Rob Dyrdek | The Nine Club With Chris Roberts - Episode 255

well we are back huh we're back at the nine Club everybody today we have a very special guest Mr Rob Dyrdek is with us how are you thank you for having me oh big honored thank you pleasure the pleasure's all ours good to be here you know what I mean I have a I have an unusual depth of skate history yes you do you do yeah uh first of all how are you everything good I I am I I live an extraordinary life yeah you know it's it's not faked for Instagram like someone once said like you know someone was like you know depending on I know how you show yourself like no like I'm at how much happier I am in real life I don't have time to express to share with others on social media like because I'm enjoying every aspect of my life for sure but you know I I get it there's a lot of fake stuff on the internet you don't know what to believe nowadays but uh but you are busy and that's what trips me out about you because I literally right before we started here were you talking about like how you film multiple shows a day you have multiple podcasts I mean you're how do you plan around your day and how do you sustain your energy level because like I get burnt just talking after one show I'm like I need a day to recover yeah yeah yeah no I mean I used to be like you okay what can I do what can I do to change to be like you you know like I really just began to look at all aspects of my life and what what what things give and take energy and then I began to design my life around that then I began to assess everything of like where am I wasting energy and how can I either hire somebody create a system um or you know find a solution to either do it faster more efficiently or more enjoyable or quit it completely and so I basically just go from thing to thing to thing that I enjoy doing and if I didn't like doing it I I made it or created it in a way that it was more effortless for me so it didn't drain from me right because those draining things can drain you that's right yeah look at it yeah and look and you would shoot a podcast for you know three three hours and have the soul sucked out of you that's how shooting television was for me it used to take me you know four hours to shoot one episode I shoot one episode now in 25 minutes you know and wait wait what changed there because we used to like do all shoot with way more Clips we would for a 22 minute shoot we'd shoot for an hour then I would do like an hour of voice over on the stage right so you and you have to break in between and all this stuff it would take so much time and I just eventually kept optimizing and optimizing it and then I used to have to drive to Glendale and review shows and then then come back uh and and shoot them in the following week and then prepare before where now I get the shows the day before I I've optimized even how I reviewed the shows it takes me about 15 minutes to review it and then I go straight in and and try to shoot the whole show in under 30 minutes and then take a 10 to 15 minute break under 30 minutes because I used to shoot two shows a day and shoot for a whole month and now I shoot six a day and shoot you know a couple times a month to shoot 252 episodes I'm sure it also comes with the experience of doing it too you just get more accustomed to it you know okay the flow we don't need 50 Clips I could do this in 20 Clips yeah but yeah no that's that's part of it right you know how much more comfortable you are with shooting this show now so far into it how much different the rhythm of going through it versus trying to figure it out in the beginning you know to to the great Andrew huberman it's the virtuosity side of shooting it where you go from the Mastery side to then now how can you just keep like trying and experimenting to make it better and better and faster and faster and then you have to push your editing teams where they're like it's not possible we have to shoot with seven clips and we need the voiceovers and I'm like well we're doing it anyway like well let's test it and see how it works then they're like oh it doesn't work that too bad and then I slowly was like every clip that I took out of a package saved me seven minutes of shooting and then it went from seven to six to five and I pushed them to four this last season and that didn't work so um threshold but then I had them take out uh one act out of the third Act of the show which will allow me to now shoot it in the 25 minute range instead of the 30 minute range I love that you have uh creative control over it yeah because that's I think that's important rather than just being told what to do you kind of took the reins and been like hey this this works for me the best yeah but it's always been my my show you know what I'm saying it's not like uh nobody had you know the network will weigh in for certain things here and there but they're you know everybody that's you know creating a building to show um you know which is an incredible group of people I mean it's hundreds of people to to get that thing ready for me to be able to assess it the night before for 15 minutes and shoot an episode in 25 minutes but there's still you know managed at my directive of what we're trying to achieve here you know well I'm mind blown like how you are so efficient with your time yeah and you make sure that again like you're the trial and error on whether or not this is going to work you push them to that point I mean but I do that in every aspect of my life so it's like every bit of my my time is completely designed and I just have this Rhythm that my life stays in and I'm constantly optimizing that Rhythm around having every day be a day that I enjoy completely right and whenever I find friction like I'll make decisions and change things and begin to find friction or hire somebody and there's friction whenever there's friction I work to like find a system or a solution or I make change so that I don't sacrifice wasting any of my time or not enjoying any of my time or not using any of my time with intention and then at that point you just it was time slows down you know what I mean and now you're every you understand the value of your time so you're enjoying and experiencing life in a much richer level you know what I mean right this ain't skate time what are the Saints what are we talking about did you did you do that as a skateboarder at all no I if I was in I would have been such a I would have had some of the most incredible video Parts but if I could if I had this way of thinking in this level of systematic approaching like you know what I mean the only place that I really applied this level of of sort of thinking was to when I the last year I entered Tampa Pro right because you got to think like we were shooting an episode of Rob and Big around it it was like Fantasy Factory versus the barracks and me and Barrow were gonna have uh the battle for five G's on who placed higher in Tampa for the robin big episode so I hadn't entered a contest in like six or seven years and so all I did that year is I watched every single run um of the amateur contest right so I could just at least begin to see like how many tricks you could do and where you could do between so I mapped out all the tricks that I would do in my run and then I went to the barracks right and because this was before it was the media house and it was just basically Eric and Steve's skate park this was the old Barracks near the Fantasy Factory yeah because you got to keep in mind back then I like you know I we would skate it nobody would even go there like I had keys and we would just skate there all the time no one was ever there so I went there and used sort of the park layout and I did my run over and over and over till my body broke down right so I would just do it over and over and at about the 45 minute mark my body would break down I couldn't skate anymore then I would see how long it would take me for me to recover then I went back and did it again until my body broke down and then I just got to where I could uh do that run over and over until my body started to break down I would stop that was about at about the 25 minute mark that was two weeks straight I did that then when I got to Tampa for the practice what I do all the years in the past skated for like four hours as much as my bus sweat the soul out of my body then by the time it's ready to take the run my body doesn't even work the next day when it's time to finally do your run you just bail the whole thing off right and go straight to Ybor and and so I'm I just did I got there and I swear like that mapped out perfectly I did the Run flawlessly like 10 times in a row and stop skating after 20 minutes perfect and then left and came back did the Run qualified qualified to the finals and ended up getting like seventh place which was the highest I'd ever placed in Tampa from skating in it for 15 years before you know what I mean so that was the only time that I really you know methodically approached like how to get the most out of of you know skateboarding and doing something uh on that level that that really worked but it was like really the pressure of I didn't want to get there and like like not do anything and I did want to beat bearra well you also had a show behind it too so I didn't want to like yeah yeah you know what I'm saying you get in there like oh we're here to beat this contest and both of us are like 27th and 35th I guess I beat you you know what I mean so how did Barry do he got like 27. Vera wasn't in the park you know hey I was there two weeks I was there two weeks in his Park two weeks leading up to it every single day he was never there oh my God but that's the funny thing is like that having the show behind you like forced you to like do all that yeah certainly motivated me get motivated and I think I would carry that forward you know you know the I never I never I ended up you know transitioning into this like weird stunt career you know what I mean where it's like on Rob and Big for one episode it was you know um I'm we were in um you know big Black's Hometown and there was like a place where you could ride bulls and I rode a bull right and it was the first time I had done like a crazy stunt where it was like what I'm gonna ride a bull now and and so like it opened up the Paradigm of like man it's kind of sick to do stunts because the only other time that I had been put on that level of pressure was when I uh grinded the 20 stair handrail for the DC commercial right right because it was like one of those things because I think here's here's my here's my like the worst part about my professional skateboarding life and my skateboarding Life as a whole I would always look at people doing other tricks and be convinced I could easily do a trick in my mind at that spot and when I got there I could couldn't even try it yeah projecting of what I was going to be able to do when I got there and be like I can't even like board slide this thing but but the problem with that the 20 stair handrail um was I had no choice they had spent all this money and put like the whole thing into it like you have to do it now of course you know I capped it and put a square on it yeah we had to put Masonite down so it was smooth not like these kids now that you know rolling up back lipping that thing you know what I mean oh we have it playing right you know and think how interesting this is from the sense of like you know this is way pretty Fame you know what I mean and this is like this weird like mt4mtv like you know before it was even like a possibility of CR you know the idea of a television career was never even something for consideration now keep in mind look I obviously I grinded the 20 star hand real because you have no choice you know like third try right right it took me like an hour to land the kick no way yeah I was losing my mind and I'm like oh my God I just grinded a 20 stair handle and I can't land I can't close out this commercial that is a gnarly handrail regardless regardless of the square cap or whatever like that's that's legit no no keep in mind the biggest handrail I have ever grinded before that was like eight you know I mean it wasn't like you know what I mean it wasn't like between did you cap it because of you wanted a square rail or because to protect the actual rail like were they tripping on like some something like thank you yeah thank you for trying to push me to support me for the cat but no it was round and aluminum and I wasn't ready to roll that dice because you know like that aluminum almost too dicey yeah and that look at Colin McKay right there running so did you have any practice like elements to it like no I had no practice there was nothing to there was no way to practice you know there wasn't like pads put down or anything and then man the trippiest thing if you can imagine I still had to do it with those 20 people running behind me only now they were asked to be super quiet so now it's just you know what I mean just the pitter-patter of their feet while I'm trying to break through this fear block to do the sketchiest thing I've ever done in my life you know and and but but again this is this was sort of the beginning of putting myself in the line of fire at a high stakes high pressure situation to uh under where you can't decide not to do it you have to do it and and then the next one was riding the bull and then it led to getting attacked by a shark then it led to jockey and the horse then it led to flipping the car breaking the car world record jumping the car back it just led to stunt after stunt after stunt getting attacked by a tiger you know you get addicted to it well I didn't get addicted to it because you know what I what I always like to say is like I'm not like Danny Way or Travis Pastrana or these guys I think these guys that do really really hardcore dangerous stuff and don't think twice about it like are built different like I None of the stuff that I did it I felt was a good idea but I looked at it more of like man it's a it was the it was the worst idea of the day of it'd always be like this is so dumb like why am I here do I really want to lose function of my arm over getting attacked by a shark this isn't even funny and then when it's done it's like anyway I just got attacked by it yeah and and so you hey you want to talk about an adrenaline dump after what after those like stunts I wouldn't even be able to move for like two or three days because it's the build up the anticipation then the experience then like the exhaustion that comes behind it but I wasn't looking at it from an addiction as much as it started to be like man you're building a highlight reel that that no one can ever take away from you you know and I think like as each one happened and then I would kind of create and write stories about them so I would you know design and put the pressure have it be around content and even a lot of those like those big Chevy stunts uh like flipping the car and breaking the car world record for jumping the car backwards like those were big multi-million dollar multi-platform like they were spawn Partnerships you know that ended up they were sponsoring like Street League and viral content and they were doing MTV advertising so those were like business stunt and content all mixed into one but for me I knew as I was doing them like you're man nobody can ever take this away from you and you're building a resume that nobody's has you know and that's sort of what kind of drove me and then the final one I did is I jumped a monster truck through an exploding 40 feet through an exploding RV in front of 50 000 people in Anaheim Stadium yeah I remember that yeah that was the final scene that I ever shot of fantasy factory and I spun that thing around and flipped it around went backwards and jumped through it like I was on as soon as I got through it I was like on one because those monster trucks are super easy to drive because you control all four wheels so it's like they're super easy to control I didn't know that but then I got out and I stood on the top in the middle of that whole Arena like just more in this like moment of like man you ain't never gonna be here again yeah this is the final one because that night my my girlfriend at the time's dad was there and that's when I asked him after that stunt if for permission to ask for her hand in marriage and I it was truly like this transition to where like married life and family life and this sort of like way of living is this is that final moment and her dad's like you know like this like bro y'all are you trying to keep it cool oh yeah you know for sure you're