It’s been a CRAZY week…actually scratch that! It’s been a CRAZY year(s)!! Sometimes when you’re constantly working and trying to run a successful (subjective depends who you ask) business you do lose track of purpose and the reason you’re doing this in the first place. I love sneakers…that was the purpose since the beginning and still is the purpose today and is the only reason why I’m still doing what I’m doing. However, there will always be bumps and hurdles along the way no matter what you do. Even if you love something so much, you’re ability to overcome the struggles and hurdles really all boils down to HOW much you love it to actually give a shit about solving issues. The most simple way out is basically…just bow out and call it a day.
Naturally I’m a person that loves to make good with everyone I meet. If you’re nice to me, I usually will reciprocate 5x back to you. I don’t like the word enemy because I believe friendship is what makes the world a better place. In the business of sneakers… I can confidently say you’re not always going to meet the nicest people. I can’t blame them because the whole sneaker industry has been influenced by a ton of negativity starting from the top (ie. Nike/Jordan). Sneakers are purposely made limited and when you have 1 million people going after 30-50,000 pairs of sneakers, very naturally majority of the people WILL NOT get sneakers. Fuck the method of release whether it’s raffles, bot protection, FCFS…there’s no one way that will satisfy everyone because numbers don’t lie. There are only 50,000 pairs of sneakers to go around for 1 million hungry sneakerheads. You can hate the stores all you want about not being able to win a raffle for a pair of Travis Scotts, but reality is…sometimes the store’s allocation is just 1-2 size runs. I’m not even fucking kidding you…it’s a joke sometimes. You don’t think stores want your business? Oh they want your business, but when you only got 24 pairs of shoes on a hot drop and 5,000+ people that want them…what do you expect? If you want to hate…don’t hate anyone…just hate yourself for wanting the sneakers. You can also blame Nike for making it limited…but this eventually circles back to you because you and I both know…if it ain’t hype and limited…we don’t want it. So back to the dilemma of…did the chicken or egg come first?
Yesterday I simply had a mini mental breakdown because I was finally fed up with all the negativity and decided to let it out on a IG post. I never could have imagined all the positive comments and DMs I received shortly after posting. It was like receiving a A+ on a school report card when you were only expecting the best outcome to be a B+. So for those that personally reached out to drop a positive message/comment. THANK YOU! Personally I know it’s impossible to please everyone and that is a fact because our world is full of different people with different expectations. I’m not against negative comments because negative comments is what questions myself…am I doing the best I can do and can I push the envelope further. You’re human, I’m human…we all our motivated by positive comments. A simple praise here and there doesn’t hurt…words are free but can go a long way for the receiver as long as it’s genuine.
Like retail stores that only get 2 size runs for 5,000+ hungry sneakerheads…you’re bound to upset 4,976 of them. This is a fact! Likewise with our subscription…we don’t have an unlimited sea of supply of the hottest or sought after sneakers. We don’t get these sneakers for retail store cost of 50% below retail price. We pay market re-sell price in one form or another. If you came to me for a buyout for a pair of Travis Scott 1s, you expect me to pay $3,000 market price, right? You will never sell it to me for retail price. Likewise for our subscription…of course if you have 100-200 people entering a paid draw…you’re going to have some happy winners and a lot of unhappy losers. It’s a zero sum game. If you want to say why we are able to stay running a successful subscription/draw model while many have failed is because we’re not greedy. I believe in pushing as many winners as possible whether it’s runner up or complimentary prizes. Am I making a profit…? Sure of course I am. Am I making life changing money at your expense….NOT EVEN CLOSE.
From all the positivity I have received over the past 24 hours…it made me re-think and step back for a moment from the daily hustle and evaluate what’s important to me. Do negative comments effect me? Fuck yeah it does…sometimes it ruins my entire day’s mood because of one stupid comment, but should this stop me from doing what I do best – maybe not. But this is a good time to take a break and may be a good opportunity to see if I can continue to improve our subscriptions to make it even better than what it is already. Will I continue to receive negative comments…most likely, but if I’m mentally prepared to accept that if I can now make 96% of the people happy instead of 95% – that’s a win for me!
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