16-year-old entrepreneur Umar Cassim understands the power in giving.
The highschool student uses weekly giveaways to generate a six-figure salary and thousands of active followers for his clients.
What started as a passion for rare sneakers turned into a business for the Californian native.
Using Instagram, prospective clients pay Cassim a set amount and in return he includes their Instagram profiles in the instructions in order to enter his giveaways.
Cassim’s giveaways help clients gain anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 followers per week.
His first client was himself.
Cassim has grown his Instagram page to over 115,000 followers showcasing his rare shoes.
At age 14, Cassim began reselling rare sneakers to SneakerHeads like himself. SneakerHeads are a community who seek rare sneakers like retro Air Jordans, Yeezys, and celebrity collaborations.
Celebrity collaborations such as the Air Jordan 1 High, “Travis Scott” edition can resell for over 2,500 on StockX.
His business took off and he was able to generate enough income to start doing giveaways in return for capital rather than just reselling. While he no longer resells shoes, fashion is intertwined with Cassim’s business ventures.
“I’m working on starting my own clothing brand,” says Cassim.
Cassim grew his following over multiple social media platforms including TikTok and YouTube. He showcases his collection to over 62,000 followers on TikTok, racking up more than a million likes on his SneakerHead videos.
One video entitled, “Making hypebeasts mad part 2,” currently has over 2.9 million views on TikTok.
His success hasn’t come without obstacles.
“My biggest mistakes were trusting the wrong people and trying to use shortcuts,” says Cassim.
He says the key to his success was turning his mistakes into valuable lessons on how to succeed.
“My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to look at people who are successful in what you are trying to do, and use them as inspiration to recreate their steps to success,” says Cassim.
While he values the lifestyle his business has provided him, he is inspired by the opportunity to give to those who are less fortunate.
“Giveaways are a winning situation,” he says. “The client gets followers, I receive revenue and the winner of the giveaway receives a new pair of sneakers — everyone wins,” says Cassim.
While Cassim excels in the world of fashion he is looking at expanding his repertoire by investing in the real estate and eCommerce industries.
You can follow Cassim’s journey by clicking here to check out his Instagram.