Many of us hustlers, no matter the industry, long for the day we finally make it, whether it’s selling your startup for billions of dollars, getting signed to a major record label as an artist or closing a huge book deal. For Vine artist Jerome Jarre, many would think one of those moments came when he was offered a $1 million dollar brand deal.
Jerome Jarre is a 24-year-old internet celebrity and entrepreneur who rose to fame through his six-second prank videos on Vine. After being featured on “Ellen,” his account grew from 20,000 followers to 1 million in just over a month. He currently has over 4.5 million followers on Vine, along with large followings on other platforms including SnapChat and YouTube.
Aside from his ventures as an artist online, he’s also co-founded a startup called GrapeStory with social media guru and investor Gary Vaynerchuk. GrapeStory aims to connect artists focused on mobile content with brands looking for advertising.
In a recent video, Jarre films himself going into a meeting at Gary Vaynerchuk’s VaynerMedia office for a meeting with a big brand that he does not name. Gary is also present at the meeting, but his face is blurred out, but seriously, if Gary reads this and claims that that’s not him in the video, I’m going to throw a fit. Anyway, the brand offers him $1 million on the condition he needs to stay in New York City for a year. As he decides on whether to take the mystery deal or not, he reflects back on his life and remembers one thing a friend told him:
“Imagine you’re 99-years-old and on your deathbed. If you had a chance to come back to right now, what would you do?”
From there, the answer is clear and Jarre decides to turn down the offer and abruptly exit the meeting, leaving Gary and the others clearly dumbfounded. Watch the video below:
