May 8, 2017

Meet Duerell Jones of DJ D. Jones in Loop

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Duerell Jones.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Duerell. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My love for DJing began at my high school radio station. Prior to graduating high school, I interned at a local radio station known as (WEJM 106 Jamz). After high school, I sharpened my radio DJ skills at Kennedy King College & Lewis University. After a brief internship at MCA Records, I spent 7 years of working full time in a marketing and promotional capacity for Indy labels in Chicago and founded my own event coordinating/artist booking service known as D. Jones Productions Inc., I left the music scene to pursue a different career and in 2008 I returned to my true passion for working in music as a professional DJ.

I originally began my DJ Career with the primary focus of providing DJ services within the night life industry. My brand has grown into a well-reviewed and highly recommended boutique DJ agency that primarily serves upscale private, corporate and wedding clients. My company books an average of 157 events each year, has over 31 corporate clients and 5 contracted employees.

I personally play an average of 125 events each year (127 in 2016) for a diverse group of distinguished private clients and international companies like Boeing, Puma, Live Nation and Ecko Clothing. In 2015 I was hired by Live Nation to DJ pre-concert VIP parties for the legendary Madonna, Maroon 5 and One Direction. In 2016 my brand Weddings by D. Jones was ranked as one of the top 10 wedding DJ services in Chicago by Expertise.com along with that distinct honor, I also ranked in the top 5% of Wedding Wire Wedding DJs.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Owning and operating a professional DJ service is so much more than just showing up and playing music. The biggest hurdle in the beginning was finding a way to differentiate myself from other DJs. I’ve always taken the business approach with my DJ brand so it was only natural to search for a niche and fill a void.

But how do you find a part of the market that is being ignored? It takes time, research and trial and error. No matter what industry you are in, you have to look at your market as a whole and see what most of your peers are focusing their attention on. The answer to being successful is not found by also focusing your attention on where everyone else is, it is found by focusing on what they are not focusing on. I realized that there were plenty of DJs, but no one was effectively serving the private upscale market with solid club worthy DJ skills and professional service. In this business is usually one or the other, rarely do you get both.

To find my niche, it took nearly 3 years of trial and error and various marketing approaches. Never give up and don’t forget to look, where others are not looking.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about DJ D. Jones – what should we know?
D. Jones Productions LLC is a boutique DJ service that specializes in offering a true bespoke DJ experience to discerning clients. We specialize in upscale weddings, corporate and private events.

As a business owner with hundreds of clients, I pride myself in knowing that I actually spend time getting to know each client as a person. This helps me to better understand the music they love and what their guests will enjoy as well.

I am always available to my clients, rather it’s via phone, text or email. I don’t believe in office hours, I believe that DJing is a part of my life and lifestyle and fully offering myself to my clients is what sets me apart from others.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My family has been the greatest source of my motivation. They are the ones who lived with all of the loud, not so great mixing in the middle of the night when I was just getting started and practicing. My wife encouraged me to take the next step with obtaining my first office space that was in Naperville. That was a huge jump and it was a smart one. Not to mention, it ended all of the loud random practice sessions.

There are so many DJs over the years that have unknowingly been motivators through sharing their own successes. I believe that we all should inspire each other by sharing and documenting.

Sally Schwartz who is the owner of the Randolph street market was one of my first commercial clients and she was kind of enough to offer me a chance to be a part of her awesome platform. The Randolph Market is where I literally crafted my signature upscale open format sound and style that I am best known for. I’ve playing the market since 2012 and I have Sally to thank for that.

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