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When Marcus Bullock used to be 15 years outdated, he decided that might exchange the process his lifestyles. He and a pal carjacked a person in a shopping center car parking zone. He used to be arrested and sentenced to 8 years in an grownup maximum-security jail. “I used to be in denial and was very depressed all over the ones first two years,” Bullock, who’s now founder and CEO of Flikshop, says. “I could not procedure and settle for the truth that I’d finally end up having to serve all the eight-year sentence.”
Right through one consult with, Bullock’s mom made a promise to her son that might later function the muse for Flikshop. “Marcus, I will write you a letter or ship you an image on a daily basis for the rest six years of your sentence,” she advised him. Bullock credit his mom with saving his lifestyles. “The ones photos, the ones letters, stored me,” he says. “It used to be the small and massive issues she shared with me that gave me a transparent imaginative and prescient of what my lifestyles would seem like after jail. My lifestyles used to be a long way from over.”
Flikshop is named after “fliks,” which is what Bullock and his pals referred to as photos in jail. He began Flikshop to do for lots of what his mom did for him: Stay each individual in each mobile hooked up to their members of the family and different group assets, so that they can also envision their lifestyles after jail.
Flikshop
The Flikshop cell app and website online permit customers to ship a photograph and message to a liked one in jail, which Flikshop will print on a postcard and ship immediately to the incarcerated person. It prices simply $0.99 (together with postage) and is delivered immediately to them.
The postcard is perforated, so they are able to tear off the message and stay the observe non-public. Then they are able to proportion the picture with others. Nowadays, Flikshop has shipped postcards into all 50 states and has hooked up greater than 170,000 households. John Legend is a monetary supporter of Flikshop via his group #FREEAMERICA, which he began to assist grow to be The usa‘s felony justice device.
Symbol credit score: Flikshop
“Photos and letters are the only method for the ones in jail to grasp there are nonetheless other folks within the out of doors global who deal with them,” Bullock says. “For me, the ones letters had been a reminder of the lifestyles that used to be looking ahead to me.”
Listed below are 3 courses Marcus Bullock has discovered from construction Flikshop:
“I spotted doing a TED Communicate would transform my trade card.”
“From a tender age, I used to be at all times a talker,” Bullock says. “My circle of relatives at all times stated, ‘Marcus is at all times speaking about one thing!’ And in some ways, I’m that very same Marcus nowadays.”
He recollects the thrill he felt as a tender boy collaborating in his annual college fundraiser. He used to be made up our minds to speak to as many of us as conceivable and promote probably the most sweet bars, which he did.
As a founder, Bullock underestimated how his penchant for storytelling would assist him release Flikshop. “When I used to be requested to do my first TED Communicate, I used to be reluctant as a result of I did not imagine myself a public speaker,” he says. “After which I spotted it used to be a formidable alternative to proportion my tale on degree and construct the Flikshop logo. That TED Communicate was my final trade card.”
Bullock recollects status on that degree, publicly sharing his tale of going to jail for the primary time. And he used to be scared. “My recommendation to marketers isn’t to let worry cling you again. That TED Communicate used to be my alternative to construct empathy and working out for an revel in that the general public do not overtly talk about — the right way to strengthen family members who’re incarcerated.”
“I listened to each piece of recommendation alongside the best way.”
Bullock introduced Flikshop in 2012 as a result of he sought after to be extra diligent about his promise to ship his pals in jail photos of his reentry adventure. “I had no thought what I used to be doing,” he says. “I by no means imagined that I’d release a tech corporate. I Googled ‘the right way to construct a cell app,’ and the adventure started.”
Bullock credit his luck to his starvation for studying and to being open and paying attention to each piece of recommendation alongside the best way. He recollects attending administrative center hours a legislation company in D.C. used to be webhosting for founders. He confirmed up asking query after query and confirmed he used to be in truth open to the entire recommendation he used to be given.
Attending the ones administrative center hours used to be how he used to be offered to Techstars, a Boulder, Colo.-based startup accelerator. “That funding and strengthen allowed me the facility to concentrate on rising Flikshop complete time in 2018,” Bullock says. “I would not be right here with out the entire supporters who gave me training and steering alongside the best way.”
“I’m construction generational wealth.”
Flikshop is not Bullock’s first mission into entrepreneurship. He constructed a a hit portray trade when he left jail after which went directly to construct a development corporate. He to begin with bootstrapped Flikshop, taking money out of his development trade to fund his undertaking. “My circle of relatives noticed what I did with my companies, how a hit I used to be, and I sought after them to have a chance to be a part of Flikshop,” Bullock says. “I knew this used to be our alternative to construct generational wealth.”
Bullock recounts how he invited numerous members of the family to a convention room at his development corporate. He went via his imaginative and prescient and three-year strategic plan for Flikshop. He requested if they would take part in this family and friends spherical, and that they at a minimal give a contribution $1,200. Then he gave them a time limit. He waited anxiously, and plenty of of them got here again with exams.
“As founders, we will be able to construct our imaginative and prescient with the strengthen of our friends and family to assist exchange their lives as smartly,” Bullock says. “It is a imaginative and prescient made conceivable as a result of a mom by no means stopped believing in her 15-year-old son who made one mistake that perpetually modified the trajectory of his lifestyles.”
