In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Amani Roberts, an award‑winning DJ, music producer, and professor. Roberts shares the story of leaving a 20‑year corporate career to pursue DJing, emphasizing the importance of researching and committing to a passion even when it seems unrealistic. He advises event planners to invest in professional DJs, highlighting his "Wheels of Steel" team‑building activity that uses DJ lessons to foster collaboration. Roberts stresses that success comes from surrounding yourself with like‑minded people, seeking mentorship, and embracing risk while staying resilient. He tells his younger self that DJing is a legitimate career and warns against feeling forced into a traditional 9‑to‑5. On personal fulfillment, he identifies self‑love and self‑care—reading, personal development—as keys to happiness. He recommends two creativity‑focused books, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, noting their practical exercises. His favorite quotes are "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together" and "Busy is a decision." Finally, he directs listeners to connect with him via @AmaniExperience on social platforms and his Amani Experience Podcast.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by WagsMedia. WagsMedia provides you with everything you need to generate more customers and grow your brand. Head on over to wagsmedia.com, W-A-G-S-M-E-D-I-A dot com, to enter a contest where you can win a free, done-for-you custom website valued at $2,500 for a limited time only. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Amani Roberts with us. He is an award-winning DJ, music producer, and professor who loves to help people unlock their creativity by teaching them how to DJ. So welcome to the show, man.
Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here.
Of course, man. Glad to have you here. Well, we'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
I think the best story from my life that has a valuable underlying message is that I worked in corporate America for almost 20 years and So, but when I was first starting out, I had a goal of being a DJ, but I thought it wasn't a realistic career. So it took me 13 years to get the courage to kind of go and pursue DJing as a professional career. And I think the lesson that I learned through all this, even though I had a great time at corporate America, living in different cities throughout the country, is just that if you have a goal and an idea, do the research and set out and try to make it happen. Like, it might not seem realistic at first, But don't discount any type of career, any type of job, because especially in the environment that we're in today, you can make anything a career as long as you stick to it and have a love and passion for it.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
For this, I say if you're planning an event, you're having a party, and you're trying to maybe not spend as much on entertainment, specifically a DJ, I highly recommend investing in a DJ, both for your social events, corporate events, music can make or break a party, and if you're thinking about doing a team building activity, also don't discount the use of music. Like I have an activity where we call it the Wheels of Steel by the Imani Experience, where instead of your traditional team building activities like ropes courses, or talking in a circle, we use a DJ lesson in form of a team building activity and it has tremendous results. So think outside the box, make sure you invest in your music and entertainment when you do your events, and you'll be very pleased with the results that you see.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So like, how did you like, you know, get into this and like how did you get success from it? And if somebody else was just starting, like what would you tell them?
I would tell them that you can't do it alone. You need to surround yourself with a group of like-minded individuals. Don't be intimidated or afraid to seek out help. There may be people who have done it before. Ask them for advice so you can follow in their footsteps. Don't be afraid to take risks as well and just really expect to hit some bumps in the road, but be resilient and keep after it, and we're not allowed to give up.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would advise my younger self that DJing is a legitimate career, so you don't need to wait until you're, you know, 13 or 14 years to start it. I had a little bit of a late start, but in reality, when I started, it was the perfect time for me. This was the time for it to start. But, you know, if I were talking to my younger self, I would say, Don't be so stuck in the box that you have to go get a 9 to 5 and do a traditional job. Like, you can make way with DJing. It's a legitimate career. You can build a career and a life around that that would be very successful, and you'll be very happy.
And well, there you go, leading perfectly into the next one. In your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
I think the key to happiness, especially nowadays, is just like self-love. A combination of self-love and self-care, because if you love yourself and you treat yourself well and take care of yourself, you will be happy no matter what obstacles are in your way. And so if you just focus on doing things that make you happy, taking care of yourself— I like to read, so reading is very therapeutic for me. So if you do things that help you improve as a person, I believe that you should invest in yourself as much as you invest in other things. I think that's very valuable. So if you improve yourself, you practice self-love and just focus on doing the things that make you happy and being around people that make you happy, then happiness will find you much quicker than it will any other way.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Ooh, there's so many books that I've read. Best book, the book that has had the most recent impact on me, I'll give you two. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, so that just talks about creativity and how you just have to start writing and just doing things. If you're a creative person, then you just have to kind of get started, and she talks about different tactics and different stories. It's a tremendous book. I actually recommend getting the Audible version where you can listen to it as well. And then a book that I'm almost done with right now that's been tremendous is The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, and it just talks about getting rid of the creative blocks you might have and doing different activities and returning to some of your fun things you used to do when you were a child where you were a little bit less, like you were a little bit less uninhibited. I think I said that the right way. And it's a really, really good book. It's an exercise, you do it for 12 weeks. So each week you read a chapter, you do different exercises. I recommend you doing it with a partner. And I can just tell that this is gonna be one of my top books once I finish.
[Speaker] And what is your favorite quote and why?
Favorite quote, I have so many. I'll say, I love to give two. So the winner would be, if you wanna go fast, go alone. If you wanna go far, go together. That's probably my favorite one. And the runner-up would be, busy is a decision.
Mm, I love it, dude. I really, really like the first one. So dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where is the best place for people to find and/or connect with you online?
People can find me if you just do @AmaniExperience, which is A as in apple, M as in Mary, A as in apple, N as in Nancy, I experience, one word, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. You can find me there. I have my podcast, The Amani Experience Podcast. You can just look that up. You can find me there as well. And just hit me up. I'm glad to converse and talk back and forth with anyone.
Perfect, man. Thanks again for hopping on.
I appreciate it. Thank you.
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