conference that I don’t already know?” was one response I received from a local DJ when asked why he had no interest in attending a conference.

“I don’t understand why DJs get worked up about so called ‘bottom feeders’ or the image of the industry,” was another I received through a Facebook post.

“I am not concerned about the ‘we.’ I am only concerned about the ‘me’ when it comes to getting paid,” was still another.

The “me” rather than “we” attitude is certainly present among our community, maybe now more so than ever before.

And a Word From the President Hugo Drax, the long-time president of the ADJA, has seen that attitude. The organization has long been considered the voice of the MDJ community. Hugo has seen the issues facing the community but is not entirely sold on the premises that it is caused by so much free content that is so available with today’s technology, but the absence of a written business plan that is degrading rates.

“Content doesn’t impact the pricing in the market; bad business impacts the price of the market,” he states.

“How many pictures do we see of DJ’s who have sloppy set ups? We see pictures of them sitting. We see pictures of them eating. We have these images that we’ve pro-generated ourselves.

“People only want to pay for something they perceive has value. In the absence of value everybody shops on price.”

And he adds, ““The industry is never going to move as long as the overwhelming majority do this as a hobby.”

My Final Thoughts Silly us, did we ever think we would be considered any more of a legitimate business than the person that sells Tupperware or Avon products? True there are more men and women now than ever before making a living as a mobile DJ, but even though that number has grown how many of those operate their business as a ‘real’ business?

How many have a store front or have their employees classified as employees, with taxes taken out of their checks and covered with liability insurance as opposed to be-

ing classified as a sub-contractor? How many have sought out the advice from the Small Business Development Center and followed their advice? How many have a business plan? What percentage invest in any type of further education, other than social media? Why would we expect the public to think any more of us when we do not hold ourselves to the same standards that we would expect? The way I see it I have found the enemy ……. and the enemy is us. Myself included.

Favorite Lines I’ll wrap this up with my personal favorite quotes I’ve heard while putting this series together: “I don’t think DJs should be concerning themselves with what everyone else is doing and focus on what they’re doing.

If they can move the needle within their own business that’s quite an accomplishment.”—Ron Ruth “In the end, and I don’t know if it will move the needle, but people have to be motivated to improve themselves.”— Hugo Drax “I think John Young has done amazing with what he’s done with Disc Jockey News and where that’s grown over the last two years. I’m just not convinced of any other entity right now being able to really be the voice that DJs need at this time. I think that technology has squeezed some people, forcing the talent to rise to the top and it’s forcing people to evolve.

And those that don’t want to evolve and stay where they are at are going to perish.”—Mitch Taylor “We’re in the midst of a changing industry, and how we consume information, is changing. Where that is going we just don’t know.”—John Young Until next month, ~ Michael ~ Michael J. Lenstra is a 20-plus-year veteran of the Mobile Disc Jockey Industry, a full-time entertainer, and owner of Alexxus Entertainment in Dubuque, IA. He can be reached at mikelenstra@discjockeynews.com

PAGE 12 • Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017

First The Heart, Then The Head

By Dave Ternier

I am obsessed with The Tim Ferriss Show. I love it.

The show has nothing to do with the DJ industry directly, but what it has added to my DJ business is truly immeasurable.

Today’s post is about one of those small things this podcast has done for me.

This is about the greatest audio gift the internet has ever given me — one specific interview between Tim Ferriss and a great storyteller.

Tim Ferris is the best selling author of four books (“The Four Hour Workweek,” “The Four Hour Body,” “The Four Hour Chef,” and “Tools of Titans”), a self-described human guinea pig, and of course, host of the top-rated podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show. The show’s format is really simple: one interview, with one person, for anywhere between one and four hours. And because of Tim’s interviewing style, the guests of his show are amazing.

The guests of the Tim Ferriss show span a wide range of professions and have almost nothing in common except for one thing: they are at the absolute top of their game. Their expertise might be acting, comedy, computer hacking, trading on Wall Street, writing books, psychology, coaching pro sport athletes, running billion dollar companies, etc. While Tim’s guests themselves are absolutely fascinating, my favourite part of what comes out of these interviews is that Tim seldom lets the conversation move past what he doesn’t fully understand. He is always digging, yearning to discover more, always asking why. This is a primary ingredient to The Tim Ferriss Show.

