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Motivation Quote by Ryan Sheckler

"If you go out there and your main purpose is to get a sponsor, then it's not gonna work. Just go out there and have fun. That's how I got sponsored"

About this Quote

Sheckler’s advice cuts against the most common lie athletes are sold: treat your passion like a pitch deck and the money will follow. He frames sponsorship not as something you chase directly, but as a side effect of being unmistakably yourself on a board. The logic is emotional, not mystical. When your “main purpose” is to impress a sponsor, your skating tightens up, your style gets cautious, and the camera-friendly risk becomes forced. Fun reads as freedom; freedom reads as confidence; confidence is what brands actually buy.

There’s subtext here about credibility in skate culture, where trying too hard is a kind of social failure. Sponsorship is supposed to look like recognition, not solicitation. By saying “have fun,” Sheckler is really talking about authenticity as performance: sponsors want the version of you that audiences believe. Fun produces the clips people share, the personality people follow, the sense that you’d do this even if nobody paid you. That’s marketing gold, because it can’t sound like marketing.

The context matters: Sheckler came up during skateboarding’s mainstream boom, when contests, TV exposure, and social media turned sponsors into gatekeepers of livelihood. His line reads like a corrective to the hustle-era anxiety creeping into a sport built on anti-corporate posture. It’s also a quiet flex. “That’s how I got sponsored” turns a feel-good mantra into a credential, reminding you that the most bankable thing in action sports is still the thing that looks least calculated.

Quote Details

TopicMotivational
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Sheckler, Ryan. (2026, January 16). If you go out there and your main purpose is to get a sponsor, then it's not gonna work. Just go out there and have fun. That's how I got sponsored. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-go-out-there-and-your-main-purpose-is-to-137152/

Chicago Style
Sheckler, Ryan. "If you go out there and your main purpose is to get a sponsor, then it's not gonna work. Just go out there and have fun. That's how I got sponsored." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-go-out-there-and-your-main-purpose-is-to-137152/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If you go out there and your main purpose is to get a sponsor, then it's not gonna work. Just go out there and have fun. That's how I got sponsored." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-you-go-out-there-and-your-main-purpose-is-to-137152/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

Ryan Sheckler

Ryan Sheckler (born December 30, 1989) is a Athlete from USA.

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