gonna treat her well his initial Instinct was like bro absolutely bro what yeah bro like but he wanted he had to like keep it cool like oh yeah yeah um so you're gonna treat him well you gotta be you always got to treat her well yeah yeah yeah the whole thing what I love about all this though is I mean it stems from skateboarding yeah 100 of it I mean your whole career because you've been like an entrepreneur type even when you were younger starting starting these uh companies yeah uh growing up and everything but I mean like how a little kid from uh Kevin what's the name of the Kettering Kettering Ohio yeah how do you even get started in like the whole skateboarding thing it seems very far out there yeah I mean you know it's it believe it or not man it Dayton in the Dayton area ended up being like the episode of skateboarding outside of California right totally but to me my sister's boyfriend got a board in 86 and I got I wanted to be him and he wore two spiked belts across the chest one around the waist and he had spiked hair and he wore four bandanas on each arm in each leg so I went out and got two spike belts and 16 bandanas and I went to my elementary school with my spiked hair and my bandanas and they're like what is this and I'm like I'm a punk you know and I ended up buying my first skateboard like a fluorescent pink bow Brown from him right and he he was actually in they you know back then there was Cruz and his crew was the street rats and I wasn't um they wouldn't let me be in the street rats all the older kids so me and all my friends had to form another skate crew and that's when I created the Wild Grinders which was which I would eventually go on and make a cartoon Nickelodeon about right but that that process right there I had my board and then I went to my first contest a month later and entered a contest and that was where um I was Neil blender had done a demo and at the end of the contest he was getting into the car with all these chicks and different people and I was like hey there's not enough room for you in that board and he's like you're right and he threw it to me and so wow so now I'm like what I got this Neil blender board and so you know I skated that thing fully and I eventually wrote him a letter eight months later I was on gns and we were teammates you know what I mean it wasn't like two years or years down the line it was like eight months later hey it's the padger yeah this is like when you were like 12 years old yeah yeah so I was like 12 and then I got on gns when I was 13 or like yeah right after I turned 13 in the summer and we were teammates and then everybody that rode gns moved back to Dayton he moved to Dayton and then started the Alien Workshop right and then turned Pro for the Alien Workshop at 16 right so that's how that's how unusual how much you know the beginning of the layers and layers of of serendipity and and synchronicity that exists in my life on sort of an ongoing basis and overlapping basis but that was the beginning of my skate Journey was really really fast how did you even get on gns that quickly though was you sending him like clips of you doing stuff or how yeah there's no it was it was the the true the the it was back then it was the NSA contest right and um and I was like winning like regionals and districts you know like I'm I'm I was well I guess I before I actually started winning them right when I got on but really it was Mike Hill who's the graphic artist and designer failing Workshop he rode for gns at the time and lived in Dayton and then moved to California so I would go I I he ushered me into being on the the company and then I would go and stay with him in San Diego because then he started doing skating for them and doing their Graphics that's where Chris Carter came in became the team manager and that's when they got together and decided to form the Alien Workshop and move back to Dayton to start it okay you hadn't you had you had nothing to do with forming Alien Workshop at that time well at that time we were it was a collect like Mike and Chris were decided to do the company then me and Dwayne Petry and all them got together committed to uh doing the company with them because g s wanted to turn both of us pro at that time and then we all sat in a room together and went through all the names right and it was we were all super into conspiracies and everything that was going on with aliens and and at the time you know um they were basing the concept around um Project Blue Book at Hangar 18 in the in the uh Dayton Air Force Base uh is where they were re-engineering UFO technology so we were like should it be Project Blue Book should it be it was going to be something around and then they were saying they were re-engineering uh Alien or UFO technology and little Alien Workshops inside Hangar 18 and that's why we ended up choosing Alien Workshop as the name and then one of the interesting things about the logo is if you look at the original logo it is shaped like the Denny's um sign because they Mike uh Neil lived in like San Clemente and Mike lived in Oceanside and they would meet at a Denny's in between and and ideate and come up with the entire concept so when he designed the original logo he did it in the shape of the Denny's sign as like an O to where they created in the first place I love the stories behind me yeah it was fascinating so when you when Alien Workshop was kind of born and they were going to turn you Pro on gns did you go and immediately turn pro for alien or immediate immediately right off the bat yeah okay that was uh what year was that 91 91. yeah because you got to think about even think about this from a Dayton perspective they they moved back to Dayton Ohio from San Diego to start it and they built it with um they built it to um and and were in uh Cal skates distribution right which was owned by Jimmy George and you got to think what Jimmy George revolutionized professional skateboarding contests it was the first contest Mike Hill you know the the graphic designer for Alien Workshop led the design of like the first Banks ever the first pyramid ever the first hand row ever all of these things were at these uh first uh contests that were in Dayton and to me I always look at that as like why eventually like went on to to build Street League was like man my my 11 and 12 year old mind watched like these these giant Innovative skate contests and Arenas in my hometown right like so it was already and I was you know I grew I like to say I was raised by entrepreneur wolves because all of these guys around me were building companies he was building these big contests he had at Cal skates distribution they had the skate shops like then Alien Workshop came back and started there like Mark heinzmann uh you know started from front clothing I just was all everyone around me was just building companies and and creating businesses so I just looked at like well of course I'm gonna do that too and I looked at myself as a business when I turned Pro and then you know as soon as I got to California started my first company you know which uh eventually was Orion right when I was like 17. okay well right they give her that young I mean that time in in skateboard history for me like went by so fast yeah but let alone like you were so ahead of the game when it came to that you know I mean obviously you had the surroundings which is obviously like you just said it gave you that I'm supposed to be doing this [ __ ] yeah yeah and that early on I mean I'm I wasn't thinking about business I'm gonna be dead ass honest I mean 17 16 I'm just thinking about probably girls and just skating yeah for the most part there was nothing else in between but like for you to have your eyes already opened then yeah it's pretty I mean this is why you're here yeah that's what I'm saying it's the like and it goes back to that like nature versus nurture you know what I mean like I was surrounded by it and I just didn't even think the same way that there wasn't even a question to me that I would be a pro skateboarder you know what I mean like I was surrounded by all these Pros like they would always come into the skate shop or through the distribution like I knew everybody it wasn't like you know like I'm had to like fight to like like become recognized like I was recognized so quickly and then it became like this is I'm going to become a professional skateboarder then I didn't ever think about like becoming a business person I looked at like this is just what you're meant to do oh yeah you know I mean which one am I gonna do you know and and even in those early years I used to track like all of like I used to like consider myself like a business and I would track all my finances why I still have all my um money that I earned in like 91 and 92 and I I can look to my entry of December of 91 where I sold one board and got a check for two dollars and that it's in there like Alien Workshop board royalties two dollars yeah you know what I mean like it's that like type of thing because you gotta understand even even like I had quit high school and then um I was wavering on whether or not I wanted to move right uh to San Diego is where I was gonna move and then they guaranteed me thousand dollars a month if I move to San Diego the alien alien okay I felt like I won the lottery it's like I could only imagine it was like I didn't even I couldn't I didn't even I didn't talk to anyone and ask anyone load up the Civic here we go man like we're we're headed to Leucadia yeah [Applause] that way for you to stay or did you have to like you have to pay for the rent too without a thousand dollars yeah but but I want to say like me and me and John Drake shared a room so like you know and then when we first moved out there um um we moved in with four girls who had an extra room and um which ended up being like how I got really close with Ken Block right because Ken was dating one of my roommates right so and then Barrow was dating the other it was a really interesting like Dynamic uh and then me and Drake shared a room in there and so it was it was super cheap and and you felt like we were we were millionaires man I don't you know living down by the beach like living like living with all these girls like living you know and of course my mom you know was devastated that I was moving in with girls her first initial reaction was like oh my God he's gonna have AIDS and it's like it's so drastic no I mean the most extreme version like not like you know not like just zero to a hundred on like worst case scenario by moving out of Ohio to living with girls the next stop AIDS at that point alien was still in San Diego or no no it was never insane he was always in Dayton OH because you guys were saying that I thought you were saying that they were having meetings out here yeah that was that they they had the initial meetings out here because everybody worked at gns I then they moved they started the company in Dayton with Jimmy George you know what I mean interesting move though because the industry is out here right so to form a form another company out in Ohio seems kind of backwards no it's it's but again think of the the all the years of those big Pro skateboarding contests then the Cal skates distribution and then having the big sort of distribution infrastructure sure so it and then this you know idea for those guys is hey you can ship to the east coast and the West Coast from the middle of here so so they were looking at um looking at it more from a business opportunity they had a partner with infrastructure um so it was a much easier way for them to build a company since they uh really didn't have any money to start the company with you know what I'm interesting when you moved out here you uh how how uh longer after you moved out here was drawers I want to say I can't remember how I connected um with drawers in the beginning oh no oh [ __ ] I don't know I can't remember how I connected with them initially but it was super super early I think I actually did meet um meet Ken through like Danny or somebody um at the um at the SF contest and then they started flowing me and then when I moved to San Diego then we became friends then I started riding for drawers and then he started dating my roommate then we became uh much more uh closer right because he was a huge influence on me in sort of my he was the first person that I would see you know approach like you know writing out what you're gonna do each day and being more methodical and being more focused like he was that initial influence as it was related to um you know shaping my business mind further uh in in being more more focused and looking at more like ideas to better myself and and someone to mirror he was really one of the first people because those drawers ads were so good yeah back in the day I think you had the one with the the paint was that either with the paint in the cigarette yeah that OG one which is I can't remember where we started with it was like should we just pour the paint on them and then it like poured over his face with the cigarette in it boom then it's like this iconic like yeah like a memorable shot real time totally you guys had some great ads it was such a good company too I remember everybody was like draw I got Float by drawers for a while and it was the first company that I went in there and they're like here's a cart take what I'm like okay this is I can just there's a big card I don't know it's got two racks on it too yeah I don't know then they blessed me man like it was so dope yeah it was really sick yeah like their whole setup in that era was really amazing you know like when it went to dub and then it went to uh then eventually DC you know what was it like uh because a lot of people or a lot of you guys at the Alien Workshop were from date or out in Ohio how was it getting like Josh kalis and all these new guys like Lenny Kirk onto the team was that a big part of you doing that or was it the team manager at the time yeah cause you got to think it was you know like Scott and Beau in Florida Thomas and um uh Canada yeah and then Dwayne and and Louisiana and and um then we me and Drake moved out from Dayton to to San Diego and then that's where we started connecting with kayliss and Lenny you know back in that time is really um and then we lived you know you know and and we we were like the fun crew you know what I mean it was like me Dwayne John and Kelly bird that lived in the The Crib down in the beach in Pacific Beach that would like party every single night so like everybody would come to our house and it would just be you know the craziest dice games and just like you know like Mayhem and and you know from the if you can imagine this it's like you know like you know probably like a half a block down the road was Jamie Thomas who wasn't drinking who was like planning like you know building the like on the vision for the video part where we're like we're partying we'll figure out what we do tomorrow and then Kayla's was caught in that because Kayla's was like you know like Jamie like you know pulled him out of Michigan really trying to like like help guide his talent and then we're over here like time of our lives like you know you want to come roll with us you know and and that's what I think ultimately like led to that and then you know it's you you could see it in the quality of skateboarding from from that era you know where Jamie went on to create this historic career where I you know I would probably say like in in the five years of living within a mile of Jamie Thomas he did 500 tricks as a professional skateboarder that ended up in magazines and video parts and I did like seven you know I mean I like the joke that I made like I was just more Savvy of deal making and getting my working my way into deals and and I per trick I'm the highest paid skater of all time her trick Landon because like if you went through my entire career my like my handful of video parts are the only tricks I've ever landed and then if you look at all my ads half of them were Bales half of them were full poses you know what I'm saying and they're and and the video part was like two or three years away from that ad so no nobody ever asked yeah I think at the time though there were some you know questionable ads yeah back then yeah well I certainly just across the boards though yeah yeah yeah everybody has I mean I can't say everybody but a lot of people have some questionable ads yeah I don't think that goes down anymore yeah in that time especially that's gnarly you can't pose a gnarly trick and put it out yeah yeah no you'll get caught now yeah yeah we got away with