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Small Business Insights
	From the September 7, 2001 print edition

Music to the ears

DJ's Unlimited has made beautiful music by spinning the tunes at some of the city's most high-profile venues

After spotting a yellow pages ad for a mobile disc jockey service, Jeff Raines called the phone number to see what the company had to offer.

He quickly realized that the company's phone number had been disconnected. Instead of giving up, Raines made several persistent calls to the phone company and finally obtained rights to the defunct company's phone number, using the phone line to jump-start his own disc jockey career.

"After I got that phone number, I never left my tiny office, and I answered every call that came in," says Raines, president of Houston-based DJ's Unlimited Inc. "If I wasn't there, I had a 24-hour answering service that would answer the phone and immediately page me so that I wouldn't miss any calls."

Raines says it was the yellow pages advertisement that got his foot in the door, but it was his performance that started getting him referrals for more business.

Today, DJ's Unlimited is the biggest company of its kind in the area, according to Raines. He and his 23 disc jockeys perform at about 30 events a week.

In addition to his 23 full-time DJs, Raines works with 12 others that are available for events his staff disc jockeys can't fill.

During the company's first full year in 1992, DJ's Unlimited pulled in $100,000 in revenue. The company continued to grow, grabbing $500,000 in 1996 sales and $650,000 last year.

SWEET MELODY

Raines didn't always have his ears tuned to music. He moved from to Houston from Michigan 12 years ago, only to find that the computer company he was hired to work for had gone out of business. He ended up selling software for another company, and started performing as a disc jockey on the side.

After receiving compliments on his performances at several events, Raines began to think he might be able to make a career out of spinning tunes.

He borrowed $2,000 from a friend to get his company started and immediately moved into a small executive suite.

"I booked myself solid from the calls I was getting from the ad," he says. "I concentrated on returning messages quickly, getting contracts in the mail and doing whatever I could to finish the sale while I was on the phone with the client."

Raines incorporated the business at the end of 1991. During the first full year of business in 1992, he and eight other DJs performed at 395 events, ranging from high school dances to weddings to barbecue cook-offs.

When he started the business, Raines set out to change the image that some people have of DJs.

"People see DJs as a renegade type of person who is going to show up late, be rude and under-dressed and play the music too loud," he says. "I took all of those pet peeves and eliminated them in my search for disc jockeys."

Raines says finding the right DJs to represent his company has been his biggest challenge. Hiring employees willing to give up their weekends and training them to deliver on everything the customer was promised has been the hardest part of running the business, he says.

Because of Raines' picky hiring practices, the company has never had a disc jockey turn out to be a no-show at an event. He says because of his company's reputation, 95 percent of DJ's Unlimited's business comes from referrals.

Raines points out that since the business has been operating for so long, it's easy to match events with DJs to offer the best possible show, which almost eliminates the chance of any major problems at events.

As the scope of the business has broadened, the range of customer requests also has expanded. In an effort to meet the requests of clients, the company has created a list of 360 vendors and referrals to assist clients in filling their event needs.

Sam Simmons, vice president of a private banquet facility Ashford Oaks, says he's been referring DJ's Unlimited to clients for about nine years. He says the company's professionalism sets it apart from other DJ companies in town.

"Limousines and DJs are probably the two things that cause the most headaches when you're putting on a wedding, so when you have professional guys that know what they're doing, it helps a lot," Simmons says.

Simmons says the company's DJs always call and confirm with the facility. In fact, Simmons has never had a DJ from DJ's Unlimited show up late or not be prepared for an event. He says Raines trains the DJs to cooperate with the wedding coordinators and to be neat and arrive with good equipment.

"We get some DJs who show up with what looks like they took their car stereo apart at home and brought it in," he says. "There are so many details involved in putting on a wedding, and Jeff trains them really well for that."

The company also frequently works with the Kingwood Country Club, the Lancaster Hotel, the Westlake Club and Vargo's restaurant. Raines says the company built up its impressive client list by being cooperative and trying to meet all of the client's demands.

"We always have someone available to jump up and help with any problems the DJ may have when he's out at an event," he says.

Raines picked up his management skills from managing a bar in college and later went on to pursue a real estate license. He learned from real-life experience that putting a plan together and coming through on the plan -- and delegating the rest to talented people -- is the key to good management.

He says the company sets itself apart by focusing 100 percent on service and professionalism. Raines requires his disc jockeys to call in every Monday to inform him of their availability for the weekend and accept assignments. They check in again on Thursday to confirm that they will be at the event during the weekend.

"I always prepare for the worst because if I'm not worried about it, than who is?," says Raines. "I'm constantly looking over contracts and calling clients for details because you have to have a little paranoia when you're running a business where you're depending on somebody else to do the job right."

FRESH SPIN

Raines is making plans to take his business to the next level by franchising in other major cities. Meanwhile, he's also entertaining the possibility of taking the company public in the future.

"We've really done everything we can in the Houston area, and it's time to move this company forward in another way," he says.

Raines recently raised rates and cut back on the amount of shows his DJs perform. This move has allowed him to pay the DJs more and offer higher quality shows, while also affording the company more time to look into franchising possibilities.

Raines is in the process of searching for other entrepreneurs who want to run a DJ business and says he's prepared to make it easy for any franchisee to succeed by sharing his experiences with them.

By using current technology, such as computerized music systems, Raines says even a novice DJ can turn into a professional in a short time.

"You can't really screw up if you have the computerized system organized in different folders for different events and themes," he says. "We'll want them to follow our program of operation, but the technology out now makes it that much easier to be better."

Raines knows that in order to be successful in franchising, he must revamp the company's Web site and hash out a plan for in managing DJs in different cities.

"My goal is to run multiple companies like this one," he says. "Especially now with all of the downsizing the corporations are doing, there should be many entrepreneurs looking for a new venture. People always get married and people are always going to have parties, and that's what makes this a viable business to get into."

awollam@bizjournals.com · 713-960-5936

Copyright 2001 American City Business Journals Inc. Click for permission to reprint (PRC# 1.1650.478714)

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