Latest / Glovisor Podcast / How to Turn Your Passion Into a Million-Dollar Business | DJ Self Born [Ep 87]

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How to Turn Your Passion Into a Million-Dollar Business | DJ Self Born [Ep 87] · Glovisor Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: I want to become a DJ and make a million dollars.
0:02
Speaker 1: Show me how to do that. Welcome to the Globalized Podcast,
0:08
Speaker 1: where we explore business growth, communication, and personal development through
0:12
Speaker 1: real conversations with people who make an impact. Our guest
0:16
Speaker 1: has turned 30 years of experience into a million-dollar blueprint
0:21
Speaker 1: for entrepreneurs. Working with Kanye West, touring with Wu-Tang Clan,
0:26
Speaker 1: building businesses, and turning his hard-earned lessons into a systems
0:31
Speaker 1: others can use. Now he's an author, producer, an entrepreneur,
0:37
Speaker 1: and co-founder of virtualpsychiatriccare.com. Glowvisor welcomes DJ self-born Greg Davis.
0:47
Speaker 2: Hey, what's up, man? Cute applause. What's up, man? How
0:51
Speaker 2: are you? Great, thanks. Looking forward to it. Man, thank
0:55
Speaker 2: you for having me, bro. This is great.
0:57
Speaker 1: You're welcome. So Greg, let's start it off. I want
1:00
Speaker 1: to find out. I want to become a DJ and
1:02
Speaker 1: make a million dollars. Show me how to do that.
1:05
Speaker 3: So the first thing you do is you write a
1:08
Speaker 3: post and say, send me a million dollars. You get
1:13
Speaker 3: a million people, send me a dollar.
1:15
Speaker 2: That's how you do it.
1:16
Speaker 3: No, it all starts with, I believe, the mindset of
1:20
Speaker 3: what is your passion? Finding something that you love to do,
1:25
Speaker 3: not something that you could do, something that You know,
1:29
Speaker 3: I like to say it's something that you can't not do.
1:33
Speaker 3: If you, you know, whether you're being paid or not,
1:35
Speaker 3: it's just something that if you are locked in your room,
1:37
Speaker 3: we're the locked in your room generation. So if you're
1:40
Speaker 3: just in your room instead of watching TV or playing
1:43
Speaker 3: Nintendo like we did or Atari, what is it that
1:48
Speaker 3: you're just compelled to do, you're drawn to? For some people, it's,
1:51
Speaker 3: you know, comedy. You know, others, it's drawing, being an artist.
1:55
Speaker 3: For me, it happened to be tinkering with music. And
1:58
Speaker 3: so that tinkering, that's where the production comes in, where
2:01
Speaker 3: you're manipulating music. And then you just find yourself always
2:05
Speaker 3: playing music, playing music, playing music. So for me, that's
2:07
Speaker 3: what it was. And I think it starts with you
2:09
Speaker 3: finding that yourself and then building from there on how...
2:14
Speaker 3: That's going to allow you to measure how serious you're
2:16
Speaker 3: going to be able to take it. And usually that
2:19
Speaker 3: passion will match up with a level of seriousness.
2:22
Speaker 2: And so it goes from there.
2:23
Speaker 1: How old were you when you started tinkering with the
2:25
Speaker 1: music and then... How old were you when it became
2:29
Speaker 1: a business? Right.
2:30
Speaker 3: So I was 15 when I started sophomore year high school.
2:36
Speaker 3: I so in the book I talk about really kicks
2:40
Speaker 3: off with the own your tools lesson, which at the
2:44
Speaker 3: end of each chapter, I have a lesson. So I
2:46
Speaker 3: found out I really needed to own the tools when
2:50
Speaker 3: I had a screwed up haircut before.
2:52
Speaker 2: Eighth grade started.
2:54
Speaker 3: A neighborhood guy, neighborhood bully, my sister-in-law's boyfriend, he cut
2:59
Speaker 3: my hair.
3:00
Speaker 2: He just, he screwed my hair up.
3:02
Speaker 3: That put me in a mind frame of never letting
3:05
Speaker 3: anybody cut my hair again, which translated to not letting
3:09
Speaker 3: anybody else have control over whatever I was going to
3:12
Speaker 3: be living, what I was going to be dealing with.
3:14
Speaker 2: So I had to go to school and even the
3:15
Speaker 2: teachers laughed. It was bad. It was a whole bad experience.
3:18
Speaker 3: So starting with owning the tools was really where... going
3:23
Speaker 3: from tinkering and you got to have tools to tinker with.
3:26
Speaker 3: So I'll compare it to being a mechanic. If you
3:28
Speaker 3: don't have tools or even a handyman carpenter, carpenter usually
3:33
Speaker 3: will start out. It's kind of like a handyman. If
3:34
Speaker 3: you don't have tools, what can you work on? So
3:38
Speaker 3: at 15 started tinkering. And by 16, I got paid
3:42
Speaker 3: for my first gig, which I wasn't even really expecting.
3:45
Speaker 3: But once that money gets handed to you for something
3:48
Speaker 3: that you had fun doing, a light bulb goes off.
3:51
Speaker 3: And so that's what, what happened for me where I
3:54
Speaker 3: immediately said, Oh no, I'm a professional. I had business
3:57
Speaker 3: cards by the time I was 17, you know, even,
3:59
Speaker 3: you know, I had buddies in the neighborhood making fun
4:01
Speaker 3: of me like this dude, like what do you get
4:03
Speaker 3: a business card for? And so, yeah, so 15 tinkering,
4:08
Speaker 3: 16 money in my hand and 17, you know, I
4:11
Speaker 3: was pushing myself out in the public as a, as
4:14
Speaker 3: a businessman with business cards.
