So You Want To Be A Sponsored Rider?

I’m sorry if you envy my sponsored friends and I for our lifestyle in Southern California: perfect weather, fast mountain runs, fresh gear, waves every day, and heaps of skate events. We have it made, right? Well, the above only paints a partial picture of the actual reality.

It may seem like we’re spoiled rotten, but I promise you that this isn’t the case. Being a sponsored rider isn’t glamorous by traditional standards, but we couldn’t care less. We live this way because we have to—because of an unquenchable love for skateboarding. One of my favorite writers, Charles Bukowski, has a poem titled “So You Want To Be A Writer?” and I think it speaks to folks who glamorize being a sponsored skater:

if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.

Like writing, skateboarding is creative expression. It’s individualistic in nature and it must come from the soul. If you are inspired by other riders—that’s great—but make sure to stay true to yourself. Let your own personal style flow out however feels right to you. Don’t listen to anyone declaring what is right, what is wrong, who is blowing it . . . none of that matters. If you skate like yourself and stay creative, you will have a much better chance of producing a positive result.

If you’re motivated to get a sponsor so you can acquire copious amounts of gear, you won’t have much luck in the long run. You may get something at first, but for sustainable support you must be infatuated with skateboarding so deeply that you aren’t even thinking of sponsorship, but more so about the act of skating. The free gear comes much later, if ever. If you are blindly in love with skateboarding, constantly progressing, and a quality human, you may at some point have the good fortune of receiving product flow from a company. You must first develop a relationship with the folks behind a brand before you can ever hope for them to give you gear. If you happen to prove yourself worthy of “broflow”, it is because the company sees you as a beneficial asset. Product isn’t given out for free—it is given in exchange for your work and representation. You must fully represent the brands that have given you their gear: ride it, test it, give feedback, be a positive ambassador, and most importantly be grateful. Gratitude goes a long way. Contrary to what some may think, many of us sponsored skaters are not rolling in brand new skate gear all of the time. Many of us simply take what we need and we return the favor to our sponsors with quality media, product testing, ample feedback, and clear representation of their companies wherever we go.

If you’re trying to get sponsored for money, forget about it. Seriously, forget about it! There is little money to be had in this corner of the industry, and if you think you’re entitled to any sum of it just to skate all day, you’re out of your mind! The few professionals in downhill skateboarding that are getting paid are not just out skating everyday without a care in the world. There’s work to be done. Being a sponsored skater is a job, not a free ride. Sure, there is a lot of skateboarding happening, but you have to hustle hard for the brands you’re involved with. I’m grateful everyday for the opportunity to live life doing what I love, but it only came after a lot of hard work without any pay, years of undying persistence, and an unconditional passion to skate every day.

Despite what you many perceive, the sponsored skater’s life is not lavish—supermodels and CEOs don’t care about who’s pro. I’m far from rich, and I am constantly putting in work for my sponsors. Every day I try harder to do more for the brands that have granted me the opportunity to skate for a living because I know that no one owes it to me and there is no guarantee how long the opportunity will last. Which brings me back to that Bukowski poem:

unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.
when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in
you.

If you are trying to get sponsored my advice is to stop trying to get sponsored. If it’s supposed to happen it will. And if it does happen it will be because you can’t stop skating, because you get up after you eat shit and with a vengeance, because you stay authentic without shame, because there is no option other than skating and creating, and because you’re so enamored with the act of skateboarding that sponsorship is the last thing on your mind. I promise you, this is the best way.

-Amanda