Choosing the right club for your style
Hello again, everyone. Sorry for the long hiatus, but the transition across the country for me has proven to be more than a little time consuming. My move will be the basis for the next 3 or 4 articles and hopefully, you can identify with some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way. Now before I dive into the heart of the matter, I have to put this out there: not everyone has the ability to pick and choose where they work. Sometimes you just need a gig and you’ll take whatever you can get to put food on the table. We’ve all had those gigs that have been about just making it to next week. I’ve been there, we’ve all been there. Nevertheless, with hard work and dedication a PANDA can secure the opportunity to make the right choices for the next chapter of his/her career. It can be difficult to weigh the factors in making a big move in your life, so I thought I would put my words on paper as to how I made my decisions along the way.
What’s the first step I recommend in choosing your next job? I believe that you must define what makes you happy if you’re going to make a serious career choice. For example, you must determine exactly who you are as an emcee. Personally, I’m a joker and a goofball. I like to interact with the staff, crowd, entertainers, because I want my guests to feel like they are a part of the party I’m throwing. When it comes to music, my tastes are all over the place but my personal choice for party music is House and Rock music. When it comes to format, a solid structure is very important to me. I come from the MJP line of thinking so it’s very hard for me to the break habit of what I know is right in my mind. There are just certain things to which I’m accustomed. My personal list of what I look for in a new gig goes on and on but this is just an example of who I am as a jock and what makes me happy in the work place. It’s a guideline for me to follow so that I will be happy and therefore, prosperous in my environment.
As someone who has worked in the best and worst of conditions, I can tell you that I would trade a little less cash for more joy at my workplace. Somewhere out there is a gig that will make you excited to wake up in the morning and look forward to working that night. It will challenge you in all the right ways, improve your skills, and ultimately make you a more, well-rounded jock. The nights will fly by, as you feel rewarded shift after shift in ways you never expected. Nothing beats making some of the best friends of your life and having experiences that are worth writing about- in my case, literally. More than likely, you will have to go through some tough times to get to this point. Small cities, dive bars, day shifts- these situations can be torturous. However, they can also be valuable life lessons and time well-spent if you can learn from every failure and grow from every experience. I firmly believe that the only way you will find the club that fits is if you follow my favorite metaphysical law: the law of attraction, which simply states that “like attracts like”. If you focus and believe in yourself and your dreams, you can get what you want out of life. Take your dream life, write down the steps you need to take to make it a reality, then start acting out the steps to bring it to life!
The decision to uproot from the home I had built for a new job opportunity is one of the most serious choices I made in my life. But I’ll tell you this: the risk was worth the reward when I found the right team. It was far from easy. My first move was to Myrtle Beach. In the beginning, it was the land of milk and honey. To me, a lucrative DJinng gig was going to be the stepping to stone to the life I wanted and that was my first big opportunity. I’ve always had big ambitions, so I set out to work at the best club in town. I seized the opportunity at Thee Dollhouse when it arrived. I soaked up every minute of the training. With proper training came a new desire: I wanted a prime time gig in a major metropolitan city. I wanted to work for a company that would allow me to be myself. I also yearned for culture. Museums, concerts, varied martial arts disciplines, anything that I could do to expand my mind instead of going to a club every night. I searched in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and South Florida in hopes of finding that dream job. It wasn’t until I had completely committed myself to leaving my current job that my dream job found me. I was drafting my resignation letter when I received a Facebook message. I had spoken to a friend about my interest in relocating to any major market with a great club, so when heard about this gig in Dallas, he decided to reach out to me. I was lucky enough to be chosen from the stable of jocks that applied and now I’m having the time of my life. This is just my own story. I know many would say it was just dumb luck. You have to follow your own dream, develop your own plan to find the life you want. How will you create yours?
In the end, it all comes together when you find the team you fit with. It’s not hard to see if you and your management are on the same page or not. Most people find it difficult to ask for what they want. I’ve found that the only way to know if you’re in the right place is to professionally ask exactly what is on your mind, otherwise you’re just wasting their time as well as your own. You must have a certain level of agreement with your operator on philosophy, rules, and etiquette so that you can work well as a team together to produce healthy numbers and achieve goals. Rarely will you ever always see everything eye to eye with the people you work with, but you’ll know when it’s right. I knew from a phone call and a short sit down meeting with my newest GM that I’d found the next guy I wanted to work with- keep searching and you’ll find that home you’re looking for. As always, thanks for reading.
