Today we’d like to introduce you to Bob Marx.
Hi Bob, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Growing up I always enjoyed both listening to and playing music. I was in the high school band (played Saxophone). I grew up listening to tunes from the 1960’s and 70’s through my transistor radio, and thought that those DJ’s were terrific. It was a dream of mine to become one.. so when I went off to college I chose a major in Broadcasting. While at college (at Bowling Green State University in Ohio) I worked three nights a week from 6pm – 10pm at the campus radio station (BGSU) spinning fun tunes from the 60’s. Upon graduation, I immediately learned that radio DJ’s are not the best paid workers on the planet. So… time for a career change and to the hotel industry I went, I worked in hotel management for some 30 years until I met a fellow DJ in Alabama and he turned me on to his station (WGAD) where I was hired as the News & Traffic Director working the morning shift and then off to manage a Marriott hotel. Was a long – but really fun – day! Radio was not part of my life again until 2014 when I moved to The Villages and heard their radio station WVLG. Shortly thereafter I cold called the station GM to introduce myself and low and behold I was hired as a part time DJ. I worked on air at WVLG AM/FM for close to 10 years before stepping away to devote full time to growing my mobile DJ business, MusicbyMarx. Thankfully, this business has continued to grow over the past four years…
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Entrepreneurship is never an easy road to travel. Some of the challenges that I endured were chasing money due to me, managing a payroll where staff needed to be paid and there was not enough money in the company account to meet the needs, (my DJ business was not my first venture into self-employment), managing the different personalities of the staff and clients, losing clients for no apparent reason and of course managing growth. All of these challenges confronted me at one time or another during the 20 years I operated my marketing communications company.
Now, as a mobile DJ the challenges are not as difficult. The biggest challenge I currently face is working in a competitive environment where often times the client is price sensitive and I lose business to a competitor.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
It is now a pleasure and privilege to serve as the “Music Man” for so many fun events in and around The Villages (Florida). I get to play fun music, from the 1950’s – 2000 from my music library of over 30,000 songs. In addition, I am often the emcee for these events. My primary job – as I see it – is to make sure that the group and all their guests have a fun time. That fun time is usually created by playing fun music that gets people on the dance floor and enjoying their favorite, memorable tunes. My specialization is familiar music from the 50’s – 90’s. I only play music that was featured on the Billboard music charts so just about everyone has heard and danced to, fell in love with and partied with these records.
What I am known for is not only exemplary customer service, working with the client to serve their needs, wants and desires, and getting the crowd on their feet. I bring my experience from the hotel industry to make sure that every guest leaves with a smile and favorable impression of MusicbyMarx.
I am most proud of starting this business from scratch with no clients to a level of success where I am getting continuous referrals and sustaining the clients I have who repeatedly rebook with me.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I would define success as continuous year-over-year growth. In addition for a specific event I would call it a success when the guests are dancing and smiling to the music and at the conclusion of the event they tell me how much fun they had and compliment me on my music play list. And you cannot forget to include repeat business as a sign of success…
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.musicbymarx.com
- LinkedIn: https://Linkedin.com/in/bobmarx24
- Other: musicbymarx1@gmail,com