4:16
Speaker 1: So now, From that point, this is it, you're handing
4:19
Speaker 1: out your business cards to the point where you're hanging
4:21
Speaker 1: out with these big names like Kanye West, Wu-Tang Clan.
4:25
Speaker 1: How long did that take?
4:26
Speaker 2: So it's funny.
4:27
Speaker 3: So that Kanye wasn't even any effort. He grew up
4:31
Speaker 3: down the block from me.
4:32
Speaker 2: It's funny.
4:33
Speaker 3: Anybody watching this, you might have saw they did a
4:35
Speaker 3: dedication where they named a street corner, an honorary name
4:41
Speaker 3: after his mother, Dr. Donda West. And so that's actually
4:45
Speaker 3: my block. That's the corner of where I grew up.
4:48
Speaker 3: And so that was a total coincidence of us growing
4:51
Speaker 3: up in proximity. But by the time we got to college,
4:54
Speaker 3: that's when we were mutually really getting into the seriousness
4:58
Speaker 3: of music business and then studying it and having mentors
5:03
Speaker 3: and really just throwing our lives into it. So, you know,
5:07
Speaker 3: starting out with riding our bikes in the neighborhood and
5:10
Speaker 3: just getting cool, you know, with each other. So by
5:13
Speaker 3: the time we got up to, I'd say we were
5:16
Speaker 3: at that point, 18, 19.
5:17
Speaker 2: And so, yeah, it goes, you know, 15, 16, 17.
5:21
Speaker 3: And then by 18, 19, we were in school and
5:25
Speaker 3: after classes and sometimes missing a few classes because colleges
5:29
Speaker 3: do that easy. We were just locked in at following
5:33
Speaker 3: our mentor. So our mentors, respectively, were buddies. One was
5:37
Speaker 3: a DJ. His name was Twilight Tone. The other was
5:39
Speaker 3: a producer named No I.D. And these are really well-known
5:42
Speaker 3: guys in the industry. Even No I.D. just produced a
5:46
Speaker 3: whole album with Jay-Z not long ago. Songs that, you know,
5:49
Speaker 3: you love that Jay-Z made that No I.D.
5:52
Speaker 2: Is the producer of.
5:53
Speaker 3: So at that time, they were really focused on an
5:57
Speaker 3: up and coming artist by the name of Common, which
5:59
Speaker 3: everybody knows him very well now. And so it was
6:03
Speaker 3: really being behind the scenes and watching what they were doing,
6:06
Speaker 3: watching the mythology of how they really just moved every
6:10
Speaker 3: day and it was locking in and just striving to
6:13
Speaker 3: get better and do better. And even at a higher level,
6:17
Speaker 3: we noticed that it's like, even if you did something good,
6:19
Speaker 3: how do you do it better? And so that, that
6:21
Speaker 3: the Kanye connection really starts there and it, and it
6:25
Speaker 3: blossomed up until the point then he moved to New York.
6:29
Speaker 3: And then that's when I stayed in Chicago and really
6:30
Speaker 3: focused on DJing and, you know, the Kanye story, the
6:33
Speaker 3: rest is history with that, with Wu-Tang.
6:36
Speaker 2: So after really working hard, at being great, doing great shows.
6:43
Speaker 3: I got a manager because I ended up forming a
6:47
Speaker 3: rap group called the Outfitters, Chicago Outfitters. And our manager,
6:51
Speaker 3: his name was Domingo. He was actually very connected to
6:54
Speaker 3: Wu-Tang Clan. He ended up even managing a few of
6:57
Speaker 3: the artists, I believe. I think he's even still.
6:59
Speaker 2: Managing one now, one of the Wu-Tang Clan now.
7:03
Speaker 3: And because of his connection with New York and Wu-Tang,
7:07
Speaker 3: we set up a lot of tours. And so, you know,
7:09
Speaker 3: he just said, hey, you know, I'm putting you on
7:11
Speaker 3: the road with, you know, Raekwon. It was Raekwon's first, well,
7:14
Speaker 3: not first, the first tour I did with him was
7:17
Speaker 3: with Raekwon. And he's like, yeah, you're going on with
7:20
Speaker 3: these groups. You're going to DJ for these different artists. And,
7:24
Speaker 3: you know, I ended up being kind of like a
7:26
Speaker 3: tour DJ and then hosting different shows. And that was
7:31
Speaker 3: because I noticed what was going on.
7:33
Speaker 2: And I said, hey, I want to do more, like
7:34
Speaker 2: put me out there.
7:36
Speaker 3: If you remember going to concerts, you would kind of
7:39
Speaker 3: come in and you would hear background music playing and
7:41
Speaker 3: then the curtains would be closed.
7:42
Speaker 2: And then the show would kind of start later on. Well,
7:44
Speaker 2: I saw that.
7:45
Speaker 3: And instead of rolling into town on tour and just
7:48
Speaker 3: stand at the hotel or a lot of, a lot
7:50
Speaker 3: of guys like to go shopping before a show or
7:53
Speaker 3: just do whatever before showtime. I was like, no, I
7:56
Speaker 3: want to get to the venue early after soundcheck, do
7:59
Speaker 3: the soundcheck.
8:00
Speaker 2: But you know what?
8:00
Speaker 3: Put me front center stage, open the curtain a little
8:03
Speaker 3: bit and I'm going to be the opening music. No,
8:06
Speaker 3: it's not any extra money or anything. It's just, really
8:09
Speaker 3: getting that exposure and really getting used to being in
8:11
Speaker 3: front of that crowd, learning how to entertain the crowd.
8:13
Speaker 3: So that propelled me further as far as being respected
8:17
Speaker 3: as a tour DJ. And so that's the Wu-Tang connection.
8:19
Speaker 3: And then the second tour, which was a couple of
8:21
Speaker 3: years later, that was with GZA.
8:23
Speaker 2: And yeah.
8:24
Speaker 3: And, you know, like I say, the rest is history
8:27
Speaker 3: with my tour career. And then moving to Miami was
8:30
Speaker 3: shortly after that.
8:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds interesting.
8:32
Speaker 1: But I want to go back to something that you
8:34
Speaker 1: had mentioned earlier. You and Kanye had mentors, right? And
8:38
Speaker 1: I think that sometimes people don't discuss the value of
8:41
Speaker 1: mentorship and how important that is. And these are big names.
8:45
Speaker 1: So how did you connect with your mentors?
8:47
Speaker 3: So Chicago, it's a big city, but it's a small community,
8:52
Speaker 3: especially in the hip hop community early at that time.
8:55
Speaker 3: So Chicago is very much a city rooted in house music,
8:59
Speaker 3: rooted in soul music. And at the time when hip
9:02
Speaker 3: hop was really emerging as really the, the, the big
9:07
Speaker 3: thing that it is, you know, even today, it was
9:11
Speaker 3: at the time you were kind of an outcast. You
9:13
Speaker 3: were kind of like it wasn't it wasn't the main
9:16
Speaker 3: stage thing. So everybody that was into hip hop and
9:19
Speaker 3: really gravitated towards it, we all knew each other. You
9:23
Speaker 3: end up going to concerts and going to shows and
9:25
Speaker 3: a lot of parties and you.
9:27
Speaker 2: Just being around each other.
9:29
Speaker 3: Now, I may be minimizing the success I had and
9:34
Speaker 3: still have at networking. because it was, you know, meeting
9:39
Speaker 3: people as simple as saying, hey, what's up? When you're
9:41
Speaker 3: in a room with somebody two or three times, I'm
9:45
Speaker 3: compelled to meet you. If I see you twice, I'm
9:47
Speaker 3: really going to say, hey, I remember you or you
9:49
Speaker 3: might remember me. And, you know, and just strike up conversations,
9:53
Speaker 3: which is a heavy point that I like to make
9:55
Speaker 3: with a lot of these kind of interviews nowadays is
9:58
Speaker 3: don't underestimate affirmations. handshake and eye contact, like really be
10:03
Speaker 3: able to lock in with the personal experience, the human
10:05
Speaker 3: experience when you're in a room with somebody and when
10:07
Speaker 3: you're in a room with people, don't just stay on
10:10
Speaker 3: your phone. That's something that really, it bugs me now.
10:13
Speaker 3: You go to these networking events and everybody's networking like
10:16
Speaker 3: this on their phone. It's like nobody's talking to each other.
10:20
Speaker 3: And yeah, so that that was really it. It was
10:22
Speaker 3: really as simple as locking in, meeting as many people
10:26
Speaker 3: as you can and then really connecting that with being good.
10:29
Speaker 2: I can admit I met a lot.
10:30
Speaker 3: Of people who came up to me or commented to
10:33
Speaker 3: me and I still rely on that today.
10:35
Speaker 2: People say, hey, man, nice job. OK, I see you
10:38
Speaker 2: or whatever. Or sometimes good networking is the other way.
10:41
Speaker 3: Hey. I don't know about that. You might want to
10:44
Speaker 3: work on this or that. You know, it works both ways.
10:46
Speaker 3: So it's not just a pat on the back. Sometimes
10:48
Speaker 3: it could be a slap in the face a little
10:50
Speaker 3: bit if you say it that way, where sometimes you've
10:53
Speaker 3: got to get punched in the face with truth to
10:56
Speaker 3: really lock in. And some great relationships I have right
10:59
Speaker 3: now with people who weren't afraid to say, hey, you
11:01
Speaker 3: might want to step it up.
11:03
Speaker 1: You know, now I'll have to agree with you that
11:05
Speaker 1: that networking is huge. It's extremely important to any business.
11:10
Speaker 1: But I think another point that you didn't highlight as much,
11:13
Speaker 1: but that you had mentioned was going the extra mile,
11:17
Speaker 1: going the extra step and going on to the stage
11:20
Speaker 1: a little earlier and getting a little bit more notoriety.
11:23
Speaker 1: You could have just gone shopping and hung out with
11:25
Speaker 1: the guys.
11:25
Speaker 2: You could have done that.
11:26
Speaker 1: But instead, what did you do?
11:27
Speaker 2: You took it a step further.
11:29
Speaker 1: And now, I mean, no matter what, even if you're like,
11:33
Speaker 1: I don't know this guy, but you're like, wow, I
11:34
Speaker 1: kind of value that. The guy is working harder than
11:36
Speaker 1: everybody else. And he's here before everyone else. And that's huge,
11:40
Speaker 1: I'd say.
11:41
Speaker 2: Yes, yes.
11:42
Speaker 1: Now, your book that you wrote, is it all of
11:46
Speaker 1: it based on the DJ business? Or are all these
11:50
Speaker 1: nuggets that are in there also applied to other industries?
11:54
Speaker 3: So that's why I wrote it. All the nuggets apply to,
11:57
Speaker 3: I like to think, every industry. Because, you know, like
12:01
Speaker 3: I said, the first chapter ends with the lesson.
12:03
Speaker 2: Of own the tools. And I believe.
12:06
Speaker 3: You've got to find out what those tools are based
12:09
Speaker 3: on what your industry is, what you're really going towards.
