The Happy Hustle

By Forrest Wood, produced by Out There Podcast

Released on August 12, 2021

Welcome to Out There Podcast. Our stories are written for the ear, so for those able, we recommend listening while reading along. Transcripts may contain minor errors; please check the audio before quoting.

WILLOW BELDEN: For a lot of us, summer means road trips. Which also means you’re probably looking for good things to listen to in the car.

One of Out There’s sponsors is a podcast called Out Travel the System. Out Travel the System is brought to you by Expedia, and its mission is to inspire and inform about travel. That can mean anything from building your bucket list, to taking concrete steps to take that next trip when the time is right.

The podcast finds people who are passionate about travel — including a commercial airline pilot, a woman who travels pretty much year round, and a man who wants to have visited every country in the world by the end of this year. When it comes to inspiration, Out Travel the System is also giving a voice to people who love their hometowns — and want to share them with travelers — or people who love, say, lake or beach life in the winter.

 Out Travel the System is available wherever you get your podcasts. 

(Out There theme music begins) 

Hi, I’m Willow Belden, and you’re listening to Out There, the podcast that explores big questions through intimate stories outdoors.

Just to let you know: we have started putting episode transcripts on our website. So if you’d like to follow along as you listen, just head to outtherepodcast.com and click on this episode. I also have a link to the transcript in the show notes. 

The choice to pursue something you love as a career can be daunting, especially when that something comes with some pretty significant financial barriers to overcome before your career can even begin. On top of that, the industry you work for notoriously undervalues the work you produce. Even if you summon the courage to commit to those initial financial investments, and you work hard to accomplish your goals, you run the risk of turning your passion into just another stressful job.

How do you walk the line between living the lifestyle you want to live, and simply paying the bills? How can you get the compensation you deserve without sacrificing your artistic integrity? How do you find balance between happiness and the hustle? 

(Out There theme music ends)

On this episode, we bring you a story about photographer and skateboarder Khaleeq Alfred, who has spent his career navigating these very questions. 

Forrest Wood has the story. 

(lively music begins to play)

KHALEEQ ALFRED: My name is Khaleeq Alfred. I go by he/him. Yeah I just, I love  skateboarding. I love riding my bike. I love good energy, and photography, and light…and that’s me.

FORREST WOOD: Khaleeq is the kind of person who knows what he wants.

KHALEEQ: I wanted to be a pilot, like that was my passion. I was going into junior year of high school knowing that I wanted to be a pilot. But then I got into the photography class, sat down, and was like, ‘Oh, this is what I'm supposed to be doing, got you.’

FORREST: Khaleeq quickly fell in love with the process of film photography. 

KHALEEQ: Once I got the film camera, I was shooting 24/7. Like the camera was attached to my hip.

FORREST: Khaleeq then combined his new passion for photography with another budding passion: longboarding. And in case anyone here is new to the lingo, longboarding is just like skateboarding, only longer. Now, there are many different styles, or disciplines, within skateboarding and longboarding, and most people who skate tend to dabble in more than one. So, for those core riders, skateboarding, longboarding — it’s all just skating.

(music fades out) 

In 2010, the longboarding industry was on the rise, and the scene was incredibly welcoming. 

KHALEEQ:  The scene was just booming back then. You could spend the day skating, and, if you saw somebody, the chances are you knew them. It was just skaters everywhere, longboarders everywhere. We somehow just naturally found the community, and the two, photography and skating, just flowed very nicely.

FORREST: Small companies were popping up all around the country, and they were all pushing new products. Varying levels of flex, board length, shape, and weight, gave each new design a unique feel, and pushed riders to newfound limits. Skateboard trucks got reengineered to give riders more range of motion when carving, or more stability at high speeds. Polyurethane wheels of all different hardnesses came out to give better grip to downhill racers, and smoother slides for freeriders. 

But those two disciplines, downhill and freeride, require steep hills, preferably on well-paved roads with lots of turns. Khaleeq grew up in New York City, which isn’t exactly known for its hills or winding roads. Riders from New York were forced to look outside of the city to progress, and Khaleeq followed the action.

