We recently connected with Viral The DJ and have shared our conversation below.

Viral, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

In my opinion “Taking A Risk” is maybe one of the hardest things we can do as humans. We all get comfortable with how things might be going on in our lives and change can be scary at times. Many people think that taking a risk and not achieving what they set out to do is failure, but I’m here to tell you that nothing in life is a failure! It’s an opportunity to learn yourself and change the trajectory of your life.

I am an walking example of a person taking a risk. I was a food runner/busser at Hard Rock Hotel Orlando’s pool bar named Beach Club. Hard Rock would have DJ’s on Tuesdays & Thursdays at their pool and they would entertain the guest that stayed there. I was always a person that was intrigued with music and I decided to go dance on stage one time because of a song that was playing. The DJ (Scooter The DJ) and I became really close after that and he would teach me everything about the DJ’ing business. It got to a point where I would always be there when he was there and we would have the people flocking to the pool to come see our show. People would come all over the country to come see us perform. After a year or two Scooter would tell me that I was good enough to pursue being a DJ. I had a fear of speaking in public and told him that I would never speak on a mic like he would to entertain people. I had that fear of being rejected and failing being a DJ. So, a year later I get promoted to be a server at Beach Club and I still DJ’ed on the side with Scooter. Two more years go by and Scooter leaves the Hard Rock Hotel as their DJ. So there is an open slot for someone to DJ; co-workers and guest that knew me would ask me to take over and I felt like I wasn’t ready. Then something nobody ever expected happen! COVID HIT AMERICA!!! Everything was shut down and I was out of a job. A couple months in on covid I decided to get a job at Target and I began not liking working a 9-5 job (Nothing Against Target) lol. A couple months went by and I was planning to make my escape out of the so called “Rat Race”. I actually get a call from Hard Rock and they asked me to come return as a server Full-Time. I turned down the offer and told them if they are looking for a DJ I would be more than glad to take over that position. I was told that they would get back to me and I didn’t hear anything and 4 months has gone by, at this point I was thinking DJing wouldn’t be an option. I kept my mind positive and decided I was going to take a risk and pursue being a DJ anyways. I didn’t have any clients and didn’t know what my first move was going to be, but I was determined to make this career work for me. So with that being said I quit my job at Target in March of 2021 and I started working on my DJ’ing business. After just one month of leaving Target I get a call back from Hard Rock Hotel Orlando saying they would love for me to be their resident DJ! I was Elated that I got the opportunity to DJ at a Prestige Establishment and was proud of myself because I went from running food, bussing tables, serving people drinks poolside and now I entertain millions of people that come enjoy their stay in Orlando, FL.

I said all of that to say, Never give up on yourself and always keep a positive mindset. Sometimes “Taking A Risk” can change the trajectory of your life.

Viral, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into my career by somebody truly taking time out to teach me about the business and would speak life into me every time they would see me. Once I started DJ’ing I made it my duty to always elevate my craft and to stay discipline with practicing and knowing my music. What makes me different from other DJ’s is the energy I exude through my craft, my personality is contagious, the message behind my brand and the positivity that I give to help humanity, because music is healing and I was put here on earth to help people heal through my craft. I DJ a variety of different events such as Kids Parties, Birthday Parties, Pool Parties, School Dances, Corporate Events & Weddings as well, that also come in different packages. I also create mixes for a party that doesn’t want a DJ but would like the feeling of having a DJ Mix instead.

The biggest problem I solve for my clients is giving them a break from life. I always give superb energy to get everyone to enjoy themselves, forget about whats going on in life and to enjoy this moment that we are experiencing together. That could be song that brought back a memory or a dance that made you get out of you seat and move. Whatever it is I just want my clients and their guest to enjoy the moment, sing & dance, because that is healing and it also releases some of those happy hormones that are contagious.