12:12
Speaker 3: So like I mentioned, you know, mechanic, carpenter, you know,
12:16
Speaker 3: those are different kind of tools, but you still got
12:18
Speaker 3: to own some tools to be able to at least
12:20
Speaker 3: start doing it. I love the phrasing, you don't have
12:23
Speaker 3: to be great to start, but you got to start
12:26
Speaker 3: to be great. And so whatever it is, you got
12:29
Speaker 3: to start. And if you start and you're repetitive, you're
12:33
Speaker 3: being repetitive about the practice of something, You're going to
12:36
Speaker 3: see the tool that you need is going to be
12:39
Speaker 3: a screwdriver, something there or better, you know, from a
12:43
Speaker 3: screwdriver to a drill, you know, from a drill to
12:46
Speaker 3: a lathe, you know, like depending on what it is.
12:49
Speaker 3: And I use those metaphorically. Like I look at it
12:51
Speaker 3: like finding finding the tool is really going to be
12:57
Speaker 3: based on your frustration of being in that room practicing.
13:01
Speaker 3: And the more you practice, the more you're going to
13:04
Speaker 3: identify what's missing. And so absolutely. I mean, that was
13:07
Speaker 3: the purpose of the book. The purpose of the book
13:09
Speaker 3: was to speak to anyone who has a passion or
13:12
Speaker 3: maybe trying to find the passion and finding some sort
13:16
Speaker 3: of common ground on how to accomplish a goal. So
13:20
Speaker 3: the million dollars is to catch someone's attention because, you know,
13:23
Speaker 3: I could have written a book saying, hey, I became successful.
13:26
Speaker 3: as a DJ, but nobody wants to read that. Nobody
13:28
Speaker 3: cares about a title that feels pretty boring. But when
13:31
Speaker 3: you give a dollar amount, like, Hey, yeah, I made
13:34
Speaker 3: a substantial amount of money in a short period of
13:36
Speaker 3: time by focusing in on these lessons. And so, you know,
13:40
Speaker 3: owning the tools, you know, going from owning the infrastructure,
13:45
Speaker 3: building your own infrastructure, which today that would mean making
13:48
Speaker 3: your own content, you know, similar to what you're doing
13:51
Speaker 3: here right now, you're, you're not relying on just posting
13:55
Speaker 3: or going live. And then it's gone and it's here.
13:58
Speaker 3: And then it just flutters away and you don't even
14:01
Speaker 3: own that. You don't even have any of that, but
14:02
Speaker 3: you're taking a conscious effort into creating a structure that
14:09
Speaker 3: over time, you're going to look back and you're going
14:11
Speaker 3: to have something built. And so really focusing on that,
14:14
Speaker 3: we're finding it. You got to find what, what, you know, those,
14:18
Speaker 3: those routes are, what the tools are, but that common
14:21
Speaker 3: piece is what's in here is that passion.
14:24
Speaker 1: So that's interesting because it, I agree that it does
14:28
Speaker 1: seem to match every other industry and it can help. Now,
14:31
Speaker 1: along the way, what else did you do? Because I mean,
14:34
Speaker 1: I read off virtualpsychiatriccare.com. That is like so left field
14:40
Speaker 1: to what DJ is about. So tell us a little
14:42
Speaker 1: bit more about that.
14:44
Speaker 2: So I met my wife, my beautiful wife. I met
14:47
Speaker 2: her in 2018.
14:48
Speaker 3: And by 2019, we moved in together and she's an
14:54
Speaker 3: entrepreneur as well. And so Being a psychiatric nurse practitioner,
14:58
Speaker 3: she had a small practice where, you know, the typical
15:03
Speaker 3: kind of psychiatric office, psychiatrist's office, where you come in,
15:07
Speaker 3: sit on the couch, talk about your problems, give medication management,
15:10
Speaker 3: give a little counseling. And I noticed right away kind
15:14
Speaker 3: of that was it was cool. But then I was
15:16
Speaker 3: introduced to telehealth early. So, you know, back in the
15:21
Speaker 3: Skype days, if anybody remembers Skype, you know, before Zoom.
15:26
Speaker 3: The concept of telehealth, when I learned all about it
15:29
Speaker 3: and learned that that was something that was becoming something
15:33
Speaker 3: you could do because I also had to learn about.
15:34
Speaker 2: HIPAA compliance early on.
15:36
Speaker 3: So once I learned about these pieces and how they
15:38
Speaker 3: kind of work together, it immediately was like bigger than
15:42
Speaker 3: a light bulb. It was like a lightning bolt of like, hey,
15:45
Speaker 3: you should take this telehealth solely telehealth because you're going
15:50
Speaker 3: to be able to reach so many more people and
15:53
Speaker 3: get a broader reach. And you actually just be able
15:57
Speaker 3: to do better business, more business. And so, mind you,
16:01
Speaker 3: I said 2019. And, you know, she loved everything I
16:05
Speaker 3: was talking about. And she loved what my approach was
16:09
Speaker 3: to business in general and how I look to make
16:12
Speaker 3: everything common. I don't make I don't overcomplicate things. I
16:15
Speaker 3: feel like there's a common thread and something to be
16:18
Speaker 3: able to relate to in all industries to simplify it.
16:21
Speaker 2: And she was like, OK.
16:23
Speaker 3: I'm going to make you, you know, COO of, as
16:27
Speaker 3: we start virtual psychiatric care, which her practice was Miami
16:30
Speaker 3: site concierge was like a brick and mortar based.
16:33
Speaker 2: And so going online, it was about building a website.
