Communicate, be brave and be nice - growing a successful wedding DJ Business with Mike Readings

Let's get going with today's episode. Today I'm chatting with DJ Mike Reddings. He's a multi award winning wedding DJ and owner of Disco Factory UK and also award winning party entertainment company. I first met Mike at a party my kids had been invited to and therefore I can say firsthand that he's amazing at what he does. Mike's been a member of my Wedding Pro Members Lounge for the last few years and I'm really looking forward to digging into his business story with all of you.

Mike. Welcome to the podcast.

And I was just doing bits and bobs, a few like nightclubs and pubs and all that sort of stuff, more for like the garage scene. Then I ended up going for, working for Disney in America and on one of their cruise lines. That's really where I got the bug for it because they actually asked me to DJ a lot for the crew So I started doing that and then it was about Four years after I come back from America.

I married my wife and It was it was then really that That was when I went, I can make a career out of this because I felt like all the DJs that I was contacting for my own wedding were just not my style. The words I, and I tell this story to all my couples, the words I used, I just didn't find them relevant to me. I felt it was quite outdated. So that was the start of my journey, which is where I really then started thinking, how can I become a, an actual DJ for weddings?

But it was then I thought to myself, well, it's going to take years for that to happen. And for these couples to find me, trust me, I haven't really done this before. So that's where I took the experience of working for Disney and I thought, well, why don't I start doing some kids parties in the daytime? I can build up a bit of a reputation doing that, I can learn from this and then I can build up to becoming a wedding DJ in the evening and yeah, here I am.

I really found it hard to not get my, to get my message across sometimes. So yeah, that was, it was always in my mind, I need to, I need to come out of this employment, I need to become self employed.

And I think it's really important that we think about and talk about other jobs that we have, because I think that Everyone who's had a career before what they're doing now, or even if they're doing it alongside what they're doing now, there is so much that you learn from those experiences.

And I can imagine, and I don't know anything about what you did at Carphone Warehouse, but I can imagine there's been elements that you learn and did at Carphone Warehouse that have come in handy when running your own business. Tell us about that.

And actually it probably has molded me into the person I am today and why my business has become so successful. And it was only a few years ago that I actually contacted one of my old managers on Facebook. And I just wanted to thank him. I actually, I messaged him, asked how he was. And I just said, look, you know, I want to thank you because you took your time. to really teach me to progress to management and all that sort of stuff.

And I said, that is really still happening now within my own business. What I'm actually talking about, I'm always reflecting on what you taught me.

I want you to reframe that right now and think, okay, yeah, I don't want to be in this job, but actually what can I be learning from this employer day to day that's going to help me grow my business so that I can get my business to a point where I can go full time rather than hating your job every day. Start thinking what training opportunities are there here that they might pay for? What can I learn? What, who can I talk to within this business that I can learn what to do or what not to do?

in my business. So stop being frustrated about your job and realize you're going to learn some incredible things from it. Now, there's something else, Mike, that we have to touch on before we move forward, which is obviously Disney. You know, I'm a massive fan of Disney. I think their business is incredible. I love learning business from them because I think they do it so incredibly well. How on earth did you end up on this dream job on a Disney cruise ship?

Was it as magical as it seems, or was it just a big fairy tale?

Everywhere is dead silent and the guy who is walking us from the entrance to where we've been interviewed said that it's a, this particular day is a silent day. It was the freakiest thing. I will never ever forget that. It was like literally walking through thinking, there's hundreds of people here and not a single person's talking. It's really weird. So we went into this, bit like a cinema and we were told to go and watch some Disney films while we were waiting to be interviewed.

And I'll be honest with you, I'm not a big Disney fan, yeah? And I had half an hour of watching, I think it was like Finding Nemo or something. I was like, I think I'm just gonna walk out. And I thought, I'll give it ten more minutes.

And my name got called, they asked me some very simple questions, it was nothing complicated, I really thought it was going to be a really intense interview, it was, it was very basic, very basic questions, and then next thing I know, a week later I get a phone call to say they'd like to offer me the opportunity to fly to America and do the training, so That happened very quickly. I just met my, my wife as well. So I was, we just got together. So I was leaving her off.

