New Year’s BABY!
May 29, 2008
A New Year’s Eve Bartending Event Done Right!
Ok, I know its ALMOST June, but this is a NEW Blog and I just have sooo many stories that I would love to share with you guys and this one happens to be about this past New Year’s Eve!
Well, we all know that December 31st is the craziest night of the year-everyone does something on this LAST night of the year! Well, needless to say, I DOUBLE my rates for this highly-desirable evening…and people easily pay it…(plus TIPS!!) I even employeed 4 other bartenders that same night for those high rates! But this story is about my gig…
So, it is 6:00pm and I show up to a beautiful home and was greeted by the host who was more than thrilled to have me serve his friends and co-workers. He directed me to a “Grand Room” where a 30 foot bar graced the entire West wall. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen…and for the next six hours, it was all mine!
Well, as the party got under way, I found myself busy as ever! Over 100 VERY THIRSTY guests lined the entire length of the bar demanding my services for another round. Even though I was covered in sweat and working my tail off to serve guest after guest, I couldn’t help but notice my tip jar overflowing with CASH! It made all the work worth it!
I became so busy that I stopped working entirely and only helped those guests who had cash in their hands. The demand for my services increased so much, that people were waving $5 and $10 dollar bills in my face just to get my attention.
The Best Part…
The best part came when two gentlemen decided to fight over me. One man said to the other, “Hey! James was helping me first!” while the other retorted, “Whatever! James likes me more!” they went back and forth for some time in an attempt to prove who I liked more. Let’s just say it was difficult to determine who I liked better since each gentleman continued to drop twenty after twenty into my tip jar as the repeated the same drunk phrase, “No! He likes me MORE!” I made over $200.00 in less than 2 minutes…and it would have been more but their wives grabbed them and took their wallets away before they could donate anymore to my cause.
I walked that night with over $900 in tips (not including my DOUBLE base rate). Even though I was a little upset for missing out on an exciting night of New Year’s festivities of my own, realizing I had just made over $200 an hour (..isn’t that how much a lawyer charges?) so I couldn’t complaint to bad. The question I asked myself was: “I wonder how much money I would have LOST had I NOT worked tonight!”
The Lesson Here…
So what can you take away from this story? FIRST: understand the important of Scarcity and Demand…New Years Eve is the BIGGEST party-throwing day of the year! Your services will be in High-Demand…you MUST increase your rates (minimum 2x) SECOND: In this biz, your money is made with the tips, so how hard are you willing to work? Are you up to the challenge of 6 hours of straight bartending for 100 guests? If it pays off $900…I’m sure anyone is!
Until next time, here’s to your Bartending Business Success!
Cheers,
James Wedmore
Bartend-4-Profit
www.BartenderforProfit.com
Bartending is a Dirty Job (at a “Pleasure Party”)
May 15, 2008
When you are a Bartender, you expose yourself to all sorts of interesting situations! As a Private Party Bartender working special events, I strongly believe I am exposed to even more crazy stories and scenarios! My experience bartending a Pleasure Party has to be up there on my “Top 10″ list of greatest bartending gigs ever!
What is a Pleasure Party?
You may be asking me, “Please tell James, what is a Pleasure Party?” Well, I’m no Picasso, but I will do my best to paint you a picture. If you remember the classic Tupperware Parties of the 1950’s where a group of “housewives” got together (no men allowed) to examine what containers could best preserve their leftovers, than you should not have a hard time imagining what takes place at a Pleasure Party.
Fast-forward 50 years, and these (desperate) housewives are longer swapping cooking secrets and showing-off their best tupperware set. Instead they are playing with various sex toys, lotions and lingerie…although many things have changed over the years, one rule still remains the same: no men allowed..oh except for the bartender (your’s truly).
So believe it or not, last Saturday night I found myself the only man in a sea of estrogen-charged women playing with vibrators, strap-ons, and other interesting devices, and my one job: get these women drunk! Life couldn’t be better!
I won’t go into all of the details of the evening, but I will say this: how many of you can say you and a married woman played “Light-Sabers” with two light-up vibrators? Yes! I lost to a woman in all-out duel-to-the-death battle where our weapons of choice were women’s pleasure toys! Classic…
I did feel like I was trapped in 5 hour episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County, but I didn’t mind much. Needless to say, it was a great night! But then again, I struggle to think of a night bartending that was actually a bad night! Ha ha! I love my job!
I hope all of you are working events that are both extremely fun and memorable! I know I will quickly have more to post, but until then, take care!
Cheers,
James Wedmore
The Bartend-4-Profit System
www.BartenderforProfit.com