16:36
Speaker 3: It was about looking at what you had to do
16:39
Speaker 3: to be licensed in different States because pre telehealth, you
16:44
Speaker 3: pretty much, if you're a healthcare provider, you got a
16:48
Speaker 3: license in the state that you lived in. You saw
16:50
Speaker 3: whoever was in within, you know, let's say a 20 mile,
16:53
Speaker 3: 30 mile radius.
16:54
Speaker 2: And that was it.
16:55
Speaker 3: And, you know, because the medical industry pays relatively well,
16:59
Speaker 3: you having your own practice, you do good enough to
17:01
Speaker 3: take a vacation maybe once a year and eat at
17:04
Speaker 3: a decent restaurant, you know, but I'm like, nah, that's
17:07
Speaker 3: not it.
17:08
Speaker 2: And she agreed.
17:08
Speaker 3: She's on the same page. And so started building the
17:11
Speaker 3: website about December 2019. And if you know anything about healthcare,
17:17
Speaker 3: you can't just pop up and make a website and
17:20
Speaker 3: just launch. It takes about three months. So estimated three
17:23
Speaker 3: months plus one month to work out the bugs and
17:29
Speaker 3: do a lot of trial sessions and just work out everything.
17:33
Speaker 3: And so the goal and the plan was to launch
17:36
Speaker 3: April 1st, 2020. And if we all remember what happened
17:41
Speaker 3: March 12th, between 12th and March 17th of 2020, the
17:46
Speaker 3: world shut down. And so if there was ever a
17:49
Speaker 3: time that I was proven right, even greater than what
17:53
Speaker 3: just the idea I had about being able to reach
17:55
Speaker 3: more people and all of that, the whole world found
17:58
Speaker 3: out right away because there was no option. You couldn't
18:00
Speaker 3: go get your medication. So that was like a big thing, which,
18:03
Speaker 3: you know, I'm sure you saw in the news. It
18:05
Speaker 3: was something we really dealt with. And so at the
18:08
Speaker 3: same time of launching that website, it became so much
18:11
Speaker 3: more serious because on the other side, on the DJ side,
18:15
Speaker 3: there was no DJ for decades.
18:17
Speaker 2: We didn't DJ. There were no parties.
18:19
Speaker 3: For at least a year, even two years, depending on
18:22
Speaker 3: where you were in the country, because each state was
18:24
Speaker 3: kind of different. And so that allowed me to focus
18:27
Speaker 3: and actually apply everything that I learned and taught myself
18:31
Speaker 3: from marketing, from using Photoshop to designing mailers to, you know,
18:37
Speaker 3: the verbiage to, you know, I spent six months answering
18:41
Speaker 3: every phone call so that I could get caught up
18:43
Speaker 3: to understand just how people are approaching things. just the
18:46
Speaker 3: medical industry and not only just understanding how that business
18:51
Speaker 3: would work, but because we were in such a unique
18:54
Speaker 3: time in 2020, it really gave me the opportunity to
18:58
Speaker 3: experience that human connection part.
19:00
Speaker 2: Right. And so how finding out what applies and what
19:03
Speaker 2: doesn't apply.
19:04
Speaker 3: And I was really surprised that the things that I
19:07
Speaker 3: learned building a DJ business totally were applicable, not just applicable,
19:12
Speaker 3: but it made the business soar. And so, you know,
19:15
Speaker 3: right now we're approaching 40 states. The goal is going
19:18
Speaker 3: to be 50. But it's really hard, again, if all
19:22
Speaker 3: you guys out there didn't know anything about HIPAA compliance
19:25
Speaker 3: and know about licensure and all of that.
19:27
Speaker 2: It's a tough road. It's a lot of paperwork.
19:29
Speaker 3: But it was totally transferable, even to my surprise, which
19:33
Speaker 3: then led to being able to write the book with confidence.
19:36
Speaker 1: It just confirms absolutely everything that you wrote in the
19:39
Speaker 1: book because you've done it. You've been there in not
19:42
Speaker 1: only one industry. in two industries. So that really confirms it. So,
19:48
Speaker 1: you know, one of the things that I wanted to
19:49
Speaker 1: mention about that when I work with people, they're always
19:52
Speaker 1: complaining or telling me, oh, my God, all these compliance issues,
19:55
Speaker 1: all these licensure issues. And I used to be that,
19:59
Speaker 1: you know, the same way because, you know, we worked
20:01
Speaker 1: with EPA and we worked in an environmental business. And
20:04
Speaker 1: what I realize is that I like the requirements of
20:08
Speaker 1: licensure and compliance. Because the more difficult it is, the
20:12
Speaker 1: harder it is for my competition to get in and
20:14
Speaker 1: stay in.
20:17
Speaker 2: Yes. Greater barrier entry. Yes. Yeah. And that's one of
20:21
Speaker 2: the things.
20:21
Speaker 1: So now if you can, I would say embrace it
20:24
Speaker 1: versus shy away from it. Now, if you're not good
20:28
Speaker 1: at record keeping, you're not great at following the steps,
20:30
Speaker 1: that might not be the business for you.
20:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
20:34
Speaker 1: Now, what are you doing now? I mean, are you
20:36
Speaker 1: splitting your time between these two ventures? Are you still
20:39
Speaker 1: actively DJing? And when you do DJ, is it locally
20:43
Speaker 1: or are you traveling the world?