KHALEEQ: The first time I traveled to shoot was to an event called Guajataca down in Puerto Rico.

(sound of a crowd of people)

ANNOUNCER: Push Culture, Guajataca 2012. There’s a bunch of people here at the slide jam. There’s a bunch of international riders at the race...

(cheering sounds and announcer continues talking in background)

 KHALEEQ: Yeah, good times. 

(people cheer excitedly )

That’s when the scene was very, the scene was still new to me, um, and I think that was the closest place that felt or looked like a big, skate party? 

(Crowd cheers, “Puerto Rico! Puerto Rico! Puerto Rico!”)

But you also get to just like enjoy a hill, enjoy beautiful weather, and then also have really big name riders at the time, be there. 

ANNOUNCER: Came into the right, a little too fast. He’s going like…

KHALEEQ: It was kind of just the place to be.

(announcer’s voice fades out)

FORREST: Khaleeq didn’t go to this event looking to make money; he went so he could photograph some of the best riders around. But in the back of his mind, he knew his photography would turn some heads. Khaleeq shot from the sidelines, and got a ton of great photos, and just as he had hoped — it didn’t take long for those photos to get noticed. All those new companies that were popping up, all those riders competing at events trying to earn sponsorships, they all needed media. And Instagram had just been invented, and skate brands were working hard to create a social media presence. 

KHALEEQ: For me it was just like, I just wanna get these amazing photos out. And every time I dropped photos it's just like, more and more connections, more networking.

FORREST: Khaleeq earned a reputation, and was introduced to the hustle that came with the life of a photographer. He got contacted by a few companies asking to use his photos in advertisements, and on their websites. With Instagram and Facebook, media turnover was happening fast, and companies loved having event coverage on their feeds, and there were events happening all over the world. 

KHALEEQ: And was like, “Okay, I can document this one in California, but the one over in Europe also looks really dope, and I would love to get over there.”

That’s when I maybe realized, okay I could start, like really going places or really traveling. I could get a job doing this in some complete other place. Ok cool, I wanna do this. I’m doing this. 

(upbeat music begins to play)

FORREST: The next big break for Khaleeq’s photography career came when he was a freshman in college, when he took a trip to Washington State to photograph the Maryhill Festival of Speed. 

ANNOUNCER: Here we are at Maryhill Festival of Speed. I’m Bricin "Striker" Lyons, Push Culture News. We’re at the boiling point here; the sun is killing us...

FORREST: Maryhill was at the time, the largest downhill event in the country. Khaleeq knew that if he could make it to that event, he would surely come away with some great photos that he could both add to his portfolio, and even potentially sell to some longboard companies. His work was already getting used in advertisements, primarily by Bustin Boards, a company based in Brooklyn that he had developed a relationship with. He asked around for some financial help getting to the event, but eventually he had to use some of his own savings to buy a plane ticket, and his mom fronted the rest. He bartered photographs for space in a hotel room, and bummed rides to and from the event with a skater he knew.

Maryhill Loops road is very photogenic. You’ve likely seen it in a car commercial before. It’s a 10-mile-long winding road adjacent to a field of churning windmills. It traces the contours of the landscape in a way that allows it to sustain a consistent downhill grade of 5%. Every turn is banked, which makes it a pleasure to ride down.

ANNOUNCER: The Maryhill Festival of Speed. It’s the easiest track to ride but the hardest race to win...

FORREST: The race course itself is just a slice of this road, but hosts 18 notable curves, and six hairpin corners. Khaleeq found a spot on the side of a hairpin with a good view of the road above, and the surrounding landscape beyond. He put on some music, settled in, and waited for the racers to come by.   

(sound of skateboarders speeding by)

By the end of the day, he knew he had gotten what he came for. 

Every night, after shooting in the sun all day, he would send out a batch of photos to Bustin Boards, whose riders he was looking out for on the hill. 

A few days after he got home from the event, he woke up to an email from his contact at Bustin Boards.  

KHALEEQ: Literally woke up to a random email, which probably isn't necessarily how this should be done, but a random email like, “Hey, so, the photo is gonna be on the cover.”

