We were lucky to catch up with DJ Rousseau recently and have shared our conversation below.

DJ, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

While working at my full-time job, a friend got me into DJing for weddings. That Wedding DJ opportunity led to DJing for private events, fundraisers and other functions. As my DJing events started to pick up when working for him and another DJing company, I started to acquire my own gear and consider going to work for myself.

All the while, I had been making cakes for my kids’ birthdays for the past several years since they were born. As social media started to expand, I began posting photos of my cakes to share with family and friends. My cakes began to gain popularity and I started receiving cake orders.

I decided that if I were to start up my own small business, I would combine the two skills under one business model. To do that, I knew I would need a catchy name. I wanted something whimsical but not too cheesy. I honestly cannot recall if I had brainstormed several ideas before settling on the name I had chosen: Mix It Up!

I thought Mix It UP! would be perfect. I mix music and I mix cake batter, so why not? However, it wasn’t that simple. I was sure that I was not the first person to think of the name Mix It Up when it comes to DJing alone. So, I did some research on the web and in my home state’s small business licensing name search. I realized I could keep the core of Mix It Up! as long as I was a little more specific. I decided on expanding it just a bit more and chose: Mix It Up! DJ and Cake Service. Still simple. Easily recognizable. Catchy.

But a successful business is not just a name, you also need to have a logo that is equally eye-catching and memorable. I wanted my brand to give equal regard to both services. I had done some drawing and sketching back in my high school days and put together a bunch of concepts. One was a baker carrying a cake in one hand, while wearing headphones and listening to a cassette player held in his other hand. Although a cute idea, it was still a bit busy. I was afraid people might lose sight of the main concept of my business.

However, as part of that sketch, I focused on his chef hat and headphones. That part of the original sketch stood out for me and I expanded on that. I blew up that part of the image and refined it, as well as pairing it down to just the chef had and headphones. I chose not to draw in a head and face. I was confident I had my brand. I took my final draft and sent it down to my brother who was familiar with graphic design work. He took my pencil drawing and cleaned it up on his computer, put Mix It Up! into a playful, but not tacky, font and sent it back.

My business was born.

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?

I was a firefighter by trade. I am also a retired military firefighter. One day I was working at my military job entering data into the computer and listening to my iPhone randomly play music for background noise. One of my co-workers in the office was listening to my music and asked if I had ever thought of DJing.

I had told him I had made mixed cassette tapes back in the day, and had always been interested in being a DJ but wouldn’t know where to start, then asked him why? He said that my playlist was expansive and covered multiple genres and generations. He added that often, people tend to have only a couple genres and a handful of artists they listen to. He felt my choice in music would pair well with being a DJ.

He then mentioned that he owned his own DJ company and he had a backup set of gear I could use. He even said that he had a wedding that he would pay me to do! After several minutes of discussion he had me convinced. The next day he brought in his controller and a speaker for me to start practicing my new craft. Within a month I was comfortable loading up songs, transitioning back and forth, setting up the system and getting down the flow of the wedding timeline. Soon after, I performed at the wedding and it was great! I was hooked and eager for the next wedding.

But DJing is just one half of my business story. I also make cakes.

Baking cakes started 21 years ago when I made our daughter’s first birthday cake. It was a Blue’s Clues cake that I made with a $14 character-shaped I used just that once. Every year thereafter I continued to make her birthday cakes, as well as her brothers’ cakes after they came along. Each cake was unique to each of our children based on what they were into at that particular time. I’ve made cakes in the shape of cars, their favorite toy, a favorite cartoon character, and so much more. I have also made their school graduation cakes.

Since I started making cakes when social media was in its infancy, I took photos of their cakes for my wife’s scrapbooking. Then, as social media grew, I started posting our photos to Facebook and eventually Instagram and finally my website. I would get many positive comments as well as friends and family asking if I could make something for them, whether it was for their birthday, a graduation, a job promotion, retirement, anniversary and any excuse for a cake, basically.

It was when another coworker asked me to make their daughter’s wedding cake that I knew I needed to step up my game. I was nervous and was upfront with them that I had not done a wedding cake yet. They did not waiver and were confident I was their baker. Their daughters wedding came and I was both their Wedding DJ and the Wedding Cake Baker! Both went perfectly. It was official. I was now working under my own brand: Mix It Up! DJ and Cake Service.

