**This post was written by the U.S. SBA Entrepreneur of the Year, the Founder of DJ Connection Tulsa Wedding DJs, the Number One Business Coach in the Country, the Author and the Tulsa Motivational Speaker, Clay Clark.
We are on hour 32 (or there abouts) of the “Employee Handbook Project.” Listed below is the progress we made below. When I say we, I am referring to DJ Connection Tulsa Wedding DJ’s very own Sean Elliott and myself. Great job Sean. I could use a slap in the face to come out of my typing induced coma.
Introduction
Welcome to DJ Connection (hereinafter collectively referred to as “the Company”) This Handbook contains information about the employment policies and practices of the Company in effect at the time of publication.
Except for employment “at-will” status and the arbitration agreement, the Company reserves the right to change, at its sole discretion, all such policies and practices and the hours, wages, working conditions, job assignment, position titles, compensation rates and benefits for any employee. Other than the Owner of the Company, no manager, supervisor or representative of the Company has any authority to enter into any other than an at-will relationship with any employee. Only the Owner of the Company has the authority to make any such agreement, and then only in writing.
As a matter of Company policy, all employment is on an “at-will” basis, meaning that employment shall last for so long as mutually agreeable. Under this, either the employee or the Company may terminate the employment at any time with or without cause.
The policies set forth in this Employee Handbook replace any and all previous policy statements, whether written or oral, which differ from or are inconsistent with the policies expressed in this Handbook. No such prior policies or procedures shall have any force or effect after the effective date of this Manual.
It is your responsibility to review and gain an understanding of the contents of this handbook, and sign the acknowledgement page. If you have any questions concerning any statement in this handbook, you are encouraged to ask questions so that you can have a thorough understanding of the content. When you read this portion of the handbook you are required to write the word “KOALA” at the bottom of the handbook so that we know you have read it.
Please read this handbook carefully. It will serve as a guide and ready reference to your questions about the Companies, jobs, pay, benefits, activities, and responsibilities. This handbook cannot answer all your questions about the subjects it addresses. If you have further questions, feel free to ask the Director of Human Resources or your Manager. Nothing in this Handbook creates, or is intended to create, a promise or contract.
Every effort has been made to make this handbook as comprehensive as possible. However, the information in this handbook is for guideline purposes only and is not intended to create a contract, either expressed or implied, of continued employment.
History of the Companies
DJ Connection was formed in 1999, when Clay Clark decided to convert the $20,000 he saved from working 80 hours per week in the field of construction into a functional business. He paid for his college tuition by charging students $5 per head to attend the dance parties that he organized and hosted at the Marriott Hotel. DJ Connection was founded out of his college dorm room at Oral Roberts University. After having made well over 100 calls per day to the businesses he “cold-called” out of the phonebook for nearly 2 years, he received national attention when he received the Metro Chamber of Commerce “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” for his “innovative best practice” customer service practices in his numerous business ventures. Nearly all of the concepts and ideas used in the original formation and the subsequent growth of the companies have been pulled from the book “Think & Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill.
In order start what Hill describes as a “Mastermind,” he and the DJ Connection team went on to start the Tulsa Bridal Association as his way of starting his own Bridal Show because all of the local bridal shows were already “capped” out in the number of disk jockeys they would allow into the show. 7 years later, after relentlessly studying and implementing the business “best practices” of Disney, General Electric (under CEO Jack Welch’s Direction),QuikTrip and Starbucks DJ Connection continued to grow by leaps and bounds. In 2007, he was able to add the United States Small Business Administration “Entrepreneur of the Year” and the United States Chamber of Commerce “National Blue Ribbon Quality Award” to the Wall of Fame. Since then, we have now accumulated ourselves to be a five-state-wide company and perform over 2,500(+) events each year. We staff more than 50 DJs and keep them busy throughout the year. At this moment, we are expanding to more cities and states and soon will go nationally. In order to fuel our growth we are 100% committed to wowing each and every client that we work with. Although much has changed since 1999, the one thing that remains constant, is our commitment to over-deliverance, humorous-enthusiasm, adaptability, candor and on-going education.
As DJ Connection has continued to grow, the only true limiter on the company’s growth has been our ability to find quality people who are willing to personally grow and develop at the rate needed for the organization to grow. Over the past years the company has continued to pick up momentum and more and more quality people have joined the team.
Our goal is to grow our people while helping them to grow their wallets through the over-deliverance of our services and products.
