Exploring Life & Business with Javier Cabrera, Daniel Correa, Ivan Godoy and Rafael Delgado of RDJI Entertainment

Today we’d like to introduce you to Javier Cabrera, Daniel Correa, Ivan Godoy and Rafael Delgado.

Hi Javier, Daniel, Ivan and Rafael, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Coming from all different backgrounds although united by a sense of community that directly correlates to where we’re from (Venezuela), we all arrived to Atlanta and met due to circumstance, all hungry and with big ideas. After identifying a need for a high-scale event for the Hispanic community in the Metro-Atlanta area, we drew up a business plan and decided to jump into this venture together.

Fast forward 10 months in time we are working with 2 of the biggest venues in Metro-Atlanta having 3 events a month and consistently bringing revenue all while being profitable. We are way farther from where we thought we would be, but nowhere near from where we aim to be.

Currently, we are transitioning into the planning stages of branching out to another sector of our industry, and increasing the number of people we reach from hundreds to thousands, and in a not so far future we hope to throw award shows, concerts, festivals and other events of that scope.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth road? Ha! We wish. We ran into every roadblock and struggle that someone could probably run into when starting a business and executing on a business plan, and although we hated every second of it while we were going through it, we understood later on that it was necessary and it just prepared us to sail our boat smoothly through future storms.

To make the long story short, we made poor decisions all around when we were just starting, wrong choice of venue, underestimating the cost of organizing an event, picking the wrong parties to do partnerships with, totally misunderstanding what a sponsorship deal entails from our end… If you were to list out the most common mistakes when it comes starting an event management company, we could almost guarantee that we have done all of them.

On the other hand, we also learned that there’s huge value in relying on the existing network of friends, acquaintances and everything in between that every individual has. Every resource is at your disposal if you know where to look for it.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about RDJI Entertainment?
Our business in a nutshell consists of bringing the best possible events to communities in the Metro-Atlanta area and establishing a culture where people from all origins and backgrounds can have a great time. Although mainly Latin music is played in our events currently, we aim to eventually offer events to demographics more interested in other genres.

What mainly sets us apart also happens to be what we are most proud of. We have kept the same marketing strategy from the beginning and it has proven to still be effective to the current day: We are brand first and product second. Although we do sell something to the public, in this case being our events, we maintain our brand as the main character in our story, if you make people fall in love with the idea behind your brand, the rest will follow.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Podcasts: The John Maxwell Leadership Podcast, The Tony Robbins Podcast, The Grant Cardone Zone

Books: Never Split The Difference By Chris Voss & How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utopiamovement/ | https://www.instagram.com/sanctuarybrunch/

Image Credits
Robert Downing (@recreational_robbie)