Steven and Crystal Prichard spend most weekends at the happiest moments of other people’s lives.
Steven runs the sound board. Crystal runs the day-of plan. Together, the couple owns CS Perfect Mix Entertainment, a mobile DJ and wedding coordination business based in Bauxite, in Saline County, in central Arkansas.
Steven has been behind a DJ booth since 1990. Around Christmas 2019, a DJ in nearby Malvern reached out because regional demand had outgrown a single booth. Steven bought his gear and stood up the business. Then COVID arrived. The Prichards used the slow stretch to upgrade equipment, build relationships and sharpen how they ran events.
That work is showing.
Bookings have climbed from 15 to 20 events a year in the early days to roughly 80 in 2026. Steven left his job as commissioned security with the Bryant School District last year to run the business full time. Crystal still teaches full time with Bryant and coordinates weddings on weekends.
However, rapid growth has outpaced capacity. CS Perfect Mix turns away roughly 10 calls a week. Crystal’s teaching schedule caps her coordinator work to weekends. And with a single DJ booth, Steven can cover one event at a time.
The Prichards decided to go looking for capital to change that.
Steven had previously applied for funding through the Small Business Administration (SBA) in the past and never heard back. This time he typed his situation into ChatGPT and asked where to look for a small business loan.
Communities Unlimited (CU) was the first result.
CU’s Lending Team connected the Prichards with Economic Development Loan Officer Candence Brooks, who walked them through the loan process. On March 31, CS Perfect Mix closed an SBA loan through CU, with additional support from the Arkansas Business Fund Guarantee.
"It's not like just going to a bank. It's a lot more involved, but they made it feel personal. Someone actually called me and said, 'What do you want to do? How can we help?' It showed they had a vested interest in us, not just in the money. That meant a lot to us."
— Steven Prichard, CS Perfect Mix
The loan covers three kinds of growth.
On the equipment side, additional lighting, speakers and DJ rigs will let the business run multiple events on a weekend with independent teams, and a new photo booth will replace a service the Prichards currently refer to another vendor.
On the working capital side, the loan funds a deposit and one to two months of rent on a client-facing office, three months of operating expenses, and paid training for a new DJ and a new coordinator across at least five weddings.
On the marketing side, advertising dollars will pay for website maintenance and booths at wedding shows in Northwest Arkansas, the market the Prichards are targeting next.
A second trained coordinator will open up weekday bookings and let Crystal keep teaching. A second DJ team means CS Perfect Mix can say yes to the calls it used to turn away. The photo booth adds a new revenue stream the business has been handing to someone else for years.
The loan from CU still feels surreal for the Prichards. It is also the push that gets the business to its next step.
“When you’re used to hearing ‘no,’ you almost hesitate to put yourself out there,” he said. “But now that we’ve been approved, it’s like, ‘Alright, let’s go.’ We’ve got to hit the ground running.”
The Prichards spend their weekends at other people’s best days. With this loan, they and their future staff can be at more of them.
"Now it's about scaling up and finding the right people to bring on. With this loan, we can improve the experience even more, and that leads to more bookings and steady growth over time."
— Steven Prichard
