Dictated live while biking to work through Idaho Falls—because that’s how I do things
This blog post—like many I’ve written—comes from a simple place: I want to help other DJs, especially local ones, overcome the real-world challenges that keep them from leveling up.
There are a lot of resources out there about gear, gig strategy, and marketing tactics. But there’s something deeper that rarely gets talked about—something that affects everything else: confidence.
I’m talking about the confidence to put yourself out there, to fail publicly, to not be perfect… and still keep going.
The Quiet Killer: Lack of Confidence
We live in a time where everyone is online, consuming endless streams of curated success and failure. You watch TikToks, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, and livestreams. And subconsciously, all that watching does something:
- You start fearing failure.
- You start comparing.
- You start doubting.
And that doubt slowly eats away at your confidence.
- You hesitate to post your mix.
- You avoid recording a livestream.
- You second-guess putting on a new outfit, trying a new song, taking a chance on something that could help you grow.
What’s holding you back isn’t gear.
It’s not technique.
It’s not marketing.
It’s that nagging fear that if you mess up, someone will see—and they’ll judge you for it.
Confidence Isn’t Optional—It’s Foundational
You can know how to use every piece of gear. You can master Rekordbox, Serato, Ableton. But if you’re not confident enough to use those tools in front of people—none of it matters.
And I get it. Confidence doesn’t always come naturally. Not everyone wants to be loud and seen. But here’s the truth: you won’t succeed if you’re not willing to show up—and sometimes mess up—in public.
Confidence doesn’t mean perfection. It means being willing to fail in public and keep going anyway.
Where I Found My Confidence
A lot of my confidence was forged in the Marine Corps. That experience taught me how to handle failure, pressure, and discomfort. But I know the Corps isn’t for everyone.
So what helped me most as a DJ? Going live. Every week. Whether anyone was watching or not.
I’ve uploaded over 700 live DJ mixes to Mixcloud since I started in 2019. If you listen to my earliest sets and compare them to the ones I’m releasing now, the growth is undeniable.
But that growth didn’t come from rehearsing alone. It came from showing up online, performing publicly, making mistakes, and surviving them. It came from forcing myself to get better where people could see me.
And guess what? Even when I bombed… people still came back.
They still listened.
They still tipped.
They still supported me.
That experience alone taught me something powerful: You don’t need to be perfect to be worth watching. You just need to be real, consistent, and willing to improve.
Want to Build Confidence? Do This:
You don’t need to go viral.
You don’t need a team.
You don’t need a big budget.
You need a cheap webcam, a free Twitch account, and the willingness to go live once a week.
- Play the music you love
- Be yourself
- Let people watch you grow
- Embrace imperfection
That’s what built my confidence, and it’s one of the fastest, most powerful ways I know for other DJs to do the same.
Final Thought: Confidence Is a Skill
Confidence isn’t some mystical thing you’re born with. It’s a skill—one you build through repetition, exposure, and persistence.
And here’s the twist: Your fans don’t care if you’re perfect. In fact, they love watching what your failures produce. They love seeing the real you—the one who stumbles, figures it out, and levels up. That’s the kind of journey people connect with. That’s the kind of story people follow.
And your enemies?
They hate it when your failures can’t keep you down.
They want to see you slip.
They want to see you disappear after one bad mix, one awkward post, one low-view stream.
So when you show up again anyway—when you don’t quit—you win. That’s what pisses them off the most.
You need to know what failure feels like to truly appreciate what it means to win. That pressure. That embarrassment. That moment when you feel like quitting. That’s the same fuel that makes your next success hit harder.
You’ve got to roll with the punches.
You’ve got to get back on the horse.
You’ve got to keep moving forward.
And you don’t have to do it alone. Use your friends. Use your network. Ask for help. Share mixes and ask for feedback. Let your mentors and your peers guide you when you’re stuck. Don’t gatekeep your success. The more you open yourself up to others, the more your community will lift you.
Confidence is contagious. When you build it in yourself, you give others permission to build it in themselves too. And that’s how we grow—not just as DJs, but as a scene.
This blog post was dictated while biking and edited with the help of AI to improve clarity, structure, and readability while preserving the author’s original voice.