20:45
Speaker 3: So I'm traveling, so I'm doing everything. So splitting the
20:48
Speaker 3: time with the business during the day. Fortunately, virtualpsychiatriccare.com wants
20:54
Speaker 3: a lot of these things set into place. you really,
20:58
Speaker 3: because providers are kind of almost like their own businesses
21:02
Speaker 3: and owners in their own right. So once recruiting the
21:06
Speaker 3: right providers, depending on each state and having the structure
21:10
Speaker 3: really done, it doesn't fully run on autopilot, but my
21:15
Speaker 3: wife being a provider as well as the CEO, there's
21:18
Speaker 3: a lot of stuff that I'm able to do kind
21:21
Speaker 3: of after the fact. So seeing that the provider is
21:24
Speaker 3: seeing the patient, That's just that's a loop that just
21:27
Speaker 3: fits itself. And what I found is a lot of
21:30
Speaker 3: the work that goes into that is from helping your
21:33
Speaker 3: provider really get acclimated to solely looking at telehealth and
21:39
Speaker 3: then actually getting them to be more comfortable with multiple states,
21:43
Speaker 3: being licensed in multiple states and kind of doing that
21:45
Speaker 3: work as opposed to before just having that one license.
21:50
Speaker 2: So it's been great. You know, the first couple of years, yeah,
21:53
Speaker 2: it was a lot of work.
21:55
Speaker 3: But at this point, it's really fixing any problems, anything
21:59
Speaker 3: that kind of any hiccups along the way that will
22:02
Speaker 3: come across the table and really thinking about new ways
22:06
Speaker 3: to market. So that's a lot of the work right
22:08
Speaker 3: now is about thinking about new places and new ways
22:11
Speaker 3: to market as there are so many more, so.
22:14
Speaker 2: Much more competitors coming.
22:16
Speaker 3: Because from 2020 till now, I mean, we've got better
22:18
Speaker 3: help talks. I'm not going to advertise with other guys,
22:21
Speaker 3: but you got so much, so many competitors now. And
22:25
Speaker 3: it's about, all right, where, where are we marketing? You know,
22:29
Speaker 3: there was Google ads and now you've got meta and
22:31
Speaker 3: you got social media, you got YouTube, you got.
22:33
Speaker 2: So many more avenues.
22:34
Speaker 3: So it's like constantly thinking about that stuff is really
22:37
Speaker 3: where a lot of my time for that goes on
22:38
Speaker 3: the DJ side.
22:39
Speaker 2: I'm absolutely spinning traveling.
22:42
Speaker 3: I was telling you, I was just in Orlando last
22:44
Speaker 3: week for, DJ Summit, they were honoring me, gave me
22:48
Speaker 3: a table to sell the book. And that was really
22:51
Speaker 3: great because it allowed me to realize how many people
22:53
Speaker 3: outside of Florida are really paying attention.
22:56
Speaker 2: To what I've got going on and what I've built online.
23:01
Speaker 2: And then I'm DJing at hotels. I'm DJing at a
23:04
Speaker 2: lot of choice places.
23:05
Speaker 3: So I've started to throw more of my own events
23:08
Speaker 3: because I owned a bar for a while on South Beach.
23:11
Speaker 3: And so I turned that bar into a pop-up. That's
23:14
Speaker 3: like a reunion party. So, you know, it's not something
23:17
Speaker 3: that's done regularly. And I kind of just pop up
23:19
Speaker 3: with the idea for that whenever I really kind of
23:22
Speaker 3: feel like it or feel like it's time.
23:24
Speaker 2: But the real focus with.
23:25
Speaker 3: The DJ now, DJing now is focusing on being a
23:29
Speaker 3: vendor at hotels and resorts. And that's a big piece
23:33
Speaker 3: also that makes that million dollars a reality. So instead
23:36
Speaker 3: of you just going out there trying to book gigs,
23:40
Speaker 3: it starts with having that paperwork in order because you
23:43
Speaker 3: hotels don't just hire a random DJ and then they
23:47
Speaker 3: pay them $ 200 out of the register. You know, you
23:50
Speaker 3: got to have your LLC in order. It really allows
23:53
Speaker 3: you to walk into a lot of these businesses and
23:55
Speaker 3: they look at you differently and talk to you as
23:56
Speaker 3: a business instead of.
23:58
Speaker 2: As a person.
23:59
Speaker 3: Focusing on the resorts, which is why I actually moved
24:01
Speaker 3: to Miami, because it's the greatest density of places where
24:05
Speaker 3: you can actually DJ and actually make a business out
24:07
Speaker 3: of it.
24:08
Speaker 2: And so, yeah, so, you.
24:09
Speaker 3: Know, now I'm being a lot more choosy with the
24:13
Speaker 3: gigs and the places that I spend and how I
24:15
Speaker 3: do it because I locked in also early in my
24:18
Speaker 3: career when I moved to Miami. I made a decision
24:21
Speaker 3: that I was only going to DJ 70s, 80s, and 90s. Now,
24:25
Speaker 3: what that translates to is pretty much old school music,
24:28
Speaker 3: anything older than, I like to say anything older than Kanye,
24:32
Speaker 3: which that marker, his first album was like 2003, 2004.
24:36
Speaker 3: So anything that's like pre-2000s is really my wheelhouse and
24:39
Speaker 3: I make it known.
24:40
Speaker 2: I got it.
24:41
Speaker 3: I don't advertise or just put myself out there as
24:44
Speaker 3: just kind of like your regular DJ. Anybody that hires me,
24:48
Speaker 3: any of my fans, anybody that comes out, they know
24:51
Speaker 3: what they're getting. So it's really appealing to a crowd
24:54
Speaker 3: that be about 35 and up, really even closer to
24:58
Speaker 3: like 40 and up and being very specific with that.
25:01
Speaker 2: So that's where it is on the DJ side.
25:03
Speaker 1: You know your lane for sure.
25:04
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
25:06
Speaker 1: Now, if one of our listeners wants to be a
25:08
Speaker 1: DJ and aside from picking up your book, What would
25:11
Speaker 1: be the first step?
