How To Get Sponsored Longboarding

Sponsorship - 10 things they don't tell you lot!

June 03, 2016

Sponsorship - 10 things they don't tell you!

Marker Nicolaus may be injured but even so stacks media on crutches.

SPONSORSHIP

Here are 10 things that they don't tell you about being sponsored. Some of them are good, some of them are alarming, and some of them are inspiring. This is a must read for anyone thinking about sending in that SPONSOR ME email, so that they know what they are really getting into.

i. Cypher IS FREE
Information technology's True in any function of life, specially longboarding. Anything y'all get from a longboard company will need to be earned. The best riders in the earth spent years paying for gear, eating meridian ramen, and living on couches to develop the accomplish and marketability needed to be rewarded with large amounts of gear. Gear that they then turn around on, and movie videos on, gather photos with, and give to other skaters in their area to hopefully influence the local community to buy these products. A good gauge for a company on who to sponsor is by figuring out who is going to bring back the about corporeality of valuable media with the gear that they are given. If they tin bring back a couple of videos, a stack of photos, compete at a race, hold a slide jam, and make it into Skateslate, they are the certain-fire choice. If they take all the gear and coin and travel around, don't collect any media, and sell their decks to get greenbacks, they won't exist on the team for long.

2. YOUR FAVORITE PRO IS BROKE
"I have spent my entire life savings being a Pro Skateboarder" - Levi Green on how much money he makes from skateboarding. There is trivial money to be fabricated from doing really nice slides, and if you are going to compete on the earth loving cup information technology is going to accept some serious money to make it happen. Entry fees, plane tickets, rental cars, hotels, time away from work, and injuries are expensive and price a pretty penny. It was one time said that winning the World Cup costs about $20,000 to make it to all of the races. That was 10 years ago. Now it is non most who attended the most events, but who attended EVERY effect and placed in the podium at most events. As the level of riding has gotten amend the overall talent level is ridiculous at your average IDF race. At that place are at least 20 people who could actually win the race at any given event. It is common for your 1st round rut in a four human race to have last years IDF Champion, the elevation track qualifier, and Emily Pross in it, and yous bet they are all riding freshies.

Here is the Final heat at the Britannia Classic, inbound the concluding corner 30 feet separates 1st from last.

3.SOCIAL MEDIA IS Hard
So winning a world cup may be out of the pick, but don't give up promise, there is more than than one way to skin a sponsorship cat! Some Pros are not competing in races, and still brand it happen by documenting everything. With the modern age of social media you can attain a wack of people by existence pro-active on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook, and most companies require/reward awesome social media presence. A good rider will mail service on Social Media at to the lowest degree iii times a week if not more. You tin do this, as well! Hell your mom may nevertheless pay your cell telephone bill, and then post away. Staying connected with followers, sharing company marketing cloth, hyping new products, and coming out with videos is must for any sponsored rider. At present days you don't accept to be the best at skateboarding if you tin can document it properly. At that place are numbers of examples of skaters similar this in our manufacture. A 10/10 skater with a three/10 social media is less desirable than a iii/10 skater with a 10/10 social media presence. If you are actively promoting your make y'all are a better nugget for the visitor. Long gone are the days when being the best skater got you all the riches, and now it is more of import for a company to have a team of social media warriors getting out the company hype to reach the audition that didn't show up to the event.

iv. YOUR RAW RUN ISN'T HELPING
Nosotros take all seen gnarly raw runs, and wanted to emulate them. Nigh of us do non live at the bottom of the 'fish' and cannot easily admission terrain that would await expert for a raw run. So learning to cross-footstep, getting practiced at nose-manuals, and embracing your local terrain is what you demand to do! It is more valuable to exist a freestyle master than a racer now anyways. Well-nigh companies are not looking for another DH Freerider, and would kill for a artistic freestyle skillful. Videos showcasing fun, innovative, and relatable riding are far improve at connecting with the general enthusiast than a gnarly raw run. If y'all don't live nearly huge hills, don't worry, skate the mode yous can and bask the things y'all have, sometimes fifty-fifty the gnarliest dudes simply want to go hit a garage, or putt around through a fun neighborhood. You cannot skate balls to the walls in front of a machine for ever, merely you can do olfactory organ manuals forever, like DAEWON Vocal. You don't have to be gnarly just creative and passionate.

Chris Birch shows off his unique style and separates himself from the throgns of raw runs.

v.TRAVEL
Yous don't have to travel to be a Pro, simply that is the best part. Leaving your hometown to experience the world, and see other communities of skaters is going to get y'all more publicity and expose you to more than people than your home town e'er could. Which will make y'all more than desirable to sponsor. Sometimes it is all about who you know, and if you know enough people eventually someone will include you in an opportunity that yous would never have gotten to experience otherwise. Some of the best pros out in that location got their big intermission by packing upwardly everything, moving to California and working with companies directly to get a foot in the door. James Kelly and Louie Pilloni moved to LA to pack boxes at Loaded, and now await where they are! Everyone from Calgary seems to movement to Vancouver to be closer to brands to get their proper noun out there. Don't exist scared, someone has a floor for you to sleep on so that you lot tin follow your dreams.

