We were lucky to catch up with Dennis Nichols recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dennis, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.

A little bit of the backstory about how I got started is centered around my Dad being an architect during my childhood. Watching him work each day sparked my interest in design; watching movies on TV that always focused on the husband having a career in marketing or advertising lit the fire for more. I eventually studied at 3 different colleges to get the knowledge I needed.

I’ve also been a musician my entire life. During the time of my studies, I hosted events for upcoming artists pursuing their music careers and business owners needing promotion. My team and I did work with a few major artists (celebrities) but nothing to celebrate. since the music wasn’t widely distributed and the events are faint memories. While working with the upcoming artists, I reached out to many record labels in order to find opportunities for my “clients”. To build my own network as well. My strategy was always to speak with the execs. The decision-makers. I wanted to know what they did to get where they were in their careers. Of course we all want to be on the big screen or at least be behind the scenes….strangely enough my day came.

Somehow, one day years ago, I accidentally ended up in a group chat between Universal Music Group and Interscope Records on LinkedIn from a guy who recently accepted my follow request at the time. My first name was the same as one of the other execs. I responded to the message and ended up having their artist list as my first real client sheet. Crazy! We laughed about it later lol…nervous was NOT the word for how I felt. He became my mentor and history was made.

Dennis, 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?

Dia’ani Media curated a small tight-knit family of creators and influencers that are able to create a huge impact.

Let’s discuss marketing, advertising, television campaigns, radio campaigns, product placement in film, video production, music production, graphic design, event promotion, licensing, distribution and more.

With an impressive network of many industry leaders, our company discovered a seemingly impossible inflation of opportunities. In order to reach your business goals and potential, we’re pleased to offer you our expertise in content creation, advertising and broadcast media, video production, logo design, social media marketing, CGI & Virtual Reality animation, website design, software development, app design, audio engineering/scoring/sound design and content distribution all before naptime!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Waking up each morning thinking that you know everything will defeat you each day. Waking up each morning realizing that each client will have different needs or visions depending on their current mood will easily carry you throughout each project. There’s no amount of schooling, training, etc. that can overcome emotions. We never know what our client’s previous day was like or what they dreamed about that morning before meeting with us. Don’t learn the hard way like I did years ago.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Even though we live in a digital world, we must make it a priority to go outside in order to meet people and shake hands. If you’re online all day, use the time to send random emails or DMs to entertainment execs. Sending 10-20 per day will eventually lead to thousands . Someone will answer and your door will be opened. Make sure you have your business plan and goals set in place before contacting anyone. That one conversation may change your life.

Contact Info:

• Website: diaanimedia.com
• Instagram: @diaanimedia
• Facebook: facebook.com/diaanigroup
• Linkedin: inkedin.com/in/diaani-dennis/
• Twitter: @diaanimedia
• Yelp: yelp.com/biz/diaani-media-fort-lauderdale
• Other: LinkMe: diaanimedia.com/linkme

Image Credits
Photos: Eli Ramirez-Nichols