As is normally the case when I begin listening to an episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, I seldom know much about who his guest will be. But I listen anyway because guest after guest after guest has surprised me with unexpected nuggets and takeaways that I would never have been exposed to otherwise. My discovery of Cal Fussman proves that point.

Cal Fussman is a New York Times bestselling author, writer-at-large for Esquire Magazine and keynote speaker. He is frequently found presenting on the topic of asking better questions to get better answers. What is maybe most fascinating about Cal is that he honed his skills of asking the right questions while travelling the world for 10 whole years. He was literally passed around the world while being invited into the houses of complete strangers for food and lodging because of the conversations he had with people and the questions he would ask them. (You’ll understand what this means when you listen to the story of Cal asking about goulash on a train in Hungary.)

Tim’s interview with Cal is nearly 3 1/2 hours long, and I’ve listened to it in parts many times and completely from start to finish three times. It is nothing short of remarkable. Once he get’s started, Cal’s storytelling is hard to escape from (which, in itself, is a remarkable lesson to learn from). The experiences he has lived through and what he has learned from those experiences create a world view frame of reference that is truly like no other. This is what makes listening to Cal truly worth it.

Have you ever found yourself pondering any of these questions?

• How it is that some DJs appear to sell so effortlessly?

• Why do some DJs experience such remarkable word-of-mouth?

• Why do some wedding couples book more “expensive” DJs when they wouldn’t book you?

• How do some DJs connect with their audience in ways that leave you scratching your head?

This interview will help explain all of that.

Here is the tip of the iceberg: “Aim for the heart, not the head.”

You must listen to the entire interview for full context. Do not do yourself the disservice of reading that line here and thanking me for it, thinking you “know.”

Much like Tim during a podcast interview, Cal is a master when it comes to asking the right questions and spending the appropriate time getting to people’s heart first. As Cal is often known for saying “First go for the heart, then the head.

Get those and you have a pathway to the person’s soul.”

In addition to spending 10 years being passed around the world, Cal has also conducted probing interviews with many of history’s great icons such as Muhammad Ali, Dr. Dre, Quincy Jones, Richard Branson, and many others. He shares many insights from those interviews in this podcast episode that have left me with next level skills for my DJ business.

You might have to dig a little for them, but they are there.

Cal’s approach to every human interaction he takes part in is very inspiring and has taught me a lot about how I approach situations in my work as a mobile

DJ whether in sales, planning or performance.

Listen to this episode by finding it through whatever app you use to consume podcasts or stream it from Tim’s website http://tim.blog/2016/03/11/the-interviewmaster-cal-fussman-and-the-power-of-listening/ at that link. Either way, enjoy what I have come to consider, the greatest audio gift the internet has ever given me.

You now know my favourite quote from this conversation but there are MANY others. I would love for you to share your favourite quote(s) with me by email. Please get in touch at DaveTernier@discjockeynews.com. ~ Dave Based in Manitoba, Canada, Dave Ternier is a single operator DJ/MCfor his company, Special Request Weddings and he is the founding author of aDJthought. com. Dave Ternier can be reached at DaveTernier@discjockeynews.com.

Are You Flexible? Seriously, Can Will You Bend?

By Brian Buonassissi

If you were to ask 100 DJs if they are flexible, I would guess that over 75 percent would say they are. But is that really accurate? Being a luxury destination event DJ, I work with many planners, venues and vendors for the first time.

Generally, they’ve been in the business at least 5-10 years so they aren’t rookies. They’ve seen a lot of events over that time and like most DJs, they get comfortable with what they know and have seen work. When DJs are presented with timelines or placement in a venue that isn’t the way they’ve done it in the past, the first thing a lot of them tend to do is call or e-mail the offending party to inform them that their way is wrong and explain why our way is better. If they don’t change it, the conclusion drawn is that they are inflexible. However, if we were to look at it through their eyes, they may be thinking that we’re the ones not willing to bend.

If you find yourself in this situation, here’s a few things to keep in mind.

COLLABORATION IS IN One of the buzz words right now in the event world is “collaboration.”

