I let strangers crash at my apartment
wagwan mandem
Remember when I partnered with the NBA?
Ahh yes, a regular hooper working with the most irregular basketball brand.
That’s crazy, right?
Well… I did something even crazier like right after.
Except I didn’t tell anyone… until now.
The even crazier
The video I made for the NBA was in collaboration with Denz & Behrad from Simply British Ballers (SBB)—a UK basketball brand.
I had never met the SBB guys or heard about their brand before, but we instantly hit it off.
We could have spent days chatting about all things basketball and content.
But they were only in NYC for 36 hours.
So I took things into my own hands, and after just 12 hours, I offered them my windowless shoebox of a bedroom for the next week.
They already had flights back to the UK but cancelled them because I gave them my room rent-free.
I really wish I didn’t cut off this video at the end. Rookie mistake.
Look at that set up lol.
My room was tiny and definitely was not suitable for two mattresses. The door couldn’t even open all the way. Luggage was in the living room too.
Surprisingly, my other two roommates at the time were cool with it.
Or maybe they weren’t, but they didn’t care since I was moving out anyway haha.
Now you might be wondering where I was living?
By pure luck, I was in between leases that overlapped by a month.
I was about to sublet my apartment for that month but am so glad I let these two British strangers crash instead.
They’re now some of my closest friends mates in the basketball space.
For the next week, I connected SBB with a bunch of courts/people in NYC just for them to experience the city without the expectations of filming a video for the NBA.
What’s the lesson here?
(and no, it’s not that I missed the “Stranger Danger” school assembly)
I share this story just to emphasize the importance of passion and authenticity.
Even though I barely knew Denz and Behrad, their passion for SBB was authentic—so I wanted to help as much as possible.
It’s also a way of paying it forward.
How?
Nick Ansom (Founder, Venice Basketball League) did the same for me when I went to LA on a one-way flight.
I had no plan & knew nobody, but I ended up there for the whole summer because I randomly met Nick, and shortly after, he let me stay at his apartment for 2 months rent-free.
I attribute that opportunity to the passion and authenticity I had for Regular Hoops when interacting with Nick.
Patience, young padawan
It’s easy to get frustrated about where you are in life.
You want a better job, you want more money, you want better friendships.
And you’re putting in so much work—but not seeing the results you want.
I feel that way a lot of the time. Basically everyday lol.
But reflections like this are good reminders to keep going because you never know when that random opportunity will come.
So I encourage you to reflect too.
“Trust the process”
“Stay ready so you don’t gotta get ready”
Use whatever framing resonates with you, but the real key is to just BE YOURSELF and SHARE YOUR DREAMS IN PUBLIC.
Public doesn’t always mean on social media btw—you just need to find your version of “door-to-door” marketing (as discussed in my previous post about Airdrop being my love language).
Because at the end of the day, how can you be frustrated if nobody knows what you stand for?
Let me know if there’s a topic you want me to talk about next.
Please note: some of my new blogs (started Sept’24) contain a lot of satire and should not always be taken at face value.
Expect to see typos, wordy/repetitive sentences, passive voice, and anything else you’d expect from a “D-” graded high school assignment.
Because that’s my writing ability according to my first ever hate comment back in 2018.