 Three, two, one, turn around and look up. Oh no! Welcome to Newark, the local time is 3.53 p.m. Please keep your seatbelts on or pilots will turn off the seatbelt sign on safe to get up. We look forward to seeing you again soon. Thank you and take care. I've been collecting sneakers for over 15 years now. And I remember back in high school when people used to tell me, you can only do this for so long. This is a cool little hobby, but one day you're going to have to get a real job. And I would always tell people about my dreams about how I wanted to open up a sneaker store. Not that many people really believed in it. One thing that I always heard a lot was you'll never be able to make a living off of sneakers. But by the time I got to college I was running a six-figure business as a freshman and people started to ask more questions, but still at the end of the day they didn't believe that it would last. One thing that I can say is my family believed in me and supported me throughout the entire process. No matter what other people said, they always had my back. And I truly can't even begin to tell you how much that means to me because honestly, without them, we probably wouldn't even be taking this trip today. I currently have about 500 to 600 pairs of shoes in my collection and it ranges from a bunch of different models, colors, eras, you name it. I love collecting exclusive sneakers and also your everyday sneakers as well. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm a huge fan for Jordans and my Nike collection is pretty strong too. So you'll typically see me making a lot of content when it comes to Nikes and Jordans on my channel or any of my social platforms. This is my fourth year on YouTube and I tell a lot of people I plan to do this video stuff for a long time, just like I do with my sneakers. And it's crazy to even think years ago when I started my business I also picked up the camera and I learned how to take photos for the website and different things, but I really got into videos I just didn't really know what I was doing. I get goosebumps sometimes just thinking about how the journey started and where I'm at today. My name is DJ Willingham and I'm in the sneaker consulting and content business. I focus heavily on educating young sneakerheads and I always like to entertain the established sneakerheads as well. My first job was when I was 15 when I worked for my family restaurant. Every single time I got a check I was figuring out which new pair of shoes I could buy from my collection. But everything changed going into my senior year. I ended up getting fired from my dad and that was one of the lessons that I had learned early in life I would never work for anybody else but myself. So I got the sixes, the ones and the fives, the Oklahoma University ones I just got those from untied so they're going to be shipping them to the house by the time I get back. You don't even want to know how much I got them for. When COVID came in 2020 that was the first full year that I decided to take YouTube and social media more seriously and honestly I saw some great results. But most importantly I found out that the videos that I was creating were really helping people get through their day to day lives and take a break and a step away from what they had going on and come and learn and laugh through sneakers and content and I realized not only were my videos fun and cool to watch but people actually really appreciated them and I saw a bigger impact that I had when it came to the sneakerhead community and that's something that influenced me to want to grow my audience even more simply because I had a great time connecting with the audience and I knew that they were learning a lot along the way. What was the big break in the sneaker business? I remember back in like 2011 when I was dropping my website and everything was going on within the first six months I ended up becoming featured on the top 20 websites for sneaker resale stores online. So now at this point I'm competing with the big dogs and everybody knew who I was. Soon as that article came out all my inventory was selling out and I vividly remember that time with the Tira Joy just knowing how much all this hard work had been paying off and remembering all the people that were telling me this is impossible, you can't make any money from this. So what did that do? It made me want to go even harder. I was in college playing football at the same time and running a business and going to class but I guarantee you I was at all the events flying around the nation. VIP parties, you name it, exclusive events, I was there, I was invited and I had a great time throughout that entire journey but I was never really documenting the process and showing people, everybody that knew, they knew but besides that I didn't really have the whole video content creation thing in mind because back then it wasn't really a thing. By the time I turned 21 I started to understand the power of real estate as I was looking for a place to open a store but at the same time I realized I couldn't own the building and that's what I wanted to do. Everybody who knows me knows I'm not really the guy for renting or leasing or anything like that. I like to own everything and say that it's mine. So because I wasn't really working out I started to sink my teeth into single family homes and figure out how that worked with creative financing and other ways to get into properties. And being that I was so young and able to comprehend real estate and use that same lingo to then compare it to sneakers, it caught a lot of people off guard but that was okay because it ended up opening a lot more people's eyes in my circle when it came to my friends and family. So the people that truly know me understand that it all started with a single pair of shoes and having a dream and that got me into multiple properties with cash flow and different things like that and it's funny to say but people actually do consider me to be one of the sneaker goats. I know, I'm not the one that claimed it, I'm just another dude that likes shoes. Is this a business that you think will truly last? Honestly, I can say I think that the content business and everything around that especially not only just sneakers but content alone is going to be a huge market and it's going to continue to grow and as you continue to build a great audience with people that