If someone walked up to you on a New York City street and handed you a $2,000 gold bar for free, would you take it?

Odds are you’d probably think it was some kind of scam, especially with all of the notable schemes in NYC to get tourists’ money like the CD guys and the mascots who take pictures with you in times square.

But this time, there really aren’t any strings attached.

Meet Maksud (@TraxNYC on TikTok) 

Maksud Agadjani is the owner of TraxNYC, a custom jewelry store in the heart of the Diamond District.

He got his start in the jewelry business at the young age of 18, after graduating from high school.

With $1,500 he received on his birthday, Agadjani bought a digital camera and built a relationship with businessmen at a jewelry store. He took photos of jewelry pieces in-store and put the pieces up on eBay.

When Agadjani made a sale online, he returned to the jewelry store where he took the picture, purchased the jewelry he took photos of and mailed the piece to the online buyer.

Then once his business really started to take off, he began turning to social media to expand his reach and influence.

He began walking around the streets of NYC either hiding gold and jewels under benches, mailboxes, and even fountains, or handing it directly to random people on the street.

And by doing so he ended up gaining over 2.7 million subscribers on Youtube.

How Much We Talkin’?

In one TikTok, Maksud was seen giving away 10z silver bullets each worth $600 

And in one of his more famous videos, he disperses $100k worth of gold bars throughout the city in secret spots. 

He said “Check your local post office box underneath, there might be a gold bar stashed under there” 

This was in honor of his 101 year old grandmother who recently passed, and the response was insane. People all over the city tried to figure out where the gold was hidden by looking for local landmarks and other indicators in the videos.

Then, it was a race to reach the secret prize before anyone else who had seen the TikTok got there first.

You can also see Maksud simply handing out 1oz gold bars each worth $2,000. Some people take them, others simply ignore him. But can you blame them? I don’t think there’s ever been a bigger example of something that seems too good to be true.

But despite all of the money he made from his business, he was also about to receive an opportunity of his own from a very big name in Hollywood.

How Maksud got a role in the Adam Sandler movie uncut gems

Agadjani's social media presence caught the attention of the casting directors for Uncut Gems, a film seeking a real jeweler to portray Yussi, the fed-up assistant of Adam Sandler's character.

Agadjani's authenticity and familiarity with the Diamond District world made him the perfect choice, and so something insane happened.

Adam Sandler reached out and asked him to play the role in the movie.

He landed the role without any prior acting experience. And while he acknowledges the initial nervousness, he approached the opportunity with characteristic enthusiasm and dedication. He saw it as a chance to market his business further and leverage the exposure to reach a wider audience.

The BMM Takeaway

Be open to any and all opportunities in front of you, no matter how crazy.

That’s not to say don’t be wary of scams and tricks, because there are plenty of those too.

However, if you turn down everything, you’ll never accept the greatest opportunities when they finally reveal themselves.

It’s just like that Jim Carrey move “Yes Man” where he starts saying “Yes” to everything. (Although I think he could’ve said no when he the old lady wanted to cop a feel)

Just look at Maksud. He was initially presented with an opportunity to start his business, he ramped it up to an amazing success, and then was presented with an opportunity to star in a movie.

So in my opinion, this is his way of giving back by presenting amazing opportunities to total strangers.

That being said, look out for Maksud if you live in the area. He might just be giving away free gold if you’re willing to accept it.