If you are about to say, “I do,” DJ PatPat, a Naples, FL wedding DJ, is the OG in back, NOT the chump in the front …
Find out why in Episode 3 of The Come Up where host Scrappy Jackson interviews the coolest DJ in Southwest Florida who has been spinning DJ entertainment and keeping the nuptials party alive for some four decades.
The Come Up is a short video podcast produced by Content with Teeth that documents up-and-coming entrepreneurial scene in Naples, Marco Island, Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Charlotte County.
The Come Up Episode 3 Highlights with a Southwest Florida Weddings DJ
Check out some notable moments from this episode featuring a professional Naples DJ:
The art of delegation and organization: Event entertainment services are undoubtedly not stress-free. Find out how the veteran DJ PatPat keeps everything together, from customer service to employee retention, by using one simple trick for wedding receptions.
About handling “Bridezillas” and some of the most demanding clients on Earth : Everyone wants perfection at a wedding. Achieve that by serving the client a long-form document where all ground rules and contingencies are outlined and planned for! Discover what Wedding DJ PatPat puts in her planners to avoid drama at wedding receptions.
How to deal with wedding DJs who undercut prices: DJ PatPat is a dance floor Queen who has been running the Naples DJ scene for some 40 years. Discover the strategy of this Naples Florida wedding DJ to fend off low-cost c0mpetition.
A tip to your 20-year-old self: Stop spending money on dumb stuff!
Regarding starting your own business: DJ PatPat’s advice is grounded in a simple maxim – Invest in yourself. Learn how she grew her DJ service empire in Southwest Florida by following this concept.
The worst best man’s speech made in history: Your jaw will be on the ground after hearing dance floor queen DJ PatPat’s story – “Did that dude really say THAT!?”
Don’t forget to watch to learn more about the marketing tactics that DJ PatPat uses for her Southwest Florida DJ service and more wisdom that applies to all businesses, not just DJ entertainment.
About DJ PatPat and Content with Teeth
For UnBoring Content like The Come Up, contact Content with Teeth HERE.
Reach out to DJ PatPat’s company HERE. Check out one of the best Naples wedding DJs’ social media accounts HERE, HERE and HERE.
The Come Up Episode 3 Transcript
Scrappy Jackson: What’s up? What’s up? What’s up? What’s up? What’s up? I’m Scrap Jackson, and this is The Come Up. I’m so excited about The Come Up. We do this every week on a video podcast with Content with Teeth. We celebrate entrepreneurs, unconventional entrepreneurs like DJ PatPat, my girl representing hard for Naples. What’s up, girlfriend?
DJ PatPat: Yo, Scrappy. What’s popping?
Scrappy Jackson: It’s awesome to see you. You’re definitely unconventional when it comes to an entrepreneur. That’s for sure.
DJ PatPat: Oh, man. I love the entrepreneur world. I really, truly do.
Scrappy Jackson: Tell us about it. You started off as a teenager.
DJ PatPat: I started off really young, at 14 years old, man, just working with my parents at the restaurant back in the day. It was actually a Spanish grocery store, and I used to handle money and stuff like that.
Scrappy Jackson: Okay. How did it progress from there?
DJ PatPat: Well, from there, by the time I was 16, I started actually DJing, and I started my little entertainment company, and I started doing private parties and events. I’ve just basically been in the whole restaurant entertainment world for almost 24 years now.
Scrappy Jackson: Yeah. You’re a staple in Naples, whether it’s DJing on a radio station, doing it at the club, doing it at quinceañeras. Forget about it. You’re at nightclubs, all over the place. But your core business is definitely weddings. Tell us about that.
DJ PatPat: Yes. So, the wedding industry is pretty big here in Florida. We are a destination hotspot for weddings. A lot of our weddings are ceremonies on the beach, and then the receptions and cocktails are at a country club or at a hotel or a resort. It’s just a really popular industry. Everybody’s just getting married these days. A lot of young people are starting to get married, too, at 22, 23 years old.
Scrappy Jackson: You’ve been at this for 24 years in the wedding business as a DJ. How much of it is fun versus business at this point in your career?
DJ PatPat: That’s a great question. I still love, obviously, what I do. I don’t get bored of it. It’s my passion. I don’t think I’m ever going to say, “Oh, I’m just doing this to do this.” You know what I mean? My goal is to hang up the gloves at about 56 because that is going to be 40 years of doing this, and I want to be able to say I was a DJ for 40 years.
Scrappy Jackson: Well, you can hang up your hat. You still have five or six DJs working for you, right?
DJ PatPat: Yeah. No. I will. I will have the team out in the field working it while I work it behind the scenes, but I don’t want to be that, let’s say, 56-year-old, 60-year-old DJ. I don’t. You know what I’m saying? People that are booking in their 20s and 30s, they’re probably going to look at it like, “I don’t want this 60-year-old.” They’re going to want somebody younger. I get it because, if it was my wedding, I would probably want the same thing, even though this 60-year-old guy has been doing it for 50 years. You get what I’m saying?
