OPA 2 OPM

Building Bridges How The Arts & Entrepreneurship intersect W/ Nerd the Poet

• Other's Peoples Audience 2 Other's Peoples money • Season 1 • Episode 23

Share episode

Send us a text

Summary

In this episode of the OPA to OPM podcast, the hosts interview Dominic Nerd, the poet McDonald, an artist and poet based in the DMV area. They discuss his journey as a poet, his open mic events, and his nomination for the DC's Mayor's Arts Award. Dominic shares insights on how to incorporate verbal art expression into different venues and how to add value to a community. He also talks about the importance of writing a book to leave a legacy and increase his brand's value. In this conversation, Nerd the Poet discusses the importance of delegation and building systems to scale a business. He shares his experience in the entertainment industry and emphasizes the need to duplicate oneself in order to expand. Nerd also talks about the intersection of art and entrepreneurship and his plans to build a bridge between DMV artists and LA artists. He envisions creating a creative house for traveling and touring artists. Nerd also talks about his books and the poetry scene in LA. The conversation highlights the importance of defining oneself and not being limited by others' perceptions.

Takeaways

Incorporate verbal art expression into different venues to add value to the community.
Writing a book can leave a legacy and increase brand value.
Creating a residency allows for consistent events at a specific location.
Invest in the youth to keep talent fresh and innovative.
Pitch ideas with confidence and seek feedback from trusted individuals.
Learn different roles and systems to effectively delegate tasks.
Write down ideas and processes to create a roadmap for implementation.
Take yourself seriously and communicate your needs to others. Delegation and building systems are crucial for scaling a business.
Duplicating oneself is necessary to expand and grow.
Art and entrepreneurship can intersect to create unique opportunities.
Building bridges between different artistic communities can lead to growth and collaboration.
Defining oneself and not being limited by others' perceptions is empowering.

Keywords

Dominic Nerd, poet, artist, DMV, open mic, verbal art expression, value, legacy, brand, delegation, building systems, scaling a business, entertainment industry, duplicating oneself, art and entrepreneurship, DMV artists, LA artists, creative house, poetry scene

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Welcoming the Guest
01:45 Guest's Background and Move to the DMV
03:11 Creating a Residency for Open Mic Events
06:33 Adding Value to Venues and Communities
08:27 The Brand of a Lifestyle Poet
13:47 Nominations for the DC's Mayor's Arts Award
15:15 Change Your Ask and Show and Prove
18:07 Investing in the Youth and Fresh Talent
20:31 Pitching Ideas with Confidence and Seeking Feedback
27:18 Learning Different Roles and Systems for Effective Delegation
28:15 Writing a Book to Leave a Legacy and Increase Brand Value
28:41 Scaling a Business and Delegation
33:00 The Intersection of Art and Entrepreneurship
42:58 Building Bridges between DMV and LA Artists
46:31 Creating a Creative House for Traveling Artists
53:50 Defining Oneself and Breaking Stereotypes

 (00:00.046)
Welcome back to another episode of the OPA to OPM podcast. I'm your host, Daymilv, my cohost, Alex El -Kel. What's going What it do? Be back. Locked back in for another one. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. Today we have an incredible guest, incredible guest. A little different than what we normally do. We have an artiste in the building today. What's going on? Welcome my guy, Dominic Nerd, the poet McDonald. How you doing, bro? I'm good. What's going on, everybody?

I mean it's on my book so it's all good. It's all good. duck. We're going to introduce the guest properly. Make this seem professional. Because sometimes we don't seem professional at times. But how y 'all doing? How's everyone doing?

Yeah, hot. It's hot out That is very much true. It is very, very hot and humid in the DMV area. How you doing, bro? I'm doing okay. It's been a of ... It's been a rough week or so, but it is what it ... Like I said, man, it could always be better, could always be worse. So, is. But what's going on, Dom? How you feeling? I'm feeling good, man. I'm happy to ...

be here and chat with you guys. Really love the platform and how you guys talk about elevating and wealth and different things like that. I feel like we can definitely incorporate those things into the conversation. and D, S and D, S and D. All right, so, so, nerd, what you prefer? Now I'm a nerd. Nerd is fine. All right, nerd. So, so, so tell us about yourself. Where you from, how you got into what you're doing, but got you brought you to the DMV because you're not originally from here, correct? Yes, I'm from Los Angeles. Okay.

Inglewood specifically, so shout out to my people watching. always up to no good, Yeah. But yes, originally from LA Born and Raised, came out here in 2019, right before the pandemic. And I basically came out here to spread my influence in poetry. I had been doing poetry for about eight years before I moved. Part of different showcases, different things like

 (02:13.109)
and really wanted to expand my brand, you know. So I came out here on a book tour and found out that this was actually one of the best places for poetry because there's a venue, which I'm sure you all know, called Busboys of Poets. when people from the West Coast talked about it, they talked about it as if it was one location. And I found out they actually have several locations spread throughout the DMV. So I said, okay, well, this is a smooth transition. I can just go to different ones and do my thing.

That's kind of how the origin started. Okay. That's what's up. That's what's up. So it's, he said, narrative poets. So is that what's the primary art that you focus on or do you double and double on other arts as well? Mainly just poetry, but I also do arts curation. I have open mic that I've been doing for about three years now called refresh open mic. And we invite any type of verbal art expression.

as comedy, singing, music, even if people want to do some acting and do a monologue. really the verbal art. was say, to touch on that a little bit real quick, because we all about giving games to the people. How would someone be able to, well, let me take a step back. First, how did you get the idea? then two, how would someone be able to incorporate this in their city or state where they're staying at, if they're also employed and want

some of the things that you're doing. Okay, so I got the idea actually from a YouTube channel and it was basically seven ways to make more friends as an adult, right? Because as we become adults, we get kind of in our own rhythm and especially moving to a new city is hard to meet people. And one of the tips was to be the hub, right?

And basically that is the host, that is the organizer so that other people can meet others through you. Now, it doesn't sound like you're making friends directly, but if someone meets another person and they say, well, how did you meet? well, we met at Nerds event. We met at Nerds open mic. You know what saying? So it's putting yourself in the picture by taking yourself out of it, right? And a lot of times as artists, we want to put ourselves first.

 (04:40.141)
You know what saying? We want to put ourselves in the spotlight, but we take yourself out of the spotlight. You actually put yourself indirectly in the spotlight. Cause when people are asking how did this start, it traces back to you. So the first thing I would say is don't make it about yourself. You know what I'm saying? And then the next thing is find the opportunity where there is no opportunity. When I started my first open mic, it was in 2021.

coming out of that, well, we were still in the pandemic, but they were opening up establishments at 50%. So when it came to getting people to come to a place, aside from having food and drinks, hearing live entertainment was what can keep them there for an extra 45 minutes to an hour. So I had the opportunity at this hookah lounge that I usually would go to before the pandemic to do an open mic.

It was funny how it happened because they saw my Instagram of me going to LA in June for a Juneteenth event. They was like, you do poetry. Why don't you do something here? And I was like, I didn't know I could do something here. And they had me pick one of their slowest nights where nothing was going on. And now we are here three years later. I think that's a good point that you brought up where you were talking about or asking the question, how can people do it in their local area?

It's how do you add value to somewhere that's kind of like not as popping or what's something that they can add as an extra value to their customers or their clients exactly like you said. no, I'm not going to cut you off. I was just going to like come in you because you do some tips we could take as business professionals and salesmen or whatever our business might be in. Definitely. Yeah. Find an area where they're lacking in something and bring that need to them.

My bad bro, what you saying? No, it's exactly that. Where like at the end of the day, where you're able to find a low point in their business. it kind of reminds me of like Google Maps. When you go into Google, it'll like you go to like, you'll search something and it says, this is busy during this time and it's not busy during this time. And you can fill that time where it's not busy. They're like, we're not losing anything. So you just kind of go ahead and do your thing. But that's your time to kind of now like shine and show exactly what you can do.

 (07:02.859)
And who knows, you might come across somebody who's interested in that thing. It's like, I didn't know they offer that here now. That's a whole new revenue stream or opportunity to one, meet people, but two, for that establishment to start saying, hey, we offer this in addition to something that we already do. Okay. That's dope. That's dope. That's dope. So let's go back to when did you fall in love with poetry? I fell in love with poetry when I

my first spoken word, well actually no, the first time I fell in love with poetry is when I heard spoken word on a hip hop album. Which album was that? That was, it was Common. I think it was like Water for Chocolate, it was a poem called My City by Malik Youssef.

Usually, you know, in hip hop you have like the metaphors and things like that and the bars and stuff, but it's like you blink and you miss it because it's to a beat. So it got to go with the beat. I remember my uncle played that for me and he was like, yo, do you know what this mean? You know what saying? And I was like, yeah. And he was like, but it also means this, you know? So then I found out you could do different things with wordplay and language. And I was like, yo, that's dope.

So every time that it would play in the background, I would catch it. You know what saying? Cause it was like that, what is it called? The red car theory. Like you see a car in a color that you want and then afterwards you can't stop seeing it. You know what I'm saying? So from there it was their poetry jam. know, then it was when they used to do poetry at Showtime at the Apollo. So it was kind of a part of my upbringing as I got into hip hop.

as like an add -on, you know? And I was a part of our Black History Month program and I wrote my first poem, which is actually in my latest book for the Black History Month program. That was about 2004 when that happened. Okay. Man, that's dope to hear, man. Like, if we go back to that era, there was a lot of things where poetry was just, it was mainstream at one point. had, like you said, Def Poetry Jam, I should say.

