Karaoke Forums

It's a business for me. I do gigs to make money.

Now I do love to sing. The hobby part of Karaoke is in my basement with friends over. I wouldn't haul my gear all over three states and waste my weekends for a money losing "Hobby".

When I started out, I made the mistake of trying to run a business as a hobby. All i really wanted was to make enough to pay the costs of buying the equipment I wanted, repairs etc and for the gas to put in the vehicle I used. In other words, I wanted a way to pay for my karaoke addiction.

unfortunately for me, I found out I am not cut out to run a business and ended up with a bunch of debt that I am still trying to pay off.

-James

Well, when I started it was a second job for fun and money. Fast forward 3 years later and I now have two full time jobs. Our little venture has turned into a business and we have branched out into dj'ing, corporate events, weddings, live trivia, auctioneering, etc.

I enjoy it more now then when we began because I have people to help me now. I thought I could handle all these gigs myself when we started and quickly became burned out. We now have 2 emcees for trivia and 3 hosts for karaoke and dj work. Trusting others has always been an issue with me, so letting go of the reins has been a work in progress.

I think adding other options to our business has not only broadened my horizons but also made me like karaoke again. Time for another gig, oh well

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Sound Choice and Chartbuster Certified

This is all sounding awfully familiar, but I'll chip in my similar story anyway -- entertainment company brought me on for two shows a week after the boss enjoyed my "singing bartender" shtick on karaoke night at my old job. I kept working menial day jobs after my bartending gig went under, still averaging a night or two a week with the karaoke.

As it turns out, my karaoke boss wasn't the greatest business man in the world. He tried getting me to take pennies for my shows so he could make more money, and his exceptionally abrasive personality got me terminated from potentially lucrative gigs. As fate would have it, however, the company I was working for originally splintered off from a larger company. The owner of the parent company took a shine to me and negotiated with my boss for a trade -- all of a sudden, I was working better venues more often, and my minimum wage day job seemed unnecessary, so I ditched it. The private parties and weddings started to roll in, and now I get 1-2 nights off a week at most, between parties, regular gigs, and things like trivia and open mic nights.

So it's a business, but it's not MY business. I'm in talks to take over for my boss when he leaves the karaoke game. He's vowed that he's gonna call it quits by 51, which is about this time next year. Figure it's time to crap or get off the pot, career-wise (28 and married, no kids), so I'm thinking of buying the company and keeping his handful of other KJs on. At which point look for me on here begging for guidance.