By Patricia Rogers | Posted Monday, September 5, 2022
INTRO
I talk about being aware of your mental and emotional selves a lot on my blog. I wish I was better at taking my own advice, I give really good advice guys, but please make sure you find joy in what can seem like trying times. I also want to stress to take it easy on people and be patient. Primarily if, like me, you work with and deal with people and different personalities every day. You never know what someone is going through. I will say this: Depression looks different in everyone.
SHOUTOUT TO (podcast/brand)
For Ur Wear exemplifies what me and my close friend like to call, “the grind.” For Ur Wear is founded by a good friend of mine. One that I met in New Jersey, which is cool because that is how my relationship with JI began. Wrestling brought us together.
Back in 2013, I was 23 and worked and lived in the Valley Art District in Orange, New Jersey. I worked at a bar for a few years. And at one point it was the best years of my life. And at other points towards this end, I was fucking miserable. And that had nothing to do with the magic of the Valley Arts District. It had everything to do with me.
I was ready to move forward. My entire life, after 2 or 3 years I am ready for the next chapter of my life. I have always had big dreams, and nothing felt more stifling than serving drinks. I had a friend there, Marie David who shared the sentiment about the future. She was already making strides in media writing for Hot 97 and had started her own brand LadiSav.
I had also started Masconsumption. My lifestyle blog and events company in the V.A.D. We wanted these things to be the jump-off to the big careers that we had envisioned for ourselves. In 2013, Marie was hosting the launch party for LadiSav at the bar where we both worked. Needless to say, we were pretty excited.
Marie has a huge support system because she and her sisters are really good people. The David sisters deserve the world. True queens. So there was a buzz while she was planning the LadiSav event. Everyone from our co-workers at the bar (who had become family at this point), to our friends, her family, and media friends.
One of those media friends happened to be Blue, who she grew up with and worked with at Hot 97. He also lived in Jersey and happily hired Marie when he had to look for entertainment writers. I met Blue a couple of times when he would come to the bar. Little did I know, we had a lot in common and would end up being good friends and business partners.
He supported Marie’s event as did I, but wouldn't be able to make it. Her event happened to be on April 7, 2013. The same date as Wrestlemania 29 which happened to be hosted in New Jersey. As a lifelong wrestling fan, there was no way he was missing that.
Now in the present day, 2022, I am never missing a Wrestlemania no matter where it is being held. But back then, 9 years ago (holy shit), I had just started getting back into wrestling after a long hiatus. But it was more the documentaries on WWE Network than the current show whose stories would be told at Mania. So I had no intention to go, meaning there was no way I could miss Marie’s big night.
But a couple of weeks prior to that night, my boyfriend at the time (who brought me back into wrestling) surprised me with last-minute tickets to Wrestlemania 29. I was ecstatic because even though I was not following it at the time, attending a Mania was a lifelong dream. I was able to appease 8-year-old Patricia who was obsessed with all things WWE and Stone Cold Steve Austin. I am still so grateful to him for that and even being in the nosebleeds, it was one of the greatest nights of my life.
I was not looking forward to telling Marie that I could not make her event, but expressed to her that going to Wrestlemania was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Marie, a true sweetheart, was not upset. She was sad I could not be there but also happy for me. Then she laughed and shared that was the same reason Blue couldn’t come. And that is how I learned that Blue was a big wrestling fan. We would connect years later when he started The Mixed Tag Show wrestling podcast with Ms Jenna Baybee.
Now in 2022, Blue and I inspire each other to be better and bigger in this game. He has goals and he does all that he can do to achieve them. In the wrestling space, merchandise fulfillment is a…thing. For lack of better words. And because quite frankly, I dont care for the smoke. Saying all of that to say, there is a void.
Companies either have questionable morals, bad quality, and customer service, or low profits for the creators. I must say with For Ur Wear has changed all of that. My wrestling podcast is a proud client and I can say that it has been the best situation so far when it comes to quality, customer service, and profit margin. And now the other wrestling-related brands on his site have grown and it is a beautiful thing to see.
I have been able to watch my friend work hard, work late nights, be a husband, and a father, and work his day job to make For Ur Wear a success. Like mine and most of my friends, his goal is to have our businesses (also passion projects) pay our bills at some point. And I can see that Blue is going to make it there because he is ambitious, driven, and determined as he has always been.
So Blue, shoutout to you my friend! Continue to be great.
Are you a small business and want to sell t-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise? Reach out to the team over at For Ur Wear for more information on opening up a shop!
SOCIAL MEDIA/MARKETING TIPS
Networking horizontally is the way to create an authentic legacy. Representation matters. At this point we all know this, we all get this. This is why it is important to open that door for others, once you are in a position to do so. A good friend of mine worked for nearly a decade on his passion projects. This led him to land a job at a prominent company. And every chance he gets, he opens doors of opportunity for his friends. And not just his friends but the ones that are talented, hard-working, and have been waiting for the right opportunity.
The reason this is a great strategy for this age of social media marketing is that the fake trends are going out and people want real ones. And it comes off as real when there is a genuine connection between people that are working together. There is mutual respect and admiration there when you network horizontally and not vertically. And this creates better art, better material, and stronger connections to the work.