"Sponsor Me!"

If there was a dollar for every time a shop heard that statement, we would all be ridiculously rich. The truth of the matter is...there's a lot that goes into a shop sponsorship, and the levels after that (if you're driven enough to push through the struggles...) which is AM and then PRO sponsorship. If you want it bad enough, it goes a little something like this...

1. Start small
- First, get pretty decently good at snowboarding, this is key
- Second, this might actually come before getting good at riding, but hit up your first ever main sponsors, Mom and Dad, or the equivalent, to help you out, because they should be the ones who will always back you through the years, more than just financial support, because you'll need the emotional support of your family and friends if you're really trying to get to the next level
- Third, be ready to fail, a lot, and learn in this process that you can't give up, ever

2. Get Bigger
- Literally, once you start progressing, try everything, then try doing it bigger
- While going bigger, stay clean, no sloppy big tricks, clean tight tricks are way better, don't ever forget that
- If you're serious about sponsorship, you're gonna need a video edit, or more accurately your "Sponsor Me" video, get a camera and a friend who wants to film, and take that thing everywhere and film your every move on a board, and heck maybe even off of it too, everyone needs some good lifestyle shots
- Present your "Sponsor Me" video to your local shop and wait, you might not get anything at first, but if they see you're serious about what you're doing, it could just be a matter of time

3. Get even bigger
- You're gonna need to get your name out there if you do get sponsored by a shop, so you better get ready to compete...chances are if you got sponsored then you're probably already riding at this level, but you might still need some mental preparation...competition is a whole different level of riding in itself
- Stay humble, just cause you're sponsored, or a really good rider, doesn't mean that your better than anyone, start thinking that way, and you're bound to lose more than you'll gain
- HAVE FUN, snowboarding is and always has been about fun, if you forget that or lose it along the way...you might as well just hang up your shred stick


That's it for now...stay tuned for a later version that might dig a little deeper to the AM and PRO level...

Hope this helped you little shralpers get an idea of what you need to do!

Now write those video ideas down so you don't forget and get out there early next season and kill it! Film, edit, and drop to your shops to see what happens...you never know...

Peace!
- trans. crew