Monday, February 22, 2010
Looking towards the Future
Well, I have a bit of time today to get back to my blog as I am illin' with a super sore throat/cough. Joy. Throat soother teas and ricola cough drops are getting old! Anyhow, back to the master plan.
I believe that I left off talking about future plans and the like. So, my career plan could go many different directions from here depending on the job market and the mobile DJ market. Ideally I would work the weekdays doing Network Admin work and spend the weekends spinning at events. Dream situations rarely happen, but that is the ideal situation.
Plan B is to continue to build my mobile DJ business, continue to look for a reasonable Network Admin job and work odd jobs to fill time/budget gaps.
Plan C is to keep working the DJ services, work odd jobs and to create another business creating and fixing home and small business networks with a emphasis on setting up high end media networks.
That's the basic road map to my future that I can foresee. Leaving only one question, "Oh future, what surprises do you hold for me?"
I believe that I left off talking about future plans and the like. So, my career plan could go many different directions from here depending on the job market and the mobile DJ market. Ideally I would work the weekdays doing Network Admin work and spend the weekends spinning at events. Dream situations rarely happen, but that is the ideal situation.
Plan B is to continue to build my mobile DJ business, continue to look for a reasonable Network Admin job and work odd jobs to fill time/budget gaps.
Plan C is to keep working the DJ services, work odd jobs and to create another business creating and fixing home and small business networks with a emphasis on setting up high end media networks.
That's the basic road map to my future that I can foresee. Leaving only one question, "Oh future, what surprises do you hold for me?"
Monday, February 15, 2010
A brief ramble of how I got started DJ'ing
Hi, my name is Abraham. I started a mobile DJ business based out of Olympia, WA in 2009. I will be using this blog as a musical journal of sorts to write about music that I am learning about and perhaps occasionally rant about the difficulties in operating a business in Washington state.
To start I would like to give a brief personal history to give you a sense of who I am and why I DJ. Originally a native of California, I moved up to Portland, OR to endure the wonder years of high school education. After high school, I was lucky enough to land a union job with what was then US West Communications, now Qwest Communications. I moved up to Olympia in 1997 and was employed as a Broadband/DSL Network Technician for Qwest till the winter of 2008.
As a young adult, I was repeatedly told over and over again that careers are projected to last only 3-5 years in the future economy. I felt pretty safe working for a company that provided communications services. However, as technologies and consumer trends changed, so did my career prospects.
So, after my previous job being surplussed, I looked at the possibilities for future jobs and careers. I don't believe there will be much of a future for last mile delivery of data through coaxial or twisted copper, the telecommunications field will almost certainly be in the hands of a few technicians that specialize in fiber optics and radio transmissions. Mostly long haul stuff that would require a lot of travel. As a newly wed with aspirations to being a father, I don't want to chose a career that will tear me away from my family.
Anyhow, as I was caught up in the wave of unemployment and corporate layoffs that started in late 2008. My job prospects have been hampered by extreme competition for job openings and opportunistic employer offerings. I have seen job descriptions asking for multiple certifications, Cisco, MSN, etc., 3-5 years of experience and offering $10-12 an hour!!! Many of the certification programs cost anywhere from $3000 to $10,000 to go through their courses and test out. I find it hard to believe that any qualified individual who invested the time and money to obtain these certifications would sell themselves out to make nominal gains over minimum wage. So, regardless of earning a Associates degree in Networking Technologies, the prospects of a respectable Network Administrator job has all but gone up in smoke. I actually enjoy working on networking/computer issues, but do not intend to be mistreated from the start by a future employer.
So, I took stock of my life, skills and aspirations and decided to change my appreciation of music into the creative process of DJing. I have what some have called "an addiction" to music. A large part of my earnings have gone directly to Rainy Day Records and many other vendors of sweet, sweet sounds over the years. Using my collection of music from over the years and cashing out my retirement savings for equipment, I have been on a crash course on learning how to be a good DJ and entrepreneur over the past year and a half.
I should note that I have had friends request mixed compilations for their wedding and the occasional party, but I had never stepped up to professional mixing before this endeavor. Being the fun loving, dancing fool that I am, I felt pretty comfortable that I would be able to master the art of mixing musics together that gets people up and dancing. Like most things worth while, it has been more difficult than I initially thought. However, with practice, organization and some more practice things have been coming along.
Always the pragmatist, I decided to pursue the wedding and events market while honing my skills on the wheels of steel. From what books I have read, the wedding and events DJ is a lowly position in the world of DJing. So, for me it makes sense to start at the bottom of the creative barrel and start my climb up. There are "ladders" in many occupations, playing music for people is no different.
