Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alex Updike. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Alex, thanks for joining us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

The first “client” I ever had was a small film festival in the Palm Springs area. At the time, I was doing quite a bit of acting and had just started learning how to DJ. I volunteered at this film festival hoping it would help me network within the film industry to help my acting “career” – a word I use VERY lightly. The gentleman overseeing the volunteers, whose name I unfortunately do not remember, took a liking to me. I asked him about doing some music for the event and, for some reason, he allowed me to DJ in the lobby before the screening of one of the short films. It wasn’t a paid gig, but it was my first public appearance and, at this appearance, a local DJ duo saw me, liked what they heard, and brought me on as a part of their “crew” who would go around the Coachella Valley and play at a lot of the small, local bars. I ended up playing with them for a while and that was how I really got my feet wet DJing.

My first wedding didn’t come until a little later (after the film festival gig). The bride was actually the friend of a friend and was willing to be my first wedding. I showed up, played, and the rest is history!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Alex Updike and I run Bass & Bliss, a wedding and event DJ company based out of Palm Springs, CA. I got into DJing basically by accident. I was a college graduate, sitting at my parents living room table, with a degree, no job, and not much of an idea of what I wanted to do with my life. I came across DJing purely by chance and had two main thoughts. One, as a guy in his mid-20s, was that girls were really going to dig this. That part ended up being very wrong. The second thought was a bit more mature in that I quickly realized that DJing was a profession that had a low overhead to get started but fairly high earning potential. I literally bought an online “learn how to DJ” course, taught myself through that, and just had the nerve to put myself out there and get started playing music in front of people. I started out in the public scene, playing little bar gigs around the Palm Springs area, but eventually worked my way into the private sector where I started doing mainly weddings. That’s when everything began to snowball. As I did more and more weddings, and got more and more positive reviews, things naturally grew until I was able to DJ full-time. Eventually I was able to bring on a second DJ to take gigs that I wasn’t able to and from there, Bass & Bliss was born.

Me, as an individual, and Bass & Bliss, as a company, do mainly weddings and corporate events, but we also provide music for smaller parties such as birthdays, anniversaries, and bachelorette parties. I think one of the best things we do, as a company, is provide clients an alternative to the corny, stereotypical wedding DJ. Wedding DJs in particular have a really negative stigma to some people, and it’s our job to show them we are definitely NOT that, and then provide them the entertainment they want. Our DJs actually mix songs during your dance floor (as opposed to just fading in and fading out) and if you don’t want to hear the Cupid Shuffle or Uptown Funk at your wedding because you’ve heard it at the 150 other weddings you’ve attended, then that’s OK. We aren’t showing up with a pre-determined “wedding playlist” that you just have to hope you like!

Corporate clients are a little bit different, in that they mainly want professionalism and communication, two things that DJs aren’t always known for. But as a company, we strive to simply make things EASY for them. Some of these corporate events have a ton of moving parts, and they don’t want to have to worry about if the DJ is going to show up on time and know what’s going on. We strive to provide a level of professionalism that allows corporate clients to receive exactly what they need with as little headache as possible.

Right now, as a company we are approaching weddings in a unique way with our “openers” and “headliners.” Essentially, when you hire “Bass & Bliss” for your wedding, you are getting a team. The “opener” DJ takes care of the logistical work and runs the sound for the ceremony, as well as providing the background music for cocktail hour and dinner, while also making any necessary announcements (i.e. first dance, grand entrance, etc). Then, a “headliner” DJ comes in just for the dance floor. This allows me to offer our clients unique DJs with really cool resumes who don’t necessarily want to DJ the entirety of a wedding from beginning to end. It also allows our DJs to concentrate on a smaller set of skills – the “openers” get to concentrate on the logistics, providing good sound during the ceremony, and providing atmosphere for the cocktail hour and dinner, while the “headliners” get to come in and create an epic dance party to end the night.

We have a wonderful website (www.bassandbliss.com) and I highly suggest checking it out if you want to know more!

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The #1 way that we get new clients is through referrals – whether it is the referral of a former client, a referral from a planner or other professional in the industry, or a referral from the venue the couple is getting married at. It is imperative, especially in the wedding industry, to put your best foot forward for the other professionals you work with because they can be huge referral sources for you. The wedding industry is small, so your reputation amongst other professionals and the venues we all work at is very important and go go a long way in helping your business grow.

I am extremely thankful for the wonderful relationships I’ve been able to build with my clients, other professionals in the industry, and the venues themselves that host some incredibly beautiful celebrations. Without them, Bass & Bliss would not exist!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Building a reputation can be a tricky thing, because I think sometimes we don’t fully realize what goes into our “reputation”. Yes, I was able to build a reputation through providing a good product that clients really enjoyed, but just as important as that was the professionalism I showed through that as well. Most people in business can think of someone in their field who is talented but still doesn’t have the best reputation, either publicly or just in their own minds, because of their professionalism. Maybe they don’t show up to gigs on time; maybe they don’t communicate with clients well; maybe their social media presence is unprofessional. There are a myriad of ways to screw up your professional reputation that can cost you business.

So I think a big reason why I was able to build my reputation within the market, to the point where I was able to expand beyond myself and become “Bass & Bliss”, was due to my professionalism. As a younger DJ, I was told by a planner that “the couple isn’t your client – the planner and the venue are” and I’ve always kept that with me. I try to show as much professionalism as I can to the people I work WITH (and not just FOR) so that they will want to work with me or my company again in the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bassandbliss.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bass_and_bliss/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bassandbliss
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORwaPkbe-q9qhQK9wAT2gA
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bass-and-bliss-palm-springs-2
• Other: Google Listing: https://goo.gl/maps/UygUYpA7Lh92RXr6A

Image Credits
Ryan Horban Morgan Powell Ashley LaPrade ITM Productions Photography by Beloved Brittanee Taylor Cassidy Skye