Derek C. Evans Talks about his Career Path, Musical Journey, and where he is at today

We had a chance to reach out to Derek C. Evans to talk about his career and journey.

1.) Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

To start off I was diagnosed with dysautonomia disorder back in 2008. Now fast forward to 2016, when I was a manager at Hertz Rent A Car. I recently had a flare-up with my dysautonomia disorder but was trying to push through it because the business had expectations I was expected to meet. Unfortunately, my health could only hold up so much and I ended up collapsing on the job which was due to the flare-up with my dysautonomia disorder. I ended up waking up in an ambulance being transported to the hospital. This moment was a wake-up call for me. I began to think of ways I could control my time so I could try to control my health. I also wanted to be able to control how much income I could make. It occurred to me that chasing my dreams of being an entrepreneur/business owner was not anymore riskier than risking my health working in the corporate world. This is when I started studying and gaining my financial licenses to start my own financial business.

2.) Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

The most interesting story is the day I released my first book back in March 2017. I did not have close to the following or social media presence I have now. I remember before I shared to Facebook that I had just published a book I was nervous about. I thought some people might think it was lame. I was hoping I would maybe get like 20 likes and a couple of close friends and family that would buy my book. It turned out I was wrong. The post went semi-viral with lots of shares and almost 700 likes. I started receiving so many messages I had to turn my phone off and get back to them the next day. Next thing I know I was being asked to speak for college classes, businesses, art shows, and different events about my book. I was being interviewed for local magazines, newspapers and featured on the local news channel about my book. I have had people from other countries such as Scotland, Australia and find me and message me on social media about my book and how they appreciated it. I went from hoping a couple of close friends and family members buy my book to now having sold a couple of thousand. Ever since the day I shared the story of releasing my first book, my life has changed drastically.

3.) Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I do not know if it is funny or necessarily a mistake, but it was not worth the effort and produced minimal results. When I first started out, I made flyers promoting my business. I drove to local gyms, gas stations (Wawa), Libraries, and random places to post up my flyers. I even tried cold-calling people too. This was a waste of time, gas, money, and embarrassment on the phone. It produced very minimally to no results. I was thinking way too old school in today's age of technology. I no longer do this. I gain most of all my business through social media and the brand I continue to grow. No more hanging up flyers or cold calling for me. Social media produces way more results and better yet it’s free. In today's world, people judge you off your social media profile.

4.) What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I recently am starting up a new venture called “Black and Pink Media LLC”. I am trying to gain access to the world of music, fashion, sports, writing, and gaming. Under the company, I am currently working on two projects. I am working on my third book which is titled “Black and Pink: More Than Just Colors” and working on co/writing and producing an upcoming album called “Long Overdue”. These are scheduled to be released in early 2022.

5.) Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

One of the most interesting people I’ve got to meet is 50 Cent. I got to meet him at a Vodka signing. It was an awesome experience! Getting to meet someone you grew up listening to. He is also someone I admire in the entrepreneurial business world, especially with what he has done with the TV show “Power”.

6.) Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

tips I would recommend to thrive and not burn out is to take a little time every day to focus on yourself and continue to better yourself. Make sure to do something you enjoy taking your mind away from everything. You are going to hear a lot of no’s, people tell you're not good enough, family members worry about you telling you to go back and get a 9-5 job, and then when you do start to taste success you’re going to have lots of people reach out to you asking for favors and you are constantly going to have things to do, people to contact and projects to works on. Make sure to put your phone away. Spend time doing something you enjoy regathering your thoughts and put yourself in the proper mindset. I recommend exercising and meditate daily.

7.) You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

For those wanting to chase their dreams and go after the entrepreneurial path my words of advice would be this quote “If you don’t follow your heart, you might spend the rest of your life wishing you had” -Brigitte Nicole. I would advise them to go after their dreams and try to create a life where they wake up doing something they love and have control over what they do. Your job will replace you if you die so why not create something of your own that will last forever, and you can pass it down to your future children. Stop settling for average and chase being extraordinary. Every individual has extraordinary in them they just have to believe and find it first.

8.) Can you share with our readers any self-care routines, practices, or treatments that you do to help your body, mind, or heart to thrive? Kindly share a story or an example for each.

The self-care routine I work on is I make sure to get proper sleep, meditate, read, and exercise. I read, sleep and exercise daily. I make sure to reach a chapter or minimum 10 pages a day. I exercise at least 30 minutes a day and have recently starting to work with a personal trainer and holistic nutritionist to improve my diet. I make it a goal to get between 7-9 hours of sleep a night. I start off every day with 5 minutes of meditation to visualize the day in front of me and thank the universe for giving me another day to be alive and presenting the opportunities it has for me. One interesting thing Is I see a reflexologist twice a month. Reflexology twice a month has worked wonders for me and my health. It has had tremendous benefits on my dysautonomia disorder.

9.) What are your "5 things I wish someone told me when I first started" and why? Please share a story or example for each.