 (09:25.037)
Man, Kahn and Kanye, a lot of those albums back then, Mos Def, they had poetry in their albums. Shit. Even back then you had the Love Jones, the movie. lot of people came into that art form, or not came into it, but it became mainstream during that time. That's dope. That's dope. That's dope. Y 'all got a question? I was going to say, you had mentioned something about ... Excuse me, fellas.

When you first came, pause. Come on, This is a professional podcast. When you first came to DC, Or DMV Baltimore area. You said something about expanding your brand. Could you speak on what your brand is? Or how did you find your brand? Right. So, I like to call myself a lifestyle poet.

And that's like a little bit more elevated than street poet. But you know, when you think of street poets, you're of people like on the corner, on the soapbox, you know what saying? Just spitting in the cipher to whoever. Lifestyle poetry is like, I'm a mirror to what goes on in life. For myself, for friends, and for things that I've seen. And that is the brand. Like, what is life to...

a young black man growing up in the inner city, know, city of LA, you know, trying to get education, trying to make a way where it's no way, trying to prove himself when, you know, people discredit him because of his skin color and so on and so forth. Finding love, coming of age, like different stories and different things that I've seen and gone through, I put into poetry form so

no matter where anyone else is or what their walk of life is, they can connect to it. Nah, yeah. Nah, I love that, because you make it relatable and you're ... I don't want to just say being vulnerable in a sense, you're allowing people, I guess, to experience something through your eyes or through your experiences or through experiences that you heard from other people. Sincerity. Yeah.

 (11:50.475)
Okay. You said three years ago, you started your open mic. Where is your open mic located exactly? Like what event or venue? So right now I have it as a residency. That's beautiful. Right. It started off as a refresh open mic because in a sense I was refreshing the poetry open mic scene. A lot of things were closed because of the pandemic. A lot of people went in a different direction.

You know, some poets went digital. Some people just decided to kind of take a step back. So that was kind of to give a sign of the times. And we did live events for about two years. And then I was offered the opportunity to do it at this venue space called The Consortium, which I do every third Friday, right there off of Second Street and D, close to Mass Avenue.

No, not too far from Union Station. Okay. that's dope. I was going to say, could you explain to the audience what a residency is and how it works? Okay. So a residency is basically saying, is where you're going to be doing an event at this time, at this location for a consistent amount. You know what saying? So it could be six months, it could be a

It could be three months, but a residency is like, instead of you having to find different places to do what it is that you do, we're gonna have you here doing your thing. so, I mean, of course I know what it is, but to give them even deeper example, like Usher and Vegas. Yes, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay. So let's get into it congratulations, you're nominated for the DC's Mayor's Arts Award, correct?

Right, so last year I was nominated. Okay, last year were nominated. Okay. And how does one become nominated for that? Does someone nominate you or do you put yourself in to become nominated? How does that work? So there are different categories that you can have and I believe it's like best in graphic arts, best platform.

 (14:15.969)
best of night life economy is what I was nominated for. you have the opportunity for people to kind of put you in and then there is a voting process. So it's a selection process and then it's a voting process. How's your life changed since you've been nominated? So my life has changed. People think I'm a celebrity or something. But I still pay bills and struggle on how to...

budget my life in DC, because it's something to do every day. But it's changed in a sense to where now I can call myself a nightlife economist. I never expected that when I first came out here. I came out here to sell books. get what I'm saying? And it was changing my thought process and changing my trajectory and also changing my ask.

You know what saying? Because now that I showed and proved, now I can ask for the hundreds of thousands of dollars to do something on a greater level. That's going to put me in the next level. The job I have now, I am the events manager for a restaurant. food was going to get into that. Yeah. And it's a entertainment restaurant, meaning

I'm responsible for bringing entertainment there seven days a week. And not only is it going to be at this particular location, but the owner is also opening up several other locations within the next six months in DC proper. Nice. That's dope. That's dope. You said something about when you got nominated for the nightlife economist. What exactly is the nightlife economist? Like what does that encompass?

encompass everything from promoter, running a nightlife venue. And that gets kind of tricky a bit because we're still coming out of the pandemic, but what kept venues going between the last two or three years? That's kind of what they look at. And it was funny because I lost to the government director of nightlife.

 (16:40.629)
You know, I'm not saying it was rigged, but you definitely, definitely was like they're employed by the city. Right. So how can the city give, they start giving yourself an award. Basically, I didn't, I didn't say it. I didn't say it. But you know, and I'm gonna have a sit down with him though. You know what saying? I wrote for the DC government. So yeah, you lost cuz. But hey, was, it was a good look. You know what saying? I got the.

invite it to have my face on the screen and everything like that. yeah, pretty much anything that keeps the nightlife going, businesses thriving. And the reason why, much like you talked about before, I was able to add value to venues and lounges with poetry, with showcasing the verbal arts. was going to ask, how do you keep finding new talent? How do you

keeping things fresh and making sure that there's innovation and that people don't get like, all right, cool, we've seen this act before. Like, how do you keep that alive and fresh? Investing in the youth. What do you mean by that? So, not everyone can get to a 21 plus venue because they're not old enough, right? But after two or three years, those people who couldn't get in are now coming in. So now they have something to show and prove.

