Pro Skateboarders aren't making money - Life with Mikey Taylor w/ Paul Rodriguez

[BelknappBruiser]

No sir, I don't like it.

Underrated comment! Gnar this man!

[Colin Robinson]

Mikey has the most punchable face since Brad Staba.

[KoRnholio8]

I'd feel bad about skate brands not making any money, but in reality these brands don't bring any innovation to the field and only subsist on hype. Compare these brands to a vitamin/leggins brand from an influencer and you'd give even less a damn.

On the other hand, no innovation keeps the sport democratic and easy to enter - every board is probably more or less good enough etc.

[Mean salto]

Was surprised to hear P-Rod say Primitive hasn't turned a profit. They release so many collabs to the mainstream that you'd think it was profitable as hell by now. And I'd thought that for the past few years, Primitive has been prolly one of the better board brands out there in terms of mainstream recognition which = more money.

Also shocked to hear that most skaters these days cant hit the minimums on their board sales so they're paid a monthly flat rate of ~$1K which is apparently a lot?!?

ACTUAL pro skaters gotta get paid more. Tired of seeing all this IG skater shit who don't care about the culture and looking to get famous.

Makes me wonder which pro has the highest selling board in skateboarding right now too and how many boards they're churning.

Makes the Keelan wanting more than $10k a month ten years ago seem even more crazy now. There was a NZ skater years ago that pretty much said you're way better off just working a normal job and being on flow than actually trying to be a pro skateboarder.

The rumour is Andy Anderson has the top selling board. My guess is it's ishod or foy

[Democratic Republic Of Mongo]

You know he’s sick at horse betting though. I bet the other guys at the track would kill for that level of insight.

[Ghost Face]

Was surprised to hear P-Rod say Primitive hasn't turned a profit. They release so many collabs to the mainstream that you'd think it was profitable as hell by now. And I'd thought that for the past few years, Primitive has been prolly one of the better board brands out there in terms of mainstream recognition which = more money.

Also shocked to hear that most skaters these days cant hit the minimums on their board sales so they're paid a monthly flat rate of ~$1K which is apparently a lot?!?

ACTUAL pro skaters gotta get paid more. Tired of seeing all this IG skater shit who don't care about the culture and looking to get famous.

Makes me wonder which pro has the highest selling board in skateboarding right now too and how many boards they're churning.

Doesn't surprise me at all. The best way to make money is for the company to NOT be profitable by making the profits disappear in "overheads". You only pay tax on profits, so if there's no profit..............

[lurkluke]

Yeah there's no way Primitive isn't make a profit in the traditional sense. You don't pay for a Spanish Mike and a custom park full time if you're losing money for 10 years.

[thehogsniper]

P-Rod had every opportunity to make his company a profitable venture. If they seriously are at a point where they can't make this work, then they really can only blame themselves and not the industry as a whole. They have an absurd level of talent on their roster. But a lot of companies pumped too much shit into the marketplace without considering the long-term repercussions, riding the high of the COVID boom and not seeing any future decline in demand as a possibility. But, like a lot of other companies outside of the industry have discovered (Netflix comes to mind), there is a physical limit on how many people can consume your product. Board sales across the board have cratered.  Guys like this are one of the biggest issues in the industry because they are so short sighted that they only have income, revenue, and marketshare as their focus. They don't know how to actually build a sustainable business that can last and provide properly for the people working in the brand. There is absolutely no brand image besides a lazy and blatant copy of the Detroit Tigers logo (which isn't even how an old english P would look like). It's all numbers to them, which is why we've gotten all these collabs.

[botefdunn]

I'm sure that to whatever extent Primitive isn't "Turning a profit", prod's no doubt substantial salary is coming in on time. It's pretty typical for company owners to talk about their own salaries as a business expense, rather than a measure of profitability. Being paid for the work you do isn't really being paid, oh you didn't know?

[Ghost Face]

yep. "After salaries, rent on warehouse, rent on park, buying product, paying team, doing trips, filming videos, eating, daily allowance,  etc etc, we're making no profit at all."

