We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melvin Robinson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Melvin , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you manage your own social media?

I manage my own Social Media accounts for a couple different reasons. 1. I can get ideas of what people from all over the world are wanting to hear and seeing what their music tastes are without them having to do so when I’m in the middle of actually performing.
2. Personal touch, I have been able to create a relationship with people who I would have never been able to cross paths with.
3. Ownership/ Accountability. If something isnt working in regards to views or if I am not posting enough there isnt anyone I can blame but myself. I also like to be able to disconnect when I am posting because it’s when I can be someone other than myself.

Starting to post in general is key, with most things in life you may not be good at it from the beginning but over time with consistency you will see the growth and thats when it really gets good.

Melvin , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started DJing in College similar to a lot of the DJ friends that I have. My sophomore year of College I joined Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and with being a business major I knew one of the ways to gain popularity on campus was by gaining others attention. Music is one thing that for years has brought people together so the better of a DJ I became, The better I was at helping to promote events and awareness to different topics our organization felt important. I attended Lincoln University of Pennsylvania and I am thankful that where the school was located I was able to also drive 20-30 in either direction in be on other campuses that offered a diverse background of students. This allowed me to learn different genres of music which helps tremendously in the DJ world.

I now primarily DJ Weddings, Corporate Events and Large Sporting events. I am proud of each of these because they offer different key moments in someone’s life. If you look at a Wedding this is the day family and friends come together and get the opportunity to celebrate love. Corporate events are companies giving back to their employees and taking a moment to say Thank You for the hard work they have done. Sporting events are huge because when someone works hard all week and spends their money to go see their favorite team play, they want to leave all worries beyond and being able to create the soundtrack for those moments are what keeps me motivated in this space.

My biggest moments to date are DJing for the Baltimore Orioles/ Ravens, Opening for Boyz II Men R&B group, and every single wedding from 50 guests to 300 guests. Each one allows me to showcase a different skill set and im very thankful for that.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was an Insurance Agent prior to my DJ Career. The early years of Insurance are a grind that unfortunately I didn’t have the time to fulfill. I am father of 2 girls and I noticed I was spending too much time of late phone calls and taking away from key family time. So I had to pivot and really dive into the Social Media world and learning ways to make sales faster and easier. One thing I did was set up a Patreon account where I could create content in bulk and then post online. Customers could go and subscribe to hear mixes and individual edits that I was working on. This allowed me to have more family time because if someone reached out for a download or wanting a mix it takes seconds to send over a link compared too needing to individually send out every edit someone was looking for. Also, with social media as your pages grow you get the opportunity to partner with Brands and companies in your field which lead to higher pay for work which means the smaller events you can pick and choose if you do them instead of in the past just taking every event possible to make sure ends were meeting.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I raised my capital by always putting at least a percentage of pay to the side from my beginning jobs. Out of college I started working for Enterprise Rent A Car and I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do forever but I knew that while I was there gaining the experience needed for running my own business, If I kept putting money to the side I would eventually have capital saved and find the career that was right for me. I started small with putting 5% of each paycheck away then by the time was ready I was saving 13% of paychecks. I didn’t start with a large sum day one, I saved up $20,000 but the skills I learned from Enterprise and also selling insurance gave me the confidence to take the leap with my DJ career.

Contact Info:

• Website: PartywithMaybach.com
• Instagram: DJMaybach9
• Facebook: DJMaybach9
• Youtube: DJMaybach9

Image Credits
Markell Robinson Lydia Joy Alex Palomo Will Clarke