Golden Rules of Being a Pro Skater

I do not care if you have the creativity of Deawon Song, the technical ground breaking of Greg Lutzka, the next level insight of Chris Cole, the magic work of Haslam or the style of Gino. No matter what you will run into hoops to have to jump through as a pro and here are the top 5 golden rules to remember.

Rule number 1 of being a pro skater: never let anybody edit your video parts unless you are present at the time. You might end up with what I got with the Film This video, nothing but toss out footage and filler crap and stuff that was only fit as a joke in a Chomp On This setting.

It is not going to last forever is the number 2 rule. Learn a craft in the field. I like to think most of us skaters are creative types who want to be innovative and have fun with any art form. I picked up a video camera back in '92 and have not got out of it since. For me, being behind the lens is just as fun as being in front of it. Plus you can save your sponsors mad cash if you film other team riders and help out in the never ending video part that is and will be your life as a skater.

Number 3: If you get hurt, which you will, make sure to stay in touch with your sponsors. Go into the office, give input on laying out ads, crack jokes, brain storm with the boss about concepts for future videos skits, ad campaigns and of course, product design. Never, and I mean never, act like you know anything about anything you do not know about. Know it all's suck at life and chances are, unless you are a member of Mensa, you are not going to understand half of what is going on in an office due to the fact you have spent your whole life outside of one. There are people who will kick your ass for even coming up to their desk and bugging them. One time I went to Syndrome, back when Plan B was just about to re-launch, with a bunch of sketches for deck graphics for Plan B that D Way and Colin already gave me the thumbs up on my HygienE Series concept weeks prior. I decided to walk in without calling and had Jason Maxwell take me to the art dump. The dudes looked at me like I fucked their girlfriend for even acting like I was a graphic artist. I showed them my idea's and they just nodded and gave me a mean mug that made Suge Knight look like Rodney Mullen. It was creepy to see tight pant, white slip on shoes, side bag wearing, ram horn glass on face having, Mac laptop sitting behind dudes turn into UFC fight pregame faces. I learned a valuable lesson, even if you are head banging to metal and skating with the bosses you still cannot just jump into a field you know little about. This is something you need to take with stride. Many cats go to school for years for these jobs and get pissed at you for rolling up on them with a half ass drawing you did with a sharpie. Just think how pissed you would be if some fuck who did not know the difference between a hard flip and a inward heel started to tell you how to skate, where to skate, where to film and how to dress. It would be like that. Just respect everybody and you will go far. Even if you have a great concept in your head leave it to the people in that trade to put it out for you rather than you drawing it up and messing it up.

Number 4: Never burn any bridges. You will end up on an island, trust me.

Number 5: Ego trippers never act spoiled. Nobody wants a prima donna on their team who would never get in the dirt on the playground. I do not care if you are a 15 year deep pro skater who has ridden for some of the biggest brands out there. At some point it will dry up and you will need to trade in the 4-star hotel for a 4 pole tent. You will have to stop bitching about grainy photos and you will have to ride shop brand bootleg bearings rather than Swiss. Grow up and realize you are not the shit. Time to be humble, stop being ego tripped out. Who cares how much coverage you have, who gives a fuck if your last video part was off the chain? Kids will forget about you as soon as the next video comes out from whomever and the next month's issue has been run. I had a column in Transworld titled the "Overheards" that ran for a year straight from '04 to '05 and as soon as it was done, nobody knew I worked for them at all. For real, it happens that fast.