Event professionals and clients love to throw that word around and I believe they want to see that play out with events. One of the quickest ways to kill your business is to develop a reputation as being divisive. If you pit vendors

against one another or, worse, clients vs. vendors, you’re not only going to add unnecessary anxiety and stress to the event but gossip (warranted or not) is bound to begin and your event bookings could dry up faster than Usain Bolt can sprint 100 meters. Working with all parties to hear the pros and cons and finding common ground is rewarding and in many cases, will have everyone looking forward to the upcoming event rather than dreading it.

YOU MIGHT LEARN SOMETHING Don’t we all want to evolve and get better? Why not test our conventional methods of the way we’ve always done it? I’ve been pleasantly surprised many times when an idea that I didn’t think of or initially resisted worked out better than the one I had. It makes you a much more well-rounded entertainer to boot.

HERO STATUS Assuming that your idea isn’t accepted, by taking the high road, you come across as the hero either way. If their idea works, you’ll be the one seen as flexible and the event doesn’t suffer.

If their idea doesn’t work, everyone will know that you were right and the next time a similar issue arises, they’ll be more willing to listen and you’ll have that experience to draw from.

GET CREATIVE When you’re confronted with an issue or a problem, it will force you to be creative. Call me crazy, but I love a good puzzle. It’s not the puzzle itself that I necessarily enjoy, it’s the opportunity to figure it out and get the win.

Similarly, when I’m placed in an event situation that poses a challenge, I don’t want to be defeated. I will keep grinding

Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017 • Page 13

until I figure it out and make the event the best I possibly can within the boundaries I’ve been given. By being creative, you can accomplish both points above in one fell swoop.

IT WILL LEAD TO REFERRALS At the end of the day, flexibility leads to referrals. There’s no “maybe.” It will happen. Clients, venues and vendors alike want to work with people that are willing to go with the flow. If you’re able to roll with things that are thrown at you unexpectedly, last minute or out of your comfort zone, you will quickly earn the respect and reputation as a team player.

I’d much rather work with someone who is in it to make the overall event great than an individual who has great talent Dan Carpenter Continued From page 10 list of DJs (about 8-10) that if something drastic were to happen, I could reach out to them to hopefully get one of them to cover. I even have gone so far as to have that list available for my wife in the event I couldn’t make phone calls. But is that good enough? Some of you are thinking, “Heck, that’s better than I have.”

To me, after what I just went through with my mom, it’s not. Especially if out of my list, none of them are available.

Think about your most popular date of the year. Chances are everyone on that list is booked. Then what? I have to get something better. My current idea is to push forward with my quest to bring an assistant on. Someone that will be at my every gig helping, DJing and learning to MC so they can fill in if the unimaginable ever does strike.

If you’re a multi-op, I know some companies that have a really cool rota-

but can’t play nice with others.

In this day and age where DJs are looking to gain market share, you want to do everything you can to easily generate business. Don’t be an obstructionist. If you develop a reputation as a flexible individual, you’ll be in demand for years to come.

Based out of NYC, DJ Brian Buonassissi is a successful internationally traveling DJ/MC specializing in luxury destination private events. He runs a multi-city mobile DJ/event business with offices in Southern California, Destin, FL and New York City.

You can connect with him at brianbuonassissi@discjockeynews.com.

tion in place. They have a DJ “on call.”

His or her only job that night is to be ready should something drastic happen.

They get paid to never even step foot in the venue. Sure the owner is always selling one less event than they could, but that multi-op has insured themselves the best backup they can — someone guaranteed ready to go at a moment’s notice. If they’ve ever actually had to use this, it’s worth every weekend they’ve “lost” the extra income.

Do you really have a plan in place?

Have you ever had to call on it (maybe even tested it just to make sure that it’s reliable)? We can’t plan emergencies, but we have to plan for them. We have backup gear should we have equipment failure, but what’s the backup for you?

Dan Carpenter can be reached at dancarpenter@discjockeynews.com.

