We all need money

We all need money to live.  Those of us who grew up without much money usually think we need to make a ton of money to be happy.  That's why I'm starting this blog off with a video clip of Brian Foster.

About 25 years ago, I lived in a house in Westminster, California with a bunch of BMX riders.  We called it the P.O.W. House, which stood for Pros Of Westminster.  Brian Foster was one of those riders, along with his big brother Alan.  We all lived cheap, shared rooms, and focused on riding our bikes as much as possible.  We were young guys in our 20's, scraping by, in the middle of a long recession.  Brian focused mostly on riding his bike back then, he had this smooth, flowing, laid back style that made everything he did on his bike look easy and amazing.  Twenty five years later, Brian STILL makes his living riding his bike.  He doesn't make a fortune.  But he's married, has a house, and from what I hear, spends his time mowing the lawn, chillin' with his wife, and riding his bike.  Sounds like a pretty good life.  But it's a lifestyle that wasn't possible when Brian and I were kids.  No one made a living as a pro BMX trails and park rider then, because BMX racing itself was brand new.  The whole lifestyle Brian enjoys hadn't been invented yet.

Living in that same house at the same time ('92-'93), I loved to ride my bike, too.  But I didn't have the natural skills Brian did.  I was a freestyler, I couldn't jump worth a damn.  I loved to ride, but I  was also interested in economics, business, human potential, and predicting the future.  I was trying to figure out a way to make money in as little time as possible so that I could pay my bills AND have more time to ride my bike.  One weekend I left the P.O.W. House, where my 10 or so roommates were sleeping, and I took a couple buses to Long Beach, where I went to a business seminar.  There were several different guys in suits giving talks about different businesses ideas.  They all sold some kind of kit to get started.  I spent $300, a huge amount of money for me then, on a kit to learn how to speed read.  I literally ate ramen for three weeks afterwards, two meals a day, because I couldn't afford better food after buying the speed reading kit.  I learned to read much faster, and I started powering through all kinds of books, mostly non-fiction.  It was one of the best investments I've ever made.  I had a lot of personal issues to work out, and I knew I wanted to run my own business someday.  So I started learning all kinds of things to help me do that.

That led me on a really weird path through life, working many different jobs, and ultimately I ended up homeless for a while.  Most people see that as failure.  But us BMXers (and skaters and other action sports people) look at failure differently than most people.  We all spent years going out on our bikes or boards to learn new tricks or new moves.  Every single day we'd try something that we couldn't do yet.  And we'd "fail."  But we'd keep trying.  Failure kind of lost its meaning, because we got used to trying something that seemed impossible, and screwing up a whole bunch of times until we finally learned it.  That process became normal for us.

That basic mentality started to seep into other things.  Some of us, like me, started Xerox zines to tell other people about our scene.  Some shot photos.  Some of us made our own videos.  And some people started their own companies.  Chris Moeller, who started S&M Bikes at age 16 with his friend Greg, also lived at the P.O.W. House for a while.  As we split our time between doing what we had to do to make money, and doing what we loved, riding BMX bikes, something happened.  We created a whole group of sports, BMX jumping, park riding, flatland, vert riding, and street riding.  We also created an entire industry around that group of sports.  The skateboarders did the same thing.  So did the snowboarders and all the other action sports people. So did the hip hop artists and dancers, and punk bands, and tattoo artists and all kinds of other weird people.

In following the things we loved, we inadvertently created whole new ways to make a living.  My crazy path took me away from the BMX world, and through a lot of adventures, and then back to the fringe of BMX as an old school BMX blogger.

Now we're in a world much, much different that the one Brian Foster, and me, and all of our friends grew up in.  The old mantra of "get good grades, go to college, and get a good job" doesn't work like it once did.  Now millions of people are looking for better ways to make money.  The best paying jobs, mostly in high tech, are in industries that didn't even exist when I was a kid.  Like many other people in this rapidly changing world, I've been struggling to re-invent myself and find a good way to make a living AND do what I love.  I know it's possible, I've seen many people do it over the years in many different ways.  Brian Foster was able to do that by staying on his bike and showing a new generation what style in BMX riding is all about.

Me, I became a blogger and artist, neither of which has been paying the bills.  Finally, a couple of days ago, I set an insane financial goal for myself.  I knew I needed to start dreaming bigger again and really push myself to get back to making a decent living again.  Much to my surprise, I found myself in a really weird, really powerful dream this morning.  I was wandering through an unfamiliar city, and I kept running into people who had followed their "crazy" ideas and found success.  BMXers.  Skaters.  Graffiti and street artists.  Other athletes.  Gourmet chefs.  And then I wandered into a dark, sketchy alley.  There were a bunch of young people, hanging out without much to do and no big dreams.  They were looking for a way to make money.  But all they knew was the tough life of the streets of poor urban neighborhoods.  They hadn't met people who followed their dreams and started businesses.  I realized, in the crazy dream, that I had something to offer those kids.  I could offer hope and experience and life lessons about how people can start with hardly anything and build a good life out of their dreams and hard work.  I'd seen it happen over and over.  But the kids hanging out in that dark alley in my dream hadn't.

Then I woke up.

I laid in bed for half an hour as one idea after another rushed through my head.  I thought of things I had learned that I could share with all the people out there who also have to find a new way to make a living.  Those ideas started to meld.  I knew there was a blog to be published.  There will be a lot more in addition to the blog.  But this is the start.  This blog is about finding a way to make a good living in today's crazy world, but also to live a good life.  You  don't have to be a billionaire or act like a pimp in a rap music video with a yacht, bottles of Crystal, and dancing girls.  Just look at my old roommate Brian Foster.  He lives a pretty dang cool life.  Now it's time for the rest of us to find our own version of a good living and a great life.  Hang on, it's gonna be a wild ride.