a lot of posing back in 95. yeah you guys really created I mean alien and drawers I mean you were a big part of drawers a little bit you know what I mean like really you were being you were face of it yeah yeah for sure yeah no no doubt like it like once I moved in and got connected with that group that really led to you know then then DC obviously yeah like pushed that to a to a much further level you know and and and you know I'm you know thankful and grateful that I built that relationship made that connection and ultimately um you know was offered to like hey do you want to do a signature shoe which which really changed my life completely right changed changed my trajectory on on everything and and then obviously DC really blew up from from there were you one of the original members of DC yes it was Danny and Colin yeah and then you know man these these guys um like they flew me to Tahoe with them uh Damon and Ken for a snowboarding trip and I had snowboarded like you know three or four times before that you know I was dabbling in it and on that trip they asked me if I wanted a signature shoe that they would like to offer me a signature shoe you know and it was like ah it's amazing you know like this amazing trip and so Ken thought it would be funny on our first like run on the trail um to take me to like whatever like skill a you know whatever a mountain for the super Advance which is basically you have to yeah like black diamond level so you got you gotta jump off a cliff to even snowball I'm like and he we got off it's starting to Blizzard I'm I'm like sitting here I can't get I don't know how to I don't know what to do then like the you know the ski patrol guys like you have to go Ken laughs he laughs at me he's like and disappears off of a cliff and then like he's gone and then the guy look the ski Patrol's like you have to go we're shutting the mountain down I'm sitting on my butt only snowboarded like three or four times on the edge of a giant Cliff where I can't see anything because it's so snowy and he's like you have to jump there's the only way down and so I jump into the abyss I'm rolling up the windows rolling up the windows and when I hit the snow I just blew out my back and I had to unstrap and paddle on my chest in the blizzard all the way down to like the cabin like because I could barely walk I got up I left the snowboard where it was took off all my snow gear didn't even touch it every again left it and walked in and ordered a Jack and Coke and he never snowboarded again that was it that was it never even got near another snowboard oh my God you got a shoe out of it probably like 20 something something like that [ __ ] right yeah who knows like 42. yeah all from that one I mean yeah you had an illustrious career with DC yeah I mean holy [ __ ] yeah and it kept scaling and a lot you know as you know so many layers to to it as a whole but even back then it was like it was the first shoe that first shoe that I did was okay we all chill in Nikes like how do we how do we make the Nike skate shoe and and that shoe was the first shoe with lace Loops it had nylon lace Loops so it was the first shoe that had you know the sidewall had some shape to it and then it had nylon lace loops and I man I regretted it at the most insane level when that shoe was about to launch because I just had nightmares of it not working and then the nylon lace Loops tearing and then the shoe not even being skatable and then people sending it back and then even Pacific Drive the skate shop was like they were they were gonna get a hole punch so in case like people brought them back that they were gonna do hole punches so I I could when that shoe launched I didn't leave my house for a week because I was like this my entire shoe dream this entire thing is gonna be like end and instead like it like the company blew up overnight off of that first sort of like step into athletic skate Footwear is this a shoe yeah you didn't even have a chance to like test it or anything no I did but you know it wasn't like it didn't you know you know how some people skate with the heavy foot you know some people skate with a heavier foot yeah yeah but even this you know this was probably this is probably the most significantly Innovative trick that I had done in the era of you know this is way before anyone ever nolled to a rail in any way shape or form right like this is probably the first nollie grind of any type on a rail you know what I mean so this was like it's 94.95 yeah so this would have been like the the as it relates to the most Innovative thing I'd ever done in my career from a timing perspective with the launch of of my first shoe you know what I mean that was the railed Escape back then like that was Ronnie bertino suspect yeah yeah no Ronnie was there the day that I did this too oh wow look at that City College man speaking of I'm gonna just sidebar this real quick because well we had Chris Markovich on the show yeah and we were talking to him about the um Carlsbad Gap yeah and you guys were battling for kickflip I believe and he did it first yeah and I believe you switch Ollie did yeah is that the is that the story yeah but yeah I kind of saw that yeah no you did yeah yeah because I wanna I wanna set the record straight okay yeah like yeah that was devastating you know and and you know obviously I I love Chris you know you know and Chris is someone that you know I I met very early in my career and and have been friends with him forever you know what I mean but yeah I think the funniest thing about it was imagine that in this day and age for sure like the two Pros showing up and hey first guy who kick flips it like like gets it and the crazy thing was is I I would have never thought in a million years that um it would then be the cover that was the crazy thing and so why I always look back at it as like so devastating because I I put it down first and then he rolled away right and so the switch Ollie was the like man the most angry sad defeated switch Ollie and it's like and this is how crazy in like I'm I the smaller Gap I wanted to nolli uh 180 heal flip because that that hadn't been done and and so the next day I came back and kept putting down Nolly 180 heel flip after nollie 180 he'll fit because I was I was going back to Ohio um the next day and I I was so angry that I kicked the trash can and broke my foot no yeah and so then we had to get in the car and we were driving back to to Ohio and we were somewhere in the in the middle of the country and I tried to like impress everybody at my run I drove like 12 hours straight and I was like one more exit and we ran out of gas and then they were so mad at me so I had to like hobble with my broken toe down like a freeway in like new New Mexico uh to get there but yeah I'm well sorry for bringing up that weekend I mean it seems like you want to forget it no no I look I always I always think it's a it's it's just interesting when you think of the stakes of it it's such an odd thing because it doesn't happen in skateboarding whatsoever that you would both be trying the same trick and then like you know it turning into the cover for a minute was kind of like a big deal but I um I just always looked at like man that would have been like so major for me in my career and everything up into that point if that was me for sure you know what I'm saying sure but I didn't right away do you remember the circumstances of like were you there trying it or Chris was not trying no we're like you guys both yeah we went there together yeah yeah okay okay okay yeah yeah no we went there to get as I recollect sure and again I don't I don't my memory is a little Shifty uh because I've done so much but that was the first switch trick gone down right yeah yeah pretty damn good too that thing was yeah this is a long time ago yeah you can't get a little you know yeah look I'm not I'm sorry it looks like you're smiling if you zoomed in on my face you'd see a very sad boy oh that is just sad there's so much sadness in there oh man there we go there we go no that is a upset that is a soured soul so good bro dude that cap was big hell yeah that was one of those gaps that didn't shrink over time you'd go back there I'm like well this thing's still huge yeah yeah no look I never I grew out of going to gaps like that you know so I wouldn't know I I'm and then at some point you know what I mean I just I I couldn't jump down anything uh pretty quickly into my career you know what I mean like the body started to fade structurally to where I couldn't take impact uh you know pretty quickly um you know into the 20s you know what I mean it didn't take long for my body to fade on me yeah I don't really recall you I mean even when Markovich brought that up I I didn't even really I knew you switched Ollie did but I don't really remember it I have always known you as like the tech yeah like the tactic guy not a not a big and plus the uh the DC handrail commercial that we just spoke about and stuff like that but never never considered you a jumper yeah at all always Tech always yeah like the long lines like right on the streets and stuff yeah like I said I didn't do much yeah there's five video parts so I've spread out over a 20-year career with about you know 12 tricks a piece is it is about everything I did you know yeah but I think some people I mean listen like a Mark Johnson has 50 plus video Parts he's just crazy with it and other people leave their mark on skateboarding in different ways right it's like you don't have to be the most produced skateboarder yeah Mariano he's had five video Parts yeah no I'm not a no I'm not a you know you guys don't have to try to make you feel good I'm trying to I don't I don't worry about it I don't lose sleep about it you know what I'm saying I just I think it's funny more than anything you know what I'm saying like because I did have a a pretty prolific skate career but think about it like I there was so much pressure on me on that DC Video what Danny was doing what everybody was doing Stevie and Kaylas and like van England's like like like like Prime major part like all this stuff like I started thinking like okay what can I do to try to even be on this level and that's what led me to even come up with the idea of right creating the skit uh that became uh Robin pig in the first place right it was really trying to figure out something that would be equally as powerful uh for my part to make up for the fact that I knew I wasn't gonna have the skating that compared to everybody else that was in this video and how big it was that was your thinking behind that that was yeah interesting that's pretty amazing yeah yeah it was forecasted that way and then have everything kind of just work out oh oh but you could have never expected right because it wasn't it was done out of this sort of like gotta come up with with something that's really funny you know what I mean and God bless Greg Hunt you know for for you know really um creating it right and then you know all all he he did was like call a local Security office in San Diego and say hey we're looking for like a big guy that's kind of fun and lovable but intimidating but lovable oh we got the perfect guy that it was as much as that and then we just met up and shot a scene together and and it was like how you doing good to meet you like not nothing more nothing less but it was like instant like chemistry of like oh that's my guy you know and and there was no vetting no like none none we did not meet with any other person we didn't even like you know what I'm saying we didn't even like it wasn't like he talked to different people it was like I got the perfect guy he showed up we just paid him like his his security rate you know what I mean to even be there in the first that's the OG one where I've like sprained my ankle and he's carrying me and like like there's some of the very first stuff we we shot together that we had never even met at the time you know what I mean did he even know how to focus support at that point we had to pre-break that one we had to pre-break it because he kept like trying to do it and even right there go back even right there it was already broken and I had to stomp on the truck so it still looked like I was yeah you can tell right after it's a little bit yeah right yeah so I had already had like uh broken it before that time you know what I mean that's sick yeah it's so funny man it's so funny how just some things are just yeah whatever whatever you want to call it just meant to be were any of those skits like just impromptu like he like ran and tackled someone shoved someone off like uh yeah the guy he ran and tackled was like my super good friend and and eventually went on to be my my manager beneficial yeah like he was just like the homie like it was so everything was you know set up um um on purpose you know except for some of the interactions the more mellow ones you know but fundamentally it was this idea of like you know you know what the streets are like and security guards are like and how funny would it be if you just had a security guard talk to a security guard yeah I mean like that was like the the other side of it that um that made it like really ins like simply understood and then the X Factor was our chemistry then then you got to think like um you know me and him were just we began to see like when we would go out and hang out together how the world would react and so we just started living life together um in and playing up on on sort of the you know the juxtaposition of us and all different types of types of places like one time me and his you know three best friend or two best friends uh Zeus and Bam Bam we all went to Vegas together and I had just broken my arm and we all just got in suits and we're just cruising around Vegas right and so everybody just assumed I was some super famous like something because like why is he had these three giant dudes and so we would just get access to everything and there was like a Roy Jones Jr fight at the MGM and I just walked straight up to the person asking tickets I said if you don't mind we're just gonna walk in and they're like go right ahead so we walk I walk all the way down all of us down to like where the empty row of seats like in the fourth row and I said if you don't mind we're gonna sit right here and they're like oh go right ahead yeah and like just assumed because because whoever this guy this is Vegas this guy is like something you know what I mean and I just we sat there and watched for free by just like making it look like I was someone super special because I must be we're all in suits and I'm flanked by three giant security guards and and you know girls were coming up to me hey do you have a girl like no way can I give him my number it's like he must be like it was that was the Super we were like Whoa man this is super fascinating like sort of power of perception experience and then we just ended up doing you know for fun with DC doing the gumball together and then they shot a documentary about uh the gumball and and that documentary is the the director of the documentary was like man you guys should do a show you know and I was at the time like I don't have time to do a television show it's not something I would ever want to do and you know because at that point I was really focused on designing shoes for DC like I had designed to develop the side hustle where I'm uh designed and got every shoe that I got picked I got a royalty on and at one point I had like 35 shoes damn that's really where I made a lot of money in the beginning on on the on without anybody really even knowing yeah and and so I was like man this is so good I want to I want to focus on this and and it just seemed like a a bit of a hassle but then Jeff Tremaine saw that show or saw the documentary he was like these guys should do a show then when it was Tremaine and jackass and big brother and someone I knew then the conversation you know really changed but you know my entire like trajectory into television was because of Reuben Fleischer and Jeff Tremaine and really Reuben because he shot the documentary and then um you know then really showed it to to Jeff and then really drove this thing forward and the ironic thing is Reuben directed the pilot and then they MTV fired him because they didn't think he should direct anymore and of course he went on to direct Zombieland and Venom he became like one of the biggest directors in the world but back then they're like no you're not you can't do this you're not a director that's crazy to me well it makes sense though that the Tremaine Factor because we're skateboarders you