You know what I'm saying? So it's doing, it's sustaining what was already going on and bringing people, but it's also reaching back and saying, hey, you know, when you have time, I have a platform for you. You know what I'm saying? After you finish, you know, graduating from your theater arts program at Howard, you know, come to my venue. You visiting in the city, you know what I'm saying? You want to introduce yourself to people who come to my venue. So, yeah, so

I'm very much in the community because I didn't have a person like me when I got here. I was a person like up till two in the morning scrolling through my phone, looking through hashtags, DC poetry, putting out there who are the poets here, connecting with them, going to their venues, having them show me their ropes. And now that I see and did the work that it took, I can kind of fill in the gaps so someone don't have to do that.

 (19:05.709)
Like you re -emphasizing a lot of knowledge that was taught to me even on the business tip, You're definitely a great business man. was going to ask you that. Was you about to ask a question? Or I want to you off. I was going to ask you that because you said that you went to the venue, like initially before you have your residency, went to an event you owner to add value. if someone,

It's kind of like a sale, you sold the venue owner on allowing you to have your event. How did you practice your pitch and what was the things that you were able to sell them on and give, do you have any pointers for anyone who's into sales on how thinking, how they can improve their pitch? Okay, so I definitely ran it by a couple of people. There is the vision.

there's the ideation phase and there's execution. And I think that everyone should have a team or trusted people that's going to safeguard what that is, but also kind of give critiques in the process. Cause there were some things that I wanted to do and some people was like, maybe you should do this. Or they gave an option and I kind of based off of my best judgment went on what was the best to do. So I think that if someone wants to pitch something,

first put it on paper, you know what saying? Actualize it so it's out of your head and you can see it in two different ways. Cause sometimes we might wanna say like, I wanna make, choose that flock, right? And then you put down what the cost of it is in production and you're like, okay, yeah, maybe it's not a good idea. But you know, maybe you do have somebody who could put that together and then there you go, you know what I'm saying? So get it on paper.

have your people who can consult you on it, and then just pitch it with confidence. You know what saying? Let the people know that you can deliver on what it is that you are, yeah, and tend on doing. Even if you can't. Like, it's people who have gotten millions of dollars being confident about a business that hasn't even started yet. You know what I'm saying? So if they can have that type of confidence and get that type of money, why can't you?

 (21:31.981)
That's real. I did have a question. I wanted to take it a couple steps back though. You mentioned your book. Could you talk more on that and what made you even want to write or create a book and how that even led you here? What opportunities have writing a book or what, more so not even opportunities, but what has writing a book taught you? Right. So first of all, writing a book,

Again, change is your ask, right? Because it's a difference between featuring someone who you could find on 13th and U doing poetry versus featuring someone who has a product that someone can go home with, be inspired by, so on and so forth. So I wanted to have a product that would increase my value and increase my income, be another stream of income.

but also to leave a legacy. I studied English at California State University, Long Beach, and I just thought of, we're looking at poetry that tells a story years beyond of when we have ever seen, right? But we can visualize it and see it because they wrote about it. They wrote their own story. So I took that same concept and like, I'm gonna write my own story, even if only

one or two people hear it, they're going to see what life was in, you know what saying, 2015, 2019. You get what I'm saying? And maybe that will inspire them to do something else. So I sat down with a friend who also published a book, because I definitely was scared of the author process. I was like, I don't even know if I'm worthy of writing a book, so on and so forth. And they were just like, no, all you gotta do is format it, get it edited, find a book cover, play and play.

And I was like, okay, well that doesn't seem that far fetched. And I produced my first book, self -published in 2015. that again, that was the gateway to me touring because now I can say, hey, I'm a touring published author. Let me get some time on your mic. Let me know where the open mics is at. And I didn't have no issues with nobody. How'd you get on tour? I created my own tour.

 (23:57.645)
Yeah, you know, I was my own, listen, I was my was my own booking agent. I was my own accountant, my own, you know, admin, because I had the time to do it, you know, and people think that being a full -time artist is just like, people come to you and you just accept the booking or not. Like, no, you gotta market yourself. You gotta brand yourself. You gotta make connections.

I did a lot of work, but it's real simple. It's just starting a conversation and being confident and saying that this is what I want to do. This is how I'm going to deliver it and showing them what they want to see. Some people want to see pictures. Some people want to see a sample of your works. People want to see YouTube. I just was like, all right, I got all that. What you want first?

Okay, that's dope, my fuck. I'm sorry, I'm texting somebody. Cool, cool, cool. So, question slipped my mind. I gotta text this one. Yeah, I was going to get to the point of like, when you're that all in one, are you still that all in one? Like the accountant, the booking agent, all that stuff for yourself? Or do you have a team now? I don't have a team, but I'm working towards one.