**For information about the employee ownership program please schedule a time to meet with the leadership team.
THE SECRET TO OUR SUCCESS: E.E.E.E (the four E’s)
At each of our workplaces, you will hear four letters repeated over and over again: E.E.E.E. These principles are at the core of the philosophy that Jack Welch developed during his tenure as arguably the most successful CEO in American history while leading GE to success:
*Energy
*Energize
*Edge
*Execute
These are the management principles DJ Connection has embraced and is built on. These are the standards for our daily operation. When we bring the 4Es to the workplace personal and corporate growth will happen.
We want to provide our clients with an atmosphere that is fun, professional and comfortable. Each office location has been designed with the guest in mind. We want to make them laugh, we want to make them feel comfortable and we want to deliver the best quality service to them at all times. However, in order to do this every employee must memorize and embrace the 4Es.
Energy – In order to be promoted and to experience success with our company and with other top organizations throughout the country, you must be willing to bring “energy” to the job everyday. You must fake it if you don’t have it, but you must never come into the office looking tired, acting tired and wearing any negative emotions on your sleeve. Just like at Disney, our customers don’t care about any negative things that might be going on in our lives. They only care about having a great experience everytime. No matter what job you are doing with our companies you must bring personal energy to the job if you wish to stand out, to be promoted and be a part of the team.
Energizers – For you to succeed you must make the decision that you will energize those around you. Everyone brings an energy to the workplace, whether it is positive or negative. It is simply not acceptable for you not to energize those around you. You must be able to share in the success that others are having. If someone on the team experiences the thrill of a “big sale” or the excitement of “wowing a client and getting great feedback” you must share in their excitement. You must make it your personal mission to energize each and every person you come in contact with while at the workplace.
Edge – To experience success in the workplace you must be able to make the difficult decisions. The customer is the boss, and the really can fired everyone in the organization simply by deciding to buy their products and services from someone else. You must be able to quickly reach definite decisions once you have all of the facts. No one wants to follow a wishy-washy leader and we would be fools to promote someone who cannot show an ability to make difficult decisions even when it has the potential to upset others in order to serve the customer. Poor performance will not be tolerated and those people who are choosing to deliver poor performance must be dealt with in the appropriate manner. Great performance must be praised and recognized even if it bothers the other people who were not recognized. If you wish to growth within the organization and in life, you must bring an “Edge” to the workplace.
Execute – This is the key to the entire model. Without measurable results, the other “E’s” are of little use. Those with the ability to “execute” and to “get things done” recognize that activity and productivity are not the same thing. Those focused on “executing” are capable of producing results consistently. Those people who show the ability to “execute” are those people who demonstrate an ability to never say, “but I’ve not ever done that before.” Those people who execute never throw up their hands and act as though they have no idea of what to do. Those who execute are future focused optimists and problem solvers. These people think in terms of “how can it be done?” not “why it can’t be done.” Everyone is capable to obtaining this mindset, however only those who can consistently demonstrate this mindset will ever be promoted.
The Importance of Vendor / Service Provider Relationships
Vendor and outside Service Provider Relationships are among our company’s most valuable assets. When a bride or an event planner plans an event this does not happen in an isolated vacuum environment. Every person hosting a party generally has the event at a location other than their home, provides some type of food provided by some type of professional, orders some kind of beautiful cake design, hires a creative florist, finds a quality local photographer and videographer, selects a respected limo service, works with some type of coordinator, decides on professional lighting of some type of securing a ice sculpture that will wow everyone. Typically, the average wedding costs nearly $20,000 to host (according the research done by the Knot.com and other credible sources). The party or corporate event that decides on hiring DJ entertainment will spend a minimum of $6,000. The majority of this money is not spent with us. In fact the majority of the money is spent on outside vendors. Thus, it is in our best interests, and in the the customers best interests for our company to have a great, sustainable and mutually-beneficial relationship with every vendor.
When you go out to an event you represent the companies to every person at the event. Every person at the event is a potential client. Nearly everyone gets married at some point, nearly everyone knows someone getting married at some point, everyone has a birthday and everyone has an opinion. You must make it your priority to wow every person that you come in contact with including the outside vendors. They have the ability to shape the opinion that our clients have about us as a company. Vendors judge us based on how good of a service we rendered and based on how well we treated their staff. Therefore, one of our first business priorities is over-deliver when interacting with outside vendors. Nothing is more important than exceeding their expectations by being courteous, friendly, helpful, and prompt in the attention you give to vendors.
Our personal contact with the vendors, our manners on the telephone, and the communications we send to vendors are a reflection not only of ourselves, but also of the professionalism of our company. Positive vendor relations not only enhance the vendor’s perception or image of our Company, but also pay off in greater loyalty and increased sales / house accounts. Each year, in celebration for our love-vendors, we host a party for them to let them know how much we appreciate their efforts to our mutual clients and DJs. This party provides us with an opportunity to share our culture of over-deliverance and humorous enthusiasm with everyone.