we you know he speaks our language you relate to him you trust him but like having that one interaction just hiring a security guard but then staying in touch with him like how did you have the foresight to even like get his number and stay in touch with him and go to Vegas that seems very bizarre to me it seems very bizarre why do you got to make it be so weird no no no no no no no no rather than just like hey let's let's connect something simple this guy makes it sound like I got I got my hands behind my back I'm hey do you want to maybe exchange numbers and hang out sometime yeah it's just like a skit or you know what I mean like it looks so funny but but I think it's a testimony me and him just hit it off yeah you know what I mean and then we just started hanging out and and doing all types of stuff together right so and then when the video blew up then it was like you know us together was this really fun thing too for like you know doing going going on autograph signings and tours and different like little adventures together it became this really fun uh sort of thing and then then you know we went and did that Gumball together and and then it was like Hey this might this may turn into a television show but you gotta think man it's like we shot that it took you know nine months before they even said they would shoot the pilot then shot the pilot and then it was like you know it was like two years before it ever aired you know what I mean so it was like a two-year gap of like is this even gonna work should we even be on TV you know and and is it even going to happen but again in my for me I just in that same two years I kept seeing what was happening on the retail side with Bam's product right and so that's why you know I renegotiated with alien said can I get I'll take I was getting five G's a month at the time and said I'll take a 2500 salary if you give me um five and seven dollars a board instead of two and three dollars a board right and Chris Carter was absolutely you know what I mean like what and then I did everything happened before yeah yeah and then I went and did a deal with d just betting on man if this thing turns into some bam uh level of sales like I want to get the royalties up and then I I negotiated I you know since I was so deep in designing shoes instead of um like like picking one of the pro models that I liked the most I did a deal with DC to get a 10 royalty instead of a five percent royalty on like Stan Smith like super clean mainstream shoe and have it be 10 and then the show came out and I had like the mainstream shoe in the mall then I had the boards and I just made you know you know Millions off of that shoe and and then made you know hundreds of thousands you know off the board sales but immediately right out the gate like every single one of those deals that I did for royalties and products like that show was on the air for like you know two months and it all of them exploded you know I mean it that show took off yeah everybody loved it when you first were doing the show and you it was it was a done deal you had to start filming and everything was there any doubt in your mind of like oh my God now I'm going to be on TV how are people going to receive this like the skateboarding Community like oh my God I'm really putting myself out there with this no no no as you can imagine I've never really you know I try to I tried to walk the line and keep it real you know what I mean but I don't I'm never going to be overly concerned on what okay the bitterest industry in the history I'm saying the bitterest group of human beings in the history of the world on on whether or not now now obviously I got to control the narrative from the very beginning and I controlled the story versus because we look at look at the look at The Tale of Two Worlds right um Robin Big versus like life Orion a lot of people don't have control he had no control and it drove him into No Man's Land versus like me having total control and it was born in skateboarding right uh but yeah I I did did I have fear that it would not work probably that the most I think when we shot the pilot like I watched the first cut of the pilot and I left the room and laid down in the grass and and wanted to cry because I'm like this is the like literally the worst thing I've ever watched oh wow and this is never going to make it so you know all that energy and sort of Forward Thinking sort of Hope like oh I'd renegotiate all these deals like like this thing's gonna be big like I'm gonna like have this like entirely new platform like it it was the worst thing I'd ever seen because the problem was is Jeff was like not a TV producer Jeff made jackass and jackass was like welcome to jackass I'm Johnny Knoxville this is like the taser you know what I mean like there wasn't storytelling and developing and the network knew that there was something in here because keep in mind they we when when we went in and pitched Robin big the show was called best friends and we shot this little mini version of me and him and we brought the song and people let me tell you about my bed and so they would not buy that they were like no you're the star like you're the one that wrote this whole idea like you're the pro skater like you have this whole thing and so the the what they picked up was Rob Dyrdek's rules to success and that was the pilot that we shot and the number one rule is always surround yourself with good people and that was big black that's how it was introduced but the initial show was Rob Dyrdek's rules of success and it was fully script scripted it was completely scripted and when we shot like the opening scene it was there was like 10 Executives in my living room watching monitors why they filmed us on giant cameras and the opening scene was supposed to be like um like a discussion about like the nut like I was supposed to be hungover so I was like had this fake blender and we were like uh we were putting uh like uh Tums in the blender because I'm so hungover some fake scene and as we're talking like we start talking about being in prison and him saying I'd get you if you were in prison I said I tell you what you ain't never catching me in prison so it just immediately went off the script into the rails of like no I could I could beat you in a foot race you could not beat me in a foot race like it just went immediately Off Script into like then it was like oh we should do we should film The Foot Race So then it it's like the naturalness of what we were creating was starting to shine through it but in the initial edit it was trying to fit it into the scripted show and so the head of MTV knew there was something special here and then they brought in Shane Nickerson um to who was the story editor on the um The Newlywed Show and to be like can you pull the story out of this and then he did an edited version where he's like no this is just them two this is a this is a buddy comedy of two best friends and so when he did an edit of just me and him and got rid of all the ancillary characters and it was just the story of me and him and his more best friends lens that they were like okay okay that's the show and then that's that's what they eventually um picked up and became big yeah wow what a journey yeah it was just yeah and keep in mind like two years yeah two years into life and then but when it hit boy it was like man you're Autumn you I was famous overnight right you know I remember like I I went to Vegas and Like I'm had just got to Vegas and I got a call from like the main person in um like the concierge like if you know hello Mr Dyrdek um a couple of the Patriots and angels are wondering if you want to party with them and I'm like is this a joke you know what I mean and like I go they take me up I'm like sure I go up to a suite and it's all these pro football players and baseball players smoking weed and I'm like oh is this you guys allowed to do this like you know but it was like this fascinating walk into immediately now being recognized by everyone everywhere you win is super super interesting transition I'm glad I was like it happened in my 30s right because you gotta think I was 32 when Robin big first aired because I was at least like um was way more focused on not like you know being famous and like oh this is my end game but looking at it as like here's this this platform and this jumping off point uh to to begin to accelerate sort of my my vision for business and I wanted to create Street League and I was already filming Street Dreams at the time like you know I was already doing all of these things um already beginning to develop Wild Grinders you know at that point all of it was like how do I build these really big skate projects that are authentic but mainstream was sort of what my entire ecosystem you know at that time ahead of that show I partnered with Travis and and Johann to do a rogue status you know what I mean like um just all of that stuff it was about how do you use this platform for for business and even after that first season you gotta think I was getting paid like five grand a month uh from Red Bull and I had that Red Bull fridge in the first season of Robin big and monster said we'll pay you a hundred grand a month and I was like to Unleash the Beast Unleash the Beast dude that's when you got your monster back tattoo right no no look look even even like the funniest thing is like I never created an exit strategy for the monster back tattoo you know what I mean and you know and and even you know they were you know they they paid me millions of dollars over the years and they they also invested millions of dollars into into launching Street League you know what I mean so you know I'm very thankful to them you know in in a major way but even but they were asking me to create a like a and like something a viral video and then I thought to myself God how funny Would it be like if I faked like a monster back tat so obviously we did the entire thing so authentic then I called my parents you know what I mean and they're like oh God this entire thing but I never created an exit strategy right so everybody there's people from the Midwest you know that are like 48 years old that'll be like man you still got that monster tat you know what I mean where it was like you know what I mean for the last 15 years people still think there's there is a small portion of America that thinks that I still have a giant monster tattoo on my back oh so you never explained to anyone that this was yeah because I never yeah I like I could you know you're screaming into the wind yeah I mean you could say like oh it was fake but nobody nobody in the midwest that watched this ever saw me the one video or time that I talk about like how it was fake you know I love it dude people are expressed so ridiculous yeah that's good this Show's big I was out with big cat out in Seattle or everywhere you go with him he still gets recognized from that show like it's like people grew up loving that show yeah incredible and it was only on for like three seasons right for Robin big yeah yeah yeah we barely shot any episodes right that's crazy because then you know the The Strain on our relationship was man I felt like man this is like you know I'm it would for him it was like I'm not a sidekick for me it's like man there's so much more for me to do here you know and then it was like became this very deep strain between me and him then we're shooting it at my house and it's like like I just it was wearing me out and and then we just eventually had a blowout and stop shooting then we came back together and finished the final season and we didn't talk we shot some of the funniest stuff we had ever shot together and would come on set not say a word shoot CR the funniest scenes ever and then separate and not say a word and then didn't talk to each other for years and until man it was like and then like we didn't talk to each other for years like somehow like through Myspace or something we connected and then we met and that was it it like immediately best friends again forget all that stuff anyway now you want to be on Fantasy Factory like immediately on the show we didn't even like it was like hey that was crazy you know we had to go through like transition we both like had to manage the the the the the the mental side of this Fame and what it meant it was a much different thing for him I was a pro skateboarder and like was on a mission and like was using this platform had so much more to him it was like like Rockstar overnight like what am I doing type of like um you know I don't want to be like the sidekick I'm more than just a security guard that was sort of that that sort of pain so we really ended up only shooting like 35 episodes and then at the time you know they basically you know because I I knew that I didn't want to um shoot in my house anymore and this reality show game is too brutal right because they would come to the house at like nine and leave at nine and we would shoot for like four or five months straight it would be so taxing you know it was a it was a horrible experience because you would just shoot hours and hours and hours of footage that would then be edited into some stories then you'd have to do pickups and all this stuff and that was when I read the article with Vinnie Debona who was the producer of America's Funniest Home Videos about how America's Funniest Home Videos was a 500 million dollar syndication business and that's when I was like okay I'm gonna make the cool version of America's Funniest Home Videos and that that at the time we created it was called money shot because we were gonna have it be uh connected to winning money and then Shane was like why don't you call it something that you say all the time and I'm like okay well what do I say is I call you should call it Ridiculousness you always say this is Ridiculousness you know and I'm like all right let's call it that then and and then MTV picked up Ridiculousness back then while we were shooting Robin big but I would have gotten 30 35 000 an episode to shoot it and they wanted to shoot a pilot but then they offered me a hundred and twenty five thousand episode to either shoot season four of Robin big or create my own show okay and so man I was like it was I spent this weekend of like uh like you know like I I am I'm afraid to do a new show because it's like it's just gonna be compared to Robin big and what if it does what if it doesn't work and that sort of like you know they have a winning formula over here yeah and it's like you already know how this feels like that's so much money like can you just go get this money like ah but you and him aren't even talking like can you even do it and I just I just like made the decision one Saturday morning like you you've got to take the shot like and then I spent the whole weekend and wrote the entire concept uh initially it was called the fantasy life and it was this the idea of turning my fantasies into reality and this uh was going to be a show about me coming up with ideas and then and then bringing them to life and it was going to be my businesses and different like adventures and different things and then I was looking for a building uh to be my office and then when I got in the office I realized like oh no this is like Willy Wonka's like chocolate factory this is the Fantasy Factory and that's one like really evolved and then took that shot and then again that turned into like so it really evolved because I knew the building being the main character and having foam pits in the skate park and all that would would be even bigger than even comparing it to just me and my cousins acting like big black you know what I mean and then it it and then we had to figure out how to produce it because everybody that produced it tried to make Robin big with with drama and then eventually we began to find a rhythm and like no it's more of this like office setting and then you know immediately the stunts started to come into play because I got attacked by the shark in the very first season and then that that basically opened The Floodgate Of like all these different crazy stunts that you can begin to do to to elevate the action in the show that really separated it from right you know wow what a whirlwind yeah yeah how long was a Fantasy Factory on the air and then we did Eights Seasons eight seasons did it overlap Ridiculousness then after a Fantasy Factory got into a rhythm then they said will you shoot ridiculously okay so then I started shooting them both uh simultaneously when I would uh not shoot one I would shoot the other or shoot them at the same time you killed it with the the all these