Meet Donavan Perkins | Drumline CEO & Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Donavan Perkins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Donavan, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind the success of myself and the N.O.D. brand is the Integrity Factor. I believe that integrity of my brand is important because it can, in my opinion, be the key difference between you and your competition. As a business, your reputation is everything to your sustainability and growth. Customers, suppliers, business partners, and investors all need to trust that you know what you are doing and are operating a business that they feel that they can trust and rely on. When you act with integrity, this helps build your reputation and has the potential to keep your business growing because the people you start to have collaborations could be the vey same people that help bring you more business. Trust can make or break a business. If partners or customers cannot trust the brand or the owner, they will refuse to continue to do business in the future. N.O.D. takes its interactions very seriously. We consistently want to be honest with everyone even if we make a mistake, we want to treat our employees the same while making them feel appreciated for their service for the business needs, we try to meet every commitment for customers while constantly looking for ways to exceed the customers’ expectation, and also treat everyone with respect. With these action items, we believe that this approach will help build more relationships and reputation for business, and will help us achieve stronger results in the near future.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What sets myself apart from others is my drive to never accept defeat by any means. Of course I do not mean literally fighting, but metaphorically speaking, in life we have to fight for what we believe in. For me, I truly feel that if I accept results as they come, I probably would not have seen the growth that I have experienced. A lot of times at the start of this journey has been negative from being told “no” a lot of time to receive one “yes”, or having a lack of resources to complete a task for a potential customer. No matter the obstacle, if you accept the first result most times, you will not grow into the person that you need to be for the betterment of your company. I have to be the hardest fighter for my company and I am dedicated to that position. Through the process, it was never easy, and challenges appeared everyday, sometimes even when the company not in public eye to see the different challenges that may occur. However, you have to overcome your obstacles. One way to overcome these setbacks is to build a mindset of never giving up. No matter what. If you can build that mindset and consistently reenact that thought process everyday, eventually you will be unstoppable. the more you do it, the more comfortable you will be taking challenges head no to the point that you will be less likely to be frustrated or saddened when the bad experiences happen. In my opinion, this is the most valuable lesson that I have learned along the way of me running this company for 3 years. The challenges will change most of the time, but the mindset must stay the same. How I respond to setbacks will rub off on my employees which will make them better, stronger, and also more confident that the CEO is fighting for something instead of not trying to find a solution to problems. My attitude determines my altitude. I am my biggest competition, so when running a business, even if you have no competition in your particular market, you have to still look for ways to continue to sustain and grow. That leads me to what I want my business or brand to be know for, which is quality. Quality can consist of many attributes. The main ones I want to focus on is presentation, credibility, & integrity. I choose these three because to me, they are needed for the successful growth of a business. Your product and/or service must be presentable, if not, people will not want to look at it or have anything to do with it because it looks poor in quality. you have to work on your credibility which is built based on the integrity of your business. Credibility is important because it can be broken quicker than it can be earned. Our focus is to always display strong integrity because we believe that it leads to our credibility for our clients. This is one of the few examples of what will separate us from any other company in our field.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
For me, Atlanta is a great place for multiple types of things to do for people of all age groups and personalities. I would direct and encourage my friends to attend a sporting event, even if you are not into sports. Atlanta has an interesting way of really making people feel at home at the different sporting events across the city. In my opinion, the Atlanta Braves sports team is the best place to visit for sports in Georgia, as they cater to people who even have no idea how to follow baseball. Nothing but funny moments and fun times, and you may even catch a foul ball in the process.

Restaurants that are great in Atlanta are located in Midtown. There are absolutely too many restaurants to name because they all have their own special touch. If you are looking for seafood, BBQ, soul food, Italian, Mexican, etc, we have it hear in Atlanta. I would start them off by telling them to search for places in midtown because its an area where if you picked a type of food like seafood, and changed your mind, the next selections are only a few steps from one another.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to show recognition to the backbone of the business, who has definitely done so much to help the growth of N.O.D. and that person is Tedra Perkins, who happens to be my wife. Tedra has been working as the secretary for the company since it was established, however, has done so much more than what a typical secretary does in an office. She is a hard working, goal setting, integrity filled, and positive influencing person. She always has new and fresh thoughts for the business, and does not hesitate to give her input to help change and grow the business for the better. Tedra does all of these things, while working on her own business endeavors daily. Her leadership, communication, courage, and display of being a role model is contagious, and can rub off on anyone she comes in contact with. I would like to just say THANK YOU for all that you do and the growth of N.O.D. would not have happened without you.

Website: https://www.instagram.com/nodpercussion/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/obi_don_kanobi/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donavan-perkins-0b057b70/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donavan.perkins.37

Image Credits
Photos Taken by NoDPercussion LLC