My wonderful trainer, Kelechi, worked me out this morning. During my quad-strengthening exercise on a machine in my building’s gym, he was bent over his iPhone and was tapping. “I’m not using my phone to check messages,” he assured me. “I just have to sign in at 10am to try to get these sneakers.”

I support commerce and being in style and was open-jawed to witness the process.

Evidently, to purchase one of 10,000 pairs of this particular shoe, you have to enter your email address and password simply for the privilege of the opportunity to buy the newest model. After supplying Nike with this critical information, Kelechi had to wait to find out if he made the cut. At the end of our session, he’d received this notice.

“Are you excited to buy them now?” I asked. “How much are they?”

“They’re $160, but they’ll go for 3 times that much if I decide to re-sell them.”

Kinda like scalpers and tickets to Hamilton. If you’re in the inner circle and scoop up the latest and greatest before the rest of the world knows about them, there’s a premium to be gained. It doesn’t advantage the creators. It definitely scams the public, but this is how some people (not Kelechi!) see fit to make a buck.

What I found enviable and intriguing is that Nike knows its market so well that it can create a competition for its products that generated so much excitement in Kelechi that it was contageous. I wanted him to win that chance.

Personally, I prefer Seth Godin’s method of 1000 true fans. They’ll get MY message out when my product (my memoir) is ready to sell.

For today, I got another great workout and highly recommend this fitness coach. You don’t even have to wait in line for his services.

Kelechi Asoluka