I'm just trying to find who can see the vision. I don't believe in people working for free. And that was the issue at first. was like, if I could have a little assistance, a little, you know what saying? Even if they do offer that, it's not going to be done right. And if it's not done the way you want it, well, their rebuttal is, well, you ain't paying me. You know what saying? What are we arguing about? You know what? That's crazy because I find that my father caught you off.

people who do offer things for free, basically you're giving them an opportunity to learn. They're learning on the job. Because someone who's professional at something, they're not doing it for free. Right. They definitely want to charge. Exactly. And they charge them a nice little penny. Yeah. But at the same time, it's like, because I'm going through this as well, where it's like you're trying to have that balance between, and we were talking about the business funding and stuff, where it's like you're trying to have that balance of, all right, everything is on me, but I'm also trying to pocket everything.

 (26:21.207)
but I don't have enough money to keep going because I'm pocketing everything or putting out all the money for everything. But if I got that extra piece or that extra person that can help me with this process, then it can really scale. So it's like, I guess it's like that phrase, like you gotta cut your teeth where you learn what's a good accountant. You learn what's a good booking agent. You learn what's a good person who can do these things by doing it yourself. And you're able to start saying, hey, I

like the way that you're doing this, I may need to go into a different direction. Is that something that you're experiencing yourself? Right now, to put it how you were saying it, I'm learning how to duplicate myself. So by me doing it, I'm now setting the standard of how I like it. And then when I bring someone in, I can say, can you... So you're creating your own systems? Yes. But so it was something very key that you said earlier.

I don't know if you do it with this process as well, but you said write down your ideas because they basically don't become real until you write them down. Well, could it be the same way with your process and your operations of how you like things done? That way, once you see it on paper, you can always go back, it, add stuff, take stuff away. But when it's time to implement somebody else into that

Bro, you got the whole map right there. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, you're right. You're right. I do think I need to do that. And I think that's a bit of, you know, sometimes in elevation we do get the imposter syndrome, but we also need to know we have to take ourselves as seriously as we're asking other people to take it seriously.

So, know, for real, so, know, like amongst the homies, we could be like, yeah, I think I need it since they were like, no, you don't need it. But it's like, no, actually I do because I have these things and, know, you know, I'm saying they they're not doing the work so they don't see like what it takes. But in actuality, that's what you really need to sustain. I think we need to have those conversations with ourselves

 (28:41.183)
Yeah, I actually do need someone to come in because I'm losing so much on the back end by not having that. best quote, I can't even say that because I say that I feel like about a lot of quotes, but one of the best quotes I heard this year was, do less to make more. I would definitely recommend a book that Alex put me on to and that's, Ruck the System by Sam Carpenter. Have you read that book? I have not. That is, it basically talks about everything you just said.

about duplicating yourself because as you go forward, can't be the accountant and the booking manager and everything going forward. You need to be able to duplicate the things that you know how to do and have someone else do it for you. And since you have your system in place, there's less room for error, right? Because they know, this is... Everything I need to do is documented, right? And it's set up for me. it's...

It started for me not to fail, basically. That part is always the toughest because you're so used to doing things yourself. Now it's a whole separate job to think of what you have to do and then write that out in a way that somebody else can then say, I know exactly what you need, set one through 10, let me go ahead and do that. Because again, it's

We're the masters of ourselves. You're the master of what you have going on in the clubs and the nightlife and stuff like that. It is you. But then when you're trying to duplicate that or expand that, it's like now, how do I put this into terms where somebody else can then understand it? But then how do I also find that person who's capable of doing that work, who's also capable of doing the work at a standard that makes sense for what you have going on? Because I'm pretty sure you have

a high standard for everything that you're going on. Author, now you're award nominee and stuff like that, so you're like, no, I can't just take lackluster stuff. This has to be a higher quality, higher ticket service that is being provided. So what's your thoughts on that, to duplicate but still have somebody who can be of that high caliber? I'm going to use this word that I just thought of called the bare maximum.

 (31:04.853)
And the bare maximum is what is the highest of the lowest someone can put out. You feel me? And try to do that. It's not the maximum, it's not the top, but it's the bare maximum. You know I'm saying? And then once I find out what that is, as long as that person meets that, I'm good whether

whether they over T or under a T, you know what saying? I'll be able to pick up the slack. Cause you're not gonna do the same work as I'm doing. That's impossible. But if something falls, if something slips, if something goes right or left, I can pick up from where that is. Cause I'm used to doing it myself. Now nine times out of 10, that's not gonna be the case. But if it is the case, I'm not worried about it.

also something to think about too is, bro, you're human, what if you need to take some time away for take care of your health, you get sick or something. You're just out for three days, you're busy with some family or something. You don't want that system or what you got going on to just stop because you're not there. You want it to be able to operate even when you're not there. That's how you know you built a right system.