shows man I mean MTV is like they're they're in the Rob yeah really crazy but you got to think about how lucky I got yeah right because it's not like man I'm you know the idea was I was gonna build a a network America's Funniest Home Videos and make a faster version and get that syndication money like Vinnie Debona and and but what had happened was as the show was almost canceled a handful of times and and it was what happened to cable was like streaming evolved and short form content evolved and then linear cable flattened out so it was almost like it's so hard to launch new programming on cable anymore and then when all the dust settled this show that we created is like this hybrid of short form content and streaming content by play playing it all the time and easy to watch and it rated on a consistent basis so when when when everything settled away this thing gets consistent viewership so we can take shots at other parts on the network and it became sort of an annuity for them which then gave me this incredible amount of Leverage to then you know go and build a company and sell a company that produced the show right and and then continue to negotiate and and shoot so many shows that I'm able to optimize it and shoot more and more and I'm even you know I'm about to start shooting 336 a year wow and start shooting a today um and but I'm gonna do it in less time than I should say Okay believe it or not I figured out a way to pull an hour out of the whole thing it would blow your mind like how I'm going to be able to do it but you know that I just kept like I got lucky and so many different ways and then I had gotten really to understand how to build create build and sell businesses so now I could I looked at it as an opportunity you know to like okay you can use this newfound skill set you've developed of understanding business multi-dimensionally and understanding what it takes to build and sell companies why don't you build and sell a production company based off of this consistent Revenue that you have with this show but then when I did that I now understood both sides I now understood what the network needed from a value perspective now I understood what we needed from a production company and where all the margin all that existed and then I would negotiate not between lawyers and agents with the head of the network on the unit economics of the show based off of what would be most profitable for him and then I would build our production around how we could make it the most profitable all of which was built behind a business plan and a business this model to sell it it within three years then we wanted to sell it for 50 million and ended up selling it for 190 million wow you know what I'm saying just to give you an idea of the scale of like what I was able to do that doesn't even include all the money I'm getting paid just to shoot the show you know right right which again which again is only four percent of my time you know what I mean the way that it's been optimized insane lightweight sidebar I remember going to have an interview with you for the diamond book right and that was a really mind-blowing experience for me to see how you really operated because when I came in and sat down it was definitely to the point where we were gonna get this done in a good amount an hour I probably had an hour of your time and we got it done but I I noticed you had a [ __ ] a notebook of just everything broke down on a day on your your daily look what you do yeah on a daily basis and I was just like this is amazing like a but how could I formulate that to my life you know what I mean obviously you have people that are helping you put this notebook together get it everything properly but it all in all I was just like really like man this is like a [ __ ] a moment where I was just mind-blowing bro yeah you know what I mean and this is a skateboarder you know what I mean so hey this is where this is where I see I saw you and this is why I noticed who Rob Dyrdek was as a skateboarder but so that's always gonna I'm always see you as a skateboarder yeah yeah Steve where you've evolved to yeah and it's all just being a skateboarder first and foremost yeah that I was just I just had a moment I was like man that was so inspiring and just to see like what you were doing at that stage and I obviously you were gonna go and do way more than where you were at that point but do bro yeah I really want to say like that hey it makes me happier and look I I in for me it is I realized I could grow into anything yes and I began to map out where do I want to grow and then I began to see like no you can you don't you don't want to be really good at business you want to master life you want to master time and energy so that you can live experience life in this extraordinary way and then I just kept growing and growing I guided my Evolution throughout the years right so it goes from like hey I need this notebook to be organized to where now it's I'm about to create a software you know what I'm saying and I have multiple I collect all of this data and track all of my time and have you know you know multiple uh you know structured systems where I organize all the people that work for me and my entire life and everything in this beautiful Rhythm that takes very very little of my energy that I would have thought in that day when we met would be impossible to get to right because it's no different than like nysha Houston's gonna go like literally kick flip back lip the Hollywood 16 first try and laugh like you know and if any of us were to like even start the journey you know what I mean it would be like okay can I kick flip lip a flap are and I start with the curb right and but and I'm not saying any of us could eventually do it but it's like now the way that I operate is I do I have so many Integrated Systems that are allowing me to to have this very comprehensive complex um you know amazing life but I grew into it but I decided where I wanted to grow because like I had to learn so much because I quit High School I didn't understand money and even all the years where I was making TV and doing all these money I didn't understand money I just kept like you know like the more I would make the more I would spend and you know everybody that's found a lot of success in in street wear and skateboarding like it's all a boom and bust because they never took the time to learn money they all like Hey we're gonna we we all rose up and then this is gonna last forever and they never thought about like like actually what money meant to them and how to preserve and grow and and build money like we're just not taught like that as skateboarders and and so again I only say it to you know it's on you to decide what the future looks like and you've got to decide the plan like what you want the future to be and then create a plan to get there and if you do that in all aspects of your life you will begin to grow into the ideal version of yourself and then God willing you get to the ideal version of yourself you become in this sort of perpetually evolving into your Limitless potential self where you get more addicted to your ability to grow into anything and you keep experiencing life in this richer way because you keep becoming a better better version of yourself that you never thought was possible once you reach that Pinnacle everybody needs to create a life plan listen iCal works great iCal if you want yeah I do do I use Google right now okay okay but I had a programmer come in and like we're like basically write a script that goes over it so it pumps all my time into dashboards okay but you gotta you gotta realize it's it's it's easy for me it's effortless for me right because it's like you know it takes discipline in the beginning then it becomes a habit then it becomes intuitive in a way of life right right and to me I track every hour um you know I plan the hours pretty clean but I'm super adaptive I don't I don't allow a schedule to control me and but I always go back the next day and put in what I did I tag everything and then you know I started using qualitative data I would ask myself how I feel about my life work and health 0 to 10 every day and I did that because if you do that you're you're asking yourself how you feel about these things and if you feel low you make a note like oh it's like this person it's this thing and then then if that happens a couple times you're like okay I gotta change that you know and I did that for so many years that I began to optimize how how everything felt interesting you know what I mean and that really changed everything and I still do this do it to this day and then I track my discipline right I know if I get up before five brain train eat clean don't drink take my supplements meditate get in the gym um that I'm going to have a higher quality of life so then I started tracking do I do it every day then it pumps into a dashboard just I've gamified it because I see how consistent and what my percentages are and so all of this together knowing how you use your time and designing it in a balanced way around how it makes you feel then tracking qualitative data of how do you actually feel then looking at it all in numbers and gamifying it has led me to a the place that I am where everything is so optimized and efficient you know what I mean do you ever take a break you ever just I'm gonna chill today no but see you would think I would need a break but I feel like I'm chilling my whole life okay like you're like look you're like God damn I'm tired yeah like that would be so hard but that's what that's where that's why the huberman like episode hit me so hard where this virtuosity like where it's like man I am in this this Rhythm it's a flow state for me where I'm just continually needling and optimizing and trying different things from this beautifully peaceful State because you got to understand 252 episodes the 18 companies two or you know a massive acquisition last year like all the companies that we launched in the last year the podcast working on the software the book managing my family office and essentially all my assets I did all of that last year with this year with 20 of my time I only work and this would be considered work right including the drive in here and the drive to my house right like I just only dedicate around 20 25 of my time to actually working on like business or stuff as it's related to it then I spend the rest of my time with my wife and my family or or my physical health like all the things that make me healthier and stronger and more energy so I already live in this super balanced State and then over the years I've continued to grow into a more balanced more efficient more optimized more healthy happier individual that also all the goals that I set for myself I continue to achieve and and get to so you just you live in this state like this you don't ever want to get out of is really what it is and then the only thing that gets me out of it is a bender yeah you go to drink three and you end up in drink four and you drink two days in a row and pack that on with some Taco Bell and a pizza yeah man like you feel like you're at the very you feel like you literally just went on a drug run for like six months when you're that optimized yeah what about skating though who skated at all recently I have not I I my neighbor built a mini ramp um and it was like you know um I live in this gated community in Beverly Hills and it's you know kind of bougie and and the neighbor built a mini ramp and it's like I'm the local uh pro skater you know I mean so this guy was you got to get in you gotta get the ramp you got to get the ramp you know he was so proud that he had a ramp and like work it you know what I mean let's see it and you're like I'm good you know and and just you know that was the last time because my son you know I got him aboard and he's like you know my coach at school asked me why you don't teach me to skateboard you know and I'm like son if you want to skate you just let me know you know and you know because the first time he jumped on it he just like Wheels out straight to his face and and for me like I'm I'm planned to skate with him because I know he'll eventually want to skate but I've been basically re-engineering my entire body structure if you will over these last six seven years from all the damage that I did from the way that I skated like in the way that that the injuries that I had and then the stunts that I went on to do and now I've just like you know really learned every single thing that there is about my neuromuscular and skeletal structure I know I'm taking I know we're going off the rails I know we're going off the rails here but but really it's like I now like just want a Flawless like Baseline structure that I then can now live to at least 112. there you go there you go so you got a goal right yeah my goal is to be a super Centurion at this point um but yeah it's like and then eventually like you know when my kids get old enough my daughter will probably want to skate more than my son I want to be able to physically be able to to skate with them but no I haven't seen a long time okay okay speaking of skating can we bring it back to Street League because I think that is super fascinating yeah I mean I mean guys guys the nine Club I mean I mean I'm somewhat I'm I'm Loosely responsible for the name actually uh funny story because like when we created the nine club like Brian Atlas hit me up he's like hey can we have a meeting I'm like oh my God we're gonna get a cease and desist and all this [ __ ] you know what I mean ride my buddy whatever but uh yeah we did kind of you know it was a kind of a play on words you guys had the nine clubs you know we'll we'll spell it out you know yeah so number nine we'll spell it out yeah well look I don't I I always I don't think Brian even knew I don't I don't think Brian even knew because me and Brian talked about like like me coming on the show and and I'm like man I always always like like I mean I mean I am like like somewhat responsible I invented the nines you know what I mean like and then like Felix argueles called it the nine clubs and so like I'm someone and Brian was like oh I never thought of that like oh yeah he really you know so so no that's the epitome of like Seasons desist is on the way didn't even hit his radar perfect perfect well we could talk about partnering up and making this one of your entities after the show but uh I I mean what you you mentioned it before like you had you wanted to always create a contest yeah uh since you were little seeing all this stuff going on how did that even come to fruition how do you even get something like that off the ground like it's a big thing yeah you're you're renting out a stadium you're putting Concrete in there you're it's huge yeah it's hardcore huge super hardcore and and the the Genesis of it will blow your mind but I I'm I had I had had the concept since the very beginning of Designing the first skate plaza right because you got you got to think like when I built that first skate plaza in Kettering Ohio that there has there was never like a regular Urban skate park that wasn't Transitions and and a regular skate park it was the first pure Skate Plaza and so at that time I looked at it simultaneously what I was going to do was design and develop um the first skate plaza and then I was going to have the first true skate contest right like Street contest and I I had Street League coined back then right and so this would have been like man right in the era of the DC Video right so 2005-ish and I got approached by these guys uh when I lived in Venice California for six months before I got punked by a bum right after I walked past a Ferrari that I was like I need to move back to Hollywood but they they were starting a they were buying all these malls across the country and they were going to I had done a deal with them where they were gonna in the malls that they were buying then I was gonna design skate plazas and then have a pro tour go through all those malls wow and then I invested in that and that was like what really pushed the concept of Street League forward so then you know I made uh this is this is you know this is you know I'll say this even though I know like some people be like of course you did um but I made the first logo of of of a skater doing a backside Smith grind and like the silhouette of like the NBA and it was me yeah I was like oh my God I'm gonna invent this Street League and I'm gonna be the Jerry West of this thing yeah man uh and and pitched it as part of this the this building these across the mall and and