PAGE 14 • Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017

Top 50 Charts for MAY 2017

http://www.discjockeynews.com • http://www.djntv.com Pop 1 BRUNO MARS That’s What I Like 2 ED SHEERAN Shape Of You 3 THE CHAINSMOKERS Paris 4 KYGO X SELENA GOMEZ It Ain’t Me 5 THE CHAINSMOKERS & COLDPLAY Something Just Like This 6 CLEAN BANDIT & ANNE-MARIE Rockabye f/Sean Paul 7 ZEDD & ALESSIA CARA Stay 8 MAROON 5 Cold f/Future 9 THE WEEKND I Feel It Coming f/Daft Punk 10 ZAYN/TAYLOR SWIFT I Don’t Wanna Live Forever 11 JULIA MICHAELS Issues 12 JAMES ARTHUR Say You Won’t Let Go 13 CALVIN HARRIS Slide f/Frank Ocean/Migos 14 KATY PERRY Chained To The Rhythm 15 HARRY STYLES Sign Of The Times 16 LINKIN PARK Heavy f/Kiiara 17 HALSEY Now Or Never 18 STARLEY Call On Me 19 KYLE iSpy f/Lil Yachty 20 MACHINE GUN KELLY At My Best f/Hailee Steinfeld 21 ED SHEERAN Castle On The Hill 22 ZAYN Still Got Time f/PARTYNEXTDOOR 23 DRAKE Passionfruit 24 FLO RIDA & 99 PERCENT Cake 25 MARTIN GARRIX & DUA LIPA Scared To Be Lonely 26 MARIAN HILL Down 27 JASON DERULO Swalla f/N Minaj/Ty Dolla $ign 28 BIG SEAN Bounce Back 29 TRAIN Play That Song 30 AXWELL & INGROSSO I Love You f/Kid Ink 31 AJR Weak 32 G-EAZY & KEHLANI Good Life 33 IMAGINE DRAGONS Believer 34 DNCE Kissing Strangers f/N. Minaj 35 LADY GAGA The Cure 36 RAG’N’BONE MAN Human 37 CHEAT CODES No Promises f/Demi Lovato 38 CHANCE THE RAPPER All Night f/Knox Fortune 39 LORDE Green Light 40 JAX JONES You Don’t Know Me f/Raye 41 VAMPS & MATOMA All Night 42 PLAY-N-SKILLZ Si Una Vez (If I Once) 43 SHAWN MENDES There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me...

44 DUA LIPA Be The One 45 LUIS FONSI & DADDY YANKEE Despacito f/Justin Bieber 46 AARON CARTER Sooner Or Later 47 STARGATE Waterfall f/P!nk & Sia 48 SAM HUNT Body Like A Back Road 49 POST MALONE Congratulations f/Quavo 50 HEY VIOLET Break My Heart Urban 1 DJ KHALED Shining f/Beyonce & Jay Z 2 KHALID Location 3 GUCCI MANE Both f/Drake 4 MIGOS T-Shirt 5 FUTURE Mask Off 6 MIGOS Bad And Boujee f/Lil Uzi Vert 7 TRAVIS SCOTT Goosebumps 8 KENDRICK LAMAR HUMBLE. 9 FAT JOE & REMY MA Money Showers 10 DRAKE Fake Love 11 MADEINTYO Skateboard P 12 J. COLE Deja Vu 13 RAE SREMMURD Swang 14 2 CHAINZ X GUCCI MANE X QUAVO Good Drank 15 6LACK Prblms 16 CHRIS BROWN Party f/Usher & Gucci Mane

17 KYLE iSpy f/Lil Yachty 18 LECRAE Blessings f/Ty Dolla $ign 19 YFN LUCCI Everyday We Lit f/PnB Rock 20 BRUNO MARS That’s What I Like 21 BIG SEAN Moves 22 CHILDISH GAMBINO Redbone 23 TEE GRIZZLEY First Day Out 24 NICKI MINAJ No Frauds w/Drake & Lil Wayne 25 DRAKE Free Smoke 26 JEREMIH I Think Of You f/Chris Brown 27 KODAK BLACK Tunnel Vision 28 TREY SONGZ Nobody Else But You 29 WALE Fashion Week f/G-Eazy 30 B.O.B 4 Lit f/T.I. & Ty Dolla $ign 31 MONEYBAGG YO & YO GOTTI Doin 2 Much 32 CHRIS BROWN Privacy 33 KEHLANI Distraction 34 RICK ROSS I Think She Like Me f/Ty Dolla 35 DJ E-FEEZY Got Me Crazy (No Better Love) 36 CHANCE THE RAPPER All Night f/Knox Fortune 37 FUTURE Selfish f/Rihanna 38 SAHBABII Pull Up Wit Ah Stick 39 AYO & TEO Rolex 40 RUSS Losin Control 41 YO GOTTI They Like f/YFN Lucci 42 RAY JR. NozeBleedz f/Ripp Flamez 43 PNB ROCK Selfish 44 JACQUEES B.E.D. 45 MARY J. BLIGE Love Yourself f/Kanye West 46 MIKE WILL MADE-IT Gucci On My f/21 Savage/YG...

