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I don't know how applicable this will be for this podcast or blog or whatever, but something I've been thinking about and since running a business in the
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graffiti space, I guess the question that comes up is like when somebody's reaching out and asking for something for free or to help with something. A
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question that I've been asking myself is like, what are you doing to do your shit first before asking for help? And I'll give you some examples like,
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well, I guess this one, a couple of these examples aren't really about asking for help, but are about asking for something. So, like, we get a lot of, you know,
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graffiti writers that'll be like, Hey, I'm trying to make a name for myself, but I I can't afford supplies, you know, can you send me some free supplies
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and I'll make promotional videos for you. And so while that's that's a normal thing to do, you know, you have people sending stuff to people, and they'll,
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they'll post a video, and it's kind of a mutually beneficial scenario. So like, say, for example, I send some markers to somebody, they post a video on
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their their page using the markers, and then I repost that. So we're kind of sharing our audiences. They get some free stuff. They get some exposure to
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our audience. And we're, we're close to 110 followers now. So like, if, if getting exposure is something that you want, then it's a mutually beneficial
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thing. Like, we'll share you on our shit. You share us on your shit, you'll get some free stuff, and it's all good. But the problem that I have with
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people reaching out is, like, I would say 100% of the time, like, I've never had anybody reach out and ask for anything that was, was actually putting
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in work to build their audience. So like bringing something to the table, like every time, what it is is somebody will say, hey, you know, can you sponsor me?
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I'll, I'll make some promotional videos. And so I'm pretty much 100% No, unless I see their page and they're, like, actually putting in a lot of effort.
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Because what I see is somebody will say, hey, you know, they'll ask me for that shit, and they'll tell me the same fucking spiel, like, oh, we'll make a
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video and I'll post it, and you'll sell all kinds of stuff, and I'll go to their page, and they fucking have like, and I don't want to sound like a dick,
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but they don't have any following because they don't, and not that that's the most important metric. The reason they don't have a following is
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because they don't put any effort into their page. So like, you're asking a company for free shit in exchange for them giving you exposure, but they haven't
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built up any kind of audience to expose your shit to. So it's like, I don't know if people don't think it through, like, why wouldn't you spend the time
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to build the thing that's gonna bring value to the person you're asking for stuff from. You know, so, and I it's, it's the same shit every time, honestly, like,
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and some people even have no following, and they have a private account, and it's like, it's just, it's kind of annoying, because I'm like,
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you're asking for something, but you're not putting in your part. You know what I mean? Even if they did put up, put it, make a video and put it on their page,
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nobody's going to see it. So you're not doing your part by not putting putting together the audience on the front end. If you come to a company and say,
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Hey, I have, I have 5000 followers. They're super engaged. I get this many views when I post a reel. I get this many fucking views when I post a
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tick, tock, you know. And you can go on their page and see, oh, man, I'm stuck behind a fucking train. You could go on their page and see that they're
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actually putting in work and putting in time to, you know, to build up a following, and all this kind of stuff. I have sent stuff to those people because
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it's like, even if they only have, like, a couple 1000 followers, if they're putting in the time and they're making content and they're, they're a
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couple 1000 followers, are actually engaged following that's, there's some value there. But if you're, if you're asking for something, and then
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you go on and you barely even post, like, the last post is, like, two months ago, and it's not even related to the to the industry. So, like, for example,
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like, somebody will ask, like, hey. Can I, you know, can you shoot me some stuff? And I'll make a video, and I'll go on their page, and they literally
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have no art, no graffiti, no nothing on their page. And it's like, well, why? Why is a page that has, like, you know, pictures of the burrito that you
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ate yesterday going to be relevant to anybody you know, like, it's weird. I just don't understand the sort of mindset around not building up this
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thing that you're trying to pitch to people and shit I'm about to drive off the curb. So the worst one I just got recently, somebody, somebody
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messaged me and they said, This is on the machine page. And they said, Hey, I got my clothing brand going. If I send you some clothes, will you do a photo
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shoot of the clothes and post about it on your page. And I was just like, Wait, so you want, you want somebody else to do a photo shoot for your shit and
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post it to their audience for what? And it was basically, it was asking, like, it would really help me out. And I was like, like, most, most likely,
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I'm not going to do that, but I was curious. And I was like, Well, let me see what kind of work they're putting in. I go to their clothing brand page, they
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literally have one fucking picture up on their their whole Instagram, one picture, and it wasn't even up their clothes. It was a it was a picture they
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found on fucking Google of Nipsey Hussle. So I'm like, you're asking somebody else to do the work that you're not willing to do. Like, where does
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this come from? Like, what is this kind of delusion that you you're not even willing to do a photo shoot with your clothes and post it to your own
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audience, but you want somebody else to do that. It's crazy to me. I don't know, I don't know how relevant that is. I just and I don't know how helpful that
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is. I mean, obviously, if you're one of these people, like, there, there's an opportunity to to get these things that you're asking, but it's on the other
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side of work, like you have to, you have to put in work. You have to, you have to present them with an opportunity that's going to be beneficial for them.
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If you're asking a business to send you free shit, a business doesn't, doesn't grow by just sending out free shit to anybody that asks for it like a
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business, that's a good way to go out of business, actually. So if you're looking at it from a business perspective, if somebody asks you for something
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and they say, in exchange for this thing, that you're going to send me for free, and you're going to pay for the postage, and you're going to do all that
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shit, here's what I'm going to do. That thing that they're offering has to generate some kind of return on their investment, because they're
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going to put in the time to pack the shit up. They put in the time to make the products. They put in the money to make the products, and they're going to
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send that shit to you. What's the ROI for the ROI for the business? If it's, if it's a guy that never posts, he has no audience, and he gets one to two
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likes on every photo. It's not worth the the shipping cost. And I'm not trying to sound like a dick, like it's like, it's just not. That's not how business
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works. That's not how the world works. You have to put in your side of things. You can't just, you can't just expect people to do you're asking them to do
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their part, but you're not willing to do your part. You have to build up your audience first, and then then ask for something like that. And if you
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do a good enough job building up your audience, people will probably send you shit, even without you asking, like we just sent somebody shit last week for
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that exact reason, because they're putting in the time, they're putting in the work, they're putting in consistent work on doing the shit that's
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beneficial, like they're out there, you know, doing graffiti, they're making videos, they're building an audience. So a company like ours, we see that,
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and we're like, Hey, we're just gonna send you some shit. And we didn't even ask him to do anything. There was no deal or anything. It was just like, hey,
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we're gonna send you some shit. You know, hopefully, the hope is, you know, you'll, you'll post about it, but if you don't, no hard feelings. We just sent
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the shit. We didn't ask nothing. So I guess the moral of it is like, if you're gonna ask somebody for somebody something,
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look at what you're doing and are you? Are you putting in your part as well? Are you? Are you creating something that's worthwhile? You. That that you
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can exchange. You're asking to exchange your time for their products, so I don't know. Hopefully that helps. I don't even know if I'm gonna post this
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one anyway. If I do, I'll see you next time.
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All right, appreciate each and every one of you guys who are supporting the cause and continue to spread the love and yeah, stay up.