Scrappy Jackson: Yeah. Yeah.
DJ PatPat: Times kind of change, and your style kind of changes a little bit too. It’s not going to be my thing.
Scrappy Jackson: You can be the mack in the back.
DJ PatPat: Correct. Correct.
Scrappy Jackson: Your DJs can be the chump in the front.
DJ PatPat: You got it.
Scrappy Jackson: How do you market your business these days?
DJ PatPat: I use WeddingWire. I use their sister company called The Knot. I attend bridal shows. I do Google AdWords, a lot of word-of-mouth referrals.
Scrappy Jackson: Well, that’s what I was curious about because you’re so popular. You’re so prevalent in the community. Do you have to market yourself outside of just referrals? Because you’re pretty much the known quantity in Naples.
DJ PatPat: When it comes to the wedding industry, I’m always going to advertise on wedding websites because clients are going to go there first and say, “Oh, where can I find my florist?” if they don’t know a florist, or, “Where can I find my video guy if I don’t know a video guy?” You become the first reference for them, so it’s really good to do that. I also am a preferred vendor at a lot of venues. I make a relationship with the facility. I show that “Hey, I’m a pro. I know what I’m doing,” and they like what I do, so I get added to their list.
Scrappy Jackson: You’re such a professional, and there’s so many things you have to worry about: being responsible, customer service, taking care of your employees. How do you keep it all together?
DJ PatPat: Great question. I put everything on my calendar. For example, on our iPhones, we have iCal or whatever, and I put on there, “I have to call so-and-so at a certain time” or, “I’m meeting …” I make a to-do list on my calendar, and I follow that daily, and I write things down, and I try to be one to respond back to emails in less than 24 hours. I’m very organized when it comes to writing everything down and putting it in my to-do list.
Scrappy Jackson: I think it’s amazing how you delegate too. You’re definitely the jefe, but you have a great ability to empower the people that work around you to do their job and do it responsibly.
DJ PatPat: Thank you. Thank you. It’s a lot of hard work. It really is. Sometimes, it’s-
Scrappy Jackson: How do you choose your people?
DJ PatPat: Well, I meet them. I interview them. I check out their experience. Are they put together? I want to see your system, how it looks when you’re out in a field. If I see you’re not how I’m set up, well, I’m going to tell you some tips and tricks and have you get the things that you need so you can follow my brand. That’s pretty much how I do it with my team. Once they see it, they’re like, “Oh, man. Thanks for telling me to do this or put a speaker skirt over my stand just to keep things neater.” That’s pretty much how I do it with my guys.
Scrappy Jackson: But you don’t lose any sleep because the customers are very, very, very, very, very demanding in your business. The brides want it perfect. I disc jockeyed a couple of them, just a couple of them, and I was overwhelmed by the demands. How do you keep it all intact?
DJ PatPat: I give my clients what’s called a 12-page wedding planner, and that’s what keeps them organized and me knowing what they want me to do, or my team. It’s basically fill-in-the-blanks. Every question that I have for them will be on those 12 pages. It’s a great guide and a reference on how your day’s going to go from start to end. Then, once I get that back after it’s been filled out, at least two weeks before their wedding day, I’ll call them in the evening time when they’re both home and we can all discuss, me, the bride, and the groom, and we can discuss that paperwork, drop our timeline.
DJ PatPat: Then, once that’s done, then I get with my team, tell them what the dealio is. I’ll put it all together. I’ll provide them with any extra equipment we need. I’ll provide them with any lighting, any extra enhancements, if we need assistance, with an assistant to help the DJ. That’s where I come in and organize everything. We create a timeline and provide any additional things that are needed.
Scrappy Jackson: Interesting. Interesting. I didn’t realize you were that organized.
DJ PatPat: Yes. Yes, Scrappy. I have to be.
Scrappy Jackson: Because I think of DJ PatPat, I’m thinking [inaudible 00:07:15].
DJ PatPat: No. See, a lot of people think, “Oh, yeah. I found a DJ for 500 bucks.” I’m like, “Well, you’re going to get what you paid for, or I’m going to get that call, “The DJ just canceled on me last minute.”
Scrappy Jackson: I’m so glad you said that because that was my next question. You’re an elite wedding service, but there’s so many up-and-comers that try to undercut you. How do you deal with that?