I went, I'd like a six month contract turned up into America. Now this was probably, out of everything the best thing that ever happened to me. I was going somewhere. I knew no one and no one knew me. So I had to very quickly learn to ask questions, to get to know people. For me to say the right answers to people when they're asking questions about me and I really quickly worked out that's how relationships are built and The training was really really tough. It was very military very strict.

I remember our trainer She was like a some kind of court martial of some kind and she was on us all the time It's very much if we start at 9 you turn up at 10 to 9 if you're not there at 10 to 9 She closes door even though it starts at 9 It was very much like that. Day one of actually working for Disney after the training. Again, a little bit bizarre. Eight o'clock in the morning, we turn up for a meeting and we're given loads of sweets. We are being bombarded with sweets.

And then we're being told to eat these sweets. And then on the table was loads of fidget toys. Now, fidget toys is quite a new thing, but in America back then, and you're all given a fidget toy to play with during the meeting. So you're given sweets, you're given this fidget toy, and I'm thinking, what is going on here? And that's every single morning was the same. We were given sweets in the morning, fidget toys during the meeting. Very interesting.

The, the, the fidget toy I learned was a very psychological thing. And it was all about. you know, paying attention and all that sort of stuff. The sweets was just to wake you up, get you hyped up. But then you, I'd always find everyone went on this low about 11 o'clock. So everyone was on a sugar high and then it went slowly down. It was great. Disney was absolutely great. I absolutely loved it. I come back.

I was thinking about going back, but I met my wife beforehand and I come back and I was like, I can't leave you again. So, I stepped away from Disney and that's when I took on the Carphone role.

Like you had to be able to handle it.

And I can see where you've taken what you've learned from that and built on it yourself and put it into the business you have today. And I love that you had the balls quite, quite frankly. So just go on that website and apply for that job where most people would have thought it would never happen. So I absolutely love that. So much great information in there. So you came back from Disney, you're like, right, I'm going to do this DJ thing myself. Where did you find your first clients?

How did you do that?

People loved that. So we always said from like day one, that's what we could need to stay consistent with. It was just me on my own. I was just going out, but I was still, I was still working for Carphone. This went on for a few years and I was probably doing about one or two a weekend. Then it got a bit out of hand. Then I actually, I started doing my rotor for Carphone Warehouse, my staff rotor based around the birthday parties. And it was at that point I went, I'm pushing my luck here.

There was a few question marks with being asked by people. Cause you, as you can imagine, Saturdays are the busiest day in the shop. So when they were saying that I was finishing at one o'clock every Saturday and, or having every Saturday off. And so I've always had Sundays off. Yeah, question marks with that. And then that was the point I went, I think I'm going to have to make a bit of a grown up decision here.

I come home to my wife and I said to my wife, I think I'm going to... quit carphone warehouse to pursue this. And she was like, it's such a risk Mike, you can't, you can't. I said, I really believe I can. She wouldn't have none of it. She really, you know, said, look, I just don't think this is the right, you've got a secure job here. We had private healthcare, which is fantastic. We had all the benefits, but I said something quite outrageous. And I said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do.

If you, I will go part time carphone warehouse, I will go window cleaning. around our local area, okay, until I can go full time as a DJ. I said that's how much I believe I can do this because I do not want to go window cleaning.

So, off I went, used my Carphone Warehouse skills, built up a bit of a cleaning, window cleaning round, done that for about six months, built up a massive amount of people, to the point where I could no longer work with Carphone Warehouse, same problem happened, I had too many window cleaning to do, too much Carphone Warehouse part time to do and too many kids parties to do, and I started doing little weddings here and there.

So that's where I went, right, I ended up going and selling my window cleaning round for quite a few thousand pounds. So that was done and dusted. That was the point where my wife went, yeah, fair enough. You know, I think we can push this forward. And then I, done carphone warehouse part time for about four or five more months. And then I went, right, was driving me crazy. I was no longer a manager. I was back at the bottom of the pile. and I stepped away and that's where we went full time.