Right. That's why I say bare maximum, not bare minimum. Bare minimum is like, check these emails. The bare maximum is I check the emails, I responded, I'm waiting for you in two or three days to see what you're going to say. You know what saying? So you got to find what that is so you could be comfortable. I like the direction this discussion has went.

Because now we're seeing how art can intersect with entrepreneurship. he's an entrepreneur. Exactly. I was realizing this, not realizing it, but it just hit the point when you were talking about how you had to book your own tour and these things like that. But it definitely hit me when you said that, I'm in charge of curating art or events for a restaurant business. What's the process for that?

 (33:28.883)
every single day I have to have this, this in place. I have to this performer or this thing going on tonight at this restaurant. And then maybe having to duplicate it for multiple restaurants every day. How does that work? And how do you minimize your stress in doing it? Okay. So keeping things routine, you know, and not reinventing the wheel. Once you find out how an open mic runs,

You'd be like, all right, two hours, I need a host, I need a feature. These many people can go. Intermission is gonna go at this time. You can do it your eyes closed. Now there are different scales to events. There's social events, mixers, right? People are providing their own entertainment because they're entertaining each other with conversation. All you need to do is come in and say, hey, I'm this person, do like a game or something, let them get back to doing what they're doing.

There's live music, know, so artists comes in for about, you know, 20 minutes to 45 minutes. They play, everybody's entertained, go back to the mix in England. Open mic, these people come in, sign up, do they stuff, close by this time. So keeping that routine on a consistent level is really creating your base.

Now the only determinant factors are if you're bringing like a special guest person that wants to come in, they want particulars, they want to get paid at a certain rate, those things can be a little tricky. So what helps manage stress, whiskey, don't explain. That just helped me. communication and planning early. If you know you have to do events every week.

then by the first week, you should be done playing in week three or week four. You know what saying? Also being able to pivot, know, by me being an entertainer, being a host, if my entertainment or my host drops out, then I can come in, you know what I'm saying? Then I can shift it to, you know, do we have any talent out there that wants to come out? You know what I'm saying? Like, and it's funny, when I started,

 (35:55.849)
My first open mic, it was just me. I didn't have no DJ, you know what saying? I didn't have any special marketing or promotion. I literally did everything myself and it started off with a conversation. You know, I even started getting into like standup comedy, just to have some things to fill up time. Cause everything is about conversation and how, you know, mix that with music, how you, you know, take your breaks, have people get their food and drinks and stuff like that. you

it really becomes a routine if you know what you're doing. Okay. That's dope. One question I did have is how'd you come up with the name nerd, poet? Okay. So it originally was just nerd and this is a, interesting story. So I took how we view the N word, right? As a derogatory term that we turn and we turn it into a positive with

the name nerd because I was tall, skinny with glasses. that was, that's what constituted a nerd. You know what saying? Back in the nineties and the early 2000s. And so I just took ownership of it. Cause I'm like, well, if you're going to call me this anyway, by me just sitting here, breathing and existing, I'm going to make it something positive. You know, he's a nerd, but he raps, but he is very well spoken. He's charismatic.

You know what saying? He's a nerd by his own definition, not how we call him. You know what I'm saying? it was funny, there was a cipher going on in high school and I was an underclass when I was a junior and all the seniors there, very talented, cash out to Westchester High. And...

You know, was, it was an opportunity for someone to jump in the cipher. And I was like, yo, I'm about to jump in. And then I got that look like, what, like what, what, what are you about to do? And, I came there and I would just spit, you know what saying? And everybody was like, dang, I wasn't even really expected that, you know, like, like how you would expect all the little, you know, stories and when you think the nerdy person is not going to do something and he step up. Yeah. Like, so yeah, that, that happened with

 (38:21.031)
And one of seniors was like, we're gonna call you from now on. And that name just stick with me. as far as Nerd the poet, I added that for branding so that when people see my social media, they will know I do poetry. That's pretty much why that guy added on there. I think that's important to note because there's a lot of people who are, I

not shy, but they're just like, they shy away from the limelight or they don't want to draw too much attention to themselves. you know, they, they, they, put themselves in the box or people put that person into a box and you like, you're, you're like, okay, I'm, I'm the box, but I'm not going to be defined by your box. I'm going to define my box and make sure that I own this moment. Exactly. And take this by the reins. And then you turned it into a branding tool, which is even

And I think that's a really big thing that people need to understand is that people can try to categorize you as something and they can say, Markelle is this, Dave Mill is this, nerd is this, right? But when you come in there and say, no, I'm this, and then you back it up with the confidence, like you had that moment, you seized the opportunity. And I think a lot of people, if they hear your story to say, damn, maybe I could do

and they start seizing opportunities. you're not, not all of this is to be perfect, right? There's going be moments where you be like, nah, cool, I'm do it. And you get up on stage, you're like, chest get tight and you choke on the moment, right? But at the end of the day, it's still something where you came out of your shell and you redefined what a nerd may be. Because

Most people, like you said, back in the day, nerd was the tall, skinny dude, glasses, anime. This is stereotypical. Yeah, kind of thing. And you're like, all right, cool, I'ma rock with it, but I'ma rock with it the way that I want to. I think that's very important for people to understand. I was gonna say.

