We were lucky to catch up with John Collazo recently and have shared our conversation below.

John , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

When I began working wedding events I quickly realized that most vendors didn’t genuinely care about their couples. I noticed that vendors were more concerned about the business transaction rather than making a genuine and true connection with their couples. For example, competing DJ companies were all charging hourly rates, setup fees, travel fees, and all these other extra fees that quickly add up just to DJ the Wedding. I heard many stories of DJs taking advantage of couples and going as far as “canceling” on the couple last minute because they didn’t pay the extra “hour” or “setup fee”. I mean, I get it. Business is business and we all need to get paid adequately for what we feel we are worth. However, the DJ culture in the wedding industry is very grey and DJs will take advantage of couples and surprise them with all these extra fees close to their wedding day. The couple then has little to no choice on paying those fees. The last thing they want is for their DJ to bail last minute and risk not having entertainment for their special day. When I found out this was happening in our industry I came up with a brilliant solution. Be transparent with all couples and offer an “All-Inclusive, No Hourly Charge, No Time Limit” package per on day event. There is absolutely no reason why couples should have to pay an hourly rate and setup/tear down fees for a Wedding DJ who will already be at the event the entire day. I always have felt that setup & tear down is a part of the performance and should be included in your performance fee. Furthermore, I noticed that most DJs were mundane in interacting with wedding guests and would refuse to take song requests etc. I then flipped that and have made it mandatory for all of the DJs in our collective to connect with their couples and their guests during the Wedding and hop out of the DJ booth to really make an impression. In regards to song requests and music selection, we leave this all up to our couples. We provide them with a profile on a state of the art app we use called Vibo DJ. The app seamlessly connects with Spotify, Apple Music and other music platforms which makes it easy for the couple, friends and family to all make requests and collaborate together on the music planing process. Overall, we strive to put our couples first and make their day all about them without breaking the bank.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I always dreamed of being a professional DJ. I grew up in the electronic music scene and spent most of my 20’s spinning records in nightclubs and raves around Southern California.

Naturally soon to be married couples partying at the club would spot me post DJ set and ask if I would be willing to DJ their Wedding. Honored and much obliged, I would always agree to do it if the date was available and if the vibe was right.

Before I knew it, I began performing multiple weddings a month. I was incredibly preoccupied and weddings quickly took precedence over my nightlife gigs. My calendar was jam packed with more weddings than I could handle on my own. So I thought to myself, “If I can do this so can my other DJ colleagues in the Nightlife”. I then began reaching out to all of my closest colleagues in the industry asking if they would be willing and available to DJ Weddings. Some of them were on board. The others were skeptical. At the beginning. I was able to recruit two of them and began taking on Wedding gigs under the brand ” The Wedding Entertainment Collective”. Fast-forward to present day, we are now a collective of the top 5 Wedding DJ companies in Southern California.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met my partner Dax in the Nightlife Industry back in 2015. He was a resident DJ of a rave club called “Somewhere Loud” which was located in downtown San Diego and Dax would perform there regularly. One night in 2015 I was invited to perform at Somewhere Loud with some of my DJ buddies from “ZDM” which was the electronic music segment on popular radio station Jammin Z90 in San Diego. The club featured a large green room where all of us DJs would congregate and prep before our gigs. It was in that green room where I met Dax. We hit it off and quickly became friends. He began performing at the clubs and shows I was performing at and naturally we remained close throughout the years even when I was no longer DJing in the clubs.

After COVID struck in 2020, the nightlife industry was not doing so well. Dax knew that I had been doing very well with my wedding business before covid. He reached out and asked how the weddings were going and I told him the truth that business was booming pre-covid but now that everything is shut down weddings were not doing so well. However, I knew in my heart that Weddings were coming back in full-force once the strict mandates for COVID were lifted and I was going to need extra help and a “partner” I could truly rely on to help manage DJ’s and day to day operations. Dax agreed to “See if he likes it” and agreed to help me. In less than 2 years, I promoted Dax to CEO and made him co-owner of The Wedding Entertainment Collective after his proven success in his role.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When COVID struck in 2020 the entire entertainment industry collapsed. Everyone in entertainment was prohibited from working and making money. It was a very trying and stressful time for all business owners. It was especially difficult for Wedding business owners because we all get paid deposits in advance for future services. When couples realized they were being prohibited by the government from having their wedding, they began reaching out to all of their vendors and venues asking for refunds for services rendered. Naturally, the couples began reaching out to me demanding a refund since we could no longer provide services for their Wedding due to the strict government mandates. Were talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in deposits I would have to refund in order to “make things right” for the couple and for them not to take to “Yelp” or “Google” with negative reviews. I protect my company and it’s reputation to the best degree possible and I like to uphold that standard no matter what circumstance. When I found out that venues and other vendors were refusing to give a “refund” to the couples we had DJ contracts with, I took it upon myself to apply for a huge loan and refunded every single couple their full deposit. Yes, that’s correct! I personally refunded over 100 couples their deposits and set me back hundreds of thousands of dollars.

However, I am a firm believer that when you do what is right and you do right by everyone, it comes back to you and multiplies. I put my couples first before mine or my families needs and it paid off! They told all of their friends and all of their families about me and business came back booming once it was legal to have weddings again! If I had not refunded all of the couples I would have never been able to bounce back, bring on my partner Dax nor would I still be in this business today. You have to fight the good fight no matter what comes at you and always put your clients needs first before your own and you will always be successful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theweddingentertainment.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theweddingentertainment/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/djjohncollazo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-collazo-6724579b/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-wedding-entertainment-collective-san-diego
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/djjohncollazo