47 KAYLA BRIANNA Luck f/Dreezy 48 FRENCH MONTANA Unforgettable f/Swae Lee 49 OMARION Distance 50 DRAKE Passionfruit Adult Contempory 1 ED SHEERAN Shape Of You 2 BRUNO MARS That’s What I Like 3 SHAWN MENDES Mercy 4 JAMES ARTHUR Say You Won’t Let Go 5 LADY GAGA Million Reasons 6 ALESSIA CARA Scars To Your Beautiful 7 THE CHAINSMOKERS & COLDPLAY Something Just Like This 8 RIHANNA Love On The Brain 9 MAROON 5 Cold f/Future 10 ADELE Water Under The Bridge 11 KATY PERRY Chained To The Rhythm 12 ZAYN/TAYLOR SWIFT I Don’t Wanna Live Forever 13 CLEAN BANDIT & ANNE-MARIE Rockabye f/Sean Paul 14 THE WEEKND I Feel It Coming f/Daft Punk 15 ED SHEERAN Castle On The Hill 16 LINKIN PARK Heavy f/Kiiara 17 OCEAN PARK STANDOFF Good News 18 JULIA MICHAELS Issues 19 IMAGINE DRAGONS Believer 20 HARRY STYLES Sign Of The Times 21 THE CHAINSMOKERS Paris 22 KYGO X SELENA GOMEZ It Ain’t Me 23 STARGATE Waterfall f/P!nk & Sia 24 THE BAND PERRY Stay In The Dark 25 HEAD AND THE HEART All We Ever Knew 26 JUDAH & THE LION Take It All Back 27 ZEDD & ALESSIA CARA Stay 28 MARIAN HILL Down 29 SAM HUNT Body Like A Back Road 30 RAG’N’BONE MAN Human 31 LORDE Green Light 32 GAVIN DEGRAW Making Love With The Radio On 33 JULIA BRENNAN Inner Demons

34 STARLEY Call On Me 35 DNCE Kissing Strangers f/N. Minaj 36 THE REVIVALISTS Wish I Knew You 37 THE 1975 Somebody Else 38 JP COOPER September Song 39 GREEN DAY Still Breathing 40 THE RUA Fire And Lies 41 CALVIN HARRIS Slide f/Frank Ocean/Migos 42 LADY GAGA The Cure 43 MUNA I Know A Place 44 BLUE OCTOBER I Want It 45 HALSEY Now Or Never 46 FOR KING & COUNTRY Priceless 47 MGK X CAMILA CABELLO Bad Things 48 JOHN MAYER Still Feel Like Your Man 49 KEITH URBAN The Fighter f/Carrie Underwood 50 LEANN RIMES Long Live Love Country 1 SAM HUNT Body Like A Back Road 2 JOSH TURNER Hometown Girl 3 LUKE COMBS Hurricane 4 KELSEA BALLERINI Yeah Boy 5 JASON ALDEAN Any Ol’ Barstool 6 DIERKS BENTLEY Black 7 BRETT YOUNG In Case You Didn’t Know 8 BRANTLEY GILBERT The Weekend 9 KENNY CHESNEY Bar At The End Of The World 10 DAN + SHAY How Not To 11 DARIUS RUCKER If I Told You 12 RASCAL FLATTS Yours If You Want It 13 KEITH URBAN The Fighter f/Carrie Underwood 14 LADY ANTEBELLUM You Look Good 15 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE God, Your Mama, And Me 16 DYLAN SCOTT My Girl 17 LAUREN ALAINA Road Less Traveled 18 BLAKE SHELTON Every Time I Hear That Song 19 COLE SWINDELL Flatliner 20 TRENT HARMON There’s A Girl 21 ZAC BROWN BAND My Old Man 22 JUSTIN MOORE Somebody Else Will 23 THOMAS RHETT Craving You f/Maren Morris 24 MIDLAND Drinkin’ Problem 25 TIM MCGRAW & FAITH HILL Speak To A Girl 26 CHRIS LANE For Her 27 BROTHERS OSBORNE It Ain’t My Fault 28 RAELYNN Love Triangle 29 OLD DOMINION No Such Thing As A Broken...

