Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Prince Durocher. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Prince , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?
My name is Prince Durocher and I’m from Broward County FL. Most of you know me as Obeyprincee on all social media platforms. I started dancing at the age of 14. I was always dancing with friends and trying to be the life of the party! It was so much fun that I ended up making up a crew call Soflo Snap Squad just for fun. We’d go to parties, throw parties and just be a fun group. Wherever we were, the fun followed. It wasn’t until 11th grade I started taking it serious. I remember watching Shelovemeechie, Toosi, Ayo & Teo on Youtube doing exactly what I was doing and I said to myself, “Why dance for free when I can get paid on YouTube for doing it. I asked one of my friends in school if it was a good idea to make a YouTube channel and he said “your tripping nobody would watch you.” We both laughed but in my heart I was a little hurt. After school I went home and asked my little brother Josh to record a video on my phone. I taught him how to do the shake effect on my phone and everything! I asked him how was it and he said it was really good and to post it. I went home, edit it, and made the Soflo channel. I posted it and in 5 hours I got 5k views. That’s when I realized I was onto something! Fast forward to later in life I had over 90 videos with views ranged through 10k-500k. Through these videos going viral we had Dj Akademiks do a reaction video about our Get Em Right mix video and led to the Too the max video. Had our nice and slow dance video led us to the Nice and slow music video by Ball Greezy. Getting booked left and right for shows. I opened up for SZA, Cardi B, performed with Savannah Cristina and so much more! During this time my sister’s father passed from pancreatic cancer. My mother was devastated. 2 years later she passed from a MRSA bacteria that made her heart stop. That left me with Josh & Dieula (Dee-aye-la) both at the ages of 16 and 6 looking up to me on what do we do next. This was a major obstacle for me that I had no choice to take on at the age of 21. It was so unexpected! I had family tell me they can take custody of one sibling and the other will take the other but my mother always told me if anything ever happened to her, make sure we stick together! I took a year and a half off from the entertainment industry and switched my focus immediately. Came from thinking about paying for flights and trips to go on shows or events to paying rent, FPL, groceries and so much more. In those dark times there was some light. I ended up getting married to the love of my life Jocelyn Durocher, I knew her since I was 9 years old. We grew up as friends, got older started dating in middle school and got married. The fantasy tale everyone always wanted. “Middle School Sweethearts”. Before my mother passed she told me I should marry her because my mother seen her heart. We were in Georgia at their family member’s house and her exact words was “Junior start saving for a ring because she’s the one. She loves you, has a good heart and I can tell her family will always take care of you guys. You all will always be in good hands.” I did exactly that and her family really helped me continue my journey. They are apart of the reason why I want to succeed so bad. I want to be able to repay all of them for being there for me when everyone else left. I had close friends stay around and be my moral support but the things they couldn’t do my wife’s parents, siblings, aunts, uncles ,cousins did. They always went above and beyond for us. I was a baby raising babies. I appreciate every single person who really was in those trenches with me. You know who you are. Once I became stable, I started doing entertainment again. I was scared I wasn’t going to be that viral or relevant again. I left that world for 2 years! Trends changed, things changed, and a whole new type of audience was upon me. I quickly realized if I can do it once I can do it again. I know the formula, I know what to do and when to do it. I started making skits, dancing videos and soon enough I started getting shoutouts from celebrity pages and viral pages about my videos and the traction was back. Then I had an idea to create a family channel called Everything Durocher on Youtube. In our first 3 months we gained over 1k subscribers and still growing till this day! Having my mother pass was so unexpected and painful but my mom always said turn depression into motivation and that’s exactly what I did.
Prince , 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?
There’s two different people that I live on a daily basis. Obeyprincee is the entertainer, he fits well with Prince but he’s way more goofy. He’s the life of the party. The funny, entertaining, the most energetic person in the room. His job is to solely make sure his viewers are entertained. The services I provide are dancing, content creating, modeling, hosting and acting in any part of the entertainment world. My fans love to watch me dance because I bring lyrics to life. You watch me dance and I’m acting out each lyric so your brain is painting a picture. to what the song is saying. Prince Durocher is so much more than an entertainer. He’s a very focused man who’s been through a lot. He is a provider, a lover, a father figure, a husband, a success story, a motivator and etc. Me being myself created a fanbase of my own. Speaking knowledge to my fanbase, motivating them, providing them advice, or even just reassuring them that no matter what happens in life they can overcome it. Prince Durocher is a Restaurant Manager at Rosewater Rooftop at The Ray Hotel. I started as a food runner at LionFish and once I heard about this hotel opening up I started working there as well. I was in grind mode for a while. I sacrificed my fun on the weekends and got real with myself and my life. I wanted to ensure a type of stability that I can build a financial foundation on. My weekends looked like working at Lionfish at 9am-3pm for Brunch then going to Ember Grill from 4pm-9pm to get them through dinner rush and change in the bathroom to run upstairs and work at Rosewater Rooftop from 9pm-12pm and finish nightlife. I was everywhere in Delray Beach! The owners of those venues seen me more than three times a day. It was to the point they would ask me “Prince do you even sleep?” Since I displayed so much hard work and my work ethic matched the company’s vision, I was offered an opportunity to become a manager. After my promotion, I went home ands cried my eyes out. I finally reached a point where I reached a ground level of financial stability. No more scrambling to pay all my bills. I was able to use my management job to take care my household bills and my entertainment income to invest in my Vending Machine Business. It’s my family business called Durocher Vending. We install vending machines and service them throughout our contracted time period in any establishment. My next project is to finish finalizing a non profit mentoring program called the Siasie Durocher Foundation. It’s named after my mother and our mission is to help that either lost a parent, both parents or even live with their parents but isn’t really receiving the guidance a child needs. Our mission statement is to guide the unguided.
I’m proud of who I am today. I came from nothing and really grew up and created a name for myself. I blended Obeyprincee the entertainer and Prince Durocher the entrepreneur so well! My following continues to grow from both sides and I have nothing but love for everyone. I remember being in 5th grade and watching my mom cry and telling her “don’t worry mom when I get older ima take care of the whole family!” I didn’t mean for it to happen this way, but here I am holding it down for her. I am the last person in my family generation to suffer!
How did you build your audience on social media?
My advice is to BE YOURSELF! Don’t jump in from of the camera unless your comfortable. You can’t be shy and you can’t care what people think. People are your biggest critics. It takes a lot for content creators to post something and ignore comments and opinons from people. It’s not always rewarding to read what other people think about you. Also, find a lane and stick to it. If your really good at something, master it and keep going at it. Doesn’t matter if the world does the same thing as you. They don’t do it like you do! Lastly stay consistent! Building a following is about consistency. Put yourself on a schedule where you would post daily or 5 times a week at 4pm. Think of it like a TV show. You watch one episode and you’re ready to see what’s next. Keep your audience engaged on your page.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
A couple of books that helped me shape my mindset was The Giver and Rich Dad Poor Dad. The Giver gave me a standpoint on character, sacrifice and the greater good. Rich Dad Poor Dad gave me the skill to learn from anyone who is the position you want to be in one day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/Obeyprincee
- Instagram: @obeyprincee
- Youtube: Soflo Snap Squad, Everything Durocher
Image Credits
@RawnReel