25:13
Speaker 2: First step would be.
25:14
Speaker 3: Really making sure that you are tapped into the music
25:20
Speaker 3: you like. The music you like is really going to
25:23
Speaker 3: be your best route at being a DJ. And it
25:26
Speaker 3: doesn't even matter what it is. I don't care if
25:28
Speaker 3: it's country. I don't care if it's folk music. You know,
25:32
Speaker 3: it could be, you know, chamber music.
25:34
Speaker 2: I don't know.
25:35
Speaker 3: You have a passion for it, you're going to be
25:38
Speaker 3: able to find a way to really stand out because
25:41
Speaker 3: if you love it, there's an audience out there that
25:44
Speaker 3: loves it. That's something I do like about the internet
25:47
Speaker 3: that there's an audience for everything, no matter what it is,
25:50
Speaker 3: no matter how weird it might seem, no matter, you know,
25:53
Speaker 3: how niche you're going to be able to find a
25:55
Speaker 3: group of people that are into what you're into. And
25:58
Speaker 3: then from there, you're going to be able to practice
26:00
Speaker 3: a lot more and get better a lot easier because
26:03
Speaker 3: it's something you're really into. So I would say locking
26:06
Speaker 3: in on, specifically as a DJ, lock in to know
26:10
Speaker 3: exactly what music you're really, really into, which therefore will
26:13
Speaker 3: be the music you really want to put out into
26:15
Speaker 3: the world better and in a different way. And then
26:17
Speaker 3: study the people that you can find that are already
26:20
Speaker 3: doing that, that are already performing that kind of music.
26:23
Speaker 3: And whether that's artists or DJs or both, lock in
26:27
Speaker 3: to just the whole community of it. and really know
26:30
Speaker 3: it backwards and forwards.
26:32
Speaker 1: Now we're going to squeeze out another golden nugget from you.
26:35
Speaker 1: Is there another takeaway that our listeners should remember from
26:40
Speaker 1: this conversation?
26:42
Speaker 2: Another takeaway.
26:44
Speaker 3: Don't be afraid to walk into the room, get off
26:48
Speaker 3: of the computer. If, and, and maybe you want to,
26:53
Speaker 3: let's say maybe you want to DJ in London. I'm
26:55
Speaker 3: just pick somewhere. And you're, you're in the United States.
26:59
Speaker 3: Walk into a place that's in your area to practice
27:03
Speaker 3: that human connection of how you're talking to somebody. How
27:06
Speaker 3: are you entering the room? Are you shaking hands? Is
27:09
Speaker 3: it a firm handshake? You have eye contact, all of
27:12
Speaker 3: those things. It may sound crazy, but it actually translates
27:16
Speaker 3: the same way to accomplishing that connection with the person
27:20
Speaker 3: because you're not going to get hired without a connection
27:22
Speaker 3: to somebody.
27:24
Speaker 2: And whether that's, you know, people get upset about nepotism.
27:28
Speaker 3: But that's like the greatest form of having a relationship
27:32
Speaker 3: with somebody.
27:32
Speaker 2: So you're never going to get.
27:34
Speaker 3: A job all the way down to the lowest level
27:36
Speaker 3: of the person might be into seeing what they see
27:39
Speaker 3: you do online. And as soon as they meet you,
27:42
Speaker 3: that becomes the determining factor. If they like your personality,
27:46
Speaker 3: pretty much going to be able to get any kind
27:48
Speaker 3: of gig you want or be hired by anybody that
27:52
Speaker 3: really is going to be into you personally. So it's like,
27:54
Speaker 3: don't be afraid to embrace that. Like, and not just
27:58
Speaker 3: not being afraid, go towards it. I think we're getting
28:00
Speaker 3: back into an era where we are seeing so much
28:04
Speaker 3: AI slop. We're seeing so much perfection online, but the
28:08
Speaker 3: real experience is nowhere near what's presented on that screen.
28:13
Speaker 3: So reach out to less people, but make the relationships
28:19
Speaker 3: and the value of those interactions greater. So instead of
28:22
Speaker 3: trying to reach a hundred people, Maybe you'll reach 10.
28:24
Speaker 3: And instead of trying to close 10 people, maybe you'll
28:28
Speaker 3: close one. But that one relationship can mean so much
28:32
Speaker 3: more in long-term relationships. I've got so many great business
28:35
Speaker 3: relationships from interactions that I thought didn't mean anything and
28:40
Speaker 3: it meant everything to that other person. So don't underestimate
28:44
Speaker 3: when you do meet those people. You might meet a janitor.
28:47
Speaker 3: You might, specifically as a DJ, you might meet a
28:49
Speaker 3: barback and you don't realize that that barback is going
28:53
Speaker 3: to be a manager somewhere in the future. And he'll remember,
28:57
Speaker 3: he or she will remember that interaction you had, good
29:00
Speaker 3: or bad, when you didn't have to, when society might
29:05
Speaker 3: look at you as up here and they might look
29:06
Speaker 3: at them as down there. But that matters so much of,
29:10
Speaker 3: like I said, how you shake their hand, how you're
29:11
Speaker 3: talking to them. You know, I've stopped and went to
29:14
Speaker 3: a store for someone, like you're at the studio and
29:18
Speaker 3: then you ask, hey, does anybody want anything? And there
29:20
Speaker 3: was an assistant producer It's a real story, assistant producer
29:25
Speaker 3: that I befriended. I can't even really remember the interaction,
29:29
Speaker 3: but he reminds me to this day how cool I was.