I mean like, I'm waking up at like seven in the morning, my mom’s not even awake. And I see this and I'm just like, “Holy shit, this is, okay, this is big.”

(music begins to play)

FORREST: The cover we’re talking about here is the cover of Concrete Wave Magazine, one of the largest longboard-centric media producers in the industry. 

FORREST: Do you remember how much you got paid for the cover? 

KHALEEQ: Uh, yeah.

(Khaleeq chuckles) 

KHALEEQ: Technically, um, I did not get paid funds for that cover. 

(music ends abruptly)

FORREST: You heard that right. Khaleeq did not get paid for his first magazine cover photo. 

KHALEEQ: I think I was still getting used to the whole photos bringing you money and valuing yourself, and being able to actually have a set number. You know, I’m just into college so I haven’t learned all the finance stuff yet.

FORREST: Bustin offered Khaleeq $1,000 in online store credit. This, unfortunately, is not an uncommon occurrence for young photographers and artists in many different industries. 

Khaleeq had gotten paid in gear for advertisements before, so a LOT of gear for a cover shot seemed to make sense at the time. 

Now for a company, paying someone off with products is the easy thing to do. They’ve already spent the money to produce the products, so shelling out gear is easier for them than actually writing a check. 

KHALEEQ: You know, if Ryan was giving me $1,000 worth of products, to me, I was like, “Okay, that’s the compensation in all of this.”

FORREST: Having a magazine cover photo in your portfolio as a young photographer is great and all, but having more skateboards than you can even fit in your dorm room isn't going to buy you a new camera lens. It’s not gonna put food on the table, and it's definitely not going to pay off your student loans. College, in this country, is not free. 

Khaleeq’s family falls into a category that many American families do: they qualified for some financial aid, but were far from being given a full ride. So Khaleeq took out thousands of dollars in student loans in order to get his photography degree.

KHALEEQ: When will I be able to pay that off? Not totally sure...

FORREST: How did your mom feel about that as a career choice back then?

KHALEEQ: My mom was totally fine. My mom, she's very open, she's very like, “As long as you are stable, and are mentally like ok, that’s all that matters.”

FORREST: Khaleeq had no hesitations about pursuing a degree in a field he knew wouldn’t make him rich. But when he got to be a junior in college, his program finally started teaching the financial aspects of being a photographer, and he realized he’d been selling himself short for years. 

KHALEEQ: You hear what your teachers’ rates are, you hear what their friends in the industry’s rates are, and you’re like, “Oh, so that’s what I could charge.” You have to find your value. You never really know…like, “Oh, ok, it’s actually acceptable to charge this. Oh, I can charge this and the company is actually going to pay. Ok. I need to ask for what I'm worth.”

WILLOW: Hey, it’s Willow. We’ll hear the rest of the story in a moment. But first…

In the world of travel and adventure, it’s easy to say, “Someday I’m going to do this or see that.”

But when will that “someday” be?

One of our sponsors is a company called Frost River. Frost River makes reliable bags, packs, totes, and adventure gear, to help you find adventure in the everyday, and start seeking your “someday” today.

With sustainably sourced materials and solar-powered manufacturing facilities, Frost River creates every piece of gear by hand, right here in the United States. If your pack gets broken, they also offer repairs, to help us get away from a throw-away mentality.

Stop waiting for your next adventure and start seeking your “someday” today at frostriver.com/outthere. That’s frost-river-dot-com-slash-outthere. Use the promo code OUTTHERE for free shipping on your next order.

And now, back to the story.

(music begins to play)

FORREST: Shortly after graduating from college, Bustin Boards — the company that had been using his photos for years — offered Khaleeq an official, full-time job. It felt like all his hard work had paid off. Photography had turned from a passion to a profession, and that was the goal, right? 

KHALEEQ: Working at Bustin, I thought like that would be a job that I would absolutely love. Like I’m at the headquarters, Under Armour is in here. We get to skate. I might have to build a board or two here and there. I get to do product shots. Imma get to travel here and there.

FORREST: But the reality of being Bustin’s resident photographer was not what he had imagined.