30 BILLY CURRINGTON Do I Make You Wanna 31 BRETT ELDREDGE Somethin’ I’m Good At 32 LOCASH Ring On Every Finger 33 KIP MOORE More Girls Like You 34 EASTON CORBIN A Girl Like You 35 DRAKE WHITE Makin’ Me Look Good Again 36 MAREN MORRIS I Could Use A Love Song 37 MORGAN WALLEN The Way I Talk 38 SETH ENNIS Woke Up In Nashville 39 DUSTIN LYNCH Small Town Boy 40 GARTH BROOKS Ask Me How I Know 41 BIG & RICH California 42 WILLIAM MICHAEL MORGAN Missing 43 MIRANDA LAMBERT Tin Man 44 CARLY PEARCE Every Little Thing 45 AARON WATSON Outta Style 46 ADAM CRAIG Just A Phase 47 ERIC CHURCH Round Here Buzz 48 KANE BROWN What Ifs f/Lauren Alaina 49 REBA MCENTIRE Back To God 50 LITTLE BIG TOWN Happy People

Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017 • Page 15

Recurrent Hits For The Dance Floor for MAY 2017 http://www.discjockeynews.com • http://www.djntv.com

Pop Recurrents 1 DAYA Sit Still, Look Pretty 2 X AMBASSADORS Unsteady 3 WALK THE MOON Shut Up And Dance 4 JUSTIN BIEBER What Do You Mean?

5 WIZ KHALIFA See You Again f/Charlie Puth 6 ZAYN Pillowtalk 7 KIIARA Gold 8 ADELE Send My Love (To Your New...

9 DRAKE Fake Love 10 GNASH F/OLIVIA O’BRIEN I Hate U, I Love U 11 ARIANA GRANDE Dangerous Woman 12 JASON DERULO Want To Want Me 13 THE WEEKND Can’t Feel My Face 14 MAJOR LAZER Lean On f/M 15 THE WEEKND The Hills 16 JUSTIN BIEBER Love Yourself 17 DNCE Cake By The Ocean 18 SHAWN MENDES Stitches 19 FLO RIDA My House 20 JON BELLION All Time Low 21 ARIANA GRANDE Into You 22 G-EAZY Me Myself & I f/Bebe Rexha 23 THE CHAINSMOKERS Don’t Let Me Down f/Daya 24 TWENTY ONE PILOTS Stressed Out 25 LADY GAGA Million Reasons 26 MIKE POSNER I Took A Pill In Ibiza 27 FIFTH HARMONY Work From Home f/Ty Dolla $ign 28 SIA The Greatest f/Kendrick Lamar 29 JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE Can’t Stop The Feeling 30 JUSTIN BIEBER Sorry 31 MAJOR LAZER Cold Water f/Justin Bieber, M 32 SHAWN MENDES Treat You Better 33 NIALL HORAN This Town 34 CALVIN HARRIS This Is What You... f/Rihanna 35 TWENTY ONE PILOTS Ride 36 ADELE Water Under The Bridge 37 DRAKE One Dance f/Wizkid & Kyla 38 HAILEE STEINFELD & GREY Starving f/Zedd 39 TWENTY ONE PILOTS Heathens 40 SIA Cheap Thrills 41 BRUNO MARS 24K Magic 42 THE WEEKND Starboy f/Daft Punk 43 DJ SNAKE Let Me Love You f/J. Bieber 44 MAROON 5 Don’t Wanna Know f/K. Lamar 45 THE CHAINSMOKERS Closer f/Halsey 46 ARIANA GRANDE Side To Side f/Nicki Minaj 47 SHAWN MENDES Mercy 48 MGK X CAMILA CABELLO Bad Things 49 ALESSIA CARA Scars To Your Beautiful 50 RIHANNA Love On The Brain

Urban Recurrents 1 RO JAMES Permission 2 MEEK MILL All Eyes On You f/Minaj/Brown 3 BEYONCE All Night 4 BEYONCE Sorry 5 JHENE AIKO Maniac 6 FETTY WAP 679 f/Remy Boyz...