then that I invested in that company and went out of business so then like I had already been in in motion of building that original Skate Plaza in uh Kettering you know because at that time you know I didn't even understand what that meant that's why I had to go all over LA and I had to shoot photos of everything all the spots all the rails everything and measure everything and then I basically created like a hundred page reference book with every single spot and all the SCI sizes of everything the size of the stairs the size of the Rails the height of the Rails so that I would know how to design it like in the most like all the best things to possibly skate and have the variety of all the different stuff then I taught myself to draft in 30 to one scale and I drafted that first plaza with a pencil you know what I mean like that very first one that's in Kettering Ohio uh I did that thing with a straight pencil it was before they even now it's like super Advanced and the Technologies all the way to like VR wow uh but back then you still like drafted it with a pencil and that first one in Kettering Ohio I drafted completely myself and then when we opened it I did an event called hammers versus bangers and then it went and Paul came out and Chris Cole came out and everybody came out and then I divided the plaza up into the sections and had a best trick on those sections and the winner got 50 G's that was basically what I'd consider like the pilot version of Street League and then okay what do I do like like where do I go from here I don't know how to how am I going to build like Elite like how am I gonna do a Content you know it's like and even back then it was like due Tour X Games like Tampa you know it was like you know how am I like it was too difficult to even manage right and then I got approached by the Maloofs uh through monster [Music] um about um helping them for the Maloof money cup and so that's when I met Joe siaglia who then you know they were saying like yeah we got a guy who can build a concrete course in like four days and I'm like that's not possible you know what I mean and that's like when seeing that uh that that was possible um changed everything right so then you know for me I always looked at I was gonna like do this with the Maloofs right so I'll consult for them and you know only when when when the Malouf Money Cup was over and it was this big success because again I drafted that course as well right and then broke it into those five sections that was the contest and and then I really began to see the light on what was possible I had Brian Atlas come out and look at that contest because I had already known that I wasn't gonna to to do this Street League with the Maloofs they were just two all over the place and and so Brian just got out of business school and was writing business plans so I started pitching it to him to write the business plan and he was like this will never work and then I said you got to come watch the Maloof cup and he came down and watched it and was like oh my God this really will work and so then we began to build the business plan together so now I had Joe siaglia now I had Brian Atlas who understood skateboarding and could write a business plan right the business plan then um at the Maloof Money Cup after party um uh Paul tab lead came up to me who was like one of The Producers for um Monster's content and showed me this instant scoring system that he had created and the Maloofs had passed on it didn't want to use it and I'm like okay I'm like like don't show this to anybody I want this like because I knew then like this is it if you could score every trick instead of like waiting till uh you know like like the end of like a crazy best trick contest then someone picked who created the most hype or did one or two whatever it is like now it would create the structure for a buzzer beater if you're adding up points to this final moment like oh my God it's It's the Best of Both Worlds because now like the skater has to do it when it matters consistency matters like like the actual trick you get instantly know what it is and then it could all come down to the final moment and someone could win it on their final trick it all came together in that moment and then but we knew that you know it's Brian's just writing the business plan and okay I got Joe C who can like put up a concrete uh a course in a week in an arena and we got the scoring system and then we went out and partnered with IMG who was an events company and just hired them okay right so and then of course you know where I where uh once I I did that then I went to all the skaters and made everybody sign exclusive contracts you know and it was everybody before I got to Paul and Sheckler and and all the big dogs would have had agents and where it was like they were skating in contests to where you know had to turn the gun back on them like well then you're you know malto's in this and like you know all everyone who wouldn't skate in a contest is in this like if you don't sign the contract then you're not going to be a part of it right like why did you want exclusivity because it was the only way to like break the X Games and do tour and like like so that like hey and try to act more like a regular League you know it's bold man I don't know yeah it was it was bold you know and and then with all of that I was able to go out and get all the sponsorship money to underwrite it right like and then I went to monster and pitched like them being the title sponsor and splitting it with DC and then those guys invested the money to be the sponsors again without taking equity and then now I'm was able to launch Street League and then behind all that then go out and get the ESPN deal to launch it in the first place and the most painful contest I had ever watched in my life my soul was sucked out of me every single trick in the First Street League in Arizona in 2010 because it was super slow it was super long it was dead quiet in the arena the scoring took too long like it was like there was no music no run a show it was like like this is the most painful but it got exciting right at the end because Nigel like kicked flipped out the front board the Gap to to take the lead and be you know to win his first contest you know and really change his life you know because because that was you know that first contest really changed his entire life he was losing to he was losing to Chris Cole like at the Maloof cup he never won a big concert yeah that's it that's it that was his first time yeah like second in Tampa second in malufka he was just basically they basically the you know you know how the skaters are he's too young give it to Chris you know what I mean like it doesn't you know they you know the gray area if you will but this is the crazy thing with him he was 14 right and so we needed to sign one of his parents to to sign the contract and his dad was his guy right and so I was meeting with his dad pitching it and we were going through getting the deal then when it came to sign the contract I couldn't get a hold of him anymore and then I couldn't get a hold of nijah right and I had no idea how to because I'd never actually directly spoken to naija and and then I eventually connected with his mom because they were now in a custody battle and so we had to get a court order on one of the parents to be able to sign the contract for him to be in it and then Kelly used all the money that they had they were dead broke used all the money that they had just to get to Arizona and so when they were trying to check into the hotel like they had no money and the credit card wouldn't work as I was walking in and she was like Hey like I um you know my credit card's not worth it don't even worry about you can just put it on mine and I put their rooms on mine and then not knowing that like they uh literally would have had to like go sleep in the car or whatever they were going to do and then he won that contest won the 150 G's and basically like the money for their family to survive all his brothers and sisters like his their entire family and then of course like the rest is history of the trajectory from that point forward of like what he had evolved into and and become you know but again you know really special aspect of it right because it was like it was like Hey the judges aren't going to rip you off in this contest like you do the tricks no one can beat you get the point yeah yeah yeah yeah I thought it was really great too because like you said 150 Grand like like yeah contests weren't doing that kind of prize purse back then was that intentional of being like hey I'm a skateboarder these guys are skaters like I want the highest possible purse for these guys that's it I mean look these guys get paid yeah Tampa was like 20. the Maloof cup came in and shook it up with the Honda yeah the championship was 200 yeah then the championship became the 200 right like like that's the uh and again look it wasn't sustainable it wasn't sustainable no doubt man like every time you know when Malto one when these guys are clipping down that like two Banger that one for that you know because even second place is like 75 it was still big money uh for skaters and and in a major major way but you know and then then we really really push towards getting that format um more exciting final attempt and think about it like final attempt it like and takes the lead in the very first Street League on his final attempt the way that it was envisioned yeah like but but I would have never even thought it was possible if I didn't do the Maloof money cup and they didn't pass on that scoring system and him bring it to me like and then he wasn't thinking about it from like oh creating buzzer beater moments in skateboarding he was like instant scoring we can we can know their score it just immediately came together in my head of what was possible and then the the vision was real realized on that final trick in the very first contest in this incredible Arena setting wow dude it's so crazy to see this to what it is now the tricks that are going down and like you know the whole scoring system everything the idea that like now they're conditioned to be able to do their absolute hardest tricks when it now you have to do basically four impossible tricks to win yeah yeah just one and you and you have the ability to win now it's like you know they just like where the playing field was pretty even except for Nija all those years and now it's just like man it's like we've seen a lot of those buzzer beaters too oh non-stop because because what we kept doing is refining like taking the pr this was back in this one every single trick counted right right where where then it was like okay four out of five then let's add runs back to it let's put transition in it we just kept like making it better and better and better and I think even how they have this like super final like that they added recently that I think feel feels good you know although I think that they that that can be adjusted a little bit but yeah the fact that that like it continues to deliver I mean think about um won four contests on her last trick this year oh yeah you know what I'm saying like it's like like it's literally like you sweep the season or you win nothing on for on your last trick the whole way through and and again like you know I was telling her because it was the first time that I met her first time I had been to Street League in in years uh went out there on on a party around on a bender yeah and like um you know when there was a time when Street League was going out of business right and it had just you know we had gotten to the point now we raised capital and the spending had gone up and we blew through the money when we were you know really trying to transition and build out etn and push beyond the events to the media and we now had taken on Capital and and the things going out of business and and we would keep a photo of her in all of our presentations of when we were presenting to investors to save the company because we were like this is like meant for her to become a star in one day and and they gave us one last shot um of money that we were allowed to like get it sustainable and save it um and and then obviously it evolved and then 301 acquired it and stabilized it in a a higher level and then she really came on and has become a star are of Street League but man we we were like we're doing it for her you know when this thing's about to go out of business and I tried to explain it to her I don't know if she got it like I think you know she's just so like just love skateboarding so much and just loves to like win and be a part of it and be you know she is a superstar you know what I mean and and the realest realest sense of the word but but I don't think she fully got I think it might be going over her head a little bit but that's that we were doing it for her in in the sense of the potential right and and all of the future Innovation right where like and man that that La even that Vegas contest or even this last uh contest in Brazil the championship and and like you know someone like Braden coming in and what the the way that he skates and the type of stuff that he does is it's just so remarkable you know like it's a it it was built to last forever it was built to be timeless you know what I mean and provide uh those moments and we refined it we we built it the right way and then refined it you know through the hate uh yeah through the haters you know what I mean but of course you know I never you know the you know the thing that always was that that I loved is you know when we tried to figure out how to it was never the unit economics of what was created never worked it wasn't scalable it was never doable those each event was like two million dollars like you could only ask for a certain amount of money from sponsorship it didn't have enough reach that's why because you know to give you an idea of how the the capital markets work and the money game works is Street League doing about seven million dollars in Revenue a year is valued at about one and a half times sales for an event company so you know call it 14 15 million dollars but if you're a media company you are worth 40 million you're worth six times your Revenue so we raised when we raised the next round the funding like I'm like we got to get us to a media company and that's why we went to doing all the micro events and the stuff in the streets and creating etn because we were now we instantly by doing that with the money that we raised and launching etn then we went and raised 10 million with the same amount of Revenue valued at 40 million interesting right and then it was like okay now let's launch this media company and we blew through all the money and nobody uh not that many people ended up on etn and it did not work you know what I'm saying and that's why ultimately like the whole thing almost went out of business and we had to strip it back down to just Street me it was a good good effort good effort but I'm just the the whole people don't want to this day and age with media people don't want to buy [ __ ] yeah you know and having that subscription there and not having too many that much content that much content yeah well they don't know what they're getting at that point either they're like what are we signing up for here just yeah and we don't know when it's coming hey remember how before you were trying to make me feel good you guys are just beating up on me yeah but no I I hey that was the that was the needle that was being thread you know I mean because we we understood that like we you know because the the hardcore realization and I went through it with Street Dreams too and and really went through it with Street League and etn is there isn't that many core skateboarders right right like we we would always oh there's 10 million skateboarders worldwide there's like a million right and so uh you know million to two million and there's only about you know like you know I would say 300 to 500 000 that commit everything or consume all of the content right and so for us it was super clear that our live Street League events you know a few hundred thousand people would watch live Barracks like battle at the barracks a few hundred that like the same numbers like so that really became the audience and then it was like we only needed a small percentage of that few hundred thousand to be paying to have a sustain attainable business because just getting more ad dollars were drying up in the space like there was like the monsters and the G-Shocks and all these like ancillary companies like the Toyotas and and people that were spending money on action sports was fading away and really drifted away over these last you know five six years and so that was our only shot um to really create a sustainable business because the league itself wasn't sustainable because or scalable for how expensive the events were and then like that was our turning into a media company was the only way we could raise more capital and take a shot and create a story that could create something of value um and and it it did not work because apparently it was hard to understand and the context they had some good [ __ ] I mean smelter Facebook is incredible doing this game show but it was there was not that much yeah that was the problem that was a problem and and it was you know um and God blessed Brian Atlas man that you know Brian Atlas built and launched that entire platform you know what I'm saying so he's managing Street League and then manage all the hiring Development building and execution of that entire platform you know what I'm saying like that yeah it's a remarkable feat of execution that he did you know right running that company so for now I mean you you guys sold Street League you don't have anything to do with it anymore do you still have no because I ended up it's a it's a really it's a pretty Next Level sort of story but no I I ended up investing pretty significantly and buying myself um as part of the deal with the group that bought it okay um it's a very odd deal um but I now own a significant piece of super jacket again even though we got the big payout part of the payout was me paying myself um and then I own a big chunk of thrill one which which is the parent company that owns Street League so I I will still um I still have the interest in it but it feels like I just sold it yeah you know what I'm saying because we we went through the the other acquisition where it was 100 acquired I just happened to create a very unique position for myself with with how I leveraged all of these different Power positions I held in this big negotiation that encro that included acquiring everything then renegotiated away for me to find a way to make me a another large payout uh by being part of the acquisition group um which I'll tell the story about one day like for Forbes or something yeah but there's there's a there's there's I'm giving you the surface right it's very interesting because I think skateboarding uh it's a tough business you know absolutely it's a very tough business and trying to make money in this business is damn near impossible no matter what you're doing you know and you've definitely you proved that statement wrong because no no no no no no no no no no no all of my losses Street Dreams Street League DNA Alien Workshop Wild Grinders like all of it every loss I have is skateboards right you know what I'm saying I don't know why not one of them worked out even Street League at the end of the day it's not like we we we had to have a choir so strictly could survive sure you know what I'm saying but Street Dreams I I spent two million dollars on Street Dreams I get checks like 1500 a month from YouTube you know what I mean when I got the first 1500 like dollar check from YouTube I'm like it's amazing I'm getting money back after all these years you know but like Wild Grinders in the in the cartoon like like you know because you got to think even like there you got to be very smart if you do want to make money in skateboarding and and all all the the core skateboard companies like have felt the wrath of that it's just a it's a very difficult business model because you got to spend so much on marketing then there's so such a low margin product so there's is very little Capital to contribute to the cost that it costs to run the business right and then the scale you can sell a lot of shoes uh to people that don't skate but you can't sell skateboard products to people that don't skate right so it's really difficult and that's why you know when I bought DNA from Burton right it was everybody around me it was like you cannot do this this business is terrible like you this business loses so much money and for me I just was like no like it's like the story of it the idea that like they sold the Burton and then like Rob comes back and buys it back from like I'm in it for the story and I got drunk at a zoomy's 100K I got drunk in a zoomy Center K before the deal was done grab the mic I'm buying the workshop we're bringing it back home you know you know with me and Carter on the on the stage and like and then it was like I had to commit after that right you know what I mean and and you know and what a what a random who you know does did anybody there even care I don't I don't know they cheered for something and the industry was hyped on that yeah no and and the passion though bro yeah and and and and it was done with the right intention and but I couldn't like I I made some left turns in the sense of who we partnered with which added opportunity to Chris and Mike um one of which was moving it from Dayton to uh Orange County right that was the big move which really was the beginning of the end of what you know really drove dill and and Ave out and really began to jam everything up and then that group started to falter then the whole thing began to collapse then another group bought it from them trying to make it survive then they went out of business I like like negotiated literally till like midnight before they file bankruptcy to get the IP out and then I was able to strip the companies down and do a deal with Tom yeto to be the manufacturer and distributor of habitat Alien Workshop and reflex and then you know probably like a month in to like weekly calls I was like I can't do this man I had now I had initially uh was going to invest 1.5 million I was at about 4 million dollars in and I just I had changed as an individual it was so scarring to me but I was and I felt like it felt like it was the most painful business thing I'd ever done because I got in over my head and and then the the ripple effect into all those that was affected by that Chris and Mike and Joe Castrucci and Dave and Dill and everyone that wrote for it it felt like I'm my go got above my skill set and I was it was really about the story rather than like do Ian doing it the right way and I just felt so responsible for it and that's why in and I but I had grown so much in between then because I started to get clear on on what my vision from my life would become and I just knew that like I was thinking so much bigger than how small skateboarding needs to be and and that's when I just decided like man I'm not even gonna take another one of these meetings and despite investing 4 million I gave alien to Mike Hill outright gave habitat outright to Castrucci and then gave reflex to Carter and then I bought a bunker in Dayton Ohio a straight six acre military bunker that the U.S Air Force built for like a nuclear bunker for the U.S Air Force and then bought that for like 200 G's and gave that to Hill to be the now headquarters of the Alien Workshop back in Dayton Ohio where it all started you know what I mean because yeah like so even like because that's what I needed to do for me to make it all right like you should have never moved it out of Ohio that was where you were born and raised where it was where Hangar 18 is all that stuff like where you came up with the name this is your people that you built this with like you should have never allowed this thing to move out of Ohio and that's what led uh to me buying this six here's the here's the beauty of it is you can buy a six anchor bunker I think I negotiated I ended up negotiating like like a hundred and like 10 grand to buy a six acre military bunker in Ohio and then I put a hundred grand in to redo the entire side so they could build the workshop [Music] but that's what I needed to do to like and then it's like look I'm gonna take that loss I learned the most valuable lesson that there is and and and and I know that I don't want business to be so personal I want business to be business I want to do it for sport and fun I don't want it to be so attached to my identity my soul and people's Souls like I want it to be more transactional and rather than try to like sit in these dumb yellow meetings and get these little royalty checks to like try to chip off my 4 million I was like write it all off and give it to the original Founders so that they can go like like keep it lean and authentic and make sure that these these businesses survive forever you know what I mean what year was this that was 2013 2013. okay 2013. so funny very admirable brother yeah yeah because you you know us in skateboarding It's a Small industry but you hear things and people outside of the immediate industry you know like oh alien Works nobody knows yeah nobody knows this real [ __ ] you know yeah and it's like you know I there's no I wasn't trying to like I don't need any Redemption you know what I'm saying like in the sense of what it was it was more personal for me and ultimately I was ready to to grow into what I knew I was potential had the potential to become you know as we spoke earlier that was right around the time that I began to look at life through this lens of like if you you gotta stop doing all these things hoping one of them will become so big that's going to be what defines you and makes you happy you've got to Define uh What happiness looks like and then build a plan backwards to get there and that's when my whole life changed and and when I put that perspective on you know sitting in you know bored a hard Goods bored like weekly meetings it was like well this is sucking the soul out of me like don't need to be doing this one wow yeah and and it just reshaped who I was as a person and and set the the the stage um for what I was able to go on accomplish after that you know wow it's so crazy man what do we got going on now though I mean you got the Ridiculousness yeah you just said that you're shaving off an hour of that to yeah you know film more episodes yeah uh are we running with that for a while or is there anything else I'll do that for like I did it I recently did a deal to do that for a pretty significant substantial amount of time okay um because there's you know they want it um it's extremely profitable again now I own another a significant stake in the production company uh that I just sold um with this this deal that I did and we'll go and sell that again right and can I can I just so uh you did Ridiculousness but you made a production company to produce Ridiculousness correct and then MTV buys the shows from you correct that's pretty much how it goes correct gotcha okay and then I sold that business to another group okay right right right and then trying to sell again is that what you're saying yeah well I actually sold it to one group then we sold it to another group and it'll be a third one it's we call it the triple exit because it's insane it's the most insane deal like it's a it's a a mind-blowing like like a way to do a deal but it's it one of the gifts of being a creative thinker and is that is like apply that to deal making you know what I mean and always thinking of like the layers and Deals of how how you could potentially create value for someone but more value for yourself long term uh depending how you put those together and that that's how I play in sort of the deal making side of everything that I do but for you know for now it's you know for the most part it's like um you know if I start shooting 336 episodes a year it's still a small percentage of my time it's 42 days a year for you know four times a month five hours a day right uh which is exactly four percent of my measured time to give you an idea what four percent is four percent for you would be like if you watch uh TV for one hour a day that's 4 percent okay okay that's four percent of your life is one hour of a day of something if you want to use the time Matrix of course you can uh eight thousand seven hundred and sixty hours is what you got in a year and one hour a day is 365. so if you divide it then you get your percentage of how much time you want to spend if you want to get that nutty I'm gonna have to rewind this yeah you know and so so for me now it's like really I it's it's you know I'm working on you know creating a three book series and all the content around that and which is basically the funnel for the software right that I call the machine mindset that's sort of the core that I'm working on and then the Venture Studio we continue to build um you know different types of consumer products right we have mind right uh nootropic superfood outstanding uh plant-based uh snack food company just launched Dion Libra which is a stress care brand jolia water filter business uh lusso Cloud our our slipper Footwear business right so we have all these uh portfolio companies that we continue to be active in and grow and each one of those has the same sort of strategy of like built to sell and every time we launch a business we do a unified theory uh which is essentially the life of the business all the capital needs of the business and and the value of the business and where we're going to take it and who we're going to sell it to right and the intent is uh to try to sell every single you know one of these businesses between 150 and like 250 million and then we just keep trying to do that over and over again uh so that's sort of like where the core of my non-television time spent between the machine mindset and build with Rob the podcast and that content that I'm creating and working on the books and all that sort of stuff then our core portfolio and and adding new companies depending on what what opportunities present ourselves because that's so refined now it's really hard to even find a company we would be willing to invest in and then when I do invest in a company I try to co-fine the business fund the development and fund all the early stages you know between you know a million and 10 million so that I'm I have a significant significant Equity stake where by the time we sell it right and and just kind of get better and better at doing that that's that's sort of where the Mastery of that system exists and then I ha I'm you know sort of have a long-term what is your multi-generational plan for like what what Legacy that you can leave behind that lasts Beyond you and then that that kind of pushes back to how I manage what I would call my family office that then manages all of like my real estate and all my assets and all of that stuff and then that whole company basically is an extension of me and then that's where Brian sits as the CEO today then we have a CFO and then we have different people around us that manage the different like sort of verticals of all of that connects back into me you know what I mean it's so crazy dude yeah and again it's all all behind all of it's super clear I'm constantly trying to figure out what what do I want to do in the future what do I need to change now like you know I I'm when you begin to like understand this much of yourself and then grow into these plans and get better and better at executing goals and getting clearer and clearer and seeing further and further like it it becomes more effortless and now you're you're making changes because you want to affect something that's going to happen 10 years from now you know what I mean it's like that way of sort of existing in it is where I don't really feel anymore like I'm doing anything other than this is sort of like my way of living and the output of this sort of machine uh if whether it's a venture business or content or uh the software and the content I'm creating around the philosophy it's just all an extension of that and as those go away other ideas and one-off projects will still be managed by the machine itself for the long term you know what do you do when something's cloudy I Cry I get stuck yeah like it's super it's like I'm so optimized that I know like the triggers that I have that from from being a certain way you know you build all these triggers in you that become you know embedded in your neurology and your nervous system as as the greatest skater I never knew huberman would tell you that that like you they become sort of these instinctual go-to's and it's really trippy when you get so optimized like when I get stuck all I want is pizza and wine Okay and like I mean all I want is to stuff my face and drink alcohol and it's like sometimes I can't stop myself I will be like something that I was working on will come to a dead Halt and even though I have all this other going on in life and all this stuff's so clear and so balanced this one thing could trigger me and there's some times where I'm like you can't have the pizza you can't have the pizza and then I just go home and like oh there's one in the fridge but for the most part I'm just whenever I feel friction I'm like I'm like all right like what's happening here right and I'm just constantly like trial and erroring every single aspect of my life on an ongoing basis including the way that I I you know I do my 5 and 15 year plan every three months you know what I mean and so I'm adding to it and changing it through that three months then I lock it for that three months and then start a new one and so it's the most fascinating thing because I can see how much I've grown in two years because the goals that I had in q1 of 2020 are are like like silly to me compared to the goals that I have in q1 of 2022 right it's it's like it's 18 months apart and it's like you know it's it's like light years in evolution and growth and understanding right is and again all of that that was done in this really hyper balanced effortless State you know what I mean like you just now are growing at a rapid rate in a more organized way and I would I would equate it more to like if you know exactly where you're going every day like if you're going to get up in the morning and go to Starbucks you have no idea where a Starbucks is and so you're driving all over the city knowing there's one in here you're gonna find one sure right but if you know exactly where the Starbucks is it's like second nature to the Starbucks to your coffee right and it's it's it's that sort of aspect of like what I'm trying to get everything into and and then when you do that for a long period of time and then you take care of yourself at this level and you're dedicated to learning all aspects of your own life and how to make it better it just continues to compound and compound and compound and and you truly it's no different than how you Marvel at who you were in uh you know sixth grade versus 20. right it's the same difference right of like like how much different you change and how you evolve because you're evolving uh in the world's evolving around you whether you like it or not and it's whether or not you choose to guide that Evolution and grow towards a better future experience is the decision that you have to make and most people just stay in their system for sure and just kind of like this is where it's comfortable I'm gonna stay here until I have to get out of this or stress for a while like oh I need to make chain oh it's too hard because the system's already got you so overwhelmed and then you just go back to the couch and have a drink yeah watch Netflix there you go four percent there's an eight percent or is it yeah yeah now you're all you know 100 watching TV you watch three hours of TV at night you just literally are spending like 12 percent of your life better you know what I'm saying like think of that chunk of your life and then you're giving away the other 30 sleeping anyway you know what I mean that's true you're wasting a lot of life it's interesting I never really ever thought about hours in the day con percentage-wise right yeah never thought about that so I don't think most people do you know what I'm saying it definitely puts it into perspective yeah because like you said a lot of the time sleeping so what are you doing the rest of those percentages yeah yeah I mean look at it you have you have 17 hours right you know what I mean and then it's like then it's against now if you begin to look at that the first question is how do you get it to a place where you're you're everything you're doing like gives you energy rather than takes energy that's hard but that's what I'm saying that's where you got it that's the first level then you now have to tie how do I how do I now tie it to a future experience what are all the things that I need to change or I need to do in order to have a better future experience where I do have that energy all the time you know what I mean and then once you get there now it's optimizing for how to how to continue to evolve that as the world's evolving around you I love it because like you've discovered all this you've created it for yourself you but I you you genuinely love to kind of tell people about it to motivate them yeah you know to like become a better person of time management or whatever whatever it may be in life it's existence management yeah yeah you know what I'm saying because it's more than just your time it's your way of being right and that's why to me that's why I kind of style at the top of the year I just dated in doing any new companies and and really focusing on this content this book this book series and then the software because the software is where we could leave here and each of you could go build your own Rhythm and begin to start doing it yourself super easily right and and then once you began to feel like oh this is what it feels like when you can see where you're spending it and then when you start at like looking at like a cumulative number of you saying how you feel each day and beginning to see all that you begin to like look at your whole life and it becomes very clear clear what you can change to just make your life better it's painting a picture for you yeah and then then now you have this sort of tool to help guide your Evolution towards a better future experience that that's why I want to rush to get it out and it's a priority for me because I just no it it's led me to what I call Harmonious high quality life and I I know that if people start to do it like get committed to it turn it from being hard to do into it into discipline into a way of life that the other side of that is a is just Happiness and happiness and like the realest form because you're going to be super self-aware ultra self-aware of the things that are actually taking away from your happiness in a more holistic manner you know what I mean what advice now that you know all this stuff what advice would you give up and coming skateboarders and how to use this advice into how to make a career for themselves don't even think about this turn this show off at this point yeah I mean I'll tell you what this ain't gonna help you get through the Fear Factor trying to kick back nose blunt that that rail um yeah look I don't I I'm younger you know I do think it's it's built for um you know when you're trying to find Harmony in life rather than trying to just figure out life um you know but but I I think when you think about like like skateboarding's commitment as a whole it's the the compound of your body like getting better and better over time like if you don't take care of it and and eat terribly and beat your body up and party a ton like I I just destroyed my body in my 20s you know really into my mid-30s if you don't shoot I've destroyed my body in my 20s and 30s and it's hard to you know it's hard to say when you're just living life and and it's it's hard skaters very seldomly like are anchored to the Future they're anchored to right now yeah right I got to get this done right now I gotta do this like I you know I'm filming for this I gotta do on it like so it's a it's you know it really starts with you know always looking out into the future and what is the ideal version of yourself even if it's two years three years five years but it's it's difficult you know because you're cut from a certain cloth I think to get to a level in skateboarding like they're they're ha it has to be a you against the world that develops that sort of mentality that that allows you to be consistent enough to get to the level to make the commitments to create the the skills that it requires to stand out above um you know the the pack of skaters to to create a career and then then the degree of what level that is where the risk is because now you're just basically avoiding a job and now you're skating in fear of like what goes on Beyond it you know what I mean which is which is like the dark side of like you know the the finding a career and skateboarding you know yeah I remember like towards the end of my skating like when I was sponsored I had no idea what the [ __ ] to do yeah no [ __ ] idea uh but I also want to say this though that next year is when I really I turned Pro and I got trick of the year and I'll say thank you for Street leaking everyone like that changed my [ __ ] life yeah like so straight up so thank you on that one no Hey listen to me you know how hard I had to push to get them to do trick of the year I kept fighting and I kept pushing Brian like come on and I kept I'm like as soon as trick of the year it exploded right and of course you're the champion and and then then I'm like slaughty us slotty us man why are we not slotty in this thing you know slam of the year you know and and they just never did it and somebody else just recently did it right like but but yeah I always knew that would be that was to me like another big one that I couldn't believe nobody was doing at this day and age like the idea of film filtering it all the way like imagine how how extraordinary it is to know that you had the single best trick done in an entire year you know what I'm saying like by any skateboarder on Earth it's so much different than winning a contest or anything else you know um maybe you feel that way I got it fired up yeah so I appreciate that but I was like yeah that changed my life even into like doing those commercials and stuff like that it just introducing me to a whole new life that I never I just was a skateboarder the whole time yeah I didn't think anything in the more in the future yeah this creates something different for me so I thank you and yeah then I came here with these guys it's like not just skateboarding only more it's like talking about it whole different scenario so I love it so thank you yeah no doubt I mean dude thank you for spending 8.4 8.4 of your days it was well worth it it was well worth it uh uh no but dude thank you so much for coming by and dude thank you for everything you've done for skateboarding and just all your contributions and for just uh video Parts as well you know and then we talked about the uh you know you could have kicked flipped that thing first I'm just saying yeah I'm gonna beat Markovich to it yeah no I still even when you say it again it hurts I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry but uh that's why I I love these shows because like somebody will talk about something I'll be like oh I gotta do when Rob comes on I gotta I gotta ask Grandma I gotta ask him about that um and it will give you our portfolio and P L report after the show I love you to take a look at it absolutely and see if you want to invest or anything all right um Kelly would you want some nights give you some nightclub stuff to take home with you absolutely yeah go grab him some stuff size large medium okay dude there's been a great fun time man yeah yeah look I I knew you know because it's like I have an unusual have an unusual like a very unusual history in the sport you know what I mean because of like all the weird things that I've done you know from the skate plazas to Street League to cartoon stuff like you know to buying a DNA like and then doing all this stuff it's a very bizarre for sure um but it was all resorting to that passion that you know obviously skateboarding is very it's been very important to you obviously um and you tried to hold on tied to it whether it be and not your best interest money wise you know what I mean you just stepped with it you know what I mean to the point where it was detrimental but it's all full encompassing like something that is so important yeah which is the passion you know what I mean that you've had for it yeah and we all have passion that's why we're doing oh yeah yeah having these conversations but bro um for me to you you know you've definitely been like a very impactful throughout I mean in general throughout skateboarding to where we are today yeah you know what I mean no yeah I appreciate it you know and I I'm you know it's it like you said it's like we're just skaters we're always skaters you know what I mean it's the it's the idea that like I just was like this shaped me and then I kept even as I was growing it's like oh I'm gonna I'm gonna bring this to skateboarding and it it just never skateboarding never fully like connected like it was always like why does he keep trying to do these things type of thing you know what I mean and then I just outgrew like my ambition outgrew wanting to to to to keep dabbling with the sport you know what I'm saying the best thing I think one thing too like even I've said this many a time I'm like dude look if you want to do something outside of skateboarding go do that [ __ ] like really if you again have the passion for it yeah and you truly believe that you want to do it go do it and don't give a [ __ ] about what anybody says like especially skateboarders like stop yeah you're not taking the risk I truly believe in what I'm trying to do so I'm gonna do it yeah so I I hold the flag for anybody that goes outside of skateboarding because at the end of the day you're gonna come across some skaters that know about skateboarding and then being like man I I just want to tell you like man thank you for what you've done and you might even know yeah they might be a producer or someone that left field you know yeah has some history yeah that recognizes and new you know what I mean so I think that that I come across all people you know within golf space like dude like they're saying like man if I'm big up dude I'm stoked to see what you're doing right now and I'm stoked to hear that you know yeah it's amazing yeah you know because that's a whole different Journey yeah yeah you know what I mean yeah so again skateboarders continue to do what you [ __ ] want to do and you're going to maybe eventually be like someone like Rob real talk yeah and it's funny because I think like I got layers of haters you know because it'll be someone like I would bring back Fantasy Factory they're just like they hate that you're doing like like mindset and business talk they want you to like Fantasy Factory you know what I'm saying it's like why don't you just do Ridiculousness you know what I mean like there's just like so many layers of the people that want me like know me a certain way in which I stayed that certain sort of for sure yeah for sure you know which I think is cute you know what I mean it doesn't like you know because at the end of the day we our experience of life is through our mind right like we only we only know what we see from our perspective and what our days are like through what we think about and how we think about it you know what I mean and for me it's just how can you just have it to where like you're just never thinking in a negative way it's just enjoying what you're living through and and thinking about the joy of the things you're going to do in the future you know what I mean just your experience um being at a high quality level um as consistently as possible and in that state you don't what anybody says yeah yeah like it's hard to even valid like give credit to like even what anybody says outside of what you already know to be true within yourself and in your own mind in the world that you live in you know totally man Big Ups yeah Christianity show we got some uh uh nightclub yeah what do you think stay hydrated yeah you got to stay hydrated I will I promise uh we got some well here first of all here's uh nine Club crew neck for you there we go throwing that on there's a shirt right there for you I'm gonna wear this and a mug and some stickers maybe some product placement in another and Ridiculousness put it up on the screen coffee from this every morning and a sticker on the screen okay [Laughter] uh dude thank you so much it's been a great great man appreciate you guys yeah after skateboarding yeah the skateboarding [Music] [Music]

Channel: The Nine Club

Views: 467,706

Keywords: chris roberts, roger bagley, kelly hart, crob, the nine club, nine club, the 9 club, 9 club, skateboarding, skate, skating, podcast, history, interview, motivation, entertainment, funny, comedy, thrasher, berrics, transworld, nike sb, street skating, switch tre flip, boardslide, skateboarding 2020, rob dyrdek, alien workshop, mtv, rob and big, nitro circus, street league, fantasy factory, ridiculousness, nickelodeon, dude perfect, entrepreneur, Guinness World Record, Superjacket, ufc

Id: zbDJRnQkfTw

Length: 144min 29sec (8669 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 28 2022