5 things I wish someone had told me when I first started:

· ‘Success does not come quick. It does not happen overnight”. Social media has given a lot of us unrealistic expectations. We are all hoping to have one post go viral that will transform us into success overnight. We live in a world where we want instant gratification and if we don’t receive it, we give up. It does not work that way., especially in the entrepreneurial/business world. When I first started, I would sometimes get 0 likes on a post or very little. Success did not happen quick to the point I considered giving up many times. Luckily, I never caved in I kept posting and gradually have reached the level I am at today.

· “Have thick skin because people can be downright mean”. When trying to share my business, I have people reach out to me not just tell me they are not interested but taking it further and act as if I was bothering them, ignore me and to extents even telling me they wish I fail. This has changed even how I respond to people. When someone asks me to support I business and I am not able to, I let them know unfortunately I am not able to, but I wish them best and will try to help in other ways.

· “Your biggest supporters won’t always be your family, high school or college friends/acquaintances” – I have had people I went to school with unfollow me and show no love and support. I have had relatives not even mention or support the things I’ve accomplished. In the word of Heath Ledger “Your biggest supporter is a stranger. Your biggest hater is someone you know”.

· “Once you start to taste a little success and get a little recognition people will start to ask you for favors and use your success for their own benefits”. I have had many people ask me for money telling me they hit hard times. And while I love to help everyone there is only so much money to go around. I have different people reaching out for me to join them in different ventures and I got quite a few people that asked me to write books for them based on their personal stories. Again, while I love to help everyone, there is only so much time in a day. I am busy working on all my own goals and dreams besides other people’s goals and dreams. Also, I never asked anyone to write my books or asked people for money. I took personal responsibility for my own success. I wanted to publish a book, so I wrote it myself, I found a way to make or find money to get by. If there is a will there is away. I wish more people would have that mindset instead of trying to rely on me to help accomplish their own goals and dreams.

· “The biggest advice I wish I was given is that ‘Accomplishments, achievements and any type of financial success will never make you happy”. It will provide temporay happiness but not sustaining happiness. It does not make you feel any less lonely, it does not make relationships with others any better, it does not cure depression. In fact, I still struggle with depression and it is hard because there are not many people to open up to about it because people seem to look at me as this inspirational, positive motivator. They don’t understand how I could be depressed when they see what I’ve accomplished. It is like I have an image to live up to but at the end of the day, I’m still a human being that has struggled with depression ever since 2008.

10.) Can you please give us your favorite "Life Lesson Quote"? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I’m not sure who made the quote but my favorite quote I ever read was this “Look around you. How many people do you think are settling? Probably a hell of a lot. People settle into okay relationships, okay jobs, okay friends, and an okay life. Why? Because okay is comfortable. Okay pays the bills and provides a warm bed at night. Some people are fine with okay, and guess what? That’s okay. But okay is not thrilling, it isn’t passion, it’s not life-changing or unforgettable. Okay is not the reason you risk absolutely everything you’ve got for the smallest chance that something absolutely could happen.” To me, this quote is relevant because I have seen so many friends and people settle. They just think this is the job I’m supposed to work, this is the money I’m supposed to make. I see friends get married not because they were head over heels in love but because they thought it was just time to settle down. I never thought that way. I want passion, I want to determine my worth and how much I make. I want to create something that is not just life-changing for my life but also impacts others around me positively. I want to be unforgettable. I often think about when I die how will I be remembered. I want to die a legend. I want to die being known as someone who never gave up and impacted the world in a positive light. I want to die being always remembered. I want to be unforgettable.

11.) None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Even though they split before I was six months old, my mother, my father, brother, sister, and close circle of friends I owe a lot of my success to. They were there for me when I was at my worst moments. They drove me around when I couldn’t drive. They have taken the heat for me and taken consequences so I wouldn’t get in trouble. They never stopped believing in me. I have been blessed with a great support system, which is a blessing because without them I will be dead. If I didn’t have that support, I would have never been able to get through the struggles I have faced. I honestly wouldn’t be alive right now. I had a failed suicide attempt in late 2014 and they pulled me through that.

12.) You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

The movement I would start is to somehow figure out a way that all homeless people had a place to stay and some type of food to eat. One thing that always bothered me is that there are really good people across the world that do not know where they are going to sleep or get their next meal. And while some people may be in that situation due to the poor choices they made, there are lots of people that were born into the situation and never asked for their life to be like that. I never understood how life can be so unfair to others. I don’t know If I ever will understand it, so I could start a movement to change that I would.

13.) We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might see this. :-)

I have to say I would love to have lunch and pick the brain of Mark Cuban. The reason is that I would love to have ownership in a professional sports franchise like he does with the Dallas Mavericks. I also admire how he reached a point where he can now help invest with other entrepreneurs to help achieve their dreams as seen on the show “Shark Tank”. He is very community-oriented and looking out for what is best in the world and not afraid to use his voice to make a change. He is an entrepreneur I would love to learn from. I also love to learn from Dr. Dre in the music business and how he went from Rapper to a businessman.

14.) How can our readers follow you online?

You can find me on Instagram at @derekcevans. That is the platform I use the most and have the biggest following. In my profile, you can click the link to see all my ventures and profiles on other social media platforms.