And that's where I basically went, like, Disco Factory UK all the way forward. That went really well for about a year. I invested in the business quite heavily and we decided to recruit. So we went and recruited three DJs who had never DJed before to do some training, provide them the equipment, add them to the website. That went completely bonkers. And we got up to about doing about 25 kids parties a weekend. That was Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So then.

Covid hit and then it all changed.

But it really is a scary step to take and having that income regularly that you can rely on, it's really hard to say goodbye to, but I'm also a massive believer in people who are entrepreneurs will find other ways to make money. And that's, you proved that with your window cleaning business, because actually you could have spent that time building up your DJ business. You did it as a, as a. stopgap, basically, and then ended up building another incredible business.

And I do think people are business minded. Yes, it takes a lot to step away from that position. But when you need that money, and you are entrepreneurial focused, you will find ways to make that money. And again, that's exactly what you did in COVID. Because I know, and I said it, I say it to people all the time, if you quit your job, and you go full time in your business, and you need extra money, you can always go out and get another job. And that's exactly what you did in COVID.

The work disappeared and you just went out and got another job, didn't you?

But what Sainsbury's done was really motivated me to really try and go to the next level. So during COVID, my little saying was, I did not want to waste this opportunity. So I tried flipping it. So rather than it being a negative, I saw COVID, lockdowns as that opportunity to take a step back and rethink about things. And it was at that point, I was talking to one of my old brides who I become good friends with.

And she said to me that the advice she gave to me that actually she wasn't going to book me originally. And I asked her why that was. And she said, because I didn't want to kid's entertainer as my wedding DJ. And I never, ever forget that. One sentence, and that was the moment I went, okay, I said, right. And that was, it was literally just this, that conversation actually was just before COVID. So that it was at that point, we decided not to rebrand, to actually create a second business.

So we was going to separate my weddings. And we're going to call that DJ Mike Readings and then Disco Factory UK was going to just do the kids stuff. So that whole time during COVID, I was just driving the DJ Mike Readings train. New website, networking, branding, photos, videos, contacting venues, all that sort of stuff was my motivation to really take advantage of that opportunity. I think that's the first time we met was we, I didn't know that you'd see me at one of the kids parties.

So I messaged you during COVID. I didn't even know about your group or anything. And I just said, look, I've heard great things about you talking to others. Let's, let's connect on Zoom. I want to know more about you. And that's how we got to know each other. And that's how I sort of like took advantage of that whole situation. I was just so focused. And I think it's worked. So, so Rosie.

But I also remember you used it because you were driving around all the time, taking these food deliveries, and you were listening to every training, every podcast, every live video from your van because you suddenly had all of this time to do it. And I definitely think that Best thing you've done for your business is to separate out the DJ Mike Readings from the Disco Factory UK because it's set you up to do what you want in the future. You could sell that business.

You can expand that business. You can franchise that business for the parties if you want to, and yet you've still got this really solid wedding focused DJ and there's a really great lesson in there for people to listen to customer feedback because sometimes you don't want to hear what they have to say. You don't want to hear why people didn't book you or didn't want to book you or nearly didn't book you. But actually you'll get the most. Golden insights.

If you listen to your customers to move your business forward to the next level

So I would love to know, as you look back over all these different years of having your business, growing your business, are there any mistakes you made early on that you kind of regret now, or you would warn someone against doing now?

And paying for something to be done is, is by far, there's, it's more than just the outcome of what you're expecting. It's more about taking away the stress, the worry, the time, and then you've still got the outcome as well that you are looking for. And I, everything from copywriting, which I've recently done, to website design, to brochure design, to anything. There's so much out there. There's so many things we can do ourselves.

You know, even to the point of social media, sometimes if you just invest and you don't have to invest long term, just investing a little bit can, can save so much time. So I have wasted too much of my own time trying to figure things out, maybe because I've listened to too many books and. podcasts. But yeah, that, that's, I would say that's probably my, my biggest mistake trying to always do things myself.

And you can look at other people's websites where they have invested that bit of money in getting someone to design it professionally. And it does become outstanding rather than adequate. But also to your point where you're saying about listening to too many podcasts and books, I'm also a believer that we should understand everything, even if we get someone else to do it. So we should have a good understanding of how the social media should work.

