We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeffery Daniel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jeffery, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I think success is a combination of things. Hard work, sacrifice, talent, network, patience, and opportunity all go into what it takes to be successful. You can do hard work and have talent, but if you don’t have the network to be able to showcase that talent, then I believe that opportunities becomes exponentially harder to come by. Of course if we flip that, you can have plenty of opportunities but if you don’t have the talent and hard work then you will fall short as well. I believe you need to create as many avenues to open up more opportunities so when the time comes, you’ll be ready. This comes with honing your skills, making sure you make as many connections as you can, and being patient for when that time comes.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I tell people all the time that Video and Photo wasn’t my first choice, but I’m glad I was pushed into this direction. My dream as a child was to create video games and produce music. Listening to an older cousin of mine, he told me when I was in middle school that I should learn how to program to help with creation of those video games. This had me pursue a degree in computer engineering at Mississippi State University which I learned quickly that engineering did not agree with me at all. Come sophomore year I switched my major to art because I had picked up photoshop in high school and thought it would be good to grow those skills even more. You have to go through a portfolio review in order to get into the graphic design program and long story short, after two tries I did not get into that program. So, I had a choice to either go to another school for design or get into the photography program. I passed and here I am now, graduated with a degree that I did not think I would have chosen but I have plenty of good opportunities.

Most of the work I do now have been music videos and I work with a lot of Hip Hop artists. Eight months after I graduated college I moved to Atlanta and ended up connecting with Grammy Award winning producer Zaytoven. Because I had a built a good portfolio of shooting music videos before I moved, I was ready for the opportunity to work with Zay. Through being connected with him, I have had the opportunity to work with some regional and nationally known artists. Also, even though I didn’t get into the graphic design program, did not mean I stopped creating. I have created around cover arts for Zay and for a multitude of other artists.

I encourage people to really think about what you love to do and being open learning new skills. I did not think I was going to be in the field that I am now, but having people around to encourage you to broaden your horizon could lead to opportunities you never thought of. There are plenty of music producers who want to get in touch with Zaytoven, and through having another skill other than music, I have been able to constantly work with somebody I looked up while growing 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?

Something I had to unlearn was “team no sleep.” Plenty of entrepreneurs are told that you can’t sleep and you have to work yourself to the bone in order to be successful. I believe you need to work hard, but not at the expense of your own health. I use to feel real antsy if I wasn’t getting any work done but didn’t realize the subconscious effect it was having on me until it finally hit. I got to a point were I was having anxiety attacks just about every night and was wondering what was the cause. It wasn’t until I had a talk with my older brother that I realized that I had a lot of built up stress that stemmed from the need to constantly worked. I had to realize you can only do so much, and no matter how much work you put in, you cannot make those opportunities you long for to come any faster. All you need to do is just do your best and be prepared. Once I realized this, my attacks went away and I just work on what I can.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part about being a creative is knowing that your work as inspired or connected with someone else emotionally. You have to be a vulnerable person as a creative. Whenever you work, you are allowing others to see a piece of you and hoping that it translates properly. Sometimes what you create can be very personal and sometimes it’s hard opening up. So all in all, when people connect to those personal creations, it is very rewarding knowing that you created some kind of impact with the audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jefferydaniel.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/jefferybdaniel
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/jefferybdaniel
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1HDL6S14DQTFM1ncSAZD1A