29:31
Speaker 3: He's a Grammy Award winning producer and engineer now because
29:35
Speaker 3: he was a he was an assistant engineer, not just
29:37
Speaker 3: a producer. And I can't even fully remember the interaction,
29:41
Speaker 3: but he brings it up a lot of like, dude,
29:44
Speaker 3: you were super cool and all of that. And this
29:47
Speaker 3: is somebody that some would consider is higher than me,
29:50
Speaker 3: you know, on the food chain.
29:51
Speaker 2: And so never, never judge what that food chain could be.
29:55
Speaker 3: Treat everybody the same and, you know, just have a
29:57
Speaker 3: great personality. Work on your personality.
30:00
Speaker 1: Quality versus quantity.
30:02
Speaker 2: Exactly. Good point.
30:04
Speaker 1: Where can people connect with you? Find out more about
30:07
Speaker 1: your work and continue this conversation. So you can find
30:10
Speaker 1: me everywhere at DJ Self Born. So the book is
30:13
Speaker 1: available on Amazon.
30:15
Speaker 3: I have a thriving YouTube series, my whole page, DJ
30:19
Speaker 3: Self Born. Once you search Self Born, you're going to
30:21
Speaker 3: find me everywhere. And that's all on the social media platforms.
30:25
Speaker 3: And it's pretty consistent because I'm constantly posting my mixes
30:29
Speaker 3: once a week. I do a series called Penthouse Blends
30:33
Speaker 3: and showcasing the skyline of Miami and giving people that
30:38
Speaker 3: are outside of the warm weather a little taste of
30:41
Speaker 3: what it could be like if you came down here
30:43
Speaker 3: for vacation or moved down here. So find me everywhere
30:46
Speaker 3: at DJ Self Born or just DJ Self Born. And
30:49
Speaker 3: even if you're on Amazon, just Self Born and you'll
30:53
Speaker 3: see me.
30:54
Speaker 2: You'll see the book. It'll pop right up.
30:56
Speaker 1: You're making people jealous.
31:00
Speaker 2: Quick last question.
31:02
Speaker 1: How did you come up with the name DJ Self Born?
31:05
Speaker 2: Okay.
31:06
Speaker 3: So before Self Born, it was DJ Greg D, which
31:09
Speaker 3: is Chicago because it's a house-focused city. A lot of
31:15
Speaker 3: the house DJs, especially the legends, they had a name.
31:19
Speaker 3: They just chose their name. It might be the first
31:21
Speaker 3: initial and their last name or the first name, last initial,
31:25
Speaker 3: or just their full name, like a Terry Hunter.
31:28
Speaker 2: And In hip hop, nobody really does that. It's not
31:32
Speaker 2: really so much a thing.
31:33
Speaker 3: Hip hop was such my passion in the beginning before
31:36
Speaker 3: it grew to just all genres.
31:39
Speaker 2: And it shifted from genre specific to era specific.
31:44
Speaker 3: So I play everything from 80s rock, reggae music, like everything,
31:50
Speaker 3: but it's older, right? So thinking about what's going to
31:55
Speaker 3: make you you, what's going to create your success and
31:59
Speaker 3: the passion, everything that I talked about, you notice I
32:02
Speaker 3: always go here.
32:03
Speaker 2: I go here with it.
32:04
Speaker 3: So nobody else is going to be able to give
32:06
Speaker 3: you your identity. Nobody else is going to be able
32:09
Speaker 3: to give you your success. So it has to be self-born.
32:11
Speaker 3: So your name is supposed to reflect who you are.
32:14
Speaker 3: Who you are supposed to be reflected in your name.
32:16
Speaker 3: And so I was always self-driven, self-motivated, self, self, self.
32:21
Speaker 3: It always was coming up. And I'm like, you know what?
32:24
Speaker 2: DJ Self-Born, it already... It's the icebreaker.
32:27
Speaker 3: It paints the picture for anyone kind of wondering. And
32:30
Speaker 3: they usually want me to elaborate on not what does
32:33
Speaker 3: it mean, but like why? And I like that because
32:35
Speaker 3: if you think about a lot of DJ names or
32:37
Speaker 3: a lot of names in general, you say, well, what
32:39
Speaker 3: the hell does that mean? And then they'll say, well, why?
32:42
Speaker 3: My only question is really why, but not like, what
32:45
Speaker 3: does that mean? So it already causes people I see
32:48
Speaker 3: to think when they meet me or hear my name.
32:50
Speaker 3: And it's a lot more memorable. I've really found out
32:53
Speaker 3: my name is really, really memorable to people. Because even
32:55
Speaker 3: I've had jokes, they're like, so you just don't have
32:57
Speaker 3: a mom, huh? So just to hell with your mother. Like,
32:59
Speaker 3: it's like, it's like funny. I got friends that say
33:02
Speaker 3: it a little more crass than that. Like, so just
33:04
Speaker 3: screw your mom, huh? It's like, no, you know, it's
33:06
Speaker 3: all about the passion. I love my mom, you know.
33:09
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's about starting from within here and building
33:12
Speaker 3: that passion from within. So I had to embody that name.
33:15
Speaker 1: I'm glad I asked.
33:17
Speaker 2: Yep.
33:18
Speaker 1: So Greg, thank you so much for joining us today
33:20
Speaker 1: and for all the value you've shared.
33:22
Speaker 2: Man, thanks for having me, bro. This was great. I'm
33:24
Speaker 2: ready to come back. Awesome.
33:27
Speaker 1: Thanks everyone for listening. If this episode inspired you, make
33:30
Speaker 1: sure you share it with someone who needs it. And
33:32
Speaker 1: don't forget to follow the Glowvisor podcast for more conversations
33:35
Speaker 1: that make an impact.
33:36
Speaker 2: Till the next time.