Meet Tobias Becs, a professional football freestyler and lifestyle influencer from Norway
Tobias Becs is a lifestyle influencer and professional football freestyler from Oslo, Norway. Tobias’ tremendous passion and talent for freestyling is inspiring, and we love how he uses his freestyling skills to create unique videos for his brand collaborations. We had the opportunity to catch up with Tobias to learn a bit more about his professional career and his life as an influencer.
Let’s meet Tobias!
Tell us a bit about yourself. What is life like in Norway?
Well, my full name is Tobias Brandal Busæt, but I’m most known as Tobias Becs. I’m 25 years old and I’ve been freestyling since 2006. Life as a football freestyler in Norway is good! Very few are able to make a living from freestyle football, so I’m very thankful that I’m able to do what I love for a living. Even though I’m based in Norway, I’m out traveling a lot! Especially during the summer, I’m performing and competing all around the world. But when I’m in Oslo, I spend most of my days training, working with 4Freestyle or working with sponsors.
What or who inspired you to become a professional football freestyler?
In the beginning, it was all just because it was fun. I didn’t think about becoming a professional, since nobody actually made a living from the sport. Back in 2006, there was very few competitions and the sport was not fully developed, and it still isn’t. After a while, I took the sport more seriously and I performed and competed at different events. Back in 2011, the sport started to become more serious and the federation published their plan of a world tour. The top 16 players in the world would get a chance to compete against each other at different locations around the world. This was the first time I started dreaming about living only from freestyle and to become one of the first professional freestyle football athletes. I managed to qualify for the first ever world tour in 2012, which was my first step as a professional football freestyler.
As a professional freestyler, what has been your greatest achievement so far?
I think it’s hard to choose just one. I have so many good memories. My first big competition in Lecce, Italy back in 2012 with Red Bull is something I will never forget. But when it comes to titles, I will never forget the first time I won the Norwegian Championship or my first World Champion title in 2012. Another big achievement was when I won the European Championship x 2 in 2015.
What are your thoughts on using inzpire.me for your collaborations?
For me, inzpire.me has been great! I’ve been introduced to a few different platforms where influencers and brands get to meet. But for me, none of them have been any good in helping me create a relationship with brands. inzpire.me is the only platform that has actually given me new connections and helped me collaborate with brands.
Can you tell us about a previous collaboration you really enjoyed doing and why?
I really enjoyed working with Grønt Punkt. They wanted to highlight and promote recycling by getting people to participate in a competition where you can win 10 000 NOK, just by recycling your drinking carton. I was free to do what I wanted to promote the campaign. I made a video with them where I recycle a milk carton in my own way. I did some freestyle with the carton before I kicked it in the trash can. I’ve now made two videos with them, and I’m actually working on a third one now.
Do you have any advice for aspiring influencers?
I think there are many who want to become an influencer today, and there are many who focus more on building a big following instead of creating a good connection with their audience. I believe the focus should be on how you can bring value to other people and to create trust. This might mean that you need to turn down some offers from brands who want to work with you. You have to stay true to yourself and to your audience. If not, your audience will easily recognize when you do something purely for quick cash and not because it’s something you believe in. Try to create a relationship with your followers, I think that is the future. You can have as big of an audience as you want, but if you don’t have a connection with them, it’s worthless.
If you could sing one song on ‘The Voice,’ what would it be?
Haha, I should not sing at all:) But if I had to, I’d probably sing/rap “Empire state of mind,” by Jay Z