7 MEEK MILL Litty f/Tory Lanez 8 BRYSON TILLER Sorry Not Sorry 9 FUTURE Low Life f/The Weeknd 10 DJ KHALED Do You Mind f/Minaj/Brown...

11 RICH HOMIE QUAN Flex (Ooh Ooh Ooh) 12 PARTYNEXTDOOR Not Nice 13 BEYONCE Hold Up 14 KENT JONES Don’t Mind 15 J. COLE No Role Modelz 16 DAE DAE Wat U Mean 17 FUTURE Wicked 18 JEEZY All There f/Bankroll Fresh 19 DRAKE One Dance f/Wizkid & Kyla 20 21 SAVAGE & METRO BOOMIN X f/Future 21 FAT JOE & REMY MA All The Way Up 22 TORY LANEZ Say It 23 BRUNO MARS 24K Magic 24 DESIIGNER Panda 25 BRYSON TILLER Don’t 26 SWIFT Pull Up 27 RIHANNA Work f/Drake 28 DAE DAE Spend It 29 YO GOTTI Down In The DM 30 DJ KHALED For Free f/Drake 31 YOUNG M.A Ooouuu 32 AMINE Caroline 33 FUTURE Used To This f/Drake 34 JEREMIH Oui 35 D.R.A.M. Broccoli f/Lil Yachty 36 O.T. GENASIS Cut It f/Young Dolph 37 YFN LUCCI Key To The Streets 38 KANYE WEST Father Stretch My Hands 39 USHER No Limit f/Young Thug 40 PARTYNEXTDOOR Come And See Me f/Drake 41 RIHANNA Love On The Brain 42 BRYSON TILLER Exchange 43 RIHANNA Sex With Me 44 LUKE NASTY OTW 45 DRAKE Controlla 46 RIHANNA Needed Me 47 TORY LANEZ LUV 48 RAE SREMMURD Black Beatles f/Gucci Mane 49 BIG SEAN Bounce Back 50 CHANCE THE RAPPER No Problem f/Lil Wayne...

Adult Contempory Recurrents 1 TAYLOR SWIFT Bad Blood 2 WIZ KHALIFA See You Again f/Charlie Puth 3 MAJOR LAZER Cold Water f/Justin Bieber, M 4 RACHEL PLATTEN Stand By You 5 THE WEEKND Can’t Feel My Face 6 MIKE POSNER I Took A Pill In Ibiza 7 ED SHEERAN Photograph 8 JUSTIN BIEBER What Do You Mean?

9 THE WEEKND Starboy f/Daft Punk 10 TAYLOR SWIFT Style 11 DAYA Sit Still, Look Pretty 12 LUKAS GRAHAM 7 Years 13 MEGHAN TRAINOR Like I’m Gonna Lose You 14 JUSTIN BIEBER Sorry 15 TAYLOR SWIFT Wildest Dreams 16 X AMBASSADORS Renegades 17 ADELE Hello 18 MAROON 5 Sugar 19 ELLIE GOULDING Love Me Like You Do 20 FLO RIDA My House 21 CHARLIE PUTH One Call Away 22 SHAWN MENDES Stitches 23 MARK RONSON Uptown Funk f/Bruno Mars 24 HAILEE STEINFELD & GREY Starving f/Zedd 25 RACHEL PLATTEN Fight Song 26 THE CHAINSMOKERS Don’t Let Me Down f/Daya 27 CALVIN HARRIS This Is What You... f/Rihanna 28 JASON DERULO Want To Want Me 29 ELLE KING Ex’s And Oh’s 30 FITZ & THE TANTRUMS HandClap 31 X AMBASSADORS Unsteady 32 SIA The Greatest f/Kendrick Lamar 33 DNCE Cake By The Ocean 34 JUSTIN BIEBER Love Yourself 35 TWENTY ONE PILOTS Ride 36 WALK THE MOON Shut Up And Dance 37 JAMES BAY Let It Go 38 TWENTY ONE PILOTS Stressed Out 39 BRUNO MARS 24K Magic 40 TWENTY ONE PILOTS Heathens 41 SHAWN MENDES Treat You Better 42 TRAIN Play That Song 43 ADELE Send My Love (To Your New...