truly know you and you tell your truths, they're going to support you and rock with you no matter what and as your audience continues to grow trust me, it's going to be hard to fill. Alright, so we just stopped what should I say again? Just keep it rolling. Okay, so we're out here at Legacy right now in New York and we just got done shooting a video but look what they got Gold OVO 11's, these things are crazy, super expensive shoe right here insane, we just got them running through the entire collection at the store, my guy P he got some crazy heat, some more crazy stuff in here, I'm excited to show you guys. Today is a big day, it's like game day all over again, it's crazy. This is talking about how far you came from the Roseland show coming out here, you know? He was there for me too y'all been there for me before everybody else who's still here today. As I said, waiting in lines and even outside and all that Watching them where you don't have to do that no more, dope now they just send you to shoot These people want to do stuff but they're never going to insert themselves they're never really going to try, thank you sir they're never going to try to make it work, they're going to sit at home and complain and complain and you, I mean the same thing when you started, you weren't making no money that was spending a lot of money spending a lot of money building a business but you stayed with the business and you took the business mind and said I'm not going to make money my first year where's a lot of people like oh this ain't working six months, I quit because the business mind said didn't say you're going to just come out you're going to come out and start making dough you got to trial error, trial, error, trial and build a brand build a name, build a look perfect timing get your coffee that's a big gift you got your coffee or whatever it's called matcha matcha nah yeah for sure Lo and behold, I was with my friend Eric out in LA, we were shooting a podcast for his creator podcast for carrot and we were talking about the different creators that had been featured on the billboards but I had never really been featured on one before so I was like, maybe I could shoot my shot and see what he says, if he says no he says no, but if he says yes it could be an opportunity of a lifetime and after he had learned more about me and things from my past and trials and tribulations that I had over the years he was instantly like, it's a no brainer we got to get you on the billboard because I just haven't been around the YouTube space for that long I'm coming into my fourth year now and there's a lot of huge established creators that have been in the game for about 10 years now that get featured on that billboard so for me to get the opportunity like I said major blessing we got cell laces right here and then we got the shoes oh we got the shoes I'll show you guys when we get back on I've been putting my work in I've been out here networking I've been grinding I've been meeting the right people doing the right things staying true to myself and trying to be as best as I can each and every day through these videos so for me I get that as well and I understand why I got this opportunity we got some shoes we did some shopping now we got to get changed for the night showtime, go time it's like it's game day so we're going to eat a little bit and then get ready to go see the billboard before we go over there who the willingham fam is I don't know who ever done a billboard before hopefully I'm the first one in the family okay so we got to go out, we got to show out, we got to represent we dress good, we look good, we feel good now it's time to play good let's go get this let's get it as we're walking to the billboard I have a bunch of emotions flowing through my mind and just so thankful for the opportunity and the fact that I get to do this with my family and they get to be here for me because they've been here for me throughout this entire journey helping me, supporting me and it just means so much I didn't want to fly all the way out here to just do this by myself it's just honestly amazing but at the same time I'm still kind of worried I'm kind of worried because I don't want us to have to fly all the way out here we walk to the billboard and next thing you know the picture doesn't pop up but we arrived on the wrong day anything can happen remember last time we was here I made that video and I was like next time we come out here I'm going to be on a billboard and I was like how many months ago six, eight months ago last summer we are here now the time is coming we've been working we've been working we've been working supporting characters supporting cats we've been bad boys let's go check out the billboard I haven't seen it yet either alright let's go what's up man I can't get a record this moment was filled with emotion we got to take time out of our day to day lives and go out here and celebrate and take a moment to just appreciate ourselves being around us and having family and again I am very thankful for not only just my family but everybody that has supported on the channel all my friends everybody that has believed in me along this process because yes we have a lot of people that have said that they don't think it can be sustainable and all those other things but at the end of the day family and friends those are the people that mean the most to me and why I continue to do this each and every day and have fun doing it at the same time I'm very thankful to be able to share this moment with my family and see them smile and enjoy this just as much as I do so now I can finally say mama we made it now I'm just playing we got more work to do before you go I just launched my sneaker head academy where we got everything on the inside I teach you all the stuff that I learned over the past 15 years when it comes to sneakers scaling real estate you name it we talk about all of it in there and there's an 8 week program plus a bunch of monthly giveaways I give away shoes literally way too much honestly but either way I'll see you guys on the inside hit the link down below in my description or pinned in the comment section for DJ sneaker head academy and I'll see you guys over there called outside we had to come and get warm but it's okay because we about to make a storm when we get back outside we interviewing go and hit the tick tock do a little YouTube and