Benjamin Kickz, an 18-year-old entrepreneur who sells incredibly rare sneakers to celebrities, sat down with Business Insider to discuss how he does it all. The following is a transcript of the video.
Benjamin Kickz: My name is Benjamin Kickz and I'm 18 years old and I get sneakers for a lot of celebrities and also sell them on my website to the public.
I got into sneakers at 13, so like, 5 years ago, but I really started selling them heavy at 15. Basically what made me get into buying and selling shoes was because my mom bought me this one shoe, the LeBron 9 Galaxys, and everyone was like “oh this is the wave.” I just felt like I had the sauce, so I just started buying shoes.
The first sneakers I ever bought was either the Galaxy Foams or the Milo 7s. And then my dad was like “oh, you must be crazy, you're out of your mind.” And then I sold them for $1,000. He was like “oh, so you found someone just as dumb as you.”
Basically, I started off with DJ Khaled cause he was the first celebrity that I sold sneakers to. Then he introduced me to a bunch of other people like P. Diddy and French Montana and all of them.
Before he had a Snapchat, we would just hang out all the time and do stuff. Then he made a Snapchat which obviously went viral I'm pretty sure we all know.
And then from there, he just started posting Snapchats of stuff we always use to do. And people used to think it was funny and not normal but it was regular stuff we did.So he put me on through Snapchat basically and then just helped my business. How's business, you know, it's boomin'.
A lot of my clients are in the music industry but I guess it's because I was always into hip-hop as a kid, like, that's all I listened to. After DJ Khaled, he introduced me to a bunch of other artists, so I guess it just went from there. Athletes too but I'm not into sports as much I'm into hip-hop. Some of my favorite artists are like Migos, Drake, Future, Lil Wayne, obviously.
Manny: What is it like to hang and party with Drake?
Benjamin: I mean, I don't think he's like how he is in his music because I've never been with him when he's in his feelings, so I don't know. But like … he's cool, he's mad cool.
Manny: So out of all those artists who are your biggest customers?
Benjamin: Probably P. Diddy. Like, he just buys like, phew. Yeah, very, very bulk.
Manny: Tell me about what you think about the Under Armour shoes.
I think the Under Armour shoes are amazing, I love them. I got a pair for myself, personally. The Steph Curry ones. I think the Big Baller Brand shoes, I think they're dope. Everyone's saying they're too expensive for like $500 retail price. Personally, I think it's a little high, but the shoe's dope and obviously they're some of the best players out right now so, you know, do your thing.
Manny: They're getting a lot of props for just taking their own lane and making their own shoe. Is that something you could see yourself getting into?
Benjamin: Yeah, most definitely. I mean, I wouldn't mind a contract depending on like, who it would be, but I would definitely do my own shoe also. I have some things in the making, but I don't know, we have to put it all together, you know?
Manny: What's your merch? What's your brand?
Benjamin: Oh, Boomin'. This.
Manny: How's that doing?
Benjamin: Boomin'.
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