What follows are a few golden nuggets of wisdom - 5 essential steps, or success principles - I've gathered over 12 years as a professional, international DJ.
(To catch up those who may have not yet read Part One...)
These principles have taken me from a bedroom DJ in Canada to a career rocking luxurious beach clubs and exclusive private events in Bali. Yet, following the same principles has also led to a decent amount of success as a writer on Steemit. And, the same five golden steps are equally applicable for anyone - including YOU - if striving to achieve success and mastery in any venture or undertaking.
PART ONE covered Mastering Your Skill Set, Cultivating An Exquisite Taste, and Networking & Building Relationships.
Here, in Part Two, we'll continue the journey to discover one of the most critical factors that makes all the difference between a professional and an outstanding professional - and the final piece of the puzzle that sets it all in motion.
4. Cultivate A Sharp Intuition & Energetic Sensitivity
You may have a great taste in music and technical skills, yet there is one more key skill required to pull off a top-notch live DJ performance:
The ability to "read a room."
This is where the craft gets the most complicated, and is a piece that is not easily taught.
This is where the real talent of a DJ lies.
In essence, the job of a DJ is to keep the vibe high in a venue - to guide the musical journey so that the energy of the crowd is always as close to peak as possible.
To do so, the DJ must be tuned in to the audience.
He must be able to pick up on the subtlest of cues... are people tapping their feet? bobbing their heads? do they appear to be open & receptive, or heavy & shut down? are they standing at the side of the room, or are eagerly drawn to the dancefloor? These are but some cues easier to visually pick up on. But the greater skill is being able to feel where the people are at emotionally, intellectually & spiritually.
There's an interactivity between the vibe of the audience and the energy within the song playing - there's a feedback loop. No song will be able to predictably generate the same response in an audience 100% of the time, because there's an alchemical response between the two.
A professional DJ needs to assess the state of the crowd - and have the knowledge of what responses the next track will have, based on that current state.
At any point in time, a certain song could either kill or enhance the vibe of the room.
Sometimes, the outcome might be up to chance. More often than not, it's highly predictable. If cued into an audience before cueing up the next song, a DJ can tell with great accuracy whether the energy of the room will climb, crumble, or sustain. To be able to read such patterns, however, requires a very finely-tuned sensitivty (and what some may call "intuitive sense") - both to the energy of the room and music.
In any realm of providing value in a relationship with other people, the ability to accurately assess their needs, wants, and desires - tuning into where they're at and what it is you can offer to best enhance the quality of their experience - is priceless.
Whether in sales making a presentation to a prospective customer, a business consultant assessing how a client could improve his marketing, a teacher matching the learning style of a student, a healer listening into what may be at the root of a patient's ailments, or otherwise...
There can be either dissonance or synergy created through every human engagement - the degree to which it is destructive or constructive, based on our ability to effectively read the relationship environment and harmoniously adapt accordingly.
For instance, a masterful writer (on Steemit) has the opportunity to tune into the community and refine the subtle details within stories to produce specific fluctuations in readers' emotional responses - rather than turning readers off with unsuitable content or poor delivery, luring them in for more with excellently-composed and perfectly timed literary contributions.*
And, the rewards & votes provide an excellent feedback mechanism to gauge one's harmony with & quality of performance - providing a tangible measurement of the impact of the story's energy.
Like developing a refined ear (step two), cultivating one's sensitivity & ability to tune into an environment & others' energy isn't something that can be easily taught or attained quickly. Rather, it's something that some people are just more inherently "gifted" at - and is another skill that gets developed over time on the playing field.
These types of "intuition" or sensitivity to subtle energies can take different forms in many different games or fields of activity. We may all have such natural skill laying dormant, waiting to be developed - it's just a question of in what field. As such, part of success is building upon natural strengths - like management guru Peter Drucker and countless others have preached over the years.
If you have no sense of rhythm and are fucking clueless as to what the vibe is like in a club, maybe DJing isn't for you. Though if there is some particular activity where you do have a heightened ability to distinguish elements of the environment whose critical understanding of provides an advantage allowing you to provide an extraordinary level of service - that inclination might be a sign to follow.
Though if you're 100% set on DJing, make sure to learn how to read a room. No exceptions.
And if you're 100% set on producing valuable content on Steemit, put in the time to refine your sensitivity to the most subtle aspects of your writing, developing a consciousness of how each element - word, sentence structure, formatting design, and idea flow - fuses together as a final presentation, impacting readers through the vibration encapsulated in the linguistic code of the article.
This may take the 10,000 hours of practice. But it is this degree of precision of awareness & deliberate choice in the finest details that separates the wannabes from the masters.
(rockin' a packed house of over 1500 at Tanjong Beach Club in Singapore - one of the best gigs & favorite venues I've ever played)
5. Commit & Make Leaps Of Faith
While there's always an element of luck contributing to success, things don't happen on their own. When serious about achieving mastery in any field, there comes a turning point where the outcome depends on ONE key factor: commitment.
I had first started DJing just for fun. While in university, I started thinking it might be a good way to make some extra money and build connections in the music industry, which I sought to get into for production. In 2nd year of business school, I faced a crisis - sensing I wasn't fit out for the commerce program and couldn't last in it, while my intuition was telling me that there was an opportunity to pursue DJing as a career with one of the agents I'd met in Vancouver...
At the time, there was NO guarantee whatsoever that I'd end up working for the guy. Any hope of landing paid work with him was months away. But, something was telling me to make a leap of faith. So, I dropped out of university with nothing solid lined up. Yet 3 months later, I got taken onto the agency roster and officially started my career as a DJ.