Wouldn't be surprised if he rents his own cars back to his company and claims that as an expense.

[sexualhelon]

Enjoyed that more than I thought I would. Interesting to get the insight on Prod's ventures and the industry. It's no secret that most pro's aren't making a lot of money - at least not from the board company. It seems obvious that Prod's money comes from Nike and his other investments/opportunities. Primitive might not be turning a "profit" but there's plenty of huge companies that didn't for decades - i.e. Amazon. You can't really compare them but obviously they're able to keep the company going. Prod said it himself - he considers himself an employee of Primitive - so I'd imagine he's paying himself a good salary from it.

But the candid conversations about building wealth and how most skaters are financially illiterate - or just not thinking about it - isn't something you hear people get into on podcasts. Found it interesting.

[Robert Baratheon]

When Paul has to tell Tiago that he has to kill himself for another part for only 12K a year.

[thehogsniper]

Enjoyed that more than I thought I would. Interesting to get the insight on Prod's ventures and the industry. It's no secret that most pro's aren't making a lot of money - at least not from the board company. It seems obvious that Prod's money comes from Nike and his other investments/opportunities. Primitive might not be turning a "profit" but there's plenty of huge companies that didn't for decades - i.e. Amazon. You can't really compare them but obviously they're able to keep the company going. Prod said it himself - he considers himself an employee of Primitive - so I'd imagine he's paying himself a good salary from it.

But the candid conversations about building wealth and how most skaters are financially illiterate - or just not thinking about it - isn't something you hear people get into on podcasts. Found it interesting.

Difference between Amazon and Primitive is that Bezos was pretty much a nobody before Amazon, P-Rod has been a legend for years and has those business connections that he relied upon to launch his own company. I mean the guy was watching the operations of both Girl and Plan B and taking all the notes he needed to launch his own brand, only quitting to get a bigger piece of the pie. Also, Amazon wasn't a product that had circulation in nearly every skate shop, zumiez store, vans store (that carries skate shit), tillys in the country. For god's sake they have a iPhone app for the brand. The only reason primitive exists is for his own greed and to benefit his brand. The graphics suck, the clothing is awful quality, and they can't stop doing collabs. Guy is shilling everything from McRibs to Fender guitars.

[rocklobster]

yep. "After salaries, rent on warehouse, rent on park, buying product, paying team, doing trips, filming videos, eating, daily allowance,  etc etc, we're making no profit at all."

Wouldn't be surprised if he rents his own cars back to his company and claims that as an expense.

Behind any long running business is a savvy accountant telling them how to keep the lights on with creative bookkeeping. He probably consulted his accounting before talking to horse man and was advised to say they barely turn a profit.

Only poor people pay taxes in the USA.

[Dental Dan]

The rumour is Andy Anderson has the top selling board. My guess is it's ishod or foy

More evidence we are on the darkest timeline.

[Gab]

Expand Quote

The rumour is Andy Anderson has the top selling board. My guess is it's ishod or foy

[close]

More evidence we are on the darkest timeline.

1. &&
2. Tony Hawk/Hawk vs wolf
3. Cr0b

[Mallie]

Money makes money

Horses make horses glue

[Newphone]

Who was the other guy on the couch, like Mikey’s trainer or jockey or something?

[BootsWithTheFerg]

Was prod the first to put his name on a shoe with the 3 digit price range?

[status]

its simple american math my dudes. spend the money on product, assets, salaries, marketing and you dont have to pay taxes

no "profit" though 

at some point though, prod and his partners gotta pay themselves? totally get investing the "profit" back into the business to avoid taxes. just cant imagine the owners of primitive aren't receiving any money to pay themselves after i think 10ish years in business?

[status]

I'd feel bad about skate brands not making any money, but in reality these brands don't bring any innovation to the field and only subsist on hype. Compare these brands to a vitamin/leggins brand from an influencer and you'd give even less a damn.

