Meet Danny Aon of Aon Events in San Marcos

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danny Aon.

Danny, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I have been involved with music basically for as long as I can remember. I started playing drums in the school band in 7th grade and continued with that all through high school. After graduating high school, I moved to L.A. to attend Musicians Institute in Hollywood for a year to focus on drums as well as guitar and bass. Once I finished at M.I., I spent about ten years playing in the L.A. circuit. I had some success as a musician, as I got to travel around the country several times with some popular bands, had a few songs I helped write placed in a couple of movies, and received several sponsorships/endorsements from some of the big instrument companies. However, after ten years of that lifestyle, I was looking for something new that didn’t involve traveling, or depending on other people as much (musicians can be difficult!). One of the roadies we had suggested I get into DJing (as that seemed to be blowing up at the time) and I love all genres of music. Over the next few years, I started getting connected in the club world as a DJ (even though it did take me a few years to become a good DJ).

In 2013, my wife and I decided to move to San Diego, and once moving down here I thought it was a good time to start my own mobile DJ business. Like most things in life, it wasn’t the easiest the first couple of years, but I’ve always held on to the belief that if you provide great services, eventually people will take notice. I focused on continually improving and providing the best services I could, and I would say that around 2015 things started picking up. From that time on, I have been able to maintain a busy schedule, with club and bar gigs during the week and weddings and private events every weekend. I also partner and work with several of the bigger entertainment companies in the city, which also helps keep my calendar full. My business has also been able to add a couple of other great DJs to our roster (as some weeks we have an overflow of events), and I also started a Photo Booth business as well (which has been become quite popular and has been a lot of fun). I feel grateful to be working in an industry that I enjoy and in a city, I love, as well as being able to help create wonderful memories for so many people.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think that with any kind of gig based work, it’s always a challenge to get booked and to close clients. In the mobile events world, there is a lot of competition, and often the people booking us aren’t especially experienced or knowledgable in audio/sound/lighting/event planning, so they often can’t tell how our services are better (or provide better value) than some of our competitors. At first, my biggest challenge was that other mobile DJ businesses could ‘outmarket’ me with their much bigger marketing budgets. They could afford front page online advertising, better promotional materials, and the best booths at event showcases, so it was really difficult to compete. Eventually, though I built up a good reputation in the city and with event planners, and started getting a lot of personal referrals which helped. As the business grew, we could afford to put a bit more into marketing and advertising. So I would say that effectively communicating with clients is probably the biggest challenge we face.

Please tell us about your business.
My business provides mobile DJ services, sound, lighting, live sound, emcees, video projection, and open air photo booths for events of all sizes. In addition to DJ and photo booth services (which is the core of the business), we provide live sound/sound reinforcement for small to mid size open air events, as well as lighting setups (wireless uplighting, ambient lighting, corporate monograms, etc) for larger corporate events and military balls. What separates our company from much of the competition, is that we provide the ‘best of both worlds’ to our clients; club trained DJs who are also excellent emcees and have years of experience in the events world (weddings, private events, and corporate events). For a lot of years, customers would often have to choose which they wanted – an actual DJ who might be lost at an event and barely spoke, or an events DJ/host who was great at events but didn’t have much in the way of actual DJ skills. In the last few years though, I feel there are more crossover type DJs and DJ businesses (as clients are learning more about the industry and have higher expectations), and that’s the space we occupy. As for what I’m most proud of as a company, I would say it’s that we are a part of creating wonderful moments in time for clients and their guests.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I would say that for me, I would define success as reaching the point in life where one can be recognized for doing something they would be doing even if there wasn’t a financial opportunity from it. In my free time, even after a busy week of DJing, I still head straight over to my turntables to practice and work on mixes, so I think the fact that I have a business built around that is something I appreciate. Also as someone who loves audio equipment and technology, getting to the point where you can invest in new gear each year for the business (and write it off for taxes!) is a great place to be.

Contact Info:

• Address: 714 Holzapple Lane #142, San Marcos, CA 92069
• Website: www.aonevents.net
• Phone: 818.277.7642
• Email: dannyaon@aonevents.net
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/aonevents
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/aonevents
• Yelp: www.yelp.com/aonevents

Image Credit:
True Photography

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