When Purpose Meets Opportunity
If you didn't know who Derrick "D-Nice" Jones was before, chances are, you know who he is after this past weekend. D-Nice is an American disc jockey, rapper, producer, and photographer who began his career in the mid-1980s during the rise of the hip-hop music era.
DJ D-Nice posted on Instagram last Wednesday that he would be live DJ'ing and what transpired next was beyond what anyone, including him, could fathom. From Wednesday to this past Sunday, over 100,000 people from all walks of life gathered together on Instagram for #ClubQuarantine based on two main unifiers: shared tragedy and music.
What started as a way of connecting and sharing his gift of music during COVID-19 social distancing, turned into D-Nice blazing a new trail for entertainers and influencers to capitalize on social media platforms for years to come. It was the dance party heard around the world and was exactly what so many people didn't know they needed until they experienced it first hand.
Photo Credit: D-Nice Instagram
Here are three key lessons that I learned from "Homeschooling, A Social Distancing Dance Party."
There Is Power In Unity.
As a GenXer, I grew up in the Hip-Hop era, so I knew who D-Nice was and have been following his music for quite some time. There were many people, however, that had no idea who he was until they joined the party. This audience crossed generational, racial, political and socioeconomic lines where the healthcare worker, student and small business owner was in the same "virtual" room as Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Drake, Norman Lear, Rihanna and Will Smith. Mark Zuckerberg also stopped through, but that might have been to investigate who was inadvertently stress testing Instagram’s algorithm. :) Hopefully, he enjoyed some good music during his visit as well.
All things considered, as unique as we all are, we often have way more in common than we realize. In times like these, it is a lot more beneficial and constructive to unite on common ground, so we can all progress, despite current challenges.
If You Build it, They Will Come.
D-Nice saw a void and offered a solution that not only retained his current customers, but it also grew his customer base by leaps and bounds. His following went from ~150K to over 1 million followers on Instagram over the period of a few days.
We all have gifts and abilities that are meant to serve a certain demographic or customer base. Some of us may already be operating in these gifts and others may be ready to take the leap to align their work with their purpose. Wherever you are on your purpose journey, you can make the conscious decision today to fully operate in your calling.
It is Never Too Late To Reinvent Yourself.
D-Nice is no newbie to the music industry but over the course of 30+ years, he's gone from rapping to producing to DJ’ing to photography to “Homeschool Live DJ Extraordinaire”.
For someone who might have been viewed traditionally as an "old school" artist, D-Nice has now revealed himself to a much wider demographic all because he saw an opportunity to let his light shine and seized that opportunity at the right time. As human beings, we are not meant to stay complacent, but to constantly grow and evolve.
Self Reflection:
What is one step you can take today to get to know someone who may not have the same background or ideals as you do?
What is "your thing" that you can build and offer that will make a difference in the lives of those you were meant to serve in the marketplace?
What opportunity currently exists or can be created for you to begin the process of reinventing yourself?
“Every obstacle is an opportunity waiting to reveal itself.” - Author Unknown