Back when I was in college studying mechanical engineering at CSULB I was looking for a part time job for an additional source of income. The only issue is that most of the companies required 20 hrs plus per week and i wanted to work only 5 to 10 hrs per week. In 2012 minimum wage was about $13 per hr. I couldn’t find an employer that will pay more and would allow me to work less hours. The main reason why i wanted to work less hours is so i could dedicate the majority of my time studying to obtain my engineering degree. I remember I would spend at least 20 hrs a Day studying for my classes which where majority where tough to understand.
Eureka!
At one of my sisters quinces we hired a DJ for our event. At that moment i realized I could DJ on the weekend and it would not interfere with my studies plus it would be less than 15 hrs a week.
How much does a starting DJ make?
Back in 2012 to 2017 I was charging 5 hrs of DJ for $150 to $225. I would do between 2-3 events per weekend. On average I made between $150 to $675 on the weekend by working between 5 to 15 hrs a weekend. If I would have worked at an employer and minimum wage was $13 per hr, i would have made $195 working 15 hrs before taxes. In general, in this scenario i would make more as a DJ vs working at an employer.
At this point i realized on the importance of a high rate of return and how much i loved being my own boss.
My First Engineering Job
Back in 2016, i was an intern as a safety engineer at a manufacturing company in Paramount CA. Around graduation May 2017, my employer offered me a full time position and soon after they fired my boss in my department. I was doing safety for about a yr and i got pissed when they gave me a shitty review with no higher pay. I resigned and they offered me a position as a sales rep at the same company. I was there till March 2019. I resigned after they denied me a pay increase. A hard lesson i learned is that an employer pays you based off what the job is worth and not your value.
From that point on I made a decision to create a business and make it grow.
My Journey as an entrepreneur
In March 2019 is when i decided to take the side hustle of DJing and make it full time as a business. It was a lot of work to learn about marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Maintaining clients, new clients, Collecting reviews and maintaining a competitive advantage. Soon i realized these are the most important things when creating a business.
For my DJ business i currently have a competitive advantage on google and i rank for a few keywords on google. Before covid i would do between 3 to 10 events (me and 7 other djs) per weekend earning between $1K to $6K of profit.
In May 2019, i started my online business by selling products on amazon, ebay, etsy and various other omni-channels. This brand has lot of potential and work ahead.
In November 2019, i joined a financial services business and as of today I’m a financial advisor where i teach families on how to protect and grow their assets with investments and insurance. This industry is my true passion and in the process I’m creating a business out of it. As of right now i’m a Licensed Investment Advisor rep and yes i set up client investment portfolios. In this industry i’m expecting to make over $1 Mil per year in 10 years or less by creating a business. Now the average investment advisor rep if they are paid salary obtain about $75K per year. It only takes about 3 months to obtain your licenses so if your looking for a change for higher pay this could be an option.
