Today we’d like to introduce you to Dandre J. Herron.
Hi Dandre, 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?
I would like to first say thank you so much for this opportunity! My journey of entrepreneurship started when I was in elementary school when I would sell Kool-Aid packs and chips while I was in school. My mom would help me by taking me to our local store in our neighborhood to buy the Kool-Aid packs and the sugar. I was learning then about product management, little bit of money management during those times. I also use to spend a lot of time at my grandfather’s car shop where he or my uncle would work on cars and I would help out down at the shop time to time and to see up close how a business is actually ran from customers to branding, to the impact my grandfather had on the community he worked in. My Godmother owns a few rental properties in the City of Detroit and that also gave me a close look at the real-estate business and what it would take to manage rental proprieties. That sense of being my own boss always taught growing up by my family. During my freshman year of college in late 2017, I decided to come up with my own website development company called ERD Technology, this is my first business of my own that is still here today with a little bit over 7 clients consistently now. There were a lot of trials and errors with my business in the beginning and still a little bit today, but that’s the beauty of having a business that’s still in its growing stages, I am looking to expand into more technology startups in the City of Detroit and to also help bring more technology base skills within our Detroit school systems because I truly believe that there are a lot of other tech kids in Detroit looking for somewhere to go to learn and obtain more skills in the tech field and I would like to help create those spaces through ERD Technology. My community service endeavors started in 2017 as well when I met Styron Batchelor at a young Michigan democratic event, he was a guest speaker at the event. I approached Styron and talked to him more about his Veterans org. called Best 4 Vets, an org that is dedicated to helping metro Detroit veterans. I was the org first civilian support to help with fundraisers, attend our monthly meetings, and help with charity events, I truly believed this time was the most impactful time of my life because community service opened a lot of doors for myself and the biggest lesson I learned during that time was to always follow up on your leads, that did set me aside from a lot of other people my age during that time because that eventually landed me working in Michigan House of Representatives in 2019. All of those things help shape my tech company, which I obtained my associate’s degree in computer science from Wayne County Community College and also help me create my own community organization 58Homes 58Families, a community outreach organization. Since my org have been created, I have done many charity events to gather donations to give to different organizations and families those are in need. There is so much I am going to do with my organization over time, but each year I am focused on doing more than the year before and impacting more people than the year before. My last business I have created was formed late 2021 Big Business Clothing. The picked that name because that’s something everyone in all industries can relate to and agree on, it doesn’t matter if you’re a small business or big one, it’s all Big Business. I don’t want to expose too much of my clothing info, I always like to keep that aspect of business a mystery because it’s a competitive industry in Detroit and I know first-hand you cannot expose all of your hands, I just wanted to shed a little light on my clothing but more so will show with more collections to come. Outside of my own entities, I do love to collaborate with different business owners and organizations across the state and country, it’s always good to collaborate with those who you share the same goals and visions with, even if they are halfway across the country, it’s always worth it. Connecting the dots outside of your hometown will help in the long run.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Of course not, I believe that if anyone has had a smooth ride has not really dived into the real grind of entrepreneurship. I have struggled with my confidence with my craft and skills, once I learned to understand that each try and each fail was an attempt towards my higher goal, once I learned that I became more confident with myself to help me produce more things. I still also struggle with my mental health, I’ve lost a lot of family and friends to death from the age of 18 to my current age of 25 I’ve lost a lot of people who I wish could see me today so I definitely have my days where I feel alone and feel as if those were my only true friends at times, but I also try to stay motivated and live for them and experience the life outside of our neighborhoods and life outside of our normal way of living, that’s why I am truly big on traveling and exploring many things in life and try not to stay complacent, I always try to stay on the move and try to fully see what life has to offer because I see how quick life can be over in a blink of an eye.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I would say I specialize in project coordination regardless of the business. I picked up that skill set during my community service time and during my time in service with Michigan State Politics. I am known for being in Michigan State Politics, a community organizer, and a businessman in Detroit, I honestly always felt that all of those things go hand and hand. Business, politics, and community. I am most proud of graduating college and to see some of the businesses and organizations I helped years ago are flourishing with a few methods I taught them. It’s a pretty good feeling to see your work play out in front of you. What sets me apart I believe is my determination and outlook on life that keeps me driven to always find different ways to innovate business, entertainment, or community endeavors I have or may see someone else may have. I’m always big on sharing resources and obtaining resources to keep building our communities back up the way we need them to be, it’s very hard to do when everyone isn’t on the same page. I also believe what set me aside is my power of networking. It doesn’t matter what industry it is; I will figure it out and make the best of that industry through networking and bringing in people who I know can help get the job done.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Yes! I have learned many lessons from Covid-19 from a business level to personal level. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned on a personal level was investing, I had stocks, 401k, a few crypto coins prior to the pandemic and I wasn’t consistently inventing into my stocks, crypto, or adding a little higher match percent on my 401k prior because I never expected anything like this to happen, I will be completely honest. I was able to get by in the beginning of the pandemic due to cashing in on my 401k from my last job because at that point of time they were releasing funds if anyone had them from their jobs before resource was provided for cover-19, so I was very much grateful and was telling myself that it’s really crazy if you do add higher percentage to match your 401k it will be a higher return for you, 10% match vs 75% percent match would have been crazy. Then I’ve also learned on the crypto side that a few coins I didn’t consistently invent in actually shot up crazy like Bitcoin for the best example, once things started to become more home and technology base blockchains became very more popular during the pandemic which cause bitcoin to shoot up at its highest of $68,000 last November, but it did drop back down and that’s great actually as long anyone get their pieces before the coin hits 100k per coin, which is very much possible and very soon. As everything did become virtual during the pandemic which means small businesses and big businesses had to adjust to the pandemic, which caused a lot of businesses to go out of business for good. I definitely struggled as a small business owner during the pandemic, especially with my Technology company. I wasn’t able to have that 1 on 1 in person with my website clients as I once was able to do so my entire business did come to a stop because business were going out and the need for websites wasn’t as needed during that time of the pandemic, but once resources for businesses came out I was able to pick up clients again during the pandemic, but I had to adjust to moving on zoom calls for my meetings with clients and utilize screen shares and file sharing with my clients, which somewhere easier than some because everyone isn’t tech-savvy. I learned as any business you have to adjust to the world around you and really invest on you tech side of your business because our world is shifting to being more online because of the pandemic and I honestly have mix feelings about it because it mainly takes away the human contact that we all need.
Pricing:
- Website Development (Non-E-Commerce) – $500
- Website Development (E-Commerce) – $650
- Website Tech Support – $60
Contact Info:
- Email: djherron20@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/dreherron58?utm_medium=copy_link
Image Credits
David Garnes
Alicia Price
