Derick Jones
— 2026 Q&A

Hustle Island's questions, answered by Derick Jones in 2026.

Q: What is your name?

A:

Derick Jones.

Q: Where are you from?

A:

I'm originally from Columbus, Georgia, but Pensacola, Florida is home now.

Q: What was your earliest influence in becoming an entrepreneur or hustler?

A:

My first real hustle started back in high school. I would search the internet for unreleased music from popular artists, put together compilations, burn them onto CDs, and sell them for about $15 each.

At the time, I didn't know anything about terms like market demand, distribution, branding, or curation. I just understood that people wanted something they couldn't easily get, and I knew how to find it and put it together for them.

Things were going pretty well until the school decided to ban CD players.

Looking back at it now, I definitely see that experience differently. I have a much greater understanding and appreciation for intellectual property and ownership today. But what that hustle taught me was how to recognize demand, understand an audience, and create something people wanted.

That part of me has never really changed.

Q: What is a favorite quote or philosophy that has stayed with you?

A:

My dad told me something years ago that has always stuck with me:

"If you ever want to succeed, get off your butt, stop talking about it, and do it. Nothing in life is ever given."

When I originally answered this question, I said those words were the driving force behind my motivation whenever I felt like giving up.

That's still true.

The difference now is that I've learned motivation isn't always going to be there. Sometimes you're tired. Sometimes things don't work. Sometimes nobody is paying attention. Sometimes you have to start over.

That's where discipline comes in.

Eventually, you learn that talking about what you're going to do and actually doing it are two completely different things.

Q: What is your favorite story of overcoming adversity or a seemingly impossible situation?

A:

The first time I answered this question, I talked about finally gaining recognition in Columbus for my music after leaving home, moving across the country, and spending more than ten years working toward it.

At the time, that recognition meant everything to me.

I think I look at success a little differently now.

The bigger accomplishment is that after all these years, I'm still creating. I still have ideas. I still love music. I still get excited about discovering something new or making something that didn't exist before.

There were plenty of opportunities along the way to stop.

I didn't.

So these days, I'm less interested in whether everybody recognizes what I'm doing and more interested in making sure what I've created actually means something and has somewhere to live.

Q: Who is your favorite hustler or entrepreneur of all time and why?

A:

Andrew Carnegie has always been one of my favorite entrepreneurs.

He went from working in factories as a child to working his way through the railroad industry and eventually creating several businesses of his own. His work ethic and ability to recognize opportunities helped him become one of the wealthiest Americans of his time.

When I was younger, I think what impressed me most was the success itself.

Now I'm probably more interested in how someone takes an opportunity, grows it, adapts, and eventually turns it into something much bigger than where they started.

That evolution is fascinating to me.

Q: What was your biggest failure, and what did you learn from it?

A:

One of my biggest early failures was my first live show at a music festival.

Everything that could go wrong pretty much did. My laptop crashed, cables shorted out, and my hard drive got fried.

It was terrible.

But it taught me something I still carry with me today: always prepare for the unknown.

Pack the extra cable. Check the equipment twice. Back up the hard drive. Have another option ready.

And most importantly, never assume something is going to work just because it worked yesterday.

That lesson eventually became bigger than music. It applies to business, technology, projects, events — pretty much anything where you're responsible for making sure something gets done.

Always have a backup plan.

Q: What are you working on now?

A:

Music is still at the center of a lot of what I'm doing, but my perspective on it has definitely evolved.

I'm rebuilding the digital home for my work as DJ SlimJones and organizing years of music, projects, collaborations, interviews, unreleased records, and other pieces of my history that have been scattered across different places.

There's a lot sitting in the vault that people either haven't heard in years or have never heard at all.

I'm also developing an online radio and media concept centered around music discovery.

I've never been somebody who listens to just one type of music, and I don't think a great listening experience should be confined to one genre either. I want somebody to be able to hear an established artist they already love and then, a few songs later, discover somebody they've never heard before.

That part really takes me back to where I started.

Even when I was making those CDs in high school, a big part of the excitement was being the person who could say, "You haven't heard this yet? Listen to this."

That feeling never went away.

What has changed is my understanding of the business around it — ownership, licensing, promotion, intellectual property, and making sure things are done the right way.

There are some other ideas connected to what I'm developing, but I've learned not everything needs to be announced while it's still being built.

In 2019, I was working on an album.

In 2026, I'm working on giving people a true listening experience.

I don't want somebody to just press play.

I want them to discover something.