We should have a good understanding of how marketing works. How brand design should work so that we know that when we pay someone else to do it, we understand it enough to talk to them about what we want and to make sure they're doing a good job. Because I think when we go into something blind, it's a lot harder than when we have a good understanding. So you knowing what good branding is, what a good website is, what a good sales process is, then helps you outsource that work to someone else.

Do you agree?

You can upgrade your website and then wait six months and then upgrade your copywriting and then wait six months and then invest in SEO, whatever it is. You don't have to do it all at once. Now, Mike, one of the things I love about your approach to your business is the way that you work and build relationships with suppliers and with wedding venues. So I know now you've got good relationships with wedding venues in your area. You have great relationships with the suppliers in your area.

How have you built that up? What's kind of your go to method for building those great relationships?

And that is everything from, I will send an email a week before a wedding. I'll make sure all the supplies are copied, copied in. And I'll introduce myself to everyone. I'll give a breakdown of everything I'm doing. So they know exactly who I am before I turn up. So there's no awkward, Hi, I'm Mike and I'm here to be this and do that. I want people to be fully engaged with me before I turn up. And you'll find as well that couples absolutely love that.

And do you know that you've got your in order. So, just that one email a week before the wedding really just showed that you're organised, you're professional, you know what you're doing, they've got nothing to worry about. And, do you know the funny thing about this? So, I'm going through a very, very busy period at the moment. And there was one week where I'd done seven weddings in ten days. And it was them seven weddings, I just did not have time to be sending emails.

I did not have time, okay? So them seven weddings, two of them, two of them venues, phoned me on the day to ask what time I was turning up. Now, there are multiple suppliers out there who don't send emails to venues, okay? Now I know the reason why they'd called me is because previously... They'd receive emails from me. So now they're not receiving an email from me, they're questioning it. Which is absolutely fine, I actually love that, that means they're on the ball.

But that's, that really made me rethink how powerful that little bit of communication, which It's a template. It's a template that gets slightly edited so it's in line with all the plans that the wedding and it doesn't matter if I'm with them all day as their emcee or it doesn't matter if I'm just there in the evening, just a little email to say I've spoken with a wedding couple. We've put plans in place. They've decided what music. I hope that the blow notes is in line with your plans.

If you've got any questions, please reply and it's literally just a list of everything from what time I'm turning up to what time we're doing first dance, what time we're doing this, everything I'm going to be announcing, et cetera, et cetera. So that's been a big thing for me. And the other thing is really just saying thank you. To people, certainly venues.

So if venues are going out their way to recommend you, there's big companies out there paying a lot of money to be marketed to the right people. You can spend an absolute fortune on Google ads. You can spend thousands of Google ads to just, to find engaged couples with the right amount of money in that area. It's an incredible amount of money you pay.

But, but if you've got someone at a wedding venue is mentioning your name to a couple who are booking you at that venue, Hold up, surely that's, that's, all your eggs should be placed in that basket. And if that venue is doing five, six weddings a week, and it's not costing you a penny, you know, what would Apple do? What would Coca Cola do? And that, that's the way I see it.

So if someone's going out their way to promote you, make you thousands, then the minimum we should be doing is just saying thank you. And if we can buy them a coffee, or we can buy them a thank you present. or if we can, you know, just really just show loads of appreciation, talk good of the venue to the couples, talk how great they are, it all feeds back and if no one else is doing that, it's a win win.

And I think one thing I noticed in the wedding industry when things fall apart is uncertainty, which is why the power of your email is so important. Because if there's uncertainty about what's happening from the venue's perspective, they panic and then it's extra work for them. If there's uncertainty about what's happening from the couple's perspective, they panic.

And that's when you get the late night emails, the people ringing you up at ridiculous times going, are you still coming to my wedding? Because they're panicking, they're stressed. Whereas if you take control of that, exactly as you've said, and you walk them through it step by step, and there is zero uncertainty because you're taking control. They're going to trust you.

They know you're going to turn up and it is powerful and venues and couples and supplies in general do not like that feeling of uncertainty. And is he going to turn up or is he not going to turn up? Whereas we know DJ Mike Readings is always going to turn up because he sent us the email and a learning for you Mike. Don't neglect to send those emails when you're busy, you're going to know for next season in busy season.

