Latest / Hart & Hustle Podcast / Don’t Panic - Pivot: The Real Estate Lesson Behind Lasting Success
Transcript
- Efrain: Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart and Hustle Podcast. I'm Ephraim. We got Mr. DJ Hines is in the building. What's up, DJ? Dj Hines: Hey, how you doing, man? Thanks for having me. Efrain: Good man. Listen, DJ Heinz. I know you get it all the time. You actually DJ Dj Hines: Yes. Efrain: or no? Dj Hines: I am I am Daryl Jr. but if you asked me to DJ, I would definitely empty out the party quick. So you don't want me doing that at all. You don't want me doing it at all. But people ask a lot, especially when I was working in the music business for a little while. people started referring to me as Heinz because they thought I was a DJ, so they would just call me Heinz. So that kind of carried over for a minute. But my name is Daryl Lynn Hines the second, and I go by DJ for short. Efrain: Love it, man. If if we were going down a music catalog, what's your music choices, man? Who's those artists that you listen to? Dj Hines: man, I'll tell you right now, my favorite artist that I've been listening to for the past like several years, consistently gone to see him live several times is PJ Morton. so PJ Morton is an RB slash gospel artist, and I've been knowing his dad for a really long time. His dad and my dad, they're both preachers. and they used to have each other come and speak and his son just turned out to be a phenomenal musician, singer, songwriter, Grammy winning. He's actually one of the members of Maroon Five as well. Efrain: wow. Dj Hines: So yeah, that's my that's my favorite, favorite artist. And I tell people, if they ever want to go to a fantastic live show, go see PJ Morton. Efrain: I love it, man. Heck yeah. I music ain't the same no more for sure. You know, but you know, Dj Hines: Yeah, yeah. Efrain: I I'm ha Maroon five, when you said Maroon Five, it just takes me back a couple of years though, man. Like that that was definitely some people I was growing Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: up on, Maroon Five. So I hear you that. Dj Hines: Yeah. What what what year did you graduate high school? Efrain: Two thousand and eight, a long time ago. Maroon five was in. Dj Hines: Okay, okay, not as long as me. So yeah, they were. I was married in six. So I gradu yeah, Efrain: What? No way, bro. Dj Hines: I graduated in 99. So yeah, my my wife and I Efrain: Golly, you look great, man. What what's the secret? Dj Hines: I appreciate it. Man, loving one woman right and drinking water and exercise. That's it, that's the key, man. That's the key. That's right. That's right. Efrain: Loving one woman right. You ain't lying, 'cause if you had too many, just the gray hairs that are just definitely coming out of that. How how long you been married? How long you been married? Dj Hines: man, you're gonna kill yourself trying to do that. 20 years and in a couple weeks. In a couple weeks, we celebrate 20 years. Yes, it's it's been a beautiful, beautiful experience, Efrain: Wow. High school sweet art? Dj Hines: man. yeah, I've been knowing her since I was 12 years old. We've been knowing each other a really long time. And we actually started dating when I was in college. She had recently graduated, and we just, you know, we've been rocking together ever since. Efrain: Let's go, man. You got kids? Dj Hines: Yeah. Yeah, three. Sixteen-year-old son, a thirteen-year-old daughter, and a nine-year-old daughter. my son is actually Daryl Hines the third, and we call him Trace for short. Efrain: man. Dj Hines: Yeah, then my middle is Chloe and my youngest is Sedona. So that's our crew, man. It's Efrain: So down Dj Hines: the five of us. Efrain: Does Sedona come from like Arizona? Dj Hines: Yes, that was the inspiration for her name. Yeah, my late grandmother, Miss Karina Hines, she went to Sedona and called me almost in tears, telling me how beautiful it was and she could feel the spirit of God. And she just went on and Efrain: Wow. Dj Hines: on and on. So my wife and I, we went to go visit and you know, we were we were thinking of names and you know, Sedona popped in my mind and she was like, Yes, let's do it. So that's where her name was inspired by. the city of Sedona. Efrain: Crazy man. The reason I even asked was just what came to mind was I recently went to this Sedona, and yeah, grandma was Dj Hines: okay. Efrain: grandma was so right, you know. That's the other reason I would have never known if I didn't just recently go, but she was so right. Dj Hines: Yeah, yeah. Efrain: You know, the crazy part was that I that day I was in Arizona, obviously for a best friend's wedding, but I was still working doing some of these podcast conversations, and before I even got there, Arizona. I was already kind of going through just a spiritual thing of just, you know, leadership, you know, just kind of in my head, asking God Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: for all these things, whatever. So I get there and I realize like I'm in