 (40:26.315)
What created your, like, I won't say I don't give a fuck, but like, what made you not care, like, about what others thought of you? Well, I'm an Aries, so, you know. Gotcha. They're like, yeah, we don't do the astrology. But anyway. don't know nothing about that, brother. Some people in the comments gonna understand what that meant. I think hip hop did that. know, like, I used to listen to,

cats like Eminem, know. Yeah, like Outkast, you know, the Neptune, like people who embody this rebellious, I'm gonna do what I wanna do attitude. And I think that's where I found solace because on a social level, I was getting treated in a certain type of way. You know what I'm saying? So I feel like it

a subconscious thing to where as though I was like, you know what, if people are gonna write me off or they're gonna feel this way about me, they don't matter. What matters is what I have control over, how I'm going to move about the world. And that's just what I'm gonna go with because I don't like being a victim. You know what saying? Like I'm actually not a victim. I'm really just sitting here minding my business.

Nah, that's That's - - Your mind says

I'm of how you think, bro. I appreciate that. It's very impactful because at the end of the day, like you said, I'm not a victim. I'm taking control of my life. And because of that, this is who I am unapologetically. think a lot of people are just like, I am that kind of maybe, but they're not full force into it. And when you can acknowledge that, take control of that situation, you move different. And now you have that confidence from that.

 (42:29.015)
took it to your brand, you took it to your book, you took it to your ability to book yourself on a tour, you took it to the ability to have, be an award nominee. What's next? So what's next? And I was talking to Dave Mill about this offline. I want to build a bridge of DMV artists and LA artists.

you know, because touring and putting yourself out there in different cities is how we become a household name. You know what saying? It's how we expand our brand. And again, building that bridge for others, as someone who had to do that for themselves, is like the concept of, it's called Sancov, is looking back while moving forward. One of the things I learned in college. So I want to build

creative house for traveling and touring artists. You know what I'm saying? So instead of like, you know, you get like a, like the concept of like an Airbnb except it's for artists specifically. So you don't just have a place to live, and board, you have a place to create. You got a studio to do digital content. You got a place to record. Yeah. Yeah. That's all.

right there with you, my God. That's been on my mind a lot lately as well. Right, and I got the concept from DC because what does DC have that connects the US to the

Be me, politicians. You want to say government or what? Embassies. Right. Yo, that is very, very true. I didn't think of that. Right. you know, it could be like an embassy for creatives in another state. Damn. I like that idea. I love that idea. I love that idea.

 (44:41.235)
All right, cool. you went into that, I didn't know if you was ready to announce that. Let's get into it, right? Okay. And so I love the idea of building a bridge from one coast to another. so, what's the art? I shouldn't ask this because it's LA. So we know that the art scene is just, it's home of Hollywood and many of the most famous record labels.

Like, but what is the scene of someone from in Hollywood or LA, I should say? So it's very big on the music industry. And - More so than Hollywood? More so than film? Well, when it comes to the arts. Okay. Right. When it comes to the arts. Now, film and things like that are incorporated. But like you said, since it

where a lot of record labels are and things like that, that's also, music and entertainment is what they call it. So you have a lot of dope singers, dope vocalists, rappers. Yeah, you got your Kendrick Blue on. Kendrick Blue. Or Nipsey Blue, whatever you wanna call it. was said Nipsey Blue, because Kendrick from a red name book, right? Actually, yeah, yeah, Kendrick

You know, not like us, the hottest thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm tired of song too. I'm not. He keep it going. But yeah, so that's what's major out there, like, you know, the video production, music, things of that nature. Okay. That's dope. That's dope. So what's the timeline for this project?

And what is the goal? I heard you say brought up the embassies and that's dope. That'd be a great content house name, like the embassy. D -A embassy? Like the embassy? Yeah. if you want to speak of the embassy. guess. Nah, so what's the timeline for when this project will be ready or the planning stages of

 (47:00.493)
So the planning stages, it's very foundation. I'm building up to it like a Marvel movie, right? I was a part of a local artist residency program called 202 Creates, is an effort funded by the mayor and the DC department of cable television, music and entertainment. It's a long title. I'm glad I remembered it.

