Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricky Hayes.
Ricky, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Since my High School years, I knew I wanted to have some sort of career in Music. The idea of a starving musician in a saturated LA market didn’t seem like my best option.
Never did I think I would be a Professional DJ/MC. At the time, I didn’t realize how I was developing all sorts of skills and experience that would lead me to this career.
Throughout College, I played Drums for various bands. All the while working my way from an Intern to an Office Manager and Tour Manager for a Record Label. After one Full U.S. tour, there came a decision-making point where I could either continue to take time off from school and tour the country managing a band or finish my last year and get my Bachelors Degree in Communication Studies from Cal State University Long Beach. I chose to finish school and got my degree. I was certain I was on my way to a great music industry job.
Then around 2010, as music went more and more digital, the record label I worked for downsized and I was out of a job. All through my undergrad, I worked at a Starbucks part-time. It was a great job and a great company. Now that I was looking to start a career and not sure where to look, I went back to Starbucks with the intention of a management job. It took some years but I began managing stores in the South Bay.
This is where I met the current owner of VOX DJs. KC Campbell was a regular at my store and I still remember his drink order. We hit it off well chatting about music and got to know each other better. Eventually, as musicians do, we decided to “jam” (in his living room). He was surprised to see I knew whichever song he through out there from Country to Hip Hop to Pop to Soul. This leads him to come to me one day and say, “you should come work for me as a DJ/MC.” I thought he was crazy as I had no background in this or at least I thought I had no background. He had seen my knowledge and passion for music and my day to day professionalism of managing a business.
I decided to start the DJ Academy with VOX DJs right away and quickly progressed. I put in hours of practice DJ’ing and becoming a more polished Emcee. Before long I was crushing Weddings and Private Parties on the weekend as a DJ/MC and crushing Lattes during the week. Fast forward about 2 years, I can see how VOX DJs is growing by the size of the team and the growth of events and equipment. I threw it out there to KC and his business partner Rob Corrall, if an opportunity came up where my expertise may be of use, I’d love to put my name in the hat. It was only about a week before VOX DJs asked me to start managing and overseeing their brand new operation in Orange County.
From there the work increased and I made the decision to take the plug and work full time for VOX DJs while leaving my solid Starbucks Store Manager career. From there, it’s been nothing but amazing things as I continued to grow within the management of VOX DJs and as a DJ/MC myself. I went from zero DJ/MC experience to now being 1 of 3 Partners who own and operate the company. I currently oversee nearly all Operations and am the instructor for the class that I first learned in. It’s been an amazing road and I look forward to where it leads.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
With the nature of a small business trying to grow, there have been many challenges.
While it’s great to see how your decisions you make can have a fast and vast impact on your business, it can be equally as scary if you feel it was a poor decision. The nature of our line of work is that it is a 1 chance serviced based job can add in extra stress. There are no second chances and it’s always “live.”
VOX DJs – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
VOX DJs specializes in providing DJ/MC’s, Photo Booths and Lighting/Production. We are best known for providing great DJ/MC’s that are Charismatic and Professional without being Cheesy or Overbearing. We always take it as the best compliment when other vendors or venues meet a new staff member at an event and say, “I know we haven’t worked together before but since you’re with VOX DJs, I know we’re in good hands.”
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career would either be when I DJ a wedding and the parents of the newlyweds tell me how special I made their kid’s wedding or seeing a DJ/MC that I have trained go out and get that same feedback from their client.
Pricing:
- DJ/MC’s: $600 – $2495
- Photo Booths: $545 – $795
Contact Info:
- Address: 2988 Columbia St, Torrance CA 90503
- Website: www.voxdjs.com
- Phone: 310 372 2222
- Email: info@voxdjs.com
- Instagram: @voxdjs
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/voxdjs
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/vox-djs-torrance-2
Image Credit:
Lin and Jirsa; Wisteria Photography
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