Donny
Yea I realize the yearly budget thing but the places I'm aiming for take in big bucks from their residents so if they can't afford to pay me something reasonable I'm out. 4K a month and up is not unusual here for a small efficency apartment.
I also just did another wine tasting event for a Charity here and donated my services. If its a worthy cause for a Charity, Vets, Etc, I'm all in but as my Italian friend used to say "Don't tell me your hungry with a loaf of bread under your arm "
Besides I have to save up for that new Roland Arranger Fran leaked !!!
My neighbor works as a Chaffuer for one place and no mini van for him. He drives the residents around in a new Caddy, where ever they want to go day or night. I did a wine tasting there and the place was amazing, a first class resort atmosphere. Changed AD's so I'm back to square one.

Bill why not get into the Wedding DJ/ keyboard player/singer area that's where the money is, & you have the experience .....
people have to get married everywhere paying big bucks these days ....if you dont someone else is doing it....

Four points. I am now in my 10th year at playing only Independent Living and Assisted Living facilities and this is my experience.

1. The large corps who own these places don't like to spend a lot of
money on entertainers. The activity director's budgets are very low
compared to what they charge the residents. In my area I often go from
"how can I keep up" to "hope I get to work next month" due to budgets
being on a month to month basis for many of the places.

2. I NEVER do "auditions" for any of the places. Learned that lesson a few
years ago when several places offered non-paying "audition" times and
never hired people they had to pay. I also stopped providing CD's when I
learned of two places who would play my CD's for their events but did not
hire me to play. And yes, the CDs were only short versions of songs.

3. CD's and other materials, including direct mail and hand delivered, I have
used to present myself to new places have had very little to do with my
status in the local area today. What seems to be the trick now is email,
text, and phone calls.

4. No One here can give you the best advice on how to fill up your calendar
unless they come from your city and area. Hourly rates are different
everywhere you go and frankly, I would not work in some of the areas
because the pay is to low. It is a business and you have to have a strong
business component to your operation or you will fail.

Fortunately, my weeks are pretty full and I'm booking now into 2018 so i think for the time I have found the best approach. But what I do might now work for you in your city.

Deane

Bill, I almost forgot about the song recommendations. Anything upbeat by Sinatra, Jimmy Buffett, and other artists of the same era, late 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and up to mid 1980s will suffice. You want songs that are toe tappers, songs that some can dance to, a sprinkling of ballads and jazz numbers, a few show tunes, etc..., songs that were popular when the audiences were 15 to 35 years of age, which is the time in their lives when then tended to enjoy music and dancing the most. These will be the songs that they will likely remember, even in memory impairment facilities.

As to what DNJ suggested about weddings, DJ, etc..., do you really want to do that? I stopped doing that stuff 20 years ago because I no longer wanted to put up with drunk teenagers at weddings, grouchy brides, and 35-year-old drunken adolescents. Same goes for the DJ Jobs. Additionally, the numbers just don't seem to add up. With the senior circuit you can work every day of the week if you wish, up to 3 jobs a day, not have to put up with drunks, have very appreciative audiences and take weekends off to be with your family at the nearby beaches. Weddings are usually on weekends, four hour or more jobs, often involve traveling longer distances. Now, someone will likely jump in here and say that you only have to do one or two weddings a month to make the same amount, but the wedding DJs that command those prices are indeed rare, have huge sums of money tied up in light shows, sound systems, etc..., and in my part of the world, they also work another job during the week, mainly because they cannot make it on the wedding job income. Sure, you get paid more per job, but not usually per hour, at least here in the sunny south.

Good luck and I sincerely hope it all works out for you. If there is any way that I can help, I'll be more than happy to do what I can for you. I'm just a phone call away.