Arizona, but I'm not in Arizona, if it makes any sense, right? And then the family was going yeah, yeah, yeah. The family Dj Hines: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. It feels very different. Yeah. Efrain: was going, you know, out and about. And that day they were going to take about almost I think it was like almost like three hours to Sedona. And I was like, Dj Hines: Hmm. Efrain: you know what? I need to go. Like I need to go be with my family. You know, and I s as Dj Hines: Yeah. Yeah. Efrain: much as I hate car rides, whatever, I canceled everything that day. I said I wasn't gonna do it. I went out to Sedona and my wife looked at me as soon as we get there and she's like, This is the first time I've seen you smile this whole trip. Dj Hines: Wow. Wow. Yeah. Efrain: Yeah, yeah. So when you talk about yeah, when you talk about that is I'm actually have to tell her what your story because there was there Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: was something special about it. Now don't get me wrong, DJ, we also seen somebody get carried out in a bouty bag, my brother, 'cause how hot it was. Dj Hines: my God. It Efrain: Yeah, I guess Dj Hines: is you can't go in the summer, man. You can't do that. You gotta go in the winter. Yeah, I was just yeah. Yeah. Efrain: Lord. Well I was there in the summertime, so I got to experience how hot it gets. Dj Hines: my goodness, brother. Yeah, they that's that's that's like Hades in in the summertime. We went this past January Efrain: Yeah, yeah. It is. Dj Hines: and the weather is perfect. January, February, you know, even March, anytime during the winter, the weather is Herbit. But you go to the summer, man. You can pack it up, baby. It's it's too hot. Efrain: Super, man. We're running definitely from the house to the car, man. But I Dj Hines: Yeah. Yeah. Efrain: I love that you you mentioned that your son is the third. How important is that for you to continue that legacy, man? Dj Hines: Yeah, I think, I mean, you know, one of the the, you know, the Bible says, and, you know, and not to, not to, not to get preachy, but you know, a good father leaves an inheritance, right? for his children's children. So I think part of that inheritance is leaving a good name. and my dad, man, I I'm so blessed that he has carried a good name and a name that comes with respect. an honorable name and and now I'm in a position where I'm charged with doing the same thing of keeping a good name for for my son so that, you know, when he shows up and says, I'm Daryl Hines the third, it it means something, right? So I think it's Efrain: Yeah. Dj Hines: tremendously important as part of, you know, your son's inheritance to to give him a good name. And I and I'm and I'm hoping that I can continue to do that. Efrain: Did you know you're going to get in this space similar to to dad or life just kinda led you here? How do you get into this space Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: of giving, man? You're chasing that passion and purpose. We've talked about it on the first Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: kind of conversation. Dj Hines: Absolutely. You know, I I had no I had no goals in mind of working in this space. as when I was younger in college, I was actually in school to to be a doctor. and you know, I had I went to University of Wisconsin Madison, did all my prerequisites, start the MCAT process, start the application process, all of that stuff to to go down that path. And I remember very clear as day, man, that I was sitting in a in a lecture hall over a summer doing some class, doing like a biology class or something. And I remember clear's day hearing the Spirit of God tell me that he called me to help people, but not in hospitals. And I realized Efrain: Mm. Dj Hines: at that moment that I didn't necessarily want to, it wasn't in my heart to be in hospitals every day, but it was in my heart to help people. And that's when I reached out to my dad to have a conversation with him. And he was so supportive. And I thank him to this day. I mean, this was over 20 years ago now, but I thank him to this day for being so open-minded to a young kid, you know, who he's been supporting to go down a certain path for me to switch it up on him and him to show me that same level of support. So we started, he started showing me the ropes of ministry and allowed me to, you know, take a year to work alongside of him to see if if I could find my way and find my fit. And I've been able and I was able to and you know I was able to you know bring some some some ideas, some new approaches to things, you know, being young and energetic, you kind of have a different perspective on things. And, you know, 20 years later, man, I'm still working alongside of my family and ministry and it's it's been incredible. It's been absolutely incredible. Efrain: I love that. So is that what you're currently doing now? Are you just a minister or are you doing other things outside of that? Dj Hines: Yeah. So I'm the chief operations officer