KHALEEQ: It’s like, “Ahh, that looks a lot different, little homie. It’s not what you thought.”

FORREST: In addition to product photography and web design, Khaleeq did a lot of behind-the-scenes work in the warehouse — shipping, packaging, and painting. He got a good look at how the industry worked from the inside. But he didn’t get a degree in photography to work in the longboard manufacturing industry; he got it so he could be a photographer. 

KHALEEQ: I just wasn’t happy, you know, and I wasn’t able to do all the things that maybe I necessarily wanted to do. I felt as though I shot more, and I was more happy, on the weekends.

FORREST: The weekends, when he got to skate and shoot with his friends. Even though Bustin expected him to shoot tons of photos for their website and social media, during the work week the only photos Khaleeq made were product shots. The good stuff, the action shots, the images that capture the true essence of the community — that was the weekend hustle. And because the weekends were when he produced the most photography, it started to feel like he was always on the clock. 

(music fades out)

Khaleeq worked for Bustin for about a year, doing what should have been his dream job. A job doing what he loved. A job that he thought was going to give him a healthy work-life balance. But like any good skateboarder knows, balance is not a passive state of being; it’s an active pursuit. 

Work had weighed down his life, and now it was time for life to balance the scale. So he took a step away from the safety net of a full-time job.

It’s been years since Khaleeq left Bustin. He’s branched out as a photographer, and now documents the blading scene, the fixed-gear bicycle community, BMX riders, and more. He was on the streets documenting the Black Lives Matter protests in New York last summer. He almost always has a camera on him, and constantly remains in the mindset of a photographer. 

FORREST: So now that you have a degree and an extensive portfolio in multiple different, you know, action scenes, are you able to support yourself with photography solely?

KHALEEQ: Um, no...and yes. Like, yes because it is a possibility. Like I could...I know that I’m capable of shooting anything. I’ve done headshots. I can do events. Um...I’m capable of shooting anything. It’s just like, I don’t want to be miserable, I don’t want to be working tons and tons of hours, ‘cause I think that’s what our society does now — work tons of hours and be miserable, but use that money to make you happy. And I would rather actually live my life. So you know, it’s doable, but there are other things that also, you know, bring me joy.

I’m a person who is very fixed on doing what you love, and being happy about doing what you love. Or being happy about doing what you do, period. 

(upbeat music begins to play)

FORREST: It was a big realization for Khaleeq: that being a full-time photographer wasn’t actually going to make him happy. In fact, he realized that being a full-time ANYTHING wasn’t going to make him happy. If he treated photography like a nine-to-five, he would come to resent it just like any other job. He knew he needed money, but he didn't need photography to be his only source of income. So he picked up a side hustle.  

KHALEEQ: I got a quick job that ended up turning into something long-term where I took care of a dog that just like, absolutely stole my heart. 

I love dogs. Walking dogs happened to be a thing that people can do. You know, if you can combine happiness and money, then like, cool, you’re good.

FORREST: Skating and photography had coupled very nicely for Khaleeq, and allowed him to experience multiple passions simultaneously. Dog walking now provided the same, combining Khaleeq’s love for dogs, with a love for riding his bike around the city.

KHALEEQ: It kept me out of the house, it put me on my bike. I was literally on my bike every day, which also, you know, was giving me exercise every day.

FORREST: And to be clear, dog walking did not take anything away from Khaleeq’s photography career; it just gave him another source of income. It gave him the ability to select the photography gigs that he wanted to do, and decline any offers that didn’t speak to his artistic sensibilities.

KHALEEQ: If I'm gonna be spending time behind a camera and shooting, I wanna make sure I have good energy behind it. I’m happy with it.

One of my college professors, John H. White, would always say, “Your camera is your passport to the world.” And that man is not wrong. 

(music fades out)

FORREST: For Khaleeq, photography is about traveling to new environments and spending time outside with his friends, doing the activities that they’re passionate about. The pursuit of these passions is the primary mission. Selling the art he produces along the way is the bonus. 

Khaleeq still shoots and sells his photos all the time, only he does it on his own terms. He plans skate trips with his friends, many of whom happen to be sponsored riders. He pitches these trips to skate companies, and negotiates equitable rates for himself in advance. He recently got back from one of those trips. 

