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In 1991 I graduated
from Southern Methodist University Law School and went to work for a
small firm in Dallas. Business was slow and I could tell that the firm
was going to be out of business soon. There was no market for attorneys
at the time, and therefore no jobs. I needed to protect my future. I had
been involved in music and theater from the age of five and had the
opportunity to buy a karaoke business for $2500. I decided to make the
investment, hired a partner, and began booking shows. By the time the
law firm went out of business I was busy working 90 hours per week,
practicing law by day and DJ'ing by night. Thus, Little Sister
Productions was born.
I'll never forget
my first show. I was out of town on vacation and received a telephone
call that a club in Arlington needed a DJ for the night. I raced back
home, loaded up my car and arrived at the club just in time to set up
and start the show. Unfortunately, I didn't have stage monitors so that
the singers could hear themselves sing. I ran out to my car, ripped the
car speakers out of the back dash, and hard-wired them to the system. It
worked, although it wasn't very pretty.
When the law firm
went out of business I concentrated my efforts on Little Sister
Productions and began my own law firm on the side. Once again, I was a
lawyer by day, and DJ by night. Today, Little Sister Productions has
become a $100,000 business and the law practice has boomed into a
thriving family law firm. Nothing remains of the original karaoke system
with the exception of the laser discs. Sadly, even the car speakers are
gone. The first three years in business I lived in a one-bedroom
efficiency apartment, reinvesting most of my earnings into the karaoke
business, replacing speakers, amplifiers, microphones, and adding the
little extras that make incredible differences in the sound. I carefully
watched other DJ's work, spent a great deal of time at the music stores,
learning about different equipment. As each problem presented itself, I
discovered new ways to solve it. I determined that I couldn't stand the
sound of singers yelling over the microphones, so I bought a limiter, a
piece of equipment that automatically decreases the decibels when the
singer is too loud, and increases the volume when they are too quiet. I
discovered that I preferred to run more than one sound effect on the
singer's voice at once, so I purchased two sound effects units and
learned to combine them effectively for the sound that I desired. I
realized that visual effects were important as well, so I purchased and
learned to run a lighting system. This all became so much fun that I
purchased two more systems.
The growth of the
business took me from a 1994 4 door Subaru, to a Chevrolet Blazer, and
finally to a 5 x 8 trailer to haul the equipment. When my apartment
would no longer hold the equipment, I moved into a house.
Not too long ago, a
friend asked me what I did for fun in my spare time. I first told my
friend that I didn't have time for fun, that I worked too hard. Then I
realized that I was one of the lucky ones. I get paid for having fun.
And, in the end, isn't that what life is about? It certainly is for me
and for Little Sister Productions. |
