We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jelani Patterson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jelani, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
A few thoughts come to mind when I think of where my resilience originated. The first thoughts are sports. I grew up playing basketball, but it wasn’t until later in my teenage years when I discovered a new love for football. Playing sports can be unforgiving when it comes to trying out for a team because each team only has so many roster spots, and everyone thinks or feels they should have one of those spots. I know there is no such thing as perfection, but I always wanted to be the best on the football field. One of my favorite quotes is by Denzel Washington which says, “You gotta do what you gotta do, to do what you want to do.” To me, that means you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to achieve whatever your goal might be. It also means when it comes down to it, no one is going to do it for you.
Another thought that comes to mind is Covid. I started building my fourth business District 57 in August 2019. During that time, I also owned two other businesses with approximately 20 staff on payroll. My other businesses were helping fund the build-out for my new business. Everything seemed great until March 2020, when Covid shocked the world. I thought the Covid shutdown would only last for a week or two, but a week or two turned into several months. Since my business wasn’t open prior to Covid, I didn’t qualify for any financial assistance from the government. I was faced with a dilemma: do I pull the plug on a new business that might be great or focus on two established businesses? I decided to press on with the new business because I truly believed in the concept. All of my businesses are in the family entertainment industry, and because of this, neither was allowed to be open during the lockdown. For 10 months I didn’t have any income, but I had to find a way to continue paying the rent, construction costs, and employees during the lockdown. I decided to sell both established businesses, thinking it would give me enough money to stay afloat for a while, but it didn’t. Money goes quickly when you’re trying to build a new business. There were many restless nights, and sometimes I didn’t know if I was coming or going. Another one of my favorite quotes is The Man in The Arena by Theodore Roosevelt. I read this quote several times during Covid, and now it’s hanging in my house where I can see it every day. This quote reminds me not to worry about what other people think or say and to tune out the critics. Everyone has an opinion as to what you should be doing or how you should do it, but when you truly believe in something, your opinion is the only one that matters.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am in the business of creating memories. As I walk throughout my business and I hear or see customers cheering and high-fiving their friends, family, or colleagues, it feeds my spirit. We have several customers who come every year as a family tradition for Thanksgiving or Christmas. This is why my team and I do what we do.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My number one quality is the lack of fear. I’m not saying I was never scared on my journey. However, I never allowed fear to keep me planted in the same position. Some people like to practice without ever getting into the game. I always ask people, if you knew you couldn’t lose, would you do it? The answer is always yes.
My second quality is to believe in myself. Many years ago, I asked my mentor, “What should I invest in?” He told me to invest in myself. I was so confused at that time because I thought he might say to invest in this stock or buy this type of business. I realized what he meant was to believe in yourself and that I am my biggest hurdle.
My third quality is to always keep my ears open for conversation and my eyes open for opportunities. I never know who I’m talking to. A random conversation might turn into a great idea or opportunity.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
My current challenge is expansion. To expand, everything needs to be streamlined and near perfection before exploring a new territory. We just unveiled our new online booking platform for our website. We built this platform because my business is very unique in what we offer as far as venues and times. The first 5 years of being open, we tested a few third-party platforms, but none of them worked the way we needed them to. We’re currently working on a new system to speed up our customer check-in process.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.district57.com
- Instagram: @district57clt
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