of our organization, which is anchored by the church. Christian Faith Fellowship Church is the anchor. And then our organization branches out into the space of education as well. So we run and operate a school called the Daryl and Hines Academy of Excellence, which is a K4 through eight Efrain: Let's go. Dj Hines: school on the northwest side of Milwaukee. And then we also run a high school, which is Destiny High School, also located on the Northwest Side. Our campus extends about 10 blocks. Then we run a youth center as well. and do we do quite a bit of programming and community outreach. So my responsibility is to to oversee the organization, work with our staff, our volunteers, so on and so forth. so that's what I do during the day. and then also work in the real estate business as an owner operator in that space as well. Efrain: Love that man. My man's staying busy for sure. Dj Hines: Come on, man. You know we got to. All these kids, man, they gotta eat. They gotta eat. Efrain: They gotta eat, you're right. how many kids are you guys serving at the school level? Dj Hines: so each school right now it's about 250 in both the high school and the grade school give or take. So it may be between two twenty-five and two fifty. And you know, the the church has celebrated 38 years. Our grade school is twenty-five years now, and the high school is about twenty years. So we've been doing this work a long time. We're not we're not new to the city, not new to the space. We've been around for a while. And, you know, we hope that. We've made impact and we're continuing to find new ways of making impact. Efrain: And that leads to just good communication. That leads to, you know, meeting people where they're at, I totally imagine. when we Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: think about all that, man, what's kept you all around for so long, you think? Dj Hines: You know, that's a really good question because there's a statistic that I learned over during the pandemic, which was a really hard time for churches and ministries. I I believe it's like 1600 churches nationwide close a day. so that lets you know that when you look up almost 40 years later and you're still here, there's something there. first and foremost, man, it's the grace of God. You know, we do what we do by the grace of God. And when I when I say that, that's not like a That's not a cliche statement. I truly believe that when God has called you to ministry, He has given you the grace to do it. and and that that is a separating factor and not saying that other people don't have the grace to do it, but I know for a fact that while you have the grace to do it, you do it. And when his grace has been lifted, then it's time to do something different. So I believe first and foremost that we have the grace of God. Secondly, I think we have phenomenal consistent leaders. My parents have been doing this most of their lives. My dad was called into the ministry when he was 23 years old. and my mom stepped right in there with him. And they've been doing it. He started evangelizing and preaching across the country and other parts of the world. And the Lord told him to start a church at home in Milwaukee. And he was obedient to that call. And he did that. and over the years, he's been consistent with what he's done, doing what he says he's going to do, and just and just being in alignment with the mission that God gave him. So I think it's the grace of God and the consistency of our leaders that still have us here today. Efrain: Love that man. I actually want to kind of pivot because you talk about your dad being this man in your life. That was very pivotal. Dj Hines: Yeah. Yeah. Efrain: But imagine you probably surround yourself with good men. But I think there's also the lack Dj Hines: Absolutely. Efrain: of men surrounding themselves with men, being real with other men. And someone's asked, you know, I was talking to someone and it's not like we talk all the time, but he's Yo, you foreign, I appreciate that as a man you are able to have these conversations. Like I truly thank you. Cause I don't have Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: friends that that you know, speak the way that you do or pour in Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: the way that you do. How important do you think that is, DJ? Because we as men of colored men, bro, I think need to look at that a little differently. Dj Hines: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I think, you know, when you look at men and specifically men of color, we're doers and we're not most time we're not talkers. we're mostly focused on what is it that I have to get up and do? What is it that I'm responsible to make happen today? And even being at home, we don't necessarily always communicate with our wives, all of the things that are on our minds, or with our children, because we carry the responsibility as men to keep to see things happen and to make things happen. But I've learned later in age, you know, I'm I'm gonna be 45 this