For my future clients, I guarantee you that your event will be remembered if I’m your DJ. I will always give you the best version of me while your listening to music that makes you smile, dance and clap. You also will enjoy the variety of music I mix together and enjoy me MC’ing your event while I’m going back & forth dancing with everybody on the dance floor. I always like to say with Viral The DJ “ You’ll Be Under The Influence Of Good Music”.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Discipline helped me be resilient. There were many times where money wasn’t coming in like I thought it would. Every time I would get paid for my services I would put a percentage away for my taxes. Now when the money wasn’t coming in at all, I had money sitting in my Tax Account (which is just an account I created to put my taxes in) and I wanted to use that money to buy new equipment or treat myself. Now remember when your working a 9-5 you don’t have to worry about taking out taxes, it’s done for you already. Having a business, this is one of the most important parts; you don’t want to owe money because you didn’t pay taxes. I got into a situation where I had to take money out of my Tax Account because something happen to my equipment and I didn’t have a back up to work with. I had a party to DJ the next day and had to make a decision on taking money out of my Tax Account; which I’m relying on that money to pay some bills, or I can tell the client I can’t do their party last minute and have my company take a hit, while having an upset client that doesn’t recommend me to another potential client. I had to do whats best for my company.

I went the route of taking money out of my tax account and Thank God I went to the event because I was able to get 3 more events from that one event and was able to put back that money I took from my Tax Account. I was stretched but in a good way! I learned to make another account to put away money for potential hiccups with equipment.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I love this question because what I had to unlearn is probably not your typical answer for this question. I had to unlearn and retrain my mindset. My mindset was so use to working a 9-5 job. So, with a 9-5 there isn’t much on the back end you have to worry about right? You go to work, you have a set amount of hours you work. You get paid weekly or bi-weekly depending on your occupation and also when you get paid they take out your taxes. Your Full-time or Part-time with a set schedule, etc. etc.

When it comes to being a business owner you have to make sure you have the back of the house in order and the front of the house in order. When I’m sayng the back of the house I’m talking about things people don’t really see about your business. Getting your LLC or S-Corp, Opening up your Business Account, Getting a “FREE” EIN Number, What is A EIN Number? Funding, The Foundation of your Business, Your Businesses Core Values, Your Team, Paying Taxes at the end of the year or at the end of each quarter and etc. These things I either learned on the way or I would hear these things from other business owners or Youtube Videos. I didn’t know what a EIN Number was, all of it was foreign to me. With a job you don’t have to worry about none of these. You just clock in, work, clock out and collect your check and party on the weekend lol. In my opinion this was the most difficult part, but once you get the hang of everything it starts to become easier. So don’t be scared of the back of the house. Its really important to tackle this part and have all of your information in order.

The Front of the house are the things that people see: Your Name/Business Name, Business Logo, Business Colors, Social Media, Your Product/Service, Website, Business Cards, etc. This is probably the most exciting part of your business because this is where your creativity comes in. That service or product thats going to have your clients/customers continuing to comeback for more. It might seem easy but I still had to unlearn things in this process as well. I had to unlearn being a consumer and start thinking more like a customer. If I was a customer looking at my business what would make me want to buy your product/service? I unlearned the meaning of Guest, Guest stands for “Greet Understand Engage Solve & Thank”. Implementing these things and changing my mindset has giving me a opened mind on how to give my clients the best experience as a DJ.

So when it comes to owning a business I encourage you to unlearn the 9-5 mentality and adopt the CEO/Leadership Role. You have to be the Visionary/Leader and inspire a group of people to achieve yours or the customers desired outcome. This is something I decided to do when I became a DJ. I learned that we as human beings have more in common than we don’t and Music is one of those things. I had to unlearn to learn that we all need each other and connecting together on a positive level can increase the positivity in the world and Music helps me spread that message.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.viralthedj.com
• Instagram: @ViralTheDJ
• Facebook: @ViralTheDJ
• Linkedin: Viral The DJ
• Other: SoundCloud for mixes: www.soundcloud.com/Viralthedj MixCloud for mixes: www.mixcloud.com/Viralthedj Email: [email protected]