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Planning How hard is it to get sponsored??

Discussion in 'Modding' started by NoobNeb, 24 Nov 2011.

  1. NoobNeb

    NoobNeb Enthusiastic Lurker

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    DarthBeavis made a water cooled human.. he's not mortal :worried: 50k though :jawdrop:
    think I'll start my modding career on some beige 90's cases that I can find then I'll conquer the world with mah mad skillz :D I mean uh... :worried: I'll mod on :rock:
    slightly off topic but do many people make a living out of modding like say modding cases and selling them?? Or custom modding services (for normal people not big companies)??
     
  2. jamsand

    jamsand Minimodder

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    building then selling no they builds rarely make money(usually loss) getting a portfolio then being commissioned to do build on the other hand yeh you can make a fair career off it although from what i'v done looking into it it's not a huge market so would become competitive quickly plus mods aren't really necessary so in this climate less people splash out on shiny things. A modding service on the side of say a repair service or just plain build service would be a better idea just my 2 cent but words from the real pro's would be better
     
  3. mayhem

    mayhem Owner of Mayhems

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    As some one who has sponsored a few builds i can tell you what I look for.

    1) Quality of your work before hand.
    2) Views to your threads and how many people have answered or chatted.
    3) More than just 1 listing on 1 forum.
    4) Whom else is supporting you.
    5) What are your going to offer us in return. And just saying our name once in a thread is not good enough.
    6) Do i like your build !!!!!!!! (this is quite important as i mod my self)
    7) Has it been done before !!!!!
    8) If your begging you wont even get a reply from us.
    9) Are you respectful (ill check your past posts)
    10) Do you help others and are you honest with you answers ...

    Not all companies do this but as a small company i get the time to look into these things. We all ready have 1 person who we are sponsoring and any thing they need from us they only need to ask and they will get it with out question how ever we all so have sponsored individuals as well.

    To me your post shows that you have not put any effort into reading past threads about this subject and a simple search would have pulled up many answers in the forum alone. All so your post shows lack of understanding about modding there for you would be a risk.

    I really suggest you get what you can afford. Do what you can with it. Learn from what you have done and progress. Keep good logs of you work and come back in about 4 years time.

    Last but not least think out of the box and be inspirational and companies will come to you. You wont even need to ask.

    this is a small list of modders that stand out from the crowed and you should invest some time to look at are -

    DarthBeavis, coolmiester, mnpctech, AnG3L (git beat me to the post on 1 mod haha a good friend though), OC Maximus (excellent pics on his mods), Cheapskate, Boddaker and there are many more but these guys all stand out.

    Some of the best modders some times end up with a career out of it. Look at Tiny Tom Logan (TTL) to name but just one.
     
  4. Razer2007

    Razer2007 Building Proxima

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    Good points there. Tanks for giving your input too :thumb:

    What did TTL do? Never heard of him.
     
  5. GuilleAcoustic

    GuilleAcoustic Ook ? Ook !

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    Thanks for the time you spent giving us your thought. It's nice to have inputs from professionnal :thumb:
     
  6. NoobNeb

    NoobNeb Enthusiastic Lurker

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    thanks for the help mayhem :)
     
  7. mayhem

    mayhem Owner of Mayhems

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    He featured in the mag around the same time i did a few years back. I wont say what hes doing now but you can goggle him up or look for him on YT.
     
  8. KayinBlack

    KayinBlack Unrepentant Savage

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    If you're gonna come up to someone for a sponsorship and say you're doing X, Y, and Z, but you have not the skill to do any of the aforementioned things, you may not do well. People usually go with a safe bet. Therefore, established modding skill is a necessity.
     
  9. fractal arc modder

    fractal arc modder What's a Dremel?

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    Hey not every company are going to sponsor you just for a great design or idea.

    It takes a few mods under your belt before you can get some support with your creative ideas.

    Suggestions are start design and experimenting with ideas, buy some second hand cases and mod them out till you come across a good idea, get your modding skills up, buy some good power tools and learn to use them, if you have a knack for modding it will come and finally google is our best friend.
     
  10. haggisathome

    haggisathome What's a Dremel?

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    sorry to go off topic here ..... but did you say 40/50K a year :eeek: . dude that is an amount !
     