year. I've learned in my 40s, even just recently, how important it is to talk to other men about things that we're we're going through because. Efrain: Yeah. Dj Hines: When I do that, I find that we're all kind of experiencing some of the same things. I have a best friend, his name is Jeff Mack. He lives in Madison. I'm in Milwaukee. we went to college together. And I think right around the time I turned 40, I was like, bro, are you like in pain every day? Like your body? And he he felt so he was like, my god, you are too. You know, so He was like, bro, and then we started talking about our different body pains, our neck pains, our knees. So we were able to like figure out, like, okay, what are you doing? And what you know, we were just able to exchange ideas. Although humorous, that's a good example of just something simple enough to say to your brother, you know, like, man, how are you dealing with this? How are you dealing with that? Or are you experiencing this? And nine times out of ten. You know, we're we're a lot more similar than we give ourselves credit for. And I think it's those important conversations that will help enlighten us, whether it whether it be about our careers or our finances or our relationships. You know, we're all kind of trying to figure it out in real time. And when we're able to exchange ideas as men, it can be very powerful. Efrain: Yeah, no, agree, man. I I love that you're in that mix as well. And you're saying that it gets better, you know, in your forties. So I gotta look forward to just more men than you know, I actually just got invited today. Dj Hines: Yeah. You got a long time. You got a long time. Efrain: I got four years, man. I got four years. I'm thirty six today. I got a little I got a little bit time. I started laughing. Dj Hines: Okay. Today Efrain: say it again. Dj Hines: To like today is your birthday? Like your thirties okay, okay, okay, okay. I see, I see, okay. Efrain: No, no, no, no, no, no. I I I I turned 36. I'm an Aries baby. April. I'm April baby. But yesterday I was laying down floor at the house, and I already knew Dj Hines: Mm. Efrain: what was up the next morning. I was already feeling it. And sure enough, I wake up today and I'm like, my wife is like giving me a hug. I'm like, man, there's like muscles I feel hurting and sore. I even realize it. You know, it'd be it'd be different. It'd be different. So yeah, I definitely do see those conversations, Dj Hines: That you didn't that you didn't even know existed, right? Yeah, I know. I know. Efrain: man. Dj Hines: Absolutely. Efrain: But as leaders, I think it's also good that other leaders talk to leaders because it also feels very, Dj Hines: Yes. Efrain: I would say, lonely at times. Who are those leaders Dj Hines: Absolutely. Efrain: that you could give praise to and give those flowers to, man, that really were pouring into you maybe at times where you probably weren't even believing in yourself yet? Dj Hines: Yeah, absolutely, man. There's a gentleman that's been in my life most of my life. His name is Emil Banks. he's actually my dad's assistant pastor. They started, my dad may have started the church and been doing it for maybe two years and until before he met Emil Banks. He's a very successful attorney here in the city, beautiful wife, beautiful family. And he's been someone that I could go to consistently. He doesn't talk a lot, but when he does talk, it's very meaningful, meaningful. It's in impactful. And he's given me some tremendous life-changing advice over the years. So he's definitely one. and I'm talking outside of my dad, he's he's he's been my mentor most of my life, but outside of him, Emil Banks has been so instrumental in my life in different spaces in business, and just making good decisions overall as a as a father and and as a husband. So You know, find those mentors, man. I didn't, I didn't really realize the importance of mentors, like I said, until later in life. and I'm like, man, I took too long to kind of build a community of mentors around me, but better late than never, you know. somebody told Efrain: Yeah, a hundred percent. Dj Hines: me somebody told me something really important. he said, this is a successful entrepreneur, pastor. he said, DJ, in your 30s and 40s, don't do ask. And I was like, man, he was like, because we've been there, we've done it, we can help you avoid a lot of the pitfalls that we went through. So I think about that every time before I make a big move, a big decision. I don't do, I ask. And that has saved me from some trouble for sure. Efrain: That is true though, man. I felt like in your twenties you tried a lot. You know what I mean? And you failed a lot. You know, it's like Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: when do you when do you start to realize like, hey, man, you could really get further if you just ask. so Dj Hines: That's right. Efrain: but I as men, it I think it's hard, right? It is having to drop the ego. I think it is having to Dj Hines: It is. Yep. Efrain: understand that it's we're better together. Dj Hines: Absolutely. Efrain: so no, no, I I could definitely I could definitely see that. When you think about A leader, you you're being around leaders. What type of leaders Dj Hines: Mm-hmm. Efrain: do you guys hire? What type of leaders do you love around you? 