How are we feeling?

(crowd cheering) (upbeat music) Hey, what's up?

I'm D-Wayne and I'm a vocal entrepreneur.

[Narrator] D-Wayne's a busy guy.

He does a wide range of things for the business he's built for more than a decade.

MCing lots of events including Husker sports, new student orientation, and the historic Volleyball Day in Nebraska.

He does voiceover and on camera work for TV shows and commercials and is a public speaking coach.

I want companies or individuals to look at me and go, "Oh, I bet my message to my audience could go through easier if I had him."

D-Wayne started in high school beatboxing and hosting things like pep rallies.

In college, UNL's Engler Entrepreneurship Program helped him hone his plan and turn his passion into a thriving business.

Hi, my name is Ciclali, how are you identifying the need for what you're creating?

How I identify a good idea or something that I'm willing to try is if it feels good, and how do I know if it feels good?

If I'm feeling at all, even if it's 0.1% confident in my ability to do it.

There's so much stuff that we don't know how to do or that we're afraid to do.

I personally, I'll procrastinate until I feel like I know everything about something and then I'll try it.

But what I've started to do is if I even have an inkling that I could do it, I'm gonna give that idea a try.

Hi, my name is Joce, what was an aha moment for you?

An aha moment for me had to be realizing that nothing that we do in life is going to be the one thing that changes everything.

The small thing you do today, it takes more small things to build up to that one large thing that is a result of that.

So don't take yourself too seriously, day by day.

That's something that I definitely had to work on 'cause I was stressing myself out.

Hi, I'm Jacob.

How has your work evolved from the original idea?

I believe my work has gotten more efficient over time.

When I first started, I was trying to go anywhere and everywhere and try to do everything all at once, but now it's a little more focused.

I know exactly what I wanna do, I head there, I give it a shot.

If it works out, awesome.

If it doesn't, I pivot and try something else.

Hi, my name is Mya, how do you still develop as an innovator?

By understanding that new technology, new talent, and new companies are coming up and they need someone to help communicate their messages.

On the flip side of that though, if I don't start adapting with those things, then it's very easy for me to get left behind too.

So I'm adapting by making sure that I'm on top of the new technology and trends and people entering the industry.

Hi, my name is Taina, how do you get your idea in front of people who can help you succeed?

I like to share about my business and different ideas that I have by talking to folks.

I get that, you know, online, it's easy to post and you can put a Twitter thread and you can really educate tons of people.

But again, I work in the vocal entrepreneurship space.

What's really important to me is making sure that if I am talking to someone, they're understanding the idea fully, it's not just me throwing it at them.

I want a dialogue so that if there are any miscommunications or something we're not on the same page with, we can just chat it out.

Hello, I'm Jonathan.

What's your best advice for young innovators?

Advice that I would have for other innovators is to not let anything get in your way, and that is personal obstacles that you have to go through.

So for me, I don't pay attention to detail very well, right?

A lack of attention to detail is always what my teachers or my boss would say.

Despite that, you continue to move forward.

Let's say you had a hard family situation, despite that, you still move forward.

Your boss just fired you, hey, despite it keep moving forward and move forward creatively, right?

Not just, you know, hustle culture, wake up and keep grinding, yo.

I really do mean think about it critically, figure out ways that you can be creative and solve this problem and help your community and I guarantee you'll take off.

(upbeat music)