We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Johnborn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
JohnBorn, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?
The first time I ever sold a piece of my artwork was when I was 12 years old, I was just a kid growing up on 14th & Vernon street in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. I was on the front porch Painting a cool spider web on a white t-shirt. My next door neighbor was a drug addict, although he mainly just worked and minded his business. Most people where I’m from referred to him as “the crack head”. He was a white man named Randy. He had just cashed his check and was walking home from the store. He said to me: “Hey what are you doing up there” & as he got closer he saw the design on the shirt. His first words after getting a good look was “I’ll pay you fifteen bucks for that shirt”. Prior to then I was just painting for fun and doing things for my friends for free, so to hear someone say they would give me money for something I loved sparked something in me. This changed my entire thought process & after this I’d charge $15 -$20 for custom shirts and shoes. Over time this turned into $40, then $80, then $100 & eventually I would go on to make thousands of dollars for single pieces of my artwork. Now today I’ve painted Rolls Royces, Lamborghinis, BMWs & the list goes on. I’ll never forget this moment that shifted my mindset, & I thank God for Randy.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
When I was about 15-16 years one of my friends was working at a sneaker store in downtown Harrisburg. Our older friend told him to get me a painting gig at the store in which he did the very next day. I had to make some custom sneakers to show them & the moment I did I was hired. I went on to hand paint over 1000 pairs of shoes over the course of a couple years. This is how i made a name in my hometown. To expand my brand I targeted some celebrities who I admired and gifted them custom items in exchange for referrals & publicity. I was known as “the sneaker guy” around this time, but eventually that just didn’t cut it for me. I wanted to be known for more large scale works. So I evolved & upgraded to canvas, murals, etc. The thing about my art is I have many styles I explore whether it be realism, abstract, pop art or mixed media. Although once you get familiar with me and my work I feel like you can recognize that this was JohnBorn’s doing, especially when you see that signature that it took me years to perfect haha. I’m most proud of just being able to make a living off of something I genuinely love doing, it’s a great feeling to have lived this long & never work a 9-5 in order to survive. The fact that when I was a kid I thought the best car on the planet was a Range Rover & now as an adult to have hand painted over $2,900,000 worth of vehicles still blows my mind. Going from painting on $5 shirts to painting inside mansions in California just makes me feel like I’ve made my mom proud. The thing about me is I have so many facets, & I think this is what makes me unique. I paint everything. I design fashion, I direct visuals I write, rap, sing & perform music. Most of my adult life people told me “you have to choose one” & here I am doing things my way, getting better every single day. Hard work is key, if you outwork everyone there is nothing that can stand in your way.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I remember social media was different. What I mean by that is 10 years ago a shoutout could go a very long way. So I used to create things for musicians or actors & present it as a gift in order to build my fan base. Until one specific person changed my perspective on this while I was on music tour in Miami. This person was a rapper by the name of “The Game”. I was given a pair of boots by a sneaker store to paint for Game before the tour had started. When our tour stopped in Miami I reached out to see if I could go to his villa to paint the boots on the spot & he approved. When I completed the custom timberlands I attempted to gift them to him in exchange for social media support. His response was: “I saw you sit there for hours and focus on making this happen for me there is no way I’m not paying for your work” He went on to pay me triple my asking price at the time and also still promoted me on his platforms. He then offered to let me stay in the villa with him and his team & we went on to customize about 10 pairs of shoes while he would post me every day for about the next few weeks. This really boosted my following & helped me gain the eyes of other musicians and industry professionals. For the people wanting to build a social media presence I suggest staying active, coming up with something that works for you, & working harder than any and everyone you know. It will all work itself out if you stay consistent & stay true to you.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Ok so you remember the sneaker store i mentioned before? The one I worked at as a teenager. Yeah well, it wasn’t all great in its entirety. So when I began working there I was charging about $45-$100 per custom shoe. So after I became the main attraction there the store approached me with a “deal” they wanted to pay me to create hundreds of pairs of shoes at a time. It would be like a limited “JohnBorn” release similar to the hype you feel when waiting for that Jordan sneaker to drop. The thing was this though: they wanted to pay me only $20 per pair to keep the price point “fair” and to not compete with the popular releases. I was not happy with this price point but this is how they got me to agree. The managers told me that as long as I could paint the shoes they would give me unlimited Nike Air Force 1s as canvas. So they pitched it as if I could make as much money as I wanted if I just kept on painting. As a 16 year old kid I thought man this is an amazing opportunity. I immediately started doing the math like: if I paint a thousand pairs of shoes I can make twenty thousand dollars. (Terrible logic I know haha but I was young and knew nothing about business or negotiation) So I agreed to the deal & i actually made a lot of money with this deal. Until one day I traveled to the stores location a few towns over just to see my sneakers up on that shoe wall next to all the Jordans and Timberlands. Here’s what I noticed: the price we agreed on selling the shoes at which was $100 was not the price that was on the sneakers I had created. The price that was on the tag on the bottoms of my custom sneakers was $140. So not only did the managers lie to me about trying to keep a low price point. But for every $20 I made they were making double that on the backend & I never knew until this day. So after so many hundreds of pairs of shoes sold I felt betrayed. This taught me a valuable lesson about business and agreements and contracts. I was now ready to handle my business without any middle man without a corporation, with only me myself and my artwork. This is something that caused me to pivot & take matters into my own hands. I had to do my due diligence & educate myself & do all the heavy lifting. So building an online presence and making good relationships was crucial for my forward progression.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.johnborn.us
- Instagram: @JohnBorn
- Facebook: JohnBorn
- Twitter: @johnborn_
- Youtube: https://YouTube.com/johnborntv
Image Credits
ArtLikeUs