'Cause there's there's different versions of what a leader looks like. Dj Hines: Yeah, you know, what's most important for me when identifying leader is someone that leads their life well first. their life has order, their life has structure, their life has direction. because you can't expect someone to lead people if their household, whether it be themselves or whether it be their wife and their children, don't have structure and order. So I think that's probably one of the one of the most important things is how are you leading your own life, right? and then how committed are you to the voice of God and and and being in tune with his will and his plan for your life. So I think those things are really important because, you know, certain things can be learned, you know, how to do strategic plan and how to, you know, organize whatever it may be, or structure structure and organization and all of those things can be learned. You can drop that in the chat GPT and it'll shoot you something back, right? And you can present it and you can make people think that you're this fantastic leader. But when you go home, things aren't orderly. So that doesn't prove leadership to me. I think it starts with how they lead their own lives. Efrain: I love that. I'm that 100%. Like that's the authentic leader, right? This is who you are. You're not putting on no Dj Hines: Mm-hmm. Are you good? Efrain: mask. You you truly live it. I I Dj Hines: Exactly. Efrain: I think more than ever, it's so important with AI and social media that you Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: become authentic version of you, man, because best believe they're gonna find out who you are anywho at some point in time. So why not be authentically? Dj Hines: At some point Exactly. Exactly. Efrain: well what do you feel about entrepreneurship, man? Sometimes I feel like it it's very tough, it's not for everybody. But you've been doing it. You talking about real estate. You talk about, you know, Dj Hines: Yeah. Yeah. Efrain: COO. You talk about the schools, the church. There's a lot of entrepreneurship going on. What's your thoughts on it? Dj Hines: Yeah. So here's the thing about entrepreneurship. I'm a big advocate for entrepreneurs. I'm actually going to, my wife and I are going to be rolling our rolling out our foundation real soon, the Heinz Foundation. And one of our pillars is going Efrain: Let's go. Dj Hines: to be entrepreneurship. And what that means is empowering out entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, services, etc. So it it means a lot to me to see entrepreneurs thrive. I think a lot of times entrepreneurs Can sometimes have the skill set and not necessarily a full understanding of the business side of it. So I think entrepreneurs should be very careful about educating themselves about the business that they're getting into so that they don't find themselves discouraged because it's like, man, I'm the best in my space, right? I'm the best at doing what I do. I know it, but I'm not seeing my business grow because I did not. fully understand the business aspects, whether it be, you know, a barber or someone that bake bakes or someone, you know, that is good in in the space of construction, whatever the case may be, I think that we have to understand the business that we're getting into. And then furthermore, understand the difference between entrepreneurship and being self-employed. and some people may confuse the two, you know, because when you're when you're self-employed, That is entrepreneurship, but it's a different form of entrepreneurship. You're showing up and you're working for yourself, right? Some people realize quickly that man, at this rate, I'm gonna be burned out because if I don't show up, you know, you know, if I don't show up, I can't create revenue, right? But I think being self-employed is fantastic because you are writing your own ticket, right? But you have to understand that that's what it is. And then You know, the other form of entrepreneurship is bringing people around you that you hire to help you build your business. So, you know, again, understanding the business that you're getting into and really making sure that you understand the difference between self-employment and entrepreneurship. But I think it's all great because it's all self-empowering. and just, you know, having the right mentors, man, to to help you build your business in in an efficient and effective way. Efrain: Is there anything in the middle of entrepreneurship? I always say it's like a roller coaster. There's so many ups and downs. Dj Hines: Yeah. Efrain: Some months you're doing good. Some months you sit in here like, my God, can I make it to next month? what what are some of those words or or you