I am a resident alumni from that program. So now I'm working on one, getting other alumni resident artists to be spotlighted at one of my venues, but also build a bridge with another creative platform in LA. So that's being in the works right

As far as when I will get this property together, I'm going to give myself two years. Give myself two years at this point. we're going to discuss, we're going talk about this because that's something I'm very interested in as well. Okay. Because I have a love for real estate. So definitely, definitely interested in partnering with you on that and being involved. But let's go back to like the events, to like your open mic night. Okay. For someone who...

who's interested in coming out, what can they expect? What night of the week is it on? And what's the scene like? What can they expect when they come out to the event? Okay, so the venue is Capitol Square Bar and Grill, which is right there on East Capitol Street and 15 in the East Capitol Hill area. Capitol Hill, okay, got Yeah, it's in our upstairs lounge, very nice area.

very nice venue. So you really can expect to come in and feel like you are at an upscale place. Like we got the marble floors, we got the placemats and things like that make a good date night, different things of that nature. And just come in and show your stuff. It's like a little loud, speakeasy type of vibe. You know what I'm saying?

 (49:28.619)
This is another thing that I like to ask before I go to a venue. Like, is it an upscale venue? Is it a poetry venue? Cause when we think of poetry venues, we think of like Holding the wall? Yeah, like coffee shops, like place where you can go and yell angry poems, you know, for five minutes. You know what I'm saying? So, and that's one thing that I started seeing when I got out here was like the upscale, like poetry. I called them like poetry clubs, you know.

But I was like, yeah, that's pretty dope because it's adding some prestige, it's adding some maturity to the poetry platform. You know what saying? You still getting good content, different aesthetics. What night is it? Did you say what night of the week you are? That's gonna be every other Thursday. So I believe we have it now for second and third Thursdays. Second and third Thursdays, that's dope, that's dope.

And my follow up question to that is, if someone wants to perform, how do they sign up to perform? Our show starts at 7 .30, sign up, start at 7. How would somebody reach out to you if they just wanted to, not necessarily just getting in contact with you, but wanted you to see their talents or their artistry so you could possibly place them at any of your other spots? So I'm available on Instagram.

at nerd the poet that has my email address and information on there. I also have an artist LinkedIn, which is Dominic Nerd McDonald. So any of those mediums will be the best way to get in contact with me. for now, you'll be talking to my assistant, which is me, until I get a real assistant.

Yo, but you said something about a book earlier. So what's the name of your book and where can people find the book as well? Okay, all right. So I'll do the book plugs. I actually have three published books out right now. The first one is The Love Song of D. Nerd McDonald, which I published in 2015, which is a poetry book about my experiences with love and relationships. There's a collaborative book that I did with

 (51:51.073)
Friends who are poets back in LA called Heaven's Epitome Realized. That's a book of poems dedicated to our honor and black woman and The recent one I'd rather be called a nerd is through a small publisher called day eight based out of north northwest DC and all of these are on my Instagram or you can go to all my links comm slash nerd the poet

Nah, this was great. Yeah, this was actually one of my favorite episodes, bro. That was for you, brother. I appreciate that. appreciate that. Shout out to y 'all, you know, strong black, enterprising men doing positive things for the community, man. We need to see that in person and, you know, digitally. Exactly. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Yeah, positive black men. That's what's up. I appreciate it. No, seriously, no, seriously, bro. I do appreciate that,

Yeah man, I think it's time that we do celebrate Black memoir. Instead of the very typical things that are shown of us through media. Men ain't shit. Men ain't... I ain't even going say just that men ain't shit, that's... Yeah. But we're not all in prison. We're not all... Deadbeat Deadbeat fathers, exactly.

Some of us are very articulate, so we know how to talk and we're not ignorant. There's more to us. Yeah, we're professional. Right. And we can be leaders. We can be nurturers if we need We are leaders. yeah, we are leaders. Definitely. So I appreciate that, Appreciate you too. Appreciate the love, appreciate the compliment. Al's you got anything to close us off? Do you want me to just go ahead close it?

He's in the button. I'm just saying, no. Yeah, I got it, got it. So yeah, so, nerd appreciates you being on here, Brad. At the end of the day, you show what it took for you and your journey and your success to go from being labeled that person as the nerd, then being labeled that person as the author, then being labeled that person as the poet, the traveler, the extraordinaire. And so now you're starting

 (54:19.773)
share your story with other people that's going to resonate with those other audiences and allowing that person who might be watching this to say, look, I want to be the next nerd. I want to be the next whoever that is the person to define themselves. And at the end of the day, what you're doing is turning that experience into a business, into a brand, into a label that is now inspiring other people to really get to that next level.

and you're taking that next level and making the profit or the revenue that you're doing it. So when you combine all that stuff and really understand the magnitude of what you're presenting to people, the legacy that you're presenting to people, you're really able to turn other people's audience to other people's money because you're saying, look, I want to be that bridge, the embassy to other people from LA to here.

And now you're able to allow them to be into the limelight and allow them to make their own headway. So, appreciate you should be on OPA to OPM. This is the perfect example of what that is. it. sir. sir. I appreciate it. All right. Thank you for those who have tuned in and thank you for those who have followed us to the end of the episode. You know, please hit the like button, please hit the subscribe button, please hit the notification bell. All right? And peace for everyone here. Peace.

Ay -o