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When Marcus Bullock was 15, he made a life-changing determination. He and a good friend mugged a person in a mall parking zone. He was arrested and sentenced to eight years in a maximum safety grownup jail. “I used to be in denial for the primary two years and obtained very depressed,” says Bullock, who’s now Flikshop’s founder and CEO. “I could not course of and settle for the truth that I might find yourself serving your complete eight-year sentence.”

Throughout a go to, Bullock’s mom made a promise to her son that might later function inspiration for Flikshop. “Marcus, I’ll write you a letter or ship you an image each day for the remaining six years of your sentence,” she informed him. Bullock credit his mom for saving his life. “These photos, these letters saved me,” he says. “It was the small and large issues she shared with me that gave me a transparent concept of ​​what my life can be like after jail. My life was removed from over.”

Flikshop is known as after “Fliks,” as Bullock and his buddies referred to as jail photos. He based Flikshop to do for a lot of what his mom did for him: preserve each particular person in each cell linked to their relations and different neighborhood assets so that they can also envision their life after jail.

flikshop

Flikshop’s cell app and website enable customers to ship a photograph and a message to a cherished one in jail, which Flikshop will print on a postcard and ship on to the incarcerated particular person. It is solely $0.99 (together with transport) and ships direct to you.

The postcard is perforated so you possibly can tear off the message and preserve the notice personal. Then they’ll share the photograph with others. At this time, Flikshop has despatched postcards to all 50 states and linked greater than 170,000 households. John Legend is a financial supporter of Flikshop by means of his group #FREEAMERICA, which he based to assist remodel America’s legal justice system.

Photograph credit score: Flikshop

“Footage and letters are the one approach for inmates to know that there are individuals on the market who care about them,” Bullock says. “For me, these letters had been a reminder of the life that awaited me.”

Listed below are three classes Marcus Bullock realized whereas constructing Flikshop:

“I noticed {that a} TED Speak would turn out to be my calling card.”

“From a younger age, I used to be all the time a speaker,” says Bullock. “My household used to say, ‘Marcus is all the time speaking about one thing!’ And in some ways, I am the identical Marcus at present.”

He remembers the joy he felt as a younger boy attending his annual college fundraiser. He was decided to speak to as many individuals as attainable and sell a lot of the sweet bars, which he did.

As a founder, Bullock underestimated how his penchant for storytelling would assist him launch Flikshop. “After I was requested to provide my first TED Speak, I hesitated as a result of I did not take into account myself a public speaker,” he says. “After which I noticed it was a terrific alternative to share my story on stage and construct the Flikshop model. This TED Speak grew to become my final calling card.”

Bullock recollects standing on that stage and publicly recounting his story of how he first went to jail. And he was afraid. “My recommendation to entrepreneurs is do not let worry maintain you again. This TED Speak was my alternative to construct empathy and understanding for an expertise most individuals do not converse overtly about — how one can assist family members who’re incarcerated.”

“I listened to each piece of recommendation alongside the way in which.”

Bullock began Flikshop in 2012 as a result of he wished to be extra conscientious about his promise to ship his buddies in jail photos of his reentry journey. “I had no concept what I used to be doing,” he says. “I by no means thought I might begin a tech firm. I googled how one can make a cell app and the journey started.”

Bullock attributes his success to his thirst for data and open-mindedness, and heeds every bit of recommendation. He recollects attending the startup consultations a DC regulation agency hosted. He confirmed up and requested query after query, displaying that he was genuinely open to any recommendation he obtained.

It was by means of attending these consultations that he met Techstars, a startup accelerator primarily based in Boulder, Colorado. “This funding and assist allowed me to focus absolutely on rising Flikshop in 2018,” says Bullock. “I would not be right here with out all of the supporters who’ve coached and guided me alongside the way in which.”

“I construct generational wealth.”

Flikshop is not Bullock’s first step into entrepreneurship. After his launch from jail, he constructed a profitable portray enterprise and went on to construct a building firm. First, he booted up Flikshop and took money from his building enterprise to fund his mission. “My household noticed what I used to be doing with my companies, how profitable I used to be, and I wished them to have the chance to be a part of Flikshop,” says Bullock. “I knew this was our alternative to construct generational wealth.”

Bullock tells how he invited various relations to a convention room at his building firm. He went by means of his imaginative and prescient and three-year strategic plan for Flikshop. He requested if they’d attend this family and friends spherical and if they’d donate a minimum of $1,200. Then he gave them a deadline. He waited anxiously and plenty of of them got here again with checks.

“As founders, we are able to construct our imaginative and prescient with the assist of our household and buddies to rework their lives, too,” says Bullock. “It is a imaginative and prescient made attainable as a result of a mom by no means stopped believing in her 15-year-old son who made a mistake that modified his life ceaselessly.”