Gary

Gary it's nothing new for Bill hes been DJ'ing for years and is very experienced..
it's a whole new ball game out there and big $$$$ depending on the package offered can be made in the wedding business.
Someone has to do it and someone has to make all that money,..there is a huge market outside of OMB arranger Kb jobs, and a piece of pie for all if you want it,.....carry on

Donny, I know lots of DJs in this area that do weddings, they have enormous setups, light shows, water fall fountains, all kinds of neat stuff. They ALL have other jobs in order to make a living. The only exception I know to this is one guy who's wife is a CEO of a major corporation, which allows him to play around DJing. And, DJs seem to be everywhere. They're coming out of the woodwork like termites, but good OMB entertainers using an arranger keyboard are a rare commodity and those, that as you always say, "have the goods" are doing very, very well down here and locations farther south, in the mid-west and on the west coast. I think they are smart enough to know that if there were a lot of DJ opportunities, they would be the first ones out there doing it - they already have most of the gear. But this is not the case. How many weddings a week do YOU do in NJ? I would suspect that you fared a lot better than most DJs doing weddings at your Dance Club, worked less hours to put it together, and other than a few MP3s you played, most was DNJ live on the arranger keyboard.

I give up,

Gary

Hi - since this topic has somewhat diverted to "how to promote and market", I thought that i'd mention that in my area (capital / central NC), about ALL the places I play (over a dozen), were started with one "Free" show for them. I often got call backs, and when I didn't, I'd make a call to them, and most of those times too, they'd say " Oh yeah, I remember you, the residents really liked you" etc., and hire me. I've been playing for those ~dozen places now for over 15 years. Since this is not my full-time thing, I have to turn away some gigs, since I get plenty of calls. I do still have to send an occasional "reminder" email to some ADs, and an occasional visit in person, which often results in another gig or two.

Songs? There are lots of topics on that - I used to (say 10-20 years ago) concentrate on music from first half of the 1900s, now I add in plenty of music from 50s, 60s and 70s, and that goes over well too: the ones that were VERY popular in those years. They like the "Energy" and beat of rock and roll too. And a bit of "Beach/R&B" (what in NC is called "Shag music", shag being a dance lots of people know and do), a few ballads, a few show tunes (mostly shows from 1970s and older, plus a few from Les Mis. and Phantom), and I always do a sing-along (I bring a lyric sheet to hand out, with 5-6 songs on it). . .

Hope this helps,
Jim

Hey guys Thanks
Donny-the big Wedding DJ scene is a young mans game and to delve into that and all thats involved as Gary said at this point is just not for me. And again the "contacts" to get these lucrative gigs are hard to come by. I will and have done some smaller private affairs with the keyboard and DJ mix and will happily accept those.
I'm looking to just do some casual gigs with no stress.
As a side note the young musician (26) who runs the music store I teach at is a fantastic Classical Guitarist and he speaks Spanish. I keep bugging him to get out there and do some classy solo work, playing acoustic guitar and singing in two languages. He would do great here with that. At first he said "but I don't sing" I volunteered to get him started , then he finally said " besides running the store I play bass ( which bores him to death ) in two bands and a weekly Jam session. I don't have to do any booking, just show up, play the simple songs and get paid. No stress.
I can appreciate his thinking and I would like to work once or twice a week in an upscale place with just me, my FP90, a tip jar and a good Bourbon --- just dreaming.
Good point when it was stated that even though these AL resorts take in big bucks they tie the hands of their AD.s . Didn't look at it that way.
I'm thinking from what I've read the emaii,l phone call, and then personal visit is the way to go. I would agree to a reduced fee one time date and go from there.
Thanks again for the great input

I agree on the good Burbon...



And don't forget there's always especially in warm weather places STREET BUSKING performers......just get a battery powered amp and kb and start playing on a crowded tourist corner with your case open for tips..put your CDs out and jam..

There was a guy in Baltimore's Inner Harbor doing exactly that, Donny. Then some guy from the city came up to him and asked for his license to perform outdoors, slapped him with a citation, and he ended up in court paying a pretty hefty fine. Then, when he went to get the license for the City Of Baltimore, they told him it would take 90 days to be approved, IF he were approved, then he could go out and perform as a Busker.

Additionally, I ran into a guy in Key West that tried performing on Malory Square Dock with the Sunset People, they told him to get the Hell off the dock and if he came back, they would toss him and his gear off the dock and into the ocean - and they were dead serious about it.

I don't know how things are like this in Jersey, but I would bet there are some license requirements, and also special permits required to perform outdoors. Just sayin...

One more thing, I just watched that entire performance you posted by Kevin, no one stopped, no one put a dime in the tip basket, but he plays a mean keyboard. Guess he'll have to find another way of putting the kids through college.

Gary