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ARTICLE
By Jack Quenby.
Are you stuck in a comfort zone, pricing your services based on what you feel is acceptable or based on how much you think customers are willing to pay? It’s not uncommon for DJs to charge the same amount for years without putting their prices up. I’ve even heard of some using the same prices for more than a decade!

Over the last few years, the price of many commodities has increased at an alarming rate.

DJs definitely aren’t commodities but as high-level service providers we should be, at a minimum, keeping up with inflation.

The cost-of-living crisis peaked towards the end of 2022 with average price increases of over 11%, although I’m sure it feels like much more than that. Prices continue to rise and 2024 was no exception with average inflation reported to be around 3%.

So, the big question is, when did you last give yourself a pay rise?

Before I was a full-time DJ, I had a normal 9 to 5 job that I was lucky enough to pick up straight out of college. It was for a prestigious and charitable membership organisation in the gas industry with a long-standing history and healthy balance sheet.

It had all the hallmarks of dream employment; job security, good holiday allowance and even a pension. The first few years included multiple promotions and regular pay-rises. My income grew quickly, far outpacing inflation, and I was totally oblivious to the ‘cost of living’.

Everything seemed great until the financial crisis in 2008 where things started to turn. It actually took a couple more years before the ripples reached my benevolent employer, by which point I had become more aware of my outgoings. That year, not only had the decision been made to forgo the annual Christmas bonus, our once generous annual pay increase had been capped to match inflation (or what seemed like the lowest published figure they could find). Now, I’m not about to be ungrateful (at a time when unemployment was rising); this was still very welcome but something had changed and, with it, the way I viewed my employment. Despite my salary increasing, in real terms I wasn’t actually earning any more money. It felt like I had worked really hard for 12 months to find myself in the same position.

It seemed like my only option to make more money was to take matters into my own hands. That was when I decided to turn my DJ hobby into something more serious. The effort paid off fairly quickly as an average booking would equate to almost a week’s salary. Eventually when the next annual pay rise was announced I was fairly indifferent to what percentage the board were handing out that year.

I continued to focus on my DJ business as a vehicle to grow my personal income and within a few years I was in a position to wave goodbye to my employer for good. That’s when it got really interesting. Forget the paltry 2% or 3% increases my employer had been offering. Within 12 months I’d somehow managed to grow my personal income by 100%. Much to the, what felt like, delight of the tax man.

Whilst it might seem like times are getting tougher, having your own business puts you in a great position because you get to call the shots. There’s nothing worse than standing still, especially when everything around you is speeding ahead. Over the years, I’ve employed various techniques to ensure I continue to grow my DJ business and ultimately my income (as long as you don’t ask me about 2020).

Here I’ll share with you six easy steps you can take this year to give yourself the pay rise you deserve!

1. Increase prices
...
2. Offer higher value packages
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3. Reduce costs
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4. Take on extra gigs
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5. Reduce services
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6. Work fewer hours
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Bonus points
...


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