Welfare, bankruptcy, arrests, failed businesses, and more. In Book 1, How Sneakers Saved My Life, Trent rips the covers off and takes us on the roller-coaster ride that is his life. From the very first page of this riveting autobiography, the reader is given a front-row seat to the hard-knock life of Mr. Trent Out Loud.
Source: Exclucity
Puma Kids Baby Girl Shoes for Kids why and what happened on the journey to launching a business. I wrote a series of books after earning 500,000 in a year for the first and second time. I never marketed the books. I made copies and they’ve sat for years. I never felt comfortable putting the work out there in a major way because I understood how much scrutiny would come with it. I understood I would open myself up to commentary from Trainer who didn’t read the work. I state this to say I just finished Book 1 from Trent. I stopped reading Shoe Dog to dive into a pdf finish of Trent’s autobiography/business book. Over 200 pages and I finished it in 3 days. The writing wasn’t great. To be honest, I have no desire to read about someone’s story I’m not exactly invested in. I don’t follow the Exclucity Brand on IG and I don’t really engage with Trent or the brand. I had no reason to read the book so quickly, but I did.
I can explain in one sentence why a book centering on the life of Trent was engaging. It was familiar. Many of the situations discussed in the text could easily be replaced with stories from my own life. It wasn’t until the last few chapters of the book, where he differentiates from the everyman story of growing up in a broken home. In the last few chapters Trent dives into the discussion on launching a sneaker store. Going into this book, because of the title, I was waiting on “How sneakers saved my life.” The book never made it to that point where it becomes about saving his life; and I was okay with the book never really getting to a direct point about how sneakers “saved” him. I was still invested.
I was able to get beyond what felt like some cliche aspects of storytelling. Each chapter sprinkled elements of business development via story. Slanging long tees, moving product from the trunk, is the classic Hip-Hop creation story. The inclusion of defining business jargon was intrusive and would have been better if the definitions were footnotes. The autobiography had a conversational tone, which isn’t the best form of structuring a book, and would be better suited as the foundation for a docudrama.
The mistakes made by Trent on the road to opening his first store are lessons. Including discussions on immigration issues shaping how he acquired inventory. The problems encountered traveling to New York is a major difference and one that is prime for expanding as he quickly glosses over why certain things were not available in Canada. I almost feel like slower, more descriptive passages of locations would have brought the book away from predictable tropes. There could have been a depth to every aspect of his journey that just didn’t happen.
I read to reach Nike and the store launch. I wanted to see how sneakers saved his life. They didn’t. Investing in himself saved his life. On the Amazon page for the book, his reviews have been dominated by non-verified readers. His book is being treated like a post on social media. The title created this situation, and it was completely avoidable. This was not a book on sneakers saving his life, this was a discussion on life, mistakes, hustling and adapting. It just so happens that at the end of this first text Trent has opened a store and the growth of the business coincided with the explosion in resale in 2012. The store opening itself moves too quickly in the text. Much of the book moves too quickly. There are grimy chapters and there are sections which would create a character with depth. A move to South Africa shouldn’t be a page or two.
Like I said, I actually stopped reading Shoe Dog to dive into the pdf. I have the second book loaded and ready to read. The story is good, but the creative writer in me wants a more fleshed out narrative. I want texture, but I also understand rushing to get to what many would think of as what sneaker culture wants. This is an instance where Trent should have said “F” sneaker culture and truly took his time in telling the story. As dope as it is to hear about the All-Star Galaxy Launch, that story arrives shortly after a friend is splattered with blood from a shooting in his old neighborhood. There are stories we don’t like dwelling upon for too long. There are moments in narrating where we embellish but finding the fine line between descriptive passages and difficult truths changes a book from a rushed introduction to a sneaker life into a life-changing educational read. Book 1 was engaging. It could have been better, but it kept me reading. I think it will keep you turning the page as well. Use this link to grab a copy and give me your thoughts. I’m starting Book 2.