DJ PatPat: I don’t really pay attention to that kind of stuff anymore. Like you said, I have 24 years of experience under my belt. I have over 1,500 weddings that I’ve either DJed or produced with my team. I have more than enough experience for some Joe Schmo to come in and say, “Well, I’m half the price.” Does Joe Schmo provide you with a planner? Does Joe Schmo provide you with two people at your wedding day? Does Joe Schmo provide you with uplights or these enhancements or a photo booth or planning a timeline. A lot of times, they’ll be like, “Oh, no. No. He didn’t mention that.” “Well, then how do you know what you’re going to do?”
DJ PatPat: A lot of those guys that are cheap, I have to say they’re more of a nightclub-type DJ, a bar-type DJ. A nightclub/bar DJ that is not a mobile DJ does not understand how a wedding should flow. They just don’t.
Scrappy Jackson: I’ve witnessed you in action, and you’re so polished. Your organization is so polished. That’s a reflection of you. It’s a personification. DJ PatPat is organized and polished and customer service-driven. You do an amazing job, and it really shows over time.
DJ PatPat: Thank you, Scrappy. Thank you, man. Nobody taught me this. This was all self-taught, just watching and seeing and learning and going through a bumpy road, bumpy things on a road and having to pick myself back up and, “You know what? I’m not going to do it like this anymore. I’m going to change it. I’m going to do it like this now.” What I do now works for me.
DJ PatPat: I tell anybody new that comes and works for me, I’m like, “Hey, man …” Great example. Last Saturday, I had a new guy training, being my assistant at an event. He did a fantastic job. He’s a little DJ, bedroom DJ for his friends and stuff. Great attitude. He’s a business owner. He’s available on the weekends, polished dude, great day with him. I was like, “Wow. You’re really into this.” He’s like, “Yeah, man.” He goes, “And I just learned some things from you today. I didn’t know you did this like this or you did this like that.”
Scrappy Jackson: Cool. You want to hear that?
DJ PatPat: Yeah. Absolutely. I told him, I said, “Hey, when you do next Saturday with me,” I said, “you’re going to notice that this becomes repetitive.” It’s repetitive. It’s the same sound system. It’s the same setup. We might just include a couple of little things or tweak a couple of little things out, but it literally just becomes a repetitive thing every week where it should just be flawless.
Scrappy Jackson: Best man’s speech. What’s the worst one you’ve ever heard?
DJ PatPat: A few years back, this guy starts with, “I’m not going to say a few things that’s happened with us in the past, but I am going to mention this.” He starts talking about the groom’s ex-girlfriend and how him and the groom had a great time with her one night. I was like, “Oh my goodness. Why do we even bring this subject up?” I don’t know what happened that day after all that. I was so embarrassed myself just listening to this and knowing that I have control of this guy’s microphone. This guy was pretty much saying that him and the groom had a great time with his ex-girlfriend if you know what I mean?
Scrappy Jackson: Yeah. As accomplished as you are, what advice do you give young entrepreneurs?
DJ PatPat: Hard work. Hard work. A lot of late nights. A lot of failure. A lot of patience. You really have to put a lot of passion and perseverance into what you do because I feel like that is what equals success.
Scrappy Jackson: Absolutely. Absolutely. Another piece of advice. Pat, give yourself advice to your 20-year-old self.
DJ PatPat: My 20-year-old self, huh? I wish that I wouldn’t have thrown away a lot of money in my 20s.
Scrappy Jackson: Okay. All right. That’s cool. That’s personal. How about from a business tip?
DJ PatPat: Business tip. When you’re young, start investing in yourself. Okay? If you want to start a business, start buying what you need little by little. Open up that name, get that logo, the little things that you’ve got to start with. Invest in yourself because, when you invest in yourself, that’s when you’re starting to invest in your company, in your future, in your business, and how to pick up and start doing it on your own. Always invest in yourself and in your venture, what you want to do.
Scrappy Jackson: DJ PatPat is an iconic brand in Naples. That’s for sure.
DJ PatPat: Thank you, Scrappy. Thank you.
Scrappy Jackson: Do you want to shout out your business? This is an opportunity for you to market yourself.
DJ PatPat: Yeah, sure. My entertainment company, you can find us on the internet at hpsentertainment.com, and anything social media @hpsentertainment.
Scrappy Jackson: You have robots too. What services do you offer? I know you have lighting. You have robots. What else?
DJ PatPat: We do DJ services. We do photo booth. We do rentals with a slingshot for people’s photos. We do uplighting, dance floor lighting. I have an in-house hair and makeup artist who is my wife. I also have an in-house videographer for videography needs. Yeah. We try to do a little one-stop-shop so, that way, we can help a lot of the burden of your event all in one place.
Scrappy Jackson: Content with Teeth, young entrepreneurs on The Come Up doing big things. You can see this logo behind me, this fat head, this big bulldog. Contentwithteeth.com. Check them out, a creative content agency. Pat, I got nothing but love for you, baby.
DJ PatPat: Scrappy, you know I got nothing but love for you too, homie.