Since that wedding, I have expanded my craft learning new types of frosting, fillings, decorating styles, and cake recipes, as well as adding cupcakes in addition to just wedding cakes. I have also upgraded my DJ controller, speakers, lighting, and facade. I have added uplighting, new wireless microphones, and battery-powered speakers for remote ceremonies that don’t have a power source. I have also been mindful of what other wedding professionals do at weddings and what they look for so that I can work with them seamlessly and make the wedding flow smoothly with no hiccups.

Regardless of whether I am working a wedding, a birthday party, private event or fundraiser I do my best to make every event and transaction stress-free, straight forward and simple. I do not believe in hidden agendas and fees. I try to educate customers on the services I offer, and give my professional and objective recommendations where necessary. Ultimately the final decision belongs the customer. I want the client to be happy, even if they decide that my services are not the best fit for them and they choose to go with another company for their event. Fairness, courtesy and respect are the key values behind what I do. It’s what any business should offer their customers. Quality work and good customer service at a fair price.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word of mouth.

I hear throughout social media all the time “You only live once” and “You shouldn’t worry about what other people think of you”. I disagree to some extent. Yes, everyone has their opinions and many are not experts in our respective career fields. Furthermore, most people have no idea what goes on behind the scenes to provide the services they require regardless what industry you work in. I also understand that you cannot please everyone all the time. However, word of mouth has been my strongest advertisement.

I have never promoted myself as “the best” or that I am an “expert”. There are amazing bakers and DJs out there that produce incredible works of art. What I do promise my customers is that I will do my best to give them a wonderful experience and work with them so they have an stress-free event. This working relationship and being honest with customers has resulted in fabulous weddings, cakes and events that have received five-star reviews and wonderful comments shared on their personal social media pages, as well as my business social media pages.

When new potential customers are looking for a cake or Wedding DJ, or someone is having a fundraising event and wants music played, where do they typically go first? Their friends and family. Then they go to social media: “ISO Recommendations .. Go!”. Why? It’s simple. It’s easy. It’s free. For Wedding DJs and Wedding Cakes, others will go to various wedding-related pages like The Knot and WeddingWire to find services in the area they are getting married, then read those reviews. Word of mouth.

Reviews and feedback comments do not have to be super detailed or longwinded. They can be short and to the point. As long as the comments are positive and highlight key points, new clients will see that. “Best ever!” “Highly Recommend!” “Would do it all over again!” “Will definitely be ordering another cake from him again!” “Best decision I have made” These are powerful selling points that can give you the edge in a competitive field.

On the contrary, negative comments can hurt, too. What’s important to keep in mind is, are the negative comments deserving? It’s also important to ask yourself, who is making the negative comment? In other words, weigh the negativity. Furthermore, unfavorable comments are not always career-ending. Some less than positive feedback can point out areas for improvement, such as revealing that you need to upgrade your speakers, buy a wireless microphone to replace your wired mic, or make a frosting that is no too sweet. Fortunately, I did not receive any of these negative comments on my feedback forums, but just wanted to give your readers some examples.

One last noteworthy point about word of mouth, in case you missed it earlier, it’s free.

I often look at other means of advertising and being a small business owner, the first thing I consider is cost. The next thing I question is what is the audience I am trying to reach? The difficulty for me is my potential client list can vary from anyone wanting a cake to just wedding couples or corporations looking to throw a larger party requiring music and a master of ceremonies. I could easily spend thousands of dollars each year hoping to gain a few extra customers, but is that really worth it? Does it meet my needs to sustain my current workload or to grow my company. Only you can answer those questions for your company. I pay for a website, I have a subscription to a wedding-specific organization that lists my company and I had some T-shirts made up with my brand on them. Of all those variations of advertising, word of mouth is still the most effective tool that has boosted my business.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I died.

There is a cliche “You never know what tomorrow will bring.” I am here to tell you, that is so true.

Four years ago my family and I had returned from a week’s vacation. It was a great time; certainly one for the books and lots of photos of smiling faces to prove it. The day after we got back I had gotten up early to unload our van, do the laundry and put away all of our stuff from the vacation. The next day I was scheduled to work and I didn’t want to leave everything for my wife and kids to have to do. I worked as a career firefighter and I would have been gone for my 24-hour shift.