  11. Hannes

    Hannes Design | Art | Performance

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    It's an unhealthy focus on sponsoring these days. And I know that it's hypocritical of me to say so, since I'm very much sponsored myself. But for me, it's important to keep my individuality. I never mod for someone else than me, and I don't use products that I don't want to use. I've said no to a few companies, and I've also had a no from companies of which I've asked for sponsorship from.

    With sponsorship however comes some ups and downs. Some will invite you to events, I recently was. Some invite you to get your opinion on up comming products, also been there. Because of being sponsored I've meet a lot of interesting people.

    In a perfect world, I would be wealthy enough to build without being sponsored.
     
  12. Mojo

    Mojo Multimodder

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    i've applied to a couple of companies with a nice portfolio of previous projects.. but not had a response from a lot of them!
    This doesnt deter me.. as i enjoy modding and i would be doing it regardless.
    Sometimes its nice to be able to have a tester of a product to demo.. i.e i am after some red coolant for my new watercooling loop but i want it to be of a certain brightness.
    Its hard to see this from thousands of pictures posted on the internet :)
     
    Last edited: 28 Nov 2011
  13. DarthBeavis

    DarthBeavis What's a Dremel?

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    actually you hit an a VERY good point. we all are different and we all have different skillsets. For someone like Coolmeister his skills can get him in the door on their own - for me (I am the least skilled modder at the level people consider me at) my success honestly has been more marketing and using my skills being a people person . . .which means I attend way more events than any other modder in the industry hands down. people trust familiarity and in this industry you find people want to work with people they are friends with so if you have just enough skills and vision to squeak in the door you can get projects that honestly should go to others. It is not fair I know but it is the truth. My projects now often are supplements to my working the booth of this or that company. it all depends on what you want to do and where your passions lie.

    Getting sponsorships to help you defray costs is one thing but sponsorships should not be the driving force. At that point you move into the commissioned zone (sponsorships are where you keep the end project or where it goes to charity and you are not paid, commissioned is where you truly are doing a job and earning cash). I am doing commissioned work now and it also has some real drawbacks . . .
     
  14. DarthBeavis

    DarthBeavis What's a Dremel?

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    yeah that was BEFORE the recession . . .I cannot afford that now :eyebrow:
    if you are going to do this start your own company . . .hint hint
     
  15. mayhem

    mayhem Owner of Mayhems

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    haha yeh like i did pmsl.
     
  16. DarthBeavis

    DarthBeavis What's a Dremel?

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    meh, I can't even find your products mango . . .no love for the US of A :duh:
     
  17. mayhem

    mayhem Owner of Mayhems

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    Were mainly based in EU how ever we are slowly expanding.
     
  18. Hannes

    Hannes Design | Art | Performance

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    You hit some really good points aswell!

    Even if you're really good at what you do, :dremel: It's not a certainty that you'll get sponsored. Being able to express yourself is really the key and can get you far. :hip:

    My tip for the ones that want sponsors, don't depend on them. You should be able to do what you want with your builds without them. Learning to use what you have to it's full extend and trying to keep your self respect when taking on projects is probably what will keep your head above the water the longest time. What I try to say is that you shouldn't complain about not affording the best and the latest tech, because sponsors aren't there to keep you upgraded. But if they see you do amazing quality stuff, no matter what the tools you have they'll probably be as impressed as the rest of us. It's better to wait and save the money you'll need than looking for sponsorship when you ain't having the actual funds to do something with it.

    There are people spending tons of money, using extremely high tech gear but lacks the creativity to do something special with it, there's also people with amazing creativity, which lacks the skills to put them it to good use. It's a balance between creativity and skills and to make a quality build, you need to have that balance exactly right imo and that's a hard thing to do.
     
  19. jhanlon303

    jhanlon303 The Keeper of History

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    My advice after winning some things here and there. Do it on your own and not become 'beholding' to a sponsor too early. Develop skills and techniques. Exposure of own sponsored creations will hopefully lead to sponsorship for further mods.

    I have a Silent Sponsor who sends me stuff because I advertise for them and use their products. Show what you have and give credit to where it came from. It will grow.
     
  20. aeidau

    aeidau Industrial Designer

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    My 2c,

    Plan your build down to the time, money and every part, nut and bolt.

    Prove that you can build it without them and also have a contingency so that if any problems are encountered you can still go on. They wont want to see a good build go dead in the water if you run out of money, another sponsor pulls out or time delays if for a LAN or event.
     

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