I am going to outsource sending those emails to someone a couple of hours a week for busy season so that they get done every single time. Cause now you've noticed what happens when you don't do them. You can see how important they are. Yeah, exactly. Or at least they acknowledge that they don't have to worry about it because they've seen it and they know, right. Mike's on it. I don't need to worry about it. You don't want to put that doubt into their minds.

Okay. As we draw this to an end, I would love to know what advice you've got for someone just starting out in the industry. As you know, as well as I do, there are new people starting wedding businesses left, right and centre all of the time. Some of them succeed, some of them flop, some of them pop up with the cheapest possible offer and then can't sustain it.

So if you've got someone starting out in the wedding industry right now listening to this, what advice would you give them to help them create a sustainable, profitable business?

Now I know if a DJ approached me now, And said to me, you know, I'm starting up in the wedding, starting up in the wedding industry. What advice could you give? I've probably got a hundred things I want to say to them. And every single one of them would be positive. And I would highly suggest it as well. People just don't understand. People are, they really, really, really believe that you need a secure job. And it's secure. There's, the security's really, really high. Where I, I believe.

that if you want to become successful, you've got to take risks. But the risks are actually, they're not risks, because it's just all about talking to the right people and finding out the correct answers.

And if, first thing I would say to someone, if they were starting up a wedding business, I would say, these are the people you need to go look at their website, look at their social media, send them an email, ask to meet for a coffee with them, and if you do that to ten people, I bet three of them will say yes.

And, because I certainly would, 100%, so just having, just sitting back and listening, just, just listening, I think is just so important and, and not rushing, it's, it's not going to take you, it's not going to take you a year to become successful. It's not going to take you two years. It's going to take you maybe four or five years. It's not going to happen overnight.

And I think it's just all about being patient and having, you spoke about right at the start of this, about learning, taking advantage of the situation you're in, and I call that a hidden agenda. So always have a hidden agenda. What is it you can do to take advantage of your current situation? And if that means just using the telephone at work rather than your own, do that. You know, if that means using the wifi at work. Do that. Yeah. It's just little things.

Just take advantage, talk to the right people and just have a plan.

We've got, we've got a life to run and that's the benefit of being self employed because we can do it all around all of the other things as well. Now Mike, it's been so great chatting to you. I always end my podcast with the same question, which I'm going to put to you, which is what's one thing you wish you'd known sooner in your own business?

And it's just something that's hit me quite hard recently, you know, I don't want to be a DJ past 50 years old. What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? I wish I'd had a plan back then, probably when I was, I know, 30 years old on not just where I wanna get to in my business. Where do I wanna get to in life that is relevant to the, to the ages. So recently I've sat down and I've put a bit of a plan together, you know, so what's my life gonna look like in business?

'cause I can never go back to getting a job that's, that's a hundred percent. So what is life gonna like look like? Between 50 and 60, 60 and 70, et cetera, et cetera, and that has just relieved a little bit of pressure. And I don't think that gets spoke about enough. My job can be a bit of a slog sometimes, you know, with equipment, coming home early hours in the morning. I know for a fact that that is not going to be something you can do until you're old.

So I've got to start thinking about what is my my next, passion project. I've got a few ideas, but I want others to, to think about that as well, because even a photographer, even, you know, a cake maker, are them, are they still planning to do that when they're 60? You know, I'm not too sure. So yeah, I would definitely say that I wish I'd had a better plan for my, for my whole life rather than just 10 years.

And perhaps that's a whole another podcast episode that we need to get someone on to talk about thinking about how they plan out how you do go ahead planning out the 50 year plan and what that looks like. And I'm glad that that's where you're at, Mike. I know you're doing a huge amount of work in that area as well. And I'm excited to see what's next for you. And I have no doubt that it will involve success because I know whatever you put your hand and your mind to is. Always successful.

Mike, it's been such a pleasure chatting with you, hearing more about your story, getting to know that business journey better. If people want to chat with you more, maybe come for a coffee with you or reach out to you, where's the best place for them to find me on Instagram,