A Conversation With Darryl Roberts.

This weekend I was lucky enough to meet with Dr. Darryl Roberts. Darryl is the writer, producer, and director of the many awards winning documentary America the Beautiful.

Since he is the first person I have interviewed for this blog; I am very grateful that he was willing to meet with me. He had wonderful insights about the life of an entrepreneur and the importance of following your interests. We spoke at length and I will highlight some of the keys to success he shared with me in future posts. In this post I will relate a little of his background.

America the Beautiful is his most well known work and the project that has made him a wealthy man; however, Darryl has been entrepreneurial since the early eighties. Though he earned a degree in accounting and marketing after graduating he began working for himself as a party promoter. A couple of years later he was ready for a new challenge. While on vacation in L.A. he decided that he wanted to, and would make a movie. Getting started he promptly raised $31,000. Purchased $500 worth of books on film making and went to work. Who learns how to make a movie just by reading lots of books on the subject? Apparently someone fearless and confident in his dreams.

Darryl said," I never had experience doing anything I wanted to do-I just went out and did it." That is exactly what he did. He wrote the screenplay and decided he would also be the director. The film, The Perfect Model came out in 1988 followed by, How You Like Me Now, in 1995. While neither proved to be a big hit, it opened up doors for other opportunities. He was invited to be the entertainment reporter for the local Chicago NBC affiliate. Which he did for two years before feeling the urge to pursue other goals.

While on vacation in NYC, and staying at the Royalton Hotel he discovered the legendary work of designer Philippe Starck. Darryl was so impressed with Starck's work that he decided to start his own design company. Time to buy more books. D. Anthony Designs, the company he started was soon doing brisk business designing rooms and sets for the Hollywood crowd, culminating in the commission to design the 12th Floor of the MTV building. Most would be thrilled with this type of success but Darryl was contemplating pulling the plug on the business. The success was too great, which to most would be an oxymoron, but he saw that he was headed to a place where he was making too much money to pursue something different. Trying his hand at another movie was what he really wanted to do.

So he shuttered his thriving business to pursue the dream of another film. He spent five years independently making America the Beautiful so when it became a big hit, he reaped all the rewards. "It was life changing" according to Darryl. It has been his biggest success making him a very wealthy man and a sought after lecturer. Because of the film’s success he has traveled and lectured in over 171 cities around the world including far flung places like Durbin, South Africa. He currently has a book in the works, and a possible Lifetime series based on the film. Darryl most certainly does not have miserable Mondays!

Takeaway Lessons:

1. Believe in your dreams regardless of how seemingly farfetched. Darryl didn’t just want to make a movie he did something about it.
2. He learned as much about the business as he could (purchasing $500.00 worth of books) But, he didn’t get caught in the trap of endless researching and no action. He raised $31,000 to fund his dream.
3. Now most people, myself included, probably think, “I certainly don’t have $31,000 lying around nor do I have access to that type of money”. Neither did Darryl he mostly raised it from friends. He was confident enough in his dream to convince others to believe, and to show it by giving up the funds.
4. If you want to be an entrepreneur you’re going to have to become a salesperson and marketer supreme. You must be able to sell yourself, your product, your dream. And also you can’t stutter when asking for money or the sale.