Jose Ontiveros and Daniel Perez are more than two childhood friends. They're business partners in a joint venture with $100,000 in total sales from their sneaker business, Sneaker Chefs, since January.
These sales include sneaker reselling and advertisements from their YouTube channel, which features sneaker selling tutorials. Sales records were kept by Ontiveros' brother and the business' bookkeeper.
Ontiveros and Perez run a multifaceted business that includes a variety of different ventures, from car photography and videography to reselling sneakers. And while the sneaker arm is only a fraction of their entire joint business, it has been a massive moneymaker for the pair since 2016.
Ontiveros, now 22 years old, began reselling sneakers in 2013 as a sophomore in high school. After Perez, his neighbor, let Ontiveros use his address for a pair of shoes, the two joined forces and started to resell sneakers together.
"At that point, my dad was just buying me Filas and I didn't really like it," quipped Perez, who said he was inspired by Ontiveros' headway in the sneaker world and wanted to learn more.
Over the last five years, the pair has built a sneaker business that is made up of four major streams of revenue. Here's a look inside the business model.
YouTube: AdSense and sponsorships
After reselling together, Ontiveros and Perez decided to start a YouTube channel in 2016 to show off their kicks. Eventually, their channel, called "Sneaker Chefs" took off. With more than 36,200 subscribers, Sneaker Chefs has become the educational arm of the duo's business that is used to advise novice resellers about how to make the most money flipping sneakers.
About 18% of the pair's total sneaker business comes from its YouTube channel via AdSense revenue — which determines how much a creator makes per video based on factors like video length and type — and from brand sponsorships.
Sneaker website and cook group
In addition to their reselling and YouTube arms, Ontiveros and Perez also run a website called sneakerassist.com, which provides links and details for upcoming releases. The pair gets commission from brands and retail stores when they sell their products on their website.
But the largest portion of revenue from the pair's sneaker business comes from its sneaker monitor, or sneaker group chat on Discord. The group functions similarly to a standard sneaker cook group, or platform where members pay monthly fees to obtain insider information related to sneaker drops and advice for reselling.
"We provide our insights on price predictions, hold or sell, monitors, and other tools and resources to help new and upcoming resellers," Ontiveros said, explaining how the group began as a way to create a greater value for people who were watching their YouTube videos.
Today, the group has about 450 members and charges three tiers of fees for admission, which begin at $2 a month.
With all of their expertise in the field, Ontiveros and Perez tailor their business in a way to offer crucial advice for people looking to break into the sneaker world. And since its start nearly five years ago, the business has only continued to grow.
"From filming and buying a bunch of sneakers at our garage to now operating in a 1,800 square-foot office, it has definitely been a journey and lots of fun," Ontiveros said.
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