Lately I’ve been getting to a point where I would consider myself to be good enough to enter a competition and stand a fare chance. Maybe not win, but at least rank a bit higher than “you suck” lol.
So my question is how do you get sponsored?
The only guess is to keep entering and doing good in competitions using the brand of yo-yo that you want to get sponsored by, but I figured I’d confirm it with the forum.
Thank you for your time in reading this and hopefully answering
-Alex aka Toasty ;D
To get sponsored:
Don’t have the intention of getting sponsored
Be a positive influence on both the yoyoing and non-yoyoing community
Do well in competition
(sometimes this one may not apply)
In general just be a good person.
That is just what I have noticed about many of the sponsored players today. They are either competition behemoths or awesome people with tons of talent.
By not making threads like this.
your so funny
keep making videos dont make threads like this and just be positive so just keep positing videos and dont be like sponsor me sponsor me sponsor me
I just was curious so i asked. My only reason for wanting to get sponsored is to meet new people. Idk about you guys, but I think that’s the best experience ever. One of the reason I love competition.
thank you for your advice. n got it, wont make anymore posts like this and ill make more videos.
If you just want to meet new people, why not see if there are some nearby yoyo clubs or groups.
Sponsors want to see you out there and “working it” or have the ability to do so.
You walk up to the head of the company and say something like,
“Hey, you guys are now sponsoring me, and that’s that… got it?” 8)
Works every time.
Of course, if you’re truly interested in getting sponsored, pay no attention to this post, and take what the others above me to heart 
Start your own company and sponsor yourself.
By being awesome. and nice, and being a good yoyoer and contributing to the community…
lol I can do that. I have the designs, and im waiting for the shop to contact me with when itll be done
I’ve read this exact thing about 100 times from people your age and younger.
I hope you have thousands of expendable dollars for the amount of prototypes your gonna be making.
Just have fun. Don’t worry about being the next big thing or making 100 videos. That’s my advice.
lol me too, I would really love to have my own yo-yo company.
and thats exactly what life is about, Having fun is what i do ;D ;D its what makes me think that im good at yoyoing. im good enough that i dont worry about learning the next trick as soon as i get one down. now there are times where i wana learn a trick that has other trick inthem but you get what i mean
I did.
What is wrong with asking this question?
I think that the yoyo community needs to ease up a bit. Asking a simple question that has no obvious answer, is perfectly natural. The various responses confirm that there is no set path to sponsorship.
I wonder whether some of these responses are a bit self-serving?
“No, don’t ask what it takes to be sponsored - that is really bad. Wait until the owner of a company comes up to you and begs you to be on their team…”
Yeah, that is the path to success. Just wait and let it come to you…
well if you go up and say “SPONSOR MEEE IM TEH BESHT” they most definitely WONT.
Why not just ask to help them in any way shape or form? That’d be better than actually asking for sponsorship…
I think a better question is “Why do I want to be sponsored?”
There is more responsibility than most realize in a sponsorship, and from there on out, you are vastly limited in your choice of throws.
If you have the skill and the drive, sponsors will come to you, it is always better to let them come to you than going to them, that being said, put yourself out there, be a positive influence on the community, someone that a company will want to represent them.
I personally wouldn’t want to be sponsored, even if I were good enough, I haven’t found one company/yoyo that I’d be willing to exclusively use (I’d take a New Age String sponsorship any day of the week, though).
So give it some thought, too many people see sponsorship as free yoyos and not much more, but what’s important is having fun and doing what you love, which I’m assuming is yoyoing.
One of the reasons I don’t want sponsorship is because, as was just pointed out, restrictions.
Looking at mics(since I’m a live sound production company), I don’t want to be limited to what I can or cannot use. I get to make the choices, not someone else. Same with speakers and consoles and other stuff, but maybe I could compromise on consoles if Allen & Heath would buy in.
Similarly, with yoyos, I have plans that could benefit from sponsorships, but it would have to be a place such as YYE being a sponsor and not a yoyo manufacturer. This would provide me with pretty much the freedom to buy and use whatever I wanted, and in addition, for my demo/exposure programs I am slowly developing(well, that’s kinda dead at the moment), it would provide me with stable pricing, a solid location to direct people to and other guarantees that come from the YYE staff behaving and acting as I do. But I also have to think of my own brand that I am developing as well.
Free yoyos are great, but I don’t mind buying what I like. However, sponsored players are choosing to accept a sponsorship based on what the terms and conditions are, which will include some limitations. At the same time, don’t get sponsored or accept sponsorship with a company that makes products you don’t like.
I’ll take fun over sponsorship anytime. But, as I’m not going to be in competitive play ever(I might do sound for events, but won’t be competing) or performing a lot(or if at all), I don’t need sponsorships to help pick up my travel tabs and entry fees and per diem and stuff like that. I have to look at what I do from a business perspective. If I’m expected to go somewhere and perform, competitive or otherwise, then not to sound cold and cruel, but I’m not doing this out of the “kindness of my heart”, I expect to receive my day rate for my time. I don’t think a sponsor wants to shell out my travel costs, per diem, accomodations and a $2400/day pop on me because they need be to “be here and do this”. Sorry, business. Nothing personal.
That’s where being sponsored by a company such as, say, YYE, would work in my favor. I can get the back-end support I need(a place to direct people, good customer service, great selection, stable prices) and no need to do anything else other than to say “Yeah, we sponsor this guy”. Since I’m going to be doing stuff in schools, there’s little point to doing demonstrations if I can’t direct them to someplace to get the stuff.
Or, I could do a sponsorship where it rotates. Say, a company wants to get their product into people’s hands so a company gives me a bunch of yoyos to give out, but then the next time, another company gives out yoyos to give out(or sell for cheap or whatever). Then I can say “this demonstration brought to you by [insert brand here]”.
Until I get my program together, I see no reason to step up my efforts to see who wants to help. When and if it does become more organized and ready to roll, I’m going to ask YYE to sponsor me, only from the standpoint of being the place I recommend and YYE saying “yes, we sponsor this guy”, and no dollars need to exchange hands except for at most a provided banner and the costs to ship it.
For me, yoyo isn’t about money. Well, yes, they COST money, but I don’t intend to make money at this. That would suggest a hidden agenda. I just want to spread the joy and show kids an option.
Hi toasty i think that you just have to be good person jensen kimmit was a good person as soon as he got sponsored by clyw he started being a jerk hes good but hes not a ver y good person and i
I don’t think Jensen was being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk. I think he was looking for the best route to get ahead. He started with CLYW, which as most of us agree, makes great stuff. He did ditch them for YYF. I would assume YYF has deeper pockets than CLYW and I guess he was looking for more support and more payoff. Of course, after a short stint, he goes back to CLYW, and then just as fast bails on CLYW.
I wouldn’t categorize what he did as being a jerk. I just think he’s acting his age and trying to get his stuff figured out. It’s hard to argue that he isn’t a jerk just based on how fast he moves around between sponsors. But I haven’t met him so I won’t judge him. But, based on his recent moves, he’s going to be hard pressed to get anyone to sponsor him, but I don’t see that being an issue as he seems determined to go about this in his own way. This will certainly be an exciting but uncertain time for him.
Sponsors want people who will stick around, preferably a while. Once people make a “name” for themselves, it opens up new possibilities, and that possibility may involve leaving one company for another. What’s critical here is how they handle it.