Likewise...
3 years before moving to Bali, I knew it was where I needed to be. The reason I held off on making the move: I wanted to have some sort of stable, location-independent income source become committing myself to establishing a homebase on the other side of the world.
Well, the income source never manifested, and the calling to just go got stronger and stronger, until I finally had to commit and make it happen.
I did some research, started contacting music directors & DJs via Facebook & email to assess what sort of opportunities there might be for a newbie to come in and land some residencies - and upon seeing there might be a decent chance to get work if I played my cards right, I followed through on the commitment.
Hopping on the plane, there was no promises that it'd work out. But the leap of faith had to be taken before any doors could possibly open.
Needless to say, the leap worked out. And the commitment paid off.
(from the DJ booth at Rock Bar, one of the venues I set my heart on playing at - four months after arriving in Bali. and a shot I DIDN'T take from below that gives a better scope of the place)
And even coming to Steemit, there was a similar intuitive sense it was something to dive in & commit fully to. There was no guarantees of success - and I was doubtful that payouts would actually happen. Nonetheless, I followed that hunch and got to work, writing obsessively for the last 6 weeks.
The commitment made = producing exceptional, high quality content RICH in VALUE.
The further I walked in the commitment, the more the rewards flowed as a direct exchange for the value others have found in what I've written.
No matter what one chooses to do with/in their life, success won't come from half-assing it.
"Following your passion" may not mean it's wise to quit your day job right away and pursue your dreams right away. Don't be stupid, and make sure your financial bases are covered while working making the transition.
Yet, there's no bridge to the success we desire without commitment.
Sometimes that commitment may require a leap of faith, and we just have to jump - trusting our wings will be grown out of necessity, and the universe will provide what's needed to support us in our commitment.
On that path of commitment, there will be many trials, obstacles, setbacks, and challenges. It won't all be easy, and it won't all be fun. But with a committed focus, the action to back it up, and the openness to learn from the feedback along the way - each step forward is one step closer to the ultimate victory.
So there you have it.
If you wanna be a pro international DJ, there's some golden tips from someone who's done it as to what it takes.
If you don't wanna be a DJ, cool. There's too many already.
If you want to become a Steemit rock star, taking these steps can surely get you there.
If not, takeaway some of these nuggets to help you succeed in whatever field you choose.
Now, go and ROCK it... ;-)
And lastly, again, some quality sounds...
My latest TOP-quality promo mixes on Mixcloud, uniquely-flavored candy for your ears...
Sunset Ascensions Vol.2 is a mashup of killer tropical-flavored tunes, with elements of hip hop & house splashed in amongst some of the best island-inspired soundscapes to be found lately. HOT.
CLICK HERE to listen to Sunset Ascensions Vol.2 on Mixcloud.
AND...
Sunset Ascensions Vol.3 is a top-notch selection of diverse house styles, and perhaps one of my best mixes ever crafted (despite not usually playing too much house) - upbeat and packed full of passion, this one will get ya movin' for sure.
CLICK HERE to listen to Sunset Ascensions Vol.3 on Mixcloud.
(And Volume 1 is available here - or accessible from my Mixcloud page...)
ENJOY! ;-)
(and if you liked this and haven't yet checked out "The 5 GOLDEN Steps To Becoming An Pro International DJ, Steemit Rock Star, Or Master Of Any Profession... Pt. 1", you can read it here)
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awesome!
Cool post @rok-sivante! I never managed to become a DJ despite the fact I wanted to. I'm new here, consider reading my first post:)
https://steemit.com/steemit/@chrisadventures/whales-for-president-amazing-facts-about-an-endangered-specie
[Mistake - Edited]
Yes I lost $$$ for editing my post. Good point
an interesting read! i always wanted to be a DJ!
Really enjoyed both parts to this. The fifth step is key - so many people have a dream but don't chase it. By making that leap of faith you affirm your intentions to yourself and the world. Without that, the dream stays dormant
yep. it took me quite a long time for this one to really sink in. I'd spent SO much time in preparation, study, sitting on the sidelines - though it's been the few key windows of opportunity where I've taken the ACTION that have put my various (small and larger) successes into motion...
Rok-Star :)
Can't keep up with quantity or quality of your amazing posts. I'm also here in Canada and have great friends in Bali I will introduce you to and a good friend that is a DJ in Barcelona, Spain. I will comb through your previous posts as well soon to get the full load of who you are and what you are passionate about. Thanks for being such an active and value contributing part of our community. I have been in Bali myself over 20 years ago and will never forget how many cleenex I needed after every meal ;-)
Stay tuned.
lol (the kleenex part).
cool. where in Canada are you based? I'm moving back at the end of the year, to Vancouver Island.
feel free to hit me up on Facebook, as its easier to chat there with direct messages... :-)
I'm in Niagara Falls - the other end of Dodge ;-)
Been to Vancouver Island in 1996 as part of a 3 month north america trip.
Will find you on FB ;-) Enjoy Bali. I was traveling Bali-Java-Sumatra and flying back from Singapore back then. After 5 weeks Indonesia to be for 2 days in Singapore was quite the culture shock I remember ;-) Have an awesome weekend bro.
lol. ya mun - every time I go for the visa runs to Singapore, it's a whole different world! complete opposites - from the extreme chaos to the extreme order... :-)
I'm sure it's good for circulation ;-)
Very useful. Thanks a lot :)
great post man
lol. the Chuck-love. had someone else give the Chuck approval on Part One, too :-)