We recently connected with Dajour (DY) Keemer and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Dajour (DY) thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Music was always in me, I found my early inspiration from my uncle’s Leander Keemer and James Jones. They were both heavy into HipHop music and I loved watching them express themselves and the joy that it brought to them when people reacted to their music. During college I studied Business Administration with hopes to own my own business but I didn’t know what business, time was coming close for me to finish my degree and I knew I had to find something to stick to quickly but whatever it was I wanted it to allow me to be free enough to pursue Music full time. After hours of research I asked myself “what do all wealthy people have in common?” So I searched and searched, then I realized the answer was in my face the entire time. Ownership! All wealthy businessmen (or women) share the commonality of owning things whether it’s physically, digitally, or psychologically. So I thought to myself “what can I own that will make me money?” The Avenue that I chose was real estate. I knew it was worth while because I’d watched interviews, read blogs, and saw posts about other artists doing the same thing. I knew that it wasn’t a coincidence that they were doing this. They understand that you have to reinvest into your future in order to live that luxurious lifestyle that we all seek. I was excited because I know that once I set my mind on something, nothing will stop me from achieving that goal and because of that, I’m now helping bring value to communities, providing people with the space and opportunity that they need, and I love what I do!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Dajour Keemer, I’m a 24 year old entrepreneur/recording artist, who’s goal is to help motivate and inspire others to chase their dreams while leading by example. I offer great music, motivational content, apparel, an impactful story, and I’m an AirBNB host! I feel like my role is to show people that you don’t have to be big and famous to have an impact. A lot of us are so caught up into social media to the point where we feel like you have a million followers or dollars to be somebody. Well, I don’t have a million followers or a million dollars and I feel like I’m somebody! People from my community don’t have the opportunity to grow and better themselves, I wouldn’t say I was lucky but I persevered and made it through. I make people feel like it’s possible. The most rewarding part is having people tell me how much of an impact I’ve made on them. My music speaks soul and substance, my business caters to vacationers who have a great experience, and my followers love the content that I place in front of them. “The Hope” is what I would describe myself as. With us coming out of the covid-19 crisis and all of the other things that have taken place over the past few years, it’s not much of that left.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Having money as a college student is already hard as it is, but I couldn’t let that be an excuse. During my second semester of college, I got a job working at Lowe’s as a seasonal employee. I would average about $500 or so but I knew that wasn’t nearly enough for what I needed but it was a start. I started saving what I had after paying my phone bill which was probably about $70 at the time. The pay was bi-weekly so I didn’t have anything to pay once I got the phone bill out of the way. When the school refund checks would come, I’d get about $200 from that, I didn’t get much because I didn’t take out any loans for school, I went on scholarships and grants. I knew If I really wanted to start saving money, I needed to stop paying for room and board which was about $3500. So I decided to move off campus into a 1 bed room apartment with my girlfriend who is now my business partner and fiancé. The rent was about $550 a month but with both of us working that wasn’t much to pay, with utilities it was about $650 or so. We lived a simple life style for the course of 1 year and in that years time we gathered around $30,000 collectively with the help of the $4,000 school checks we were both getting and other resources. With that money I established our business entity “The Keemer’s Property, LLC” and I began searching for homes to buy. I couldn’t find luck in the area around where we live, so we decided to move to another area. That’s when the perfect opportunity arrived, we found a fully renovated 3 bed 2 bath home with about 1,200 sqft sitting on the market. With a little sweet talking, we got him down to our price and there began our AirBNB journey. I want those who are reading to understand that it takes a strong partner to work these wonders, without that I wouldn’t be as successful as I am today.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
One book that strongly impacted my thought process and resilience is “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. It helped me understand where I was in life and where I wanted to be. I changed my mindset from being a consumer into being a producer and once you grasp that concept, it’ll be a lot easier to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve the goal that you have!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://keemersproperties.com/
- Instagram: Its.DYK
- Facebook: DY Keemer
- Linkedin: Dajour (DY) Keemer
- Twitter: Talented_DY
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/BangBrozInc