Beyond many of the song selections for weddings being rather limited, I do not fully understand the negative image of the wedding DJ. You get to be part of a couple's biggest celebration of love and family. Where else could one be surrounded by so much love and positivity? So there's the occasional drunk harassing you to play an inappropriate song, but as a DJ you are approached by inebriated people at most gigs. Regardless, the vast majority of the time you get to witness multiple generations of families gather together to display their collective quirkiness that defines one family from another. It's like a micro-sociological goldmine! It's like people watching at the mall, but with people emotionally charged up and dancing. Weddings are awesome!
While being a scratch DJ is fun, to craft a following of people that want to hear your reinterpretations of music that you find interesting takes a long time to build. Meanwhile, I got bills to pay. My goal is not to become famous, I simply would like to make a living playing great music for people to enjoy listening to.
Alright, I am checking out for tonight. I will post tomorrow about the process of getting my business off the ground over the past year and my strategies for the future.
Then I will start writing about what it's really all about, the Music!
To start I would like to give a brief personal history to give you a sense of who I am and why I DJ. Originally a native of California, I moved up to Portland, OR to endure the wonder years of high school education. After high school, I was lucky enough to land a union job with what was then US West Communications, now Qwest Communications. I moved up to Olympia in 1997 and was employed as a Broadband/DSL Network Technician for Qwest till the winter of 2008.
As a young adult, I was repeatedly told over and over again that careers are projected to last only 3-5 years in the future economy. I felt pretty safe working for a company that provided communications services. However, as technologies and consumer trends changed, so did my career prospects.
So, after my previous job being surplussed, I looked at the possibilities for future jobs and careers. I don't believe there will be much of a future for last mile delivery of data through coaxial or twisted copper, the telecommunications field will almost certainly be in the hands of a few technicians that specialize in fiber optics and radio transmissions. Mostly long haul stuff that would require a lot of travel. As a newly wed with aspirations to being a father, I don't want to chose a career that will tear me away from my family.
Anyhow, as I was caught up in the wave of unemployment and corporate layoffs that started in late 2008. My job prospects have been hampered by extreme competition for job openings and opportunistic employer offerings. I have seen job descriptions asking for multiple certifications, Cisco, MSN, etc., 3-5 years of experience and offering $10-12 an hour!!! Many of the certification programs cost anywhere from $3000 to $10,000 to go through their courses and test out. I find it hard to believe that any qualified individual who invested the time and money to obtain these certifications would sell themselves out to make nominal gains over minimum wage. So, regardless of earning a Associates degree in Networking Technologies, the prospects of a respectable Network Administrator job has all but gone up in smoke. I actually enjoy working on networking/computer issues, but do not intend to be mistreated from the start by a future employer.
So, I took stock of my life, skills and aspirations and decided to change my appreciation of music into the creative process of DJing. I have what some have called "an addiction" to music. A large part of my earnings have gone directly to Rainy Day Records and many other vendors of sweet, sweet sounds over the years. Using my collection of music from over the years and cashing out my retirement savings for equipment, I have been on a crash course on learning how to be a good DJ and entrepreneur over the past year and a half.
I should note that I have had friends request mixed compilations for their wedding and the occasional party, but I had never stepped up to professional mixing before this endeavor. Being the fun loving, dancing fool that I am, I felt pretty comfortable that I would be able to master the art of mixing musics together that gets people up and dancing. Like most things worth while, it has been more difficult than I initially thought. However, with practice, organization and some more practice things have been coming along.
Always the pragmatist, I decided to pursue the wedding and events market while honing my skills on the wheels of steel. From what books I have read, the wedding and events DJ is a lowly position in the world of DJing. So, for me it makes sense to start at the bottom of the creative barrel and start my climb up. There are "ladders" in many occupations, playing music for people is no different.
Beyond many of the song selections for weddings being rather limited, I do not fully understand the negative image of the wedding DJ. You get to be part of a couple's biggest celebration of love and family. Where else could one be surrounded by so much love and positivity? So there's the occasional drunk harassing you to play an inappropriate song, but as a DJ you are approached by inebriated people at most gigs. Regardless, the vast majority of the time you get to witness multiple generations of families gather together to display their collective quirkiness that defines one family from another. It's like a micro-sociological goldmine! It's like people watching at the mall, but with people emotionally charged up and dancing. Weddings are awesome!
While being a scratch DJ is fun, to craft a following of people that want to hear your reinterpretations of music that you find interesting takes a long time to build. Meanwhile, I got bills to pay. My goal is not to become famous, I simply would like to make a living playing great music for people to enjoy listening to.
Alright, I am checking out for tonight. I will post tomorrow about the process of getting my business off the ground over the past year and my strategies for the future.
Then I will start writing about what it's really all about, the Music!
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