We recently connected with Delendra Peterson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Delendra, thanks for joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
I am happier as a business owner. Yet sometimes, I do wish I had a regular job. As the youngest of 4 children and the only girl, I look at my brothers’ lives and I get disappointed in myself. They are all very successful. I am carrying the load of 3 different businesses; which are doing well, but their success does not compete with the successes of my brothers. Growing up, everyone had high hopes for me, because I am extremely smart, talented and creative. Decisions in my life caused me to fall behind and start over several times. Recently, when I was sitting at home after working all day in the carrying-out restaurant, Mmm, The Kitchen, that my children and I have together, I started crying, because I had no one that could help me complete the work I needed to for my streaming TV network and for my agency company. I just sat there in tears thinking that everyone can depend on me to be there for them, but I have no one to be there for me. I also thought about how easy it would be to work for someone else for 8 hours and not work for myself for 16 hours a day. As I pulled myself together, I realized that it takes time to build an empire. It takes a “we.” I knew my children and I could not do everything alone. I woke up the next morning and started adding to my team, my “we.”
Delendra, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
What can I say about myself? First, I am a mom of two wonderful children, of many of my former students and of my stepchildren. Well, I am everyone’s “we.” Lol. I wear many hat with many different skills. I own a streaming TV Network company, The OnPoint Network TV. It is hard getting movies aired on platforms like, Netflix and Hulu. We allow independent content writers, actors, producers, etc, to air their content globally. Viewers can watch for free. Under The OnPoint Network, we have a clothing and accessory brand called OP Apparel. Next, I own a carry-out restaurant with my son, Mmm, The Kitchen. We focus on wings, but we have a wide variety of items that entice people to stop by. Due to our reviews on Google, we have had so many travelers stop through from several states. Come and get your wing on! Finally, I own an agency, HUM Music Agency, which works with music artists, generates graphics and websites and does event decor. Each one of these businesses work together inside The OP Studios, which is located in Linden, Alabama. I have been told by many to move the studio to another state, because it is a small city. I believe this is where I am destined to make a difference.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I have several stories throughout my journey as an entrepreneur that shows my resilience, but this story also shows my fight. Last year was suppose to be the season that I focused only on building my businesses and my personal life. My company had just released an original movie, Just Love Me, and we were supposed to work on two more movies and a documentary. Yet, someone asked me to help them film and produce their movie. They spoke to me as if I was a fabulous person that they admired. I gave in to filming and producing their project. Before I started, I made sure their project was copyrighted as I do anyone’s project that I work on. At the last day of filming, they had already booked the premiere a month away. This really was not enough time to edit, review, edit, review and do the colorization. Yet, I went to work on it. As I tried to download the project, my computer was not cooperating. The client was not understanding. The same person who put me on a pedestal was the same person tearing me down. For two weeks, this person called the police in my area trying to get me arresting by saying I stole their property. As I tried to get my computer repaired and I sent them the work order receipt to show there was something truly wrong with my editing computer, they took the police in that city to the repair store to try to have me arrested and to try to take possession of my computer. I was advised to keep my carry-out restaurant closed because the client and their family members were harassing my children and I with phone calls all day. During this process, I lost customers, funds from all my businesses being closed and my sanity. I had gotten to the point of wanting to give up on everything. I was crying every day and asking God why I was going through this, why would a person do so many things to hurt me and why would people believe that I would intentionally hurt someone or take their movie. Due to several calls and several visits with the police, that repair store would not repair my computer. I had to find another location three hours away. I got the project downloaded. At the premiere, I was discredited and talked about physically. I was being bullied by adults. Thankfully, there was an actor in the movie who came to talk to me about the situation. They saw all the evidence; text messages, contracts, voice recordings, videos, and receipts. They knew I was telling the truth. They went on to defend me, and told me to keep fighting. Yet, the damage had been done. I was broken. I could not see a way to move forward. No one realized it, but depression had set in. My children loved me through it all and encouraged me. I begin to fight. I tell anyone that my children have always been my motivation to not give up. I do not want them to see me give up, so they will not have an excuse to give up.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
The story from my journey gave me something that I had to unlearn. Even though I am a small business owner, I had to realize that I do not have to take every client that wishes to pay for my services. Evaluate… will this client’s needs disrupt the goals and direction of the company? Will providing a service to this client benefit the company or set the company backwards? My goals for the year was focused on growing my businesses in a different way, by focusing our original projects. My vision board reminded me of this everyday. Yet, I was always taught that the customers’ needs are more important. As I look at this situation, I lost valuable time and money that I needed to complete my company’s goals. These goals would have brought a lot of income and recognition to the company. Unfortunately, we are in a new year and we still have not complete those same goals, because we are still trying to bounce back from this situation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.onpointnetwork.tv
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onpointnetworktv/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onpointnetworktv
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/opnetworktv
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOnPointNetwork
Image Credits
Third image is with Monique White, Our Life TV Show Host, and Tikila Adolph, Bring on the Day Host, at The OPN Awards
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