44 SIA Cheap Thrills 45 PINK Just Like Fire 46 DJ SNAKE Let Me Love You f/J. Bieber 47 NIALL HORAN This Town 48 THE CHAINSMOKERS Closer f/Halsey 49 JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE Can’t Stop The Feeling 50 MAROON 5 Don’t Wanna Know f/K. Lamar

Values Determine Who We Are

By Harvey Mackay

In the famous French story, “The Little Prince,” a fox becomes the best friend of the young royal on a fictitious planet.

When the fox must depart from the prince forever, he offers to tell him the world’s most wonderful secret if the prince meets certain conditions. The little prince agrees, does what is expected and then asks to be told the greatest secret.

“Only that which is invisible is essential,” the fox replies.

The most valuable things in life cannot be seen with the naked eye: love, friendship, hope, integrity, trust, compassion and values.

You can’t see values, touch them, taste them or smell them. Yet they are critical, intangible essentials that bring continuity and meaning to life.

And they are every bit as important for organizations as they are for individuals.

“It’s not hard to make decisions, once you know what your values are,” said Roy E. Disney. Roy Disney was the partner and co-founder, along with his younger brother

Walt Disney, of Walt Disney Productions, since renamed The Walt Disney Company.

The Walt Disney Company is the epitome of a values-driven organization. While it may be overshadowed by its retail prowess, its primary product is happiness. Their “Disney courtesy” concept is based on four key values: safety, courtesy, show and efficiency. Every one of their performance standards is based on these encompassing beliefs.

Customer service is a lifestyle for all Disney employees. Employees are expected to think, walk, talk and breathe safety, courtesy, show and efficiency. This lifestyle creates happiness for their guests.

Defining your values is not just an academic exercise. “Clarifying your values is the essential first step toward a richer, fuller, more productive life,” said Carl Rogers, an American psychologist and a founder of the humanistic approach (or client-centered approach) to psychology. Rogers is widely considered to be one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research and was widely honored for his pioneering research.

If you want to clarify your own values, ask yourself these questions: •What do I believe in?

•In what guiding principles can I become constructively obsessed?

•What governs my life?

•What do I stand for?

•What puts meaning in my life?

•What qualities are important for my life to be complete?

Hey – I never said this was easy! This is not a quick and dirty exercise. Values are not a spur of the moment action. They are non-negotiable principles that guide our everyday lives. Your personal convictions, not those of others, determine how you live.

You cannot separate personal value from personally held values.

Nor can you separate corporate value from corporate values. Customers and competitors should be able to see your values in action every day. Honesty, fairness, respect and trustworthiness are among values that should be front and center with every transaction.

The often-quoted Chinese philosopher Confucius, who lived in the fifth century B.C., wrote: “The rule of life is to be found within yourself. Ask yourself constantly, ‘What is the right thing to do?’ Beware of doing that which you are likely, sooner or later, to repent of having done.”

When you are in a position of having to repent, do it quickly and sincerely. That is another value that is essential to a good life: being able to admit mistakes and correcting them.

I will never forget when my good friend Lou Holtz was coaching Notre Dame in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl against West Virginia.

His players learned a valuable lesson about their coach’s values that day, which result-

ed in a national championship.

Notre Dame was penalized on two consecutive plays for “taunting” the opposition. Despite knowing that his actions would bring another penalty, Holtz ran out on the field and asked the referee which of his players were doing the taunting, since this was before referees identified players by numbers. Then Holtz – with a national TV audience watching – grabbed the player and told him what was expected of him.

Holtz has always believed strongly in his players, but he demands that they follow his three simple values: 1.Do what is right. Be on time, polite, honest, remain free from drugs, and if you have any questions, get out your Bible.

2.Do everything to the best of your ability in the time allotted. Mediocrity is unacceptable when you are capable of doing better.

3.Show people you care.

Mackay’s Moral: Decide what you will stand for or you won’t have a leg to stand on.

Reprinted with permission from nationally syndicated columnist Harvey Mackay, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller “Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive,” “We Got Fired!...And It’s the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us,” and “The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World.

PAGE 16 • Disc Jockey News • MAY 2017

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