Later that evening, after everything was taken care of, I was relaxing on the couch and watching the movie Zookeeper. Without warning, I started feeling what can only be described as lightheaded, but it escalated quickly. I vividly recall telling myself, “this isn’t good” before I blacked out. The next thing I remember is waking up on our living room floor to firefighters and paramedics working on me. Although I was alert to what was going on, I was still having trouble breathing, with every breath feeling like I needed to forcefully blow air outward when I exhaled.

I knew I had just experienced a cardiac arrest. As a career firefighter, I had been on the other side of that fence for 20 years. I had been the one to perform CPR, operate the defibrillator and provide oxygen for someone in that same situation. More often than not, the outcome was not good. I have had far more negative outcomes than I have had saves during my career, and had to tell family members that we had done everything we could do, but their family member has died.

Now, I was the one on the floor with oxygen on my face and an IV in my arm. I remember the vast majority of that evening with the exception of the time while I was blacked out, which was apparently less than 10 minutes. All I know is it was black and there was no sound. Nothing.

Afterward, I was loaded into the ambulance and brought to the hospital for further treatment. I will spare you the rest of the details, but just know that I was airlifted to an intensive cardiac center where I received excellent care. While there, I received a variety of visitors, many of which were my fellow firefighters and firefighters from neighboring departments. The thought on everyone’s mind, after asking if I was ok, was “Are you coming back to work?”

If I had any say in it, that was my plan: to return to the job. I was a Lieutenant of a Ladder Company with 21 years of service. I wanted to finish out my career and already had future plans to apply to another department after I retired. However, my Fire Chief was concerned about my condition and worried about a repeat event, especially while on an emergency scene, particularly in a structure fire.

This was the job and lifestyle I knew. This was an important part of our family’s income. If I was not able to return, what did that mean for all of us? So, for the next several months I researched limitations of my job and any possible restrictions within our contract with the city in which I worked. Having found no restrictions and limitations listed, I was on track to go back to work. Unfortunately, as my return to work deadline approached, I was unable to obtain medical clearance from my cardiologist nor our city’s medical doctor. My life as a firefighter was over.

It’s one thing to reach the end of your career and choose to leave when you are ready. It’s another to have that choice taken out of your hands. I had not prepared for that. I was at the end of my vacation and getting ready to go back on shift. Now, without warning, I was done. I would never put on my fire gear again. I was also use to being gone every third day for our 24-hours shifts. Now I was always home. At first, I would kid with my coworkers that I was just trying to extend my vacation. That was a nice way to joke it off for awhile until I worked through that stage of denial and moved onto acceptance.

These past four years have been full of adjustments, both good and frustrating. Being home I was around more often to get our kids to school. I would no longer miss my kids’ sporting events or extracurricular activities. I became the primary person to stay caught up on laundry and cook family dinners. Yet, each time I heard the local fire trucks responding to a call I would be reminded that I was no longer part of that life.

One other major shift in my lifestyle was in my part as Wrestling Coach. Before my Sudden Cardiac Arrest I was on the mat during wrestling season and working closely with each of our wrestlers. At times, I was pushing them to their limits while I still had energy to keep going. I was able to challenge them to push-up contests as a way of encouraging them to try harder. That has all changed. My fitness level has taken a significant impact. My energy level will no longer what it used to be. I can no longer challenge them to a push-up contest as that movement could cause issues with the electrical cable between my internal defibrillator in my shoulder and my heart.

Instead, I still coach, but do not grapple with our athletes as much anymore. I can still demonstrate techniques, but will ask experienced wrestlers to step up for some moves that are more difficult for me. I still feel guilty as I ask our wrestlers to do various exercises while I stand by and watch. I never wanted to be that type of coach: Do as I say, not as I do. I know that is not what I am doing, but it is hard not to feel that way. Four years later and I am still working on that emotion. What keeps me level is knowing things could have been much worse. Besides the obvious of no longer living, I could have other deficits, both physical and mental. I consider myself fortunate and am thankful to all those that allowed me to still be alive today.

You can’t give up. You’ve got to keep going and not take what you have for granted.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mixitupdjncakes.com
• Instagram: mixitupdjncakes

Image Credits
DJ Rousseau