Morgan Owens travels far and wide to ride, here he is shmangin' the fish on a recent roadtrip!

half-dozen. THE BOTTOM IS WHERE YOU START
Most up and coming riders exercise not realize that most companies accept been burned by a Pro rider earlier, and because of that they are less inclined to give much away at first. Some riders have been given too much, also soon and cease up feeling entitled to that level of support forever, and and then expect more and more than, while doing less and less, and companies have learned from that. Today it is common for a visitor to outset potential riders with a minor discount on products to see what they are capable of, and what they are going to exist like in the time to come. Every bit riders prove themselves through social media, effect omnipresence/performance, community involvement, store support, and overall likability they become more and more from the Sponsor. This is to ensure that both passenger and sponsor are mutually benefitting from each other and that there is a good for you working relationship to guarantee success on both fronts. This is the way that information technology is, and if yous thought that your latest raw run was going to go you 4 new decks, twenty sets of wheels, and a case of precision trucks, you lot are mistaken. You will probably become a nicely worded, encouraging e-mail, a minor disbelieve code to purchase some more gear and a couple costless T-shirts. And y'all better clothing those threads in your next video!

Jackson Wells leaves work at MOTIONBOARDSHOP to stack clips for Complimentary Wheel Company, showing dedication to his sponsors.

7. DO IT YOURSELF
The most common line in a "Sponsor Me" e-mail that makes us not desire to sponsor someone is, "With your support I know that I can amend my riding and abound my skills." If you need support to go and have fun on a skateboard, then this isn't the right place for you. Riders who are sponsored all take something in common. They were out doing crawly things before they were ever sponsored. Whether it was reviews, videos, show-me-a-tricks, or outcome hosting, they had something worth supporting before asking for the back up, that is the existent secret. Sometimes you go sponsored because y'all accept a thriving Instagram and a great Youtube Channel reviewing gear, and companies recognize that media potential and want to back up y'all considering of information technology. But no brand is going to back up y'all to start an instagram and a youtube aqueduct, those need to exist in place offset. Max Wippermann on Sponsorship - "If yous sit on your ass and think you are getting anywhere, y'all should probably effort street luge."

8. PREPARE TO BE BRICKED
As we all know, yous are going to go burned when yous play with burn down, and everyone of u.s.a. has taken a spill off of our longboard at some point or some other. Beingness a Sponsored rider means that this cannot stop you from shredding. If you are on a three week roadtrip with the brand and you fall showtime 24-hour interval yous are going to be stuck in a van for three weeks with road rash, that is going to suck, and they are nonetheless going to make you skate cleaved to go shots. The all-time thing that you lot tin can do is prepare. Get HEALTH INSURANCE, it will still cost you lot coin but much less than if you have to bankroll medical bills yourself. STOCK PILE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS. Just considering you hit a guardrail at 50 and your femur looks similar a staircase doesn't mean you get a laissez passer on the next 3 months of responsibilities. A good backup of photos and videos will assist you keep pumping out media for the brands, and go on you as a current rider in peoples minds. Brands honey when y'all get hurt and notwithstanding look like you skate everyday, later on all that is your job as a Sponsored rider, is to expect like you lot skate every twenty-four hours, regardless of if you do or not. Then ready for the worst and kickoff a drop-box full of good photos, you lot never know when the company volition desire to use you for a mag advert, and you lot tin submit a half dozen month old photo while you are laid up in bed with a cast on.

Nate Blackburn pays to play on the second day of a 21 mean solar day road-trip. Sucks to suck.

9. YOU ARE GOING TO GET SCREWED
If you end up riding for a company, eventually, something volition work out that won't be in your favor. Whether budgets go cut, your Pro-model is scrapped, or the new young kid got to keep the film trip, something volition piss yous off! During these times it is important to remember that this is skateboarding, and you lot are doing something that you dear, and yous would practice this even if there was no money involved. Considering at some indicate yous volition realize that you could be making double the money at whatsoever manufacture exterior of this one. So if you are going to exist in it, you need to be fully stoked all the time, considering if you are not having fun, than why practise it? Just remember that everything works itself out, and that our time is short on this planet and then we should enjoy every minute of it while we can and experience as much equally possible, while being grateful for all the unique experiences that come.

Fitz Illingworth has been working his way up through the OMEN ranks with constant loftier quality media, consequence omnipresence, and hard piece of work.

x.Y'all DON'T Have TO Be SPONSORED
Skateboarding is not a sport where you should guess yourself based on how much y'all get dorsum from it, but instead how much y'all give dorsum to it. You don't need to be sponsored to have fun on a skateboard, and you don't need to accept a sponsor to be a skilful skateboarder. Some of the all-time skateboarders out there don't seek out sponsorship and just skate because they savour doing so. They progress the sport for themselves without caring what other people think, and ride considering they relish information technology. If you lot recall that yous suck at skateboarding considering you don't have a sponsor, than you lot are looking at information technology the incorrect way. No one hops on a skateboard and thinks, 'man I am going to get rich', and information technology should stay that style. If you become sponsored great, but some of the best sponsorships are still not as skilful as working a proficient paying job exterior of the skate industry. If you can pay for all of your events, buy your ain gear, and are accountable to no-one that is a real win! That ways you get to skate when you cull, not when the companies photographic camera guy needs you to. Do you know how hard it is to skate downhill at a dusk and not blow the shot because the sunday merely sets once a twenty-four hours, and you are covered in road rash? Pretty hard, and so why not just skate to savor it, and appreciate the sunset and savour the time on a skateboard with out the pressure level of a sponsor? In that location are sometimes when fifty-fifty the nearly compensated pro just wants to throw it all away and skate without any force per unit area.

Well, that wraps up the ten things they don't tell you nearly existence Sponsored. This is non meant to discourage anyone from following their dreams just to assist go along a realistic expectation of the earth that lays in front of you if you travel the road to sponsorship. Nosotros advise you to recall #10, and enjoy skateboarding for yourself get-go and foremost. Being sponsored is a job, non a carefree joy, and many people get burned out when they realize that they accept to piece of work for that gear. So stay stoked, enjoy skating, and dump some thane for us!

NOW Get OUT AND SKATE!

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