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Crusade Entrepreneurs #11: Danny Blaq

Baylo a.k.a. Danny Blaq

What’s your 9-5? What’s your 5-9?

Baylo Entertainment 9-5, 5 -9 all day and all nite.

When did you start? How did you get your start?

Started when I was 13 producing, break dancing, graffiti then just kept it moving into more of a professional direction.

Why choose this particular career/industry?

Love of Hip Hop and Music and I pretty much felt that I was born for this industry.

Is/was education important in achieving your goals?

Education didn’t play a big factor for me being here. The streets can teach you a lot about economy and survival which applies in business especially in entertainment. But I do believe, now that I am in an executive role that there are things that I have to learn because I haven’t been exposed to deal on certain aspects on a corporate plateau.

Hip Hop is street/corporate, you have to understand both worlds, be able to make adjustments. One thing I learned and it applies always, business should never be personal. Either you are an asset or a liability to business meaning either you are a contribution in the money making engine of the business or cause the company to lose money. Best friends or not - white people handle a corporation like a person that is the hand that feeds them and they are being taught to protect it at all cost. Of course there are certain circumstances but this is the main code in operating in corporate America. The homeboy mentality doesn’t get you far.

What are some of your weaknesses and strengths?

My biggest weakness is that I am not really a people person. I don’t like being around a lot of people and I don’t like meeting new people plus I have a low tolerance for the dumb shit they do which is not good in a Hollywood environment. People always told me that I come across as not being approachable. I just don’t like asking for shit before I do, I handle my own even if it will take me much longer and it will be a lot harder.

My strengths are one I have a sixth sense for reading people, I can tell the type of person you are in the first 5 - 10 min I am around you without having to really talk to you. It’s almost like I can read the energy that people give off, of course not all the time but I have been 90% right in my lifetime about people.

Also, I am a perfectionist with a deadline. I want stuff to be perfect and at a timeframe that I give. Deadlines are very important in this business if things don’t go right or people don’t get it I can be an asshole which in turn puts the people that work for me on their A-Game.

What qualities are needed to survive in your career? In your industry?

Fast thinking, strong sense for competitiveness, not taking no for an answer, being persistent but not being a pest. Being able to execute efficiently and effective and being resourceful.

What makes you unique?

My way of thinking and the way I view things. I experienced the worst and seen many things that keep me grounded in what I do now. I learned what is important and what is not, which will always keep me humble and maintain some sort of sanity in this business. What people don’t understand is that success is a state of mind and mentality. I am never comfortable in my position, once you become comfortable with your position and with what you have, you won’t be able to grow anymore and you setting yourself up for failure.

What advice do you have for those interested in your career? In your industry?

I watched a DVD and Heavy D made an excellent point and which I strongly agree with. Nowadays people want to be in entertainment because of the things they see on TV like the Ice, the Rims, Cars, Women, etc. all the things that don’t matter. When I started, Hip Hop made no money. I wanted to be in it for the movement and I had the passion for it which made me a better business person because I have standards of what I will accept or not. If you solely do it for the money you can’t be successful because it takes a while to get it, so many people will give up or compromise their integrity for a quick buck and I believe that’s what’s going on now.

So many people that are in and trying to get in this business have no substance at all. That’s why now we don’t have any music that has longevity, all the songs are disposable, after 2 - 3 months, the song is forgotten and will be replaced with another. So you have to be passionate about the business and the industry. Eat, Live and Breathe meaning not being afraid to get your hands dirty, clean toilets for it if you have to that’s how you become successful.

Words to live by? Motto?

Success is behind everything that holds you back and Winning is not everything, it the ONLY Thing.

Message Baylo a.k.a. Danny Blaq and WIN and tell them what you think

By WIN on 8/2/2005[read on] [17 comments]

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