KHALEEQ: And you know, obviously, like I got paid from that, and got paid well. ’Cause I know better.

FORREST: I’ve known Khaleeq for a long time; we used to skate together in Central Park. Throughout all the years I've known him, he always seems to be up to something. Whether he’s shooting, or traveling, or just cruising around with a pack of dogs, he seems to emanate good vibes and always gets great photos. To me, Khaleeq is a living example of the “New York Hustle”. So I asked him what “The Hustle” means to him.

KHALEEQ: So, people typically say, in New York, “The Hustle”. And to me, I think that just means being hungry, being motivated and staying motivated. 

And you know, I do identify with the phrase. Regardless what it is, whether it’s photography, whether it’s painting, whether it’s being a bike courier or messenger — there is a hustle, there is a work ethic that comes along with the title. So I definitely do agree that there is a hustle. 

What would I say my hustle is? Umm, that’s an interesting — I would have to say my hustle is photography. I would also just say, like, there's a part of me that’s being compelled to say — just like trying to live, and just thrive, and be happy. Finding the most happiness and keeping that going for as long as possible, is my hustle. 

That’s my hustle: staying happy.

(modern music begins)

 WILLOW: That story was reported, written, and produced by Forrest Wood, one of our interns at Out There last spring. Editorial assistance for the story came from Cecily Mauran. Special thanks to Push Culture News for letting us use audio from their YouTube channel, to Huck for allowing us to use their song, ‘Scrimmage’, and of course to Khaleeq Alfred, for sharing his story. If you want to check out Khaleeq’s photography, you can find him @Khaleeqovision on Instagram. That’s K-H-A-L-E-E-Q-O-vision. Or you can check out his website, Khaleeqphotography.com.

(music fades out)

Coming up next time on Out There: when Ava Ahmadbeigi’s friends invited her on a hike in the Adirondacks, she was surprised to be included. She was not an outdoorsy person. But she said yes.

AVA AHMADBEIGI: I wanted so much to keep up — to prove that I can do this, that no matter where I came from, or how much experience I lacked in the outdoors, I can do a little mountain trail. So I kept pushing myself. But my friends wanted to keep the momentum and eventually, on one of my breaks, they left me behind. Yeah, you heard that right. They left me behind.

WILLOW: What do you do, when you can’t trust your body — or your friends? When your attempts to BELONG end up backfiring? How do you find your place?

Tune in on August 26 to hear Ava’s story.

A big thank you to Melissa Spense, Marilyn Stoner, Phil Timm, Doug Frick, Tara Joslin, and Deb and Vince Garcia, for their financial contributions to Out There.

The stories you hear on the show take months to put together. Literally months. For example, we started working on this episode all the way back in January. 

Paying for stories like this requires money. And since Out There is an independent production, we don’t have big corporate financing behind us. 

That’s why we turn to you, our listeners, for support. Your gifts enable us to pay our storytellers for their hard work. 

To become a patron today, head over to patreon.com/outtherepodcast. Patreon is a crowd-funding platform for creative endeavors. It lets you make monthly contributions to projects you care about. Like this podcast.

Check out all of our great rewards, and become a patron today, at patreon.com/outtherepodcast. That’s P-A-T-R-E-O-N-dot-com-slash-outtherepodcast. And I have a link to that in the show notes as well.

Thank you SO much.

(Out There theme music begins)

If you’re new to Out There, check out the “Best of Out There” playlist. This is a collection of some of our favorite episodes of all time — and it’s a great introduction to the range of stories we do on the show. You can find “Best of Out There” on Spotify, and at our website outtherepodcast.com.

That’s it for this episode. Our advertising manager is Jessica Taylor. Our audience growth director is Sheeba Joseph. Cara Schaefer is our print content coordinator. Our interns are Melat Amha and Tanya Chawla. Our ambassadors are Tiffany Duong, Ashley White, and Stacia Bennet. And our theme music was written by Jared Arnold. 

We’ll see you in two weeks.

(Out There theme music ends on a last whistling note)