Did you ever manage to get free shoutouts, I've emailed people asking, but I always get declined. I totally understand it though because to some people this is there business. Glad to hear you are doing so well so fast and it motivates me greatly.
Great job so far man and keep it up!
Thanks for the kind words! To answer your question, I haven't gotten anyone to give me any sort of free shoutouts. I've learned from people asking me later on the same question that you shouldn't give free shoutouts because there's always someone willing to pay for them and if you only give them out for free, there's never any money to be made. In my opinion, you're better off trying to do shout out for shout out. Try to find similar accounts that have close to the same followers/average likes as you. Keep up the hard work, make sure to post every single day and don't give up!