The Chainsmokers Negotiations
This past week has been a whirlwind.
Friends,
This past week has been a whirlwind.
For those who don’t know, outside of co-running YourNegotiations.com, Alex has a deep passion and hobby for music and DJing. Last Sunday, he hit a major milestone:
He was part of the opening artist lineup for The Chainsmokers at their San Francisco Block Party—an event that brought out nearly 10,000 people. 😱
Hard to believe we’re even writing that sentence.
Here are a few snapshots from the day:
This experience got us thinking about how much of our lives—and our business—is built around relationships and community.
How Alex landed the Chainsmokers gig (with critical guidance from his “DJ manager” Gerta—who also happens to be his cofounder at YourNegotiations.com 😄):
The person organizing the opening DJ lineup, Chris, was someone Alex had invited to co-DJ at past events. Over the years, we stayed in touch, ran in the same San Francisco circles, and built a genuine friendship—no agenda, just mutual love for music and community.
When we found out that Chris was in charge of booking DJs for The Chainsmokers show, Alex reached out with this message:
“Hey Chris, I heard you’re organizing the opening DJs for The Chainsmokers show. If there are any open slots, I would absolutely love to join the lineup. Of course no problem if not, but given we’ve DJed amazing sets together in the past, thought I’d ping you to see if there’s any chance for us to collab again.”
After a few back and forths and follow-ups, Chris called Alex to let him know that he had an opening slot for him!
Here’s what made the ask work:
The relationship came first.
Alex had kept in touch for years before ever making an ask.
He had given value first.
Alex had previously invited Chris to DJ with him, so this wasn’t a one-way favor.
The ask was kind and low-pressure.
No assumptions, no entitlement—just genuine enthusiasm and openness.
And like that—our two worlds collided: our love for music, and the same principles we apply in our negotiation work. Nurturing relationships, giving value, and engaging in a polite, humble, and excited manner.
That said, negotiations show up in every part of life—at work, in our social circles, through our hobbies and interests, and even in how we choose to spend our time.
Our approach is rooted in first principles, behavioral psychology, and practical logic, which makes it adaptable to essentially any situation.
We hope this experience inspires you to advocate for yourself in whatever opportunity comes your way—big or small.
Until next week!
Best,
Gerta & Alex
Co-founders, YourNegotiations.com
P.S. Our latest podcast episode (here) dives into what it’s actually like to work with us, from the moment you sign our client agreement to when you sign the final offer that we help you negotiate.
We’ll go into more detail in next week’s newsletter on the major points, as well as unpack a real-life case study of someone who didn’t become a client—but whose situation shows it’s important to work with us early in your job search (spoiler alert: mistakes were made along the way that we could have helped him avoid, ultimately dooming his offer).
So if you’re in the job search, book a free call with us sooner than later!
P.P.S. We just updated our referral program—we’ll now send you $500 for every client referral.
All you need to send is an intro email.
Just reply to this email and CC your friend. We’ll honor this bonus for every client that signs with us.