On the other hand, no innovation keeps the sport democratic and easy to enter - every board is probably more or less good enough etc.

yup - i miss the days when companies released a handful of graphics each year. made certain ones more iconic which probably resulted in more long term sales. hence why they gotta keep reissuing classic graphics. these days they just churn out shitty basic graphics. there's obviously a need for more artistic direction with reissue popularity. tbh i kinda like the graphics thank you has been releasing but not enough for me to buy. at least some of what they're producing is unique

[status]

Expand Quote

Was surprised to hear P-Rod say Primitive hasn't turned a profit. They release so many collabs to the mainstream that you'd think it was profitable as hell by now. And I'd thought that for the past few years, Primitive has been prolly one of the better board brands out there in terms of mainstream recognition which = more money.

Also shocked to hear that most skaters these days cant hit the minimums on their board sales so they're paid a monthly flat rate of ~$1K which is apparently a lot?!?

ACTUAL pro skaters gotta get paid more. Tired of seeing all this IG skater shit who don't care about the culture and looking to get famous.

Makes me wonder which pro has the highest selling board in skateboarding right now too and how many boards they're churning.

[close]

Makes the Keelan wanting more than $10k a month ten years ago seem even more crazy now. There was a NZ skater years ago that pretty much said you're way better off just working a normal job and being on flow than actually trying to be a pro skateboarder.

The rumour is Andy Anderson has the top selling board. My guess is it's ishod or foy

i've heard the andy anderson rumor too. i also made a guess at foy or ishod.

believe it or not, clive dixon has the top selling board on zumiez. the graphic is sick and he rips but shocked he's the top seller since he's more of a core skater. 2nd place is mike carroll with a hello kitty graphic (lol).

based on best selling pro graphics from zumiez, it seems like people are buying based on graphics vs. pro names since almost none of the top sellers are who you'd think. further making the case that these brands gotta go back to making cool graphics.

[Tireeedd]

Who was the other guy on the couch, like Mikey’s trainer or jockey or something?

[sexualhelon]

I didn't mean to mention Amazon as if it was a direct (or even really similar) comparison - they're obviously very different companies. I just mentioned them as an example of a company that wasn't turning a profit for nearly a decade and still considered "successful" during that time.

A company can get by on high revenues and low or non-existent profits. Not turning a profit doesn't exactly mean they aren't having a positive cash flow - they just use that to reinvest in the business and fund other ventures. As Primitive isn't a publicly traded company, I'm sure Prod is just getting a (good) salary and probably using his company for some huge tax write offs.

[GAY]

They say that the difference of a pinion is what makes a horse race.

[Southernmost]

Was prod the first to put his name on a shoe with the 3 digit price range?

Muska was the first. His éS show retailed at $100+ around 1998.

[Ty Evans Lightman]

The more interesting topic is who is shifting the most boards.
I can hear Ishod or Foy just when you think of how many shops in the world sell Baker/Deathwish/Deluxe.

I don’t own a shop but I know there are shop owners on here. Am I right in thinking bedroom companies are no longer shifting units and sort of out of favour with core shops?

I don’t think he’s a best seller but I’m pretty sure Craig management are quite happy to keep Crob and Jeron models in circulation. Makes cents.

[Ghost Face]

I'll take a guess and say that Penny is up there with his Cheech and Chong boards and SC moves a tone of Dressen boards.

[Cuban_Lynx]

Expand Quote

The rumour is Andy Anderson has the top selling board. My guess is it's ishod or foy

[close]

More evidence we are on the darkest timeline.

It may still be, but it was && from 2020-2021 for sure. Those Flight boards were selling out instantly and going on eBay for 2-3x’s retail. Now it seems like supply has caught up and they’re on sale everywhere.

[KrisJolson]

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its simple american math my dudes. spend the money on product, assets, salaries, marketing and you dont have to pay taxes

no "profit" though 

[close]

at some point though, prod and his partners gotta pay themselves? totally get investing the "profit" back into the business to avoid taxes. just cant imagine the owners of primitive aren't receiving any money to pay themselves after i think 10ish years in business?

they gettin paid the entire time dingus

what even is a salary these days?