know, phrases you tell yourself in those moments, man? So those that are watching and listening. Dj Hines: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Man, it's so I think being flexible, learning, and I we use this word a lot during the pandemic, learning when to pivot and how to pivot. we bought my business partner and I, we bought a building in downtown Milwaukee. it was seven, seven residential units and one commercial unit. Amazing location, right? So we our plan was to buy the building, fully renovate it, and then rent the rent the units out as apartments, more so long-term leases, right? More of your traditional rental type property. Well, what we soon found out is that our location, of course, is beautiful, but we're trying to offer a product against some of these multi-million dollar towers that have all these wonderful assets with the gyms and the movie theaters and the golf simulators. And we quickly learned that we can't compete, right? So as opposed Efrain: Mm-hmm. Dj Hines: to panic, we started to find out, okay, where where can we take this business that will make us that will make us more unique in the downtown space. So what we did was we turned into arbitrage. So we turned into Airbnb, doing more short term term stays and During the winter, we do some longer term stays with like traveling nurses and things of that nature, but we found a niche. And now, you know, Efrain: Yeah, yeah. Dj Hines: business is business is doing great because the surrounding buildings don't offer what we're offering. So I think that's one of the biggest things is don't panic. you know, be resourceful and make sure you you're looking through several lenses because sometimes the first approach isn't the only approach, but that doesn't mean that you still can't turn it into a thriving business. Efrain: I love it. I'm gonna take that today. Don't panic pivot is what I got from me. That's what I'm talking about, DJ. Don't panic pivot. Yeah, I'm saying. Dj Hines: I like that. I like that. Okay. I'm a coin that DJ Hines. Yeah. So when you put a side when you when Efrain: Mm. Dj Hines: you when you put that call out there, just make sure you put a little tiny DJ Hines under it so I can make sure that that you Yeah. Efrain: I got you, bro. That was good. That was good. you got so much, man. You talked about some of the things that you and your wife are putting together. You talked about some of the work that you and your dad, business partners. Where can people find more information Dj Hines: Uh-huh. Efrain: about DJ Hines? How can people stay tapped in? Dj Hines: yeah, everything DJ Hines. So you can go to my website is DJ Heinz.com. Instagram is at DJ Heinz, Facebook is at DJ Heinz. You if you just put DJ Heinz in in many in any of the platforms, you you'll find me. Efrain: That that's what it looks like to have a legacy, huh? Just just Google it, baby. It's just all showing up. Dj Hines: That's what I'm saying. Make sure you buy your name. A friend told me that probably fifteen years ago, right? I don't know, it was around the website boom, he was like, Man, buy your name. So that's when I went on and purchased DJ Hines.com. So if you're listening and you don't own your name, go buy your name. Efrain: I love it. Well, DJ, man, I appreciate the conversation, man. It is always a pleasure. just some words of wisdom as we hop off, man. You're a man of I can imagine just a lot of good information. But we're talking to different listeners at all different walks of life. What is that thing you tell them? Dj Hines: Yeah, absolutely. Right now, my wife and I, we're we're we're experiencing what we would consider one of the storms of life. my my wife and I, we just lost her mother recently. we just had our services on Saturday. And meanwhile, we were, you know, planning to, you know, sell our home and try to figure out, you know, what we're what home we're gonna transition into. And we have our our Our 20-year coming up and our kids going back to school. So it just seems like there's so much going on around. but what we have leaned into is finding the peace of God. the Bible says, if you keep your mind stayed on me, I will keep you in perfect peace. And we've really been trying to remind ourselves that in the midst of everything that's going on, something's planned, something's unplanned, a lot of uncertainty. but we know that God has us, so we've we've leaned into that scripture and kept our mind on God and kept our mind on the things of God and we're we're trusting him to continue to keep us in perfect peace. Efrain: DJ, I appreciate it. And also don't remember, don't panic pivot. That's a new thing that you gotta take, bro. That's your new thing. I Dj Hines: That's it. Efrain: need a shirt that says don't panic pivot. That's a shirt too, DJ. We gotta get off here. The business. I mean praying. This is DJ Hines. Make you guys Dj Hines: I I like it. man, yes. Efrain: check him out on all socials. I'll catch you in the next one. Latest. Dj Hines: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.