We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daniel Crespo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daniel below.

Daniel, appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I’ve been able to build multiple high earning businesses through my creative work and creative process. Two of those business currently employ multiple people who are also able to creatively express themselves and teach creativity in the spaces of music, DJing, sound engineering and branding.

The journey to making this happen involved one key ingredient – passion. If you are doing something you love, you will find so many avenues to take your talents and allow buisness to be built through them. I always tell my students at the DJ school: “If you’re doing something you love, and earning money doing it, you will take it as far as your the effort you give.”

The process of reaching success through creative work is very challenging. It involves a lot of risk taking and sacrifice. From day one I had to understand that I would have to give up the nights of partying with friends, spending money on things I wanted and even limiting my lifestyle to cheap or free activities. There were times where I had to budget how much I could spend on basic necessities like groceries or even going to the movies.

In the end it was all worth it. Sacrificing what you want in the short term will lead to long term stability and success. Don’t be afraid to eat ramen noodles and black beans every night, like I did in college LOL.

The major steps on my road to success were all tough moments that required me to evolve quickly. The loss of my father, a really hard breakup, getting kicked off the decks in a major club. These moments were hurtful, tough, stressful and sad but also forced me to build character and determination. They made me the strongest version of myself. Don’t be afraid to fight through the tough moments because life is beautiful on the other side of them.

My biggest advice to speed up any process is to find a mentor or expert in the field that you want to be great at. Befriend them, pay them for the time or classes and offer help. In return you will be given years of knowledge and experience in just many short moments.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi family! My name is Daniel Crespo aka DJ Crespo. I am a world renowned DJ and producer currently touring all over the world. I was born in Chicago, IL and currently reside in Miami, FL. I currently hold club residencies at some of the biggest nightlife stages in the world, such as Marquee (Las Vegas), E11EVEN (Miami), Baia (Tokyo), The Grand (Boston) and many more.

The proudest moment of my career was when I founded Wired Sound Academy, a DJ and Music School, in 2019. Since the inception we have successfully graduated over 300 students in the fields DJing and Music Production and in the process, have created a seven figure buisness. Many of our students have gone on to build their own successful careers. It has been so fulfilling to teach the skill of DJing and Producing, watch others making a living through their passion.

Through many years of nightlife experience I have also built a consulting buisness which helps plan and execute nightlife events, club buildouts, brand experiences and marketing campaigns.

I once started as just a kid with a love for music, and my passion and determination has shown me a life that I never thought was possible. One in which I could make a living doing what I love most.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative artist to me, is watching something that never existed become a real life tangible thing. The creative process is also extremely rewarding. To take an idea and make it real and yours is a superpower in my eyes.

I feel as if many people don’t spend enough time tapping into their creative side, and I truly believe all humans are creative. Imagine if we spent just even an hour a day being creative. Our world deserves that from all of us.

The creative process can sometimes be long and stressful, but as they say Rome wasn’t built in a day. Sit down and try!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I believe the best way to gain a following is to tell a story, or most importantly – tell YOUR story (if you are comfortable with it). I believe all humans are empathetic and that we can always relate to one another or a story being told.

From a young age I felt the need to make build a following around people who could relate to me and also want to follow my journey. Everyone loves a good underdog, they also love content that they can relate to.

My main advice on building a following comes in three points:
1. If a post is going to be about you… tell the story behind it or make people feel like they are apart of yours. INSPIRE!
2. Provide information that is valuable. Valuable information is shareable and always consumed.
3. Make people feel emotion. I do this in everything, from a post about a brand I love to a new mix I’ve just made. The best brands make people feel something.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.djcrespo.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/crespothedj
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/DJcrespo
• Twitter: twitter.com/crespothedj
• Youtube: youtube.com/djcrespo
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wired-sound-academy-fort-lauderdale
• Other: www.wiredsoundacademy.com