As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Being Branded... Tuesday, October 31

I currently have two pending brand ambassador spots, one with a sports apparel company and the other with a supplements company.  I've never actually heard of the supplements company though I will admit I follow them on Instagram.  I came across their Instagram page one day when looking up random sports and fitness related companies located here in the Philippines.  My aim was to follow some that I'd like to one day potentially link to Empowered.  Today they emailed me and we chatted via back and forth emails.  

I've been approached by several companies asking me to be a brand ambassador but they've all had the same underlying catch -- they want you to buy their product so that you can boast about it online.  I don't see the point, quite frankly, of calling someone a brand ambassador if it's simply to get them to buy your product.  I call that a regular customer but with a fancy name, a name that doesn't fool me.  

They too, this company that reached out to me, sent me a list of their products with discounted prices they said were reserved for only us "brand ambassadors".  I wrote them back, telling them I refused to promote a company's product if I have never even tried it let alone have ever heard of them or aren't familiar with anyone using their products.  

They wrote back.

They're sending me out samples on Thursday.

Perhaps they are honestly looking for brand ambassadors. 

No sooner did I get offline with them but then I went to the boxing club for late night training.  What should I see at training but someone wearing a t-shirt from this particular company that I had just been talking to.  Talk about coincidence!!!  I instantly recognized the company logo printed in red across this one guy's shirt and so I approached him about it.  Turns out it's his buddy's company, nice.  I've never met this particular guy before but he says he's seen me around at the boxing club, of course, but has also seen me out in BGC, out of town.  I mentioned to him my conversation with his buddy's company earlier so here's to hoping he talks and the talk leads to a potential future with them.  I really do need to find a supplement company here in the Philippines and I'm most interested in finding one that makes supplements in country as oppose to importing.  I have a supplement company out in Toronto, Canada, that I really respect.  It's owned and operated by a young guy who made his own product line and sells them at his shop and online so his products are quite exclusive and one of a kind.  I like that.  Importing issues on the other hand, I don't care for and can see it proving to be quite the hassle.  Same with equipment.  

Looking for a boxing product manufacturer here in the Philippines has proven to be super difficult.  Even the local boxing clubs I've approached about it admit to having to import their stuff or buy it from suppliers here.  From what I can tell, there is no Filipino manufacturer of boxing equipment.  I have a supplier in Pakistan and next week a shipment of samples will be arriving from another supplier in Pakistan, so we'll see how that goes over.

No comments: