Randy Korwin, a commercial photographer turned entrepreneur, shares his inspiring story during a recent interview with John LaRoy, CEO of Apparel Redefined. A Columbia College alum, Randy started RMK Photo, where he blended his passion for creativity and business. Over the years, he’s taken bold steps into new ventures, including creating Bolts, a unique skateboarding card game.
Bolts isn’t just a game; it’s an innovative teaching tool. Each card has a QR code linking to trick tutorials, making skateboarding more accessible and educational for enthusiasts. With skateboarding now an Olympic sport, Randy sees immense potential for Bolts to become both a collectible and a tool to foster the sport’s growth.
Randy attributed much of his success to the power of partnerships, particularly with Apparel Redefined, a collaborator instrumental in scaling his business. He also reflected on the importance of mentorship and personal projects in navigating challenges and staying ahead in creative industries.
Randy’s story highlights resilience, innovation, and the exciting possibilities in fusing passion and entrepreneurship. If you’re a fan of skateboarding—or just love stories of ingenuity—Bolts might be worth keeping an eye on!
Key Highlights
• Randy Korwin’s Background and Early Career 0:40
• Early Career Challenges and Insights 2:27
• Photography and Business Development 4:57
• Entrepreneurial Lessons and Advice 6:50
• Skateboarding and Entrepreneurial Parallels 9:49
• Introduction to the Skateboarding Card Game 30:20
• Partnership with Apparel Redefined 38:31
Presentation Transcription
Curt Anderson 00:02
Hey guys, hello. Good morning, good afternoon, where you’re wherever you’re coming from. We just want to give you a warm welcome here. From apparel redefine John Leroy, how are you, my friend, I’m doing great. Curt, how are you? Oh, my goodness gracious. I am doing phenomenal. And as a matter of fact, I’ve got, you know what, John, I hate to do this to you. I have to. I mean, I got this wonderful holiday card from the LeRoy family. Look at that baby. So beautiful kids, wonderful wife. So thank you. Love your love your holiday card. So whatever time you’re catching this, guys, we’ve got a great conversation ahead of us. So Randy Korwin is in the house. Randy, hello. How are you? What’s going on, man? Hello guys,
Randy Korwin 00:38
thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Uh, glad to glad to, glad to be here.
Curt Anderson 00:41
Well, we are thrilled, so do us a little background check for us, if you will. So you’ve we were before we jumped live, we were talking about your your college background, kind of, it sounds like you have a little artistic flair, if you will, just share a little bit of on, like early stages of Randy. We want to dive into your entrepreneurial journey, and then we’ll go from there. Just give us a little bit of your background. Sure.
Randy Korwin 01:03
Yeah. I mean, creative is kind of like, you know, my wheelhouse. I went to Columbia College in Chicago for film photography major, studied that for a couple of years, and then actually got a job in the career of commercial photography as an assistant, worked my way up to my own little brand called RMK photo, and then that got me working with creative agencies and clients for the past 20 years. From there, like just a small offshoots of different like entrepreneurial ventures with friends. We, while back, we did a little book that kind of helped photographers get in front of creative directors. That was a business that we started, and unfortunately, it had we got, kind of like taken over by other people in the business, and so we transition that into other things, and then from there, just growing up skateboarding, I had a buddies around, we kind of created a fun little like game to help teach kids the language of skateboarding. So we repurposed 52 deck of playing cards, and then use that to take the language of skateboarding, which is its own little small subculture, and then be able to illustrate. So you can look at a card, scan a QR code, and see what the trick looks like corresponding with the name. And then a new kid can come up, really easy playing a game. So from there, like we just kind of always try to find some sort of avenue of entrepreneurship to bring something to the market that can help people,
Curt Anderson 02:17
awesome. Okay, lots of impact right there, dude. So let’s so from college you shared, like, a wonderful opportunity. You talked about your your photography business. I’m going to pull that up in a minute, but just share a little bit, you know, kind of like, did you have a vision plan when you went to college? Like, you know, all of us were like, Hey, this is what my life’s going to look like. And then you get a lot of curve balls or different directions in life, you know, what was early stages of your career with your creativity, photography, let’s, let’s go there, like, early 20s, you know, post college ish, what did that look like? Sure, like
Randy Korwin 02:47
I never really knew exactly like, you know, like where my artistic endeavors were going to take me until, like, I had a writer friend look at an image of mine, and she just like, I can, I can write a story about this photo. And from that, I can also, I’m like, okay, I can make a photo that can tell a story, and it really just set, set it off in that value for me. So I started looking at things a little bit differently, like when I’m framing things and kind of really compiling, like, you know, what’s in front of my camera, to help really isolate what the story is. And then that really led me into the advertising world of photography. So from there, like, you know, getting into that like you, you really start at the bottom as an assistant, and slowly work your way up until you build relationships with art directors, art buyers and stuff like that. And you work on your marketing to get yourself out there and build your own brand and your own identity and how you shoot. And it really comes down to the idea of how you can solve a problem, because something happens, the weather changes. There’s all these different things. So it’s really about being able to be calm under the scrutiny of somebody watching what you’re doing, but also being able to bring the solution to the problem that you didn’t know was there before. So it could be a lighting it could be the sun is cloudy. It could be now it’s raining. Now you gotta move locations or the talents network, and you just gotta be able to work inside that. And work inside that environment. And that’s where I really felt like I like strived, and kind of like, you know, keeping everybody calm and relaxed and like, we’re going to get the shot if we’re going to make it happen, it’s no big deal. But at the same time, keeping everybody relaxed really makes a better experience. And that’s where I did for the past 20 years as a photographer.
Curt Anderson 04:20
Yes, I said that’s powerful advice. Man, where were you 30 years years ago? That was like, stressed out. Man, so John, I might still have some hair left of orange, you know. Alright, let’s, let’s go here. Let’s jump into, I’m going to start here with your photography website. Then we’re going to jump, jump into you really piqued everybody’s curiosity with this cool game that you have. We’re going to dive into that, but just share a little bit about, you know what’s going on here? You’ve got some phenomenal photos. Just tell us what you’re capturing here,
Randy Korwin 04:46
sure. So, like, sometimes you do a little bit of personal work that helps, kind of like, you know, bring your vision of how you see things forward as while we’re scrolling through, you can see there’s a family portrait that’s just those are my friends we would do their their photos. For their holiday cards. But then I would like keep them a little bit longer for a concept. So we would do these things where it’s like, we wanted to have like this, like super mom scenario, whereas, like, you know, the backbone is a good Mother’s Day, like concept. And so what we end up doing their holiday card for them, for their own personal use. I go, Well, let’s. Let me photograph this so I can do a marketing push out for Mother’s Day for all these ad agencies. So I would end up making this into a postcard that would then go out to agencies to help them, kind of like, know my style and what I do. And then from that, I would get like, jobs. So if you’re going to the top right corner where it is a direct result continental tires, then reach out to us, because they want to, like showcase, like the their tires in their vehicle, but also the relationship with people in their day to day life and what they’re doing. So we then went out and shot these for their ad campaign. So that would be kind of the stuff that we would get from doing a personal project that would get the marketing to get to in the hands of the people that would then hire me. So from that, we just kind of just going to just do a lot of different things, as far as do a lot of lifestyle, and a lot of like, you know, creative concept and portraiture. So is, if it’s something a little like, offbeat, off the beaten path, or it’s more of a lifestyle environment, environmental portraiture of people.
Curt Anderson 06:16
Man, I absolutely love it. And so in you struck a chord, right there? I went for entrepreneurs out there, you’re talking about, like, you know, I felt like you kind of went into, like, a little bit of a business development. So you took your creative, your creative juices, and so, you know, hey, this is my buddy and his family. We did this. And so now you got on the offensive and started sending out, and it actually converted into business walk us through, like, you know, your 20 year success. Like, you know, how you know, for new entrepreneur out there. So, like, your younger self, 20 years ago, walk us through that process of, like, what’s what has really been a winner for you? As far as, like, driving new business like that, I just, I really love what you hit there
Randy Korwin 06:50
for sure. Like, well, if you write while you’re scrolling, there’s a woman in a blue jacket, and her hands are the table, and right above the gentleman with the nachos, this is an example of like, we’re like, everything, everything, yeah, that art walk. So this is just an art walk that I got asked to be a part of like. And so like, it was just the idea of, like, being able to showcase your work. But like, every opportunity that is is presented to you, it has has the ability to be something bigger. And so what we did is we did is we kind of, like, made this little like photo studio inside of, like, it was a an Art Walk in Beverly. But this, we built this little photo studio, but we did is, we did, made a book out of it. So so taking, like, this opportunity to be a part of an art walk, I then transition that. It’s like, well, how can I use this as marketing, or how can I move this into a different space to, like, really build my brand outside of just this art walk and so that. So every single time that like, something comes up, as far as like, you know, I can take a photo of this person. It gives you a window. So not that’s not just the job. The job is to take care of that need, but also getting people. How can I build off of this? Not gonna. How can I build my brand and my identity and my work and get it in front of other eyes. So from this scenario, just like the other story, where, like, you know, it was then marketed to a bunch of other ad agencies and stuff like that. In the best part is, is, like I learned from my peers, like, you know, in coming up as an assistant and talking to the photographers and finding a mentor is a really good suggestion for like, the arts field. It’s like, you know, you admire people that, like, you know, can do the work and that you see their work. Buy them coffee, you know, get get in front of them, like, you know, see if you can show your work to them. Get their opinion and their value of how, like, where you’re going and ask for advice. That it’s one of those things that, like, I always thought was a great way of learning the craft is to ask those who did it before you
Curt Anderson 08:52
brilliant, brilliant advice, right there. John, we had a nice conversation last week with a client of yours, and they were talking about how you kind of started the relationship, you’d reach out to them. So again, you know, so whether it’s photography or, you know, you and I listen to a lot of podcasts. I listen to, like, I was listening to a food manufacturer built this, you know, nine figure brand, and she was like, you know, giving out samples constantly. So I love what you’re saying here. Randy John, any tips, anything that you want to chime in, as far as, like, business development, kind of, putting yourself out there, sharing your craft, anything that you want to share. From that perspective, what
John LaRoy 09:26
Randy just said, No. I mean, it’s a different perspective. But I think with social media and technology, you know, you hear like six degrees of separation, and really like the other cliche, sliding into someone’s DMS. You’re really not that far away from people now, you know, will they answer it? Are they, you know, how many followers they got, but some of our biggest clients, you know, is kind of just doing some outreach with that and sliding into their DMS and getting getting the conversation started. But honestly, like you. Uh, the lead up to send that message. It could be weeks or months, you know, where it’s like, I don’t know if this is the right time. It’s like, it’s all in your head, of of just, who cares? You know, it’s just a message. It’s nothing crazy. It’s not as intrusive as showing up in someone’s office and saying, hey, you know, I know when I don’t have an appointment, but I’m here to see you, type thing, and that always, you know, doesn’t usually go well, where a message the right time? You know, there is some walk involved there, but it is a lot easier to get connected to people. And just looking at, like, I was reading on that, that Art Walk thing, where it’s like the concept was you only had five shots, right? And if you didn’t get, if you didn’t get the shots to your fault, because you didn’t make the connection. And like, before I even read that, I was able, like, and I’m not an artist, or a creative by any means, but like, you could tell by those pictures that, just by the eyes, and like, the way, like the setting feels like there was some type of connection being made there, or whatever was being talked about. It was like serious for some people, pretty light hired for others. But it wasn’t like walking through, like a Walmart and looking at the picture frame section. You just see all these, like random, like stock photo type things. But yeah, pretty cool. And for my own curiosity, I feel like photography. My dad used to be a wedding photographer, way back when, and, you know, looking at like pictures of him taking pictures and all the equipment used to log around, right now, it’s like, when iPhone one came out, yeah, it was like, okay, and now you have like these, I don’t even know If I’m using right terms, but like, 15 megapixel cameras and all these different modes and features you could do on your iPhone. Like, is there still, like, a massive advantage in terms of hardware, like the actual equipment of camera taking that like, those cameras are also getting way better, or is, like, the iPhone just as good as that stuff. I think
Randy Korwin 12:03
there’s, there’s a photographer that I follow that would do a lot of podcasting and interviews. His name is Chase Jarvis, and he wrote a book that was kind of like, you know, focused on the idea of the best camera that you can have is the one that you have on you, no matter what mega pixels, because it’s sometimes it’s the location in the environment that you land in that Curt, that could be the best photo. Not so much the idea of, like, how many mega pixels, or how type of lenses, those are great tools, but because of technology, is like, kind of bringing them into everybody’s pocket. Like, then it’s not, not so much about the tools. Is the idea of the connection. And so that whole series of doing that art walk with the five, five shots, it was, it was, it was two different values that I looked at. One is like, how long do I want to keep somebody they’re in? Another, like, I’m pulling them out of their experience of enjoying art, to be now, be a part of it. And I didn’t want to like, you know, have somebody like, like, let’s do some more. So it was a way of, like, limiting somebody who is an extrovert who wants to like, now be in front of the camera for like, a like, 20 to 30 minutes, and also, like, you know, somebody who is an introvert, not making them feel that they have to give too much of their time. Or be like, you know, like, well, I don’t want to do I’m like, it’s only five shots. If we get it, we do. If we don’t, we can delete it. So it was kind of limit, that idea of, like, yeah, you have, like, an unlimited amount of photo, photography you can make now, because the digital card can hold over, like, you know, 4000 images, where, before you had a roll of 36 or 24 you can in a camera roll. So it was kind of trying to, like, limit myself, limit the environment. And from that, like, really try to dive into what is, what is, what is the relationship part of this, like, who are, who are these people? How do I break that down? How do I get something out of them that maybe I wouldn’t before,
John LaRoy 13:46
that’s so interesting, like back high school, even college days, you know, having an, okay, a brick phone as, like, the first cell phone I got in college, and then actually carrying around a camera and keys and your wallet. You know, that’s when cargo pants are really not only trendy, but functional, you know. But, you know, you go to Walgreens for the weekend and you buy one of those, you know, disposable cameras. You only had 24 and it’s like, you’re making memories, you’re partying, you’re doing this, but you only got 24 shots. And, like, Don’t waste them, type thing. And it was cool, and you dropped it off. And, like, on Monday you pick it up on a Wednesday, and it’s like, I forgot I even took this. Or, you know, these people were there. And it’s like that those days are gone, because it’s all about, like, volume. Now you can take, like you said, you take a million pictures on your phone. But if that’s the other thing too, you see so many people like this at concerts, at a dueling piano things on Friday. It’s like, what are you doing? Are you actually going to ever watch that, you know, recording, you know, it’s like, why don’t you just pay attention and be present where you’re there and, like, take one picture instead of two hours of footage that you’re never going to actually come back and watch. And it’s like, what’s the point? Just so you can throw it up on Facebook and say, I was there. And it’s like, I don’t know. It’s it? It’s just so like, show me, show me, about me, and I think the cameras enable that. Now there’s positive in that as well, but, yeah, I just feel like people have a hard time being in the present because of the access to camera and everything in their pocket. You know,
Randy Korwin 15:15
no, for sure, like, there’s an statement that’s talked to everybody’s a photographer, because everybody has the ability to do that. And like, we’re even still with like, lighting, like we’re like, like, as a commercial photographer, used to hold on to these like, why know how to light something properly? And that’s still, like, maybe not in in the hands of everybody. But now that the the cameras are getting so crazy that you can change lighting, you can do all these things. So it really comes down to the idea of connecting with people. So that’s the skill set that I get to walk away with is just like, well, put me in a room and I’ll make people comfortable, and we can get a better photo than somebody just holding up a camera and shooting 4000 images.
Curt Anderson 16:04
Well, Randy, this is fantastic. And what we have here, we’re taking a look at, like, man, what, who’s who, lists of clients that you’ve worked with over the years. Incredibly impressive. So, so again, you know, opportunity for folks who connect with you will have in the show notes, you know, RMK, photo com, and so we want you to connect. You know, check out Randy on LinkedIn. And so Randy, I’m going to transition now, I heard you mentioned skateboarding. Did I hear you? Did I hear that correctly? Or you were like a fierce skateboarder back in the day? Is that correct?
Randy Korwin 16:33
Yeah. I mean, definitely, skateboarder, skateboarder, from the the age of, I want to say 12. And still to this day, it’s, it’s one of those things that, like, really put its hook in me. It’s kind of like, you know, also, I think, kind of the catalyst for my creative like endeavors. Because, like, you know, so much of skateboarding is this idea of trial and error and a lot more failure than success. So it’s so you keep on going after the same trick, and then you finally get it, and then you the reward is just heightened. And instead of like, you know, where I feel like a lot of people can take a basketball and toss it up towards a hoop and eventually get a basket, sooner than trying to balance on a skateboard and move in one direction, side to side, left to right, up a ramp, down a ramp, and then make the Board Flip so and that’s like the thing that we had worked on. And my business partner Mike, me and him grew up together skateboarding, so, like it just most of my really long, long form bonds with my friendships are from skateboarding.
Curt Anderson 17:32
Nice, awesome. Well, alright, you picked my curiosity. I don’t know if I’m going off script, but you mentioned the word failure. I I couldn’t love that more, because I’m going to assume you’ve had a few bumps and bruises over your skateboarding career, maybe like one or two. Is that correct?
Randy Korwin 17:45
More than one attack? Actually, I believe if you can see it, I have a scar somewhere on my left side here from my board hitting me in the face. So yeah, it is. It is a brutal, brutal sport.
Curt Anderson 17:56
It’s a brutal sport. So you know, for entrepreneurs, man, plenty of bumps, bruises, scars, battle wounds, you know, that type of thing. So share with folks a little bit on how you know. And I think you’ve scratched that service. I just wonder if you could take it to the next level. How has your skateboardings from 12 on and even up till, you know, right up till today? How is that passion for skateboarding? The friendships, relationships, camaraderie, again, that overcoming fear of failure, taking that chance to try new moves, new things. How is that really transitioned into your entrepreneurial career, through through adulthood?
Randy Korwin 18:30
The best way to put it would be like, skateboarding is a physical attribute, like, so you have to be like, you know, stay in shape, a little bit like, or kind of like be in a way that your body is kind of the tool in which you can do the action. And you have days where it’s like, it’s just not working, like, you know, maybe muscle memory is not there, like, something. And the thing is that what I thought was really beneficial to learn from skateboarding was like, That’s okay, like, the next day is going to be a different day it has. There’s some days where I’ve gotten on my skateboard and tricks just are popping off, and that’s like, that was a good day, and then the following day is when I hurt myself, or nothing happens that really transitions into entrepreneurship for me, because, like, you have, like, you know, especially for commercial photography, Mondays are a bad day to try to connect with your ad agencies and stuff like that. So Monday is just not a good day to be in that business. You learn that from doing it and like trying to reach out, and they’re all in Monday meetings, and nobody’s getting back to you so and so you just gotta pivot. So Monday is not a day. So you just reconfigure your your schedule based on like, you know, what is working. And so skateboarding helped me learn that. And like, you know, and also the idea of like relationships, where I I love skateboarding so much that the culture of it is not about what gender you are, what color you are, it’s, do you skate? And not even like, are you good or bad? It’s, are you trying? Are you putting forth like effort? And we all look at the idea of somebody who’s just new but they’re really going for it is like, there’s. Quarter that translates into how I see, like, you know, all my photo assistants, like, you know, in different jobs that we’re doing, as far as, like, this little entrepreneurs, nice card game that we’re going to be talking about is, is, who do we see that really connects with it and goes, I can make this bigger. Then that’s a better relationship than somebody who’s just like, Yeah, I can do something for you. So you really learn, like, you know, who can be a part of your like, your ethos, or not so much of ethos, my apologies, your overall like, your ecosystem, yeah, like, who you like, oh, they get it. And then that’s where you can really isolate those people and like, those are partners, instead of just somebody you hire and entrepreneurial for me, like, you want to find as many partners, because that really helps, like, you know, bring the vision together. And might, you might see avenues that you didn’t see before because you were, you were too close to it, you were too focused on one on one avenue. So that’s what I really like, how, like, skateboarding had taught me that stuff. Also the benefit of get a pivot, you know, sometimes, like, if that tricks not working today, let it go, try a different one. And if you’re going after something in entrepreneurship, like it really does mean, like, if you hit that wall, it’s, it might just be a pivot, you know, and be okay with it. And the
Curt Anderson 21:18
benefit, well, I absolutely love that. And I think, you know, over, you know, I’m a black head bird. Like, you know, hey, let’s keep running into the wall over and over and over. So finally, like, you know, hey, maybe that wall, it doesn’t feel so good, that wall is not going to move. And so maybe I need to go around the wall. But I absolutely love what you’re saying. You I’ve got your website. I want to jump into a minute you talk about, you have a fun educational game that you’ve created. So we’re going to dive there. However, you mentioned the word partnership, and that really perked me up. And so, you know what, John, I always love to preach on the show here is, you know, it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village to raise a business, right? And it takes a lot of partnerships, you know, people overcoming your weaknesses, maybe if you need a good account and good attorney, good partnerships, relationships, that type of thing, you have a great relationship with apparel redefine. Just share a little bit about, like, how those relationships in business have been so important to you and your success.
Randy Korwin 22:06
Oh, hands down, by far one of the best relationships we found with and apparel redefined. I was doing all this research to find a way to keep our inventory down and to kind of like, you know, create some sort of, like a line of clothing along with our product, which is, like, you know, a physical card game product to help, like, you know, promote. And we were just finding, like, you know, the getting something printed in bulk, like, you know, was cost prohibitive. We couldn’t really afford to do that with shirts that we didn’t know we’re going to sell. And we also needed some, some places that can, like, you know, ship our product out physically. So I went through endless meetings with different types of distribution houses and stuff like that all across the US and and finding that apparel redefine was about maybe 10 minutes away from my house and was the partner. It was the anomaly in the whole system where they actually could ship our product, and do our print on demand and packages all together. So it was one of those, like, perfect, like, you know, relationships, where they solved two problems that I had in one location, and then just the the people working with there were just phenomenal to, like, you know, walk through all the little systems and all the things with no hiccups. It was, it was something like, we’re pretty much got a turnkey house, where I just walked in and I’m like, and I’m living so it was great. Well,
Curt Anderson 23:26
thank you. That’s awesome. John, any What do you want to come comment on that? Yeah? I mean,
John LaRoy 23:31
it’s also why we started doing marketing, right? Curt, because no one knew what we do and how we do it. So, yeah, it’s great. It’s great, you know, making that connection and providing that value. It’s one thing to like talk about stuff, and, you know, not actually do it. And you see that a lot in our industry, and that’s something that we’ve talked on other episodes. Like, my biggest fear is, you know, being a hypocrite and not doing what you say and saying what you do. So it’s nice to find people that are passionate about their brand and about a cause, and we help them get that out, you know, get their merch, get their apparel, in this case, these cards. And, yeah, it’s just, it’s really fascinating. And like, again, my own curiosity, like, and no offense or anything, I would call, like, skateboarding, like, non traditional, right, where you have, like, I come from, like, traditional sports, hockey, baseball, and one of the things I would kind of build on about the the translation from skateboarding into entrepreneurial is a discipline, right, where, you know, I can’t practice hockey in a team setting unless I’m going to the rink, right? And I got, you got your hour, you know, five days a week, games on the weekend. And like, skateboarding is, like, it’s on you right? Like, you know, you better practice. You better be working on this stuff if you want to continue to get better. And there’s not especially, like, in that time too, like the X Games and, like, all this stuff happened in the 90s, and it kind of like bringing attention to these. Words that, like, we weren’t really allowed to, like, do you know it was always like, hey, I really want to do that, but it’s like, Hey, you chip your elbow, you’re not playing baseball. And then same thing with hockey, you break your knee or break your wrist, like you’re done for your hockey season. But then just like, listening to, like, all these areas, I consume content, like, I have four or five guys and, like, Andrew Huberman, like, I never really thought what he would have been, this big skate guy, right? And, like, just all these people that he has on that he connects with about skateboarding, and it’s just, it’s super cool. And it’s I had friends that were like, you know, part of that group, and they had, you know, they’re still really close with all those guys that, you know they went and, you know, you do it now, like, or we work out in the morning at five in the morning. And it’s always like, you build strength through collective success and failure, right? And you got 22 guys working out at five o’clock in the morning, whether it’s raining, snowing, sleeting, whatever. And you don’t know these guys from a hole in the wall, but then over time, you start building a really solid foundation, because you’re going through a grind together, you know, whether that be traditional sports, non traditional sports, military type stuff, whatever it is like that, that collective embracing the suck, right? Really builds, like, real relationships, and it’s cool. And I, yeah, your community is always just fascinated me. And, yeah, kudos to you, man, because it’s a lot of discipline. It’s a lot of getting up when you’re, you know, you hear all the old adage, you gotta get up when you fall down, but like you’re falling down literally every day, all day, you know, yeah, that’s awesome,
Randy Korwin 26:43
awesome. And thank you. Yeah, like it. There’s, there’s a Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, or a conversation between Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. Talk about skateboarders in the way that I’m like, from an outside perspective, they get it. It’s like they you learn a good lesson from you learn more from failure than you do success, and skateboarding is that in a nutshell. And in our own culture of skateboarding, we’re having, like, kind of this issue, because it was this Castaway sport, like it like it wasn’t. It was like this thing that, but now it’s in the Olympics. So in our own culture, we’re like, Well, what does that mean? Like, it’s hard to say that skateboarding is a sport because we don’t have coaches like, you know, but now it’s, it is listed as a sport in the Olympics, you’re like, so it’s really comes down to, like, it’s an individual self expression, but I do it collectively with people who are all individually self expressing themselves. And it’s a, yeah, it’s one of those things where this game that we came up with was like that, kind of, like a love of love letter back to skateboarding. It was a way of, kind of like, you know, giving back to the thing that gave so much to us, and a way of, kind of like bringing in new blood and younger kids and teaching them, like, you know, the language and all that stuff. Because it’s very it’s, it’s very complicated at times, and it sometimes, it doesn’t make any sense. So trying to give them a game, a product, a location, almost like a library of what all the stuff looks like, and what the it’s called, and stuff like that, is what we came up with.
John LaRoy 28:12
Yeah, man, it’s amazing. Like, how many skate parks now? Like, you got your traditional playground and then you got, like, you know, the ramps and the half pipes and quarter pipes, all this stuff is really cool. I mean, like, you see kids out there doing stuff, and that was not the case 1012, years ago, you know,
Curt Anderson 28:31
yeah, man, too. A love letter back to my trade, my my passion, and brandy dropped the mic right there, dude. That was absolutely, gosh, that was good. And the thing is, look what it’s done for you. You know, you mentioned Mike, your partner. You guys go back to, you know, early, early days, because of this passion I love. You just mentioned Chris Rock and Seinfeld. You know, getting it. It’s now an Olympic sport, you know, you think about snowboarding. It’s, it’s kind of snowboarding without, without the snow, right? And, and I love what you’re saying. Like, you know, you know, I could grab a baseball bat and maybe I won’t make contact, but I could swing a bat, I could throw a basketball but, man, don’t get me out of skateboard, because it wouldn’t be pretty. So it is a special skill set. And John, you’re making a great point. You talk about like, if you have a fear of failure, well, guess what? Don’t don’t start skateboarding. If you have a fear of failure, don’t go into entrepreneurship. So Randy, I just, I love all these parallels. Let’s dive into this game, because I think this is the love letter the skateboarding guys. What that was, man? That was, I dropped them like, alright, Randy, what do we have going on here? Please. Folks are dying to know what’s happening here.
Randy Korwin 29:35
Sure. So in skateboarding, there’s a couple different ways of doing it. You’re you can be your own individual person and make tricks up. You can grab the board, spin, or you can do all these things, but there is a, what we call a fundamental like, you know, trick structure. Some of them are probably, like, flat ground, so it’s just where you’re on. You’re just in the parking lot. You don’t have to be on any ramp, and you just manipulate the board with your feet to pop it up, flip it, kick it and move. It in degrees and and twists and stuff. Those are, like the flat ground fundamentals. And it starts from the idea of an ollie, which was invented by Rodney Mullen, one of the just inventors of majority of these skateboard tricks, a legend in his own right. And so what it was is like, we kind of wanted to be able to, like illustrate a way in which you can challenge yourself to these tricks if you know them already, and if you don’t give the somebody a way of having, almost like a flash card that they can flip, read the trick, scan a QR code, and it takes them to a library of that trick. Example, like, so this way, like, you know, as far as a content creator, they can make content using the cards as somebody trying to challenge themselves, or even a parent who has a child who is skating and they want to get a little bit closer bond with them, learning while the kid learns as well. It’s a great way of like, you know, a dad flipping over a card and asking the kid to try that trick and then then learning together. What that name is. We also have like, would be the grind and slide deck, which is the yellow deck that is like when you put a skateboard onto ledges or rails or ramps. That deck kind of illustrates some of the tricks that kind of talk about like that application. Both decks actually can be combined, and they do when you combine them, putting one card down the other do create a trick that is done in in the culture of skateboarding. So where you can do a flip, flip the board into a grind, or a grind, and flip out of it, like, these are all scenarios that are there. So both decks combine, like, just bring volume of trick combinations that are just, I don’t want to say endless, but it just, there’s a lot of them. There’s a so that’s what we built. So the the card game itself is a regular deck of 52 playing cards with two jokers. So even if you just want to play poker or play spades or any type of game that you play this traditional you still can use these cards for that game as well. So it’s a way of like, you know, if it’s a family playing around and they just want to play like, like a regular, small game of gin rummy. But now the kid in the family who skateboards knows that these cards kind of relate to him specifically. So it’s a fun way of integrating that. The one thing that I really, really like about the card game is, like, in skateboarding, in any sport, like, you know, in baseball, you can bring a baseball to have, like, you know, a pitcher or baseball player sign it. Now you have that keepsak that’s smaller in a bunch of different places, you have baseball cards in the same way they can sign it. This, in my opinion, is, I’m hoping, takes off in a way where the trick itself is usually, like, corresponds with the skateboarder and the trick that they do or that they’re they’re popular for. So now they can sign that card, and now the keepsake is in that same size, because right now, I have to buy a skateboard and have a professional skateboarder sign it, and I don’t really have a way of mounting that or hanging that, or presenting that that doesn’t, you know, that’s in a smaller way that takes up a big portion of my wall space. So the we’re looking at the idea of like, Could this be the new collectible as well for people to kind of almost go and get their autographs from their favorite pros? And here we’re at in the website is our apparel line, which we were looking to expand shortly. But this is, like a great way of getting, like our brand out there, but also our ethos, like, if you the shirt on the right is like this, try redo sketchy, get it toe, drag rebate landed. These are all like phrases that, like are populated in our culture of skateboarding. But it’s really like, you know, based on the idea of like, you got to go through all this, and then bolts. Bolts is the reason we named the card game. That is because when you land with your feet above the bolts on the skateboard, that means it’s the cleanest you can land the trick. So the best way you can land any skateboard trick is on the bolts. And now it’s become part of the slang where it’s like, he’s like, Oh, he did it bolts means that he did it the cleanest he possibly could. So with that little slogan that we have all those different this tried, like, redo sketchy, like, those are the things you go through before you get to landed bolts. So it’s kind of like, it’s like, everything is a journey for skateboarding, and we want to hopefully be a part
Curt Anderson 34:18
of that. Wow, I absolutely love it. And I apologize if I missed this. I don’t know if I if you mentioned in the beginning what inspired like, Where was the like, the first idea, like, Hey, I think we have an idea here for a game. Like, what was that? Where was that I? Where did that idea come from?
Randy Korwin 34:34
Honestly, it came up around, like, 15 years ago at a skateboard park that I helped design, and and we were just like, looking for things to do. Initially, there was, like, some ideas about, like, using dice. And then while that idea was kind of being formulated, somebody else had that idea. That is a really important point. And I think entrepreneurship is the idea of, like, when you have. Idea. Really vet the idea we came out. I came with the dice, and by before I came and look about bringing it to market, somebody else, someplace else, did the same idea. Those are things that happen. Like, it’s like, get creative. People make creative things all over the place. And from that, we kind of like, like, well, we looked at playing cards and see if we can make this work. So it’s been a long time coming. We didn’t really feel like the market really opened itself to the need or the value of a deck of cards with the game on it. Because, like, we had all of our skateboard magazines were really prolific. We had a bunch of them. We had videos coming up constantly. But because of, like, you know, everything pushing to online and Instagram and stuff like that. We’re losing our magazines. We’re losing like, you know, a lot of the video productions that were out there. So now we we see that in the market, there’s a need for this, this application of like, you know, teaching. And then in the in the new value of content creation, it seems like this is a great place to like, you know, help people market themselves with also helping market our product. So it just seemed like the timing worked out really well for both. Let me, let me, Mike to kind of like, make this, bring this to market.
Curt Anderson 36:11
Awesome. Okay, I know I’ve probably kept this way more than we should have. John, let’s we’ll start winding things down. I’m just, I get so caught up in just, I love, you know, the origin story, the entrepreneurial story, just the idea, the creativity bringing that idea to life, the relentlessness talking about failure. You know, overcoming failure challenges your thoughts in I want to thank you, because you introduced me to so many incredible entrepreneurs that are tagging their business and making a great living and really driving revenue with apparel. Your thoughts as we bind down here with Randy today? Oh, it’s
John LaRoy 36:44
a phenomenal idea. I mean, you’re capturing education, diversification of tricks. I mean, like, and then just traditional car game. And I do really do like the idea of, like giving the homage to, like, the guy who created the trick, and then giving, like, a vehicle, like, Hey, I got the sign. And potentially, like, Hey, I got the entire bolts deck signed by the, you know, and you could frame that and stuff. And, yeah, really cool and totally portable. Like, it’s not anything you really have a problem thrown in your pocket, and and going to the park, and just, yeah, I actually want to go down and open a deck, okay, and look at all the names. Because it does. It does. I mean going back to PlayStation, like the cool borders games and like learning all those those words for the different tricks and stuff, but really cool stuff. And yeah, really appreciate your partnership, and really looking forward to having this be a massive success, because you get that rare combination of product that makes a lot of sense, has a really good market and a good message behind it, you know. And I think you got all three there. Appreciate that. Yeah,
Curt Anderson 37:54
absolutely. So I, man, I great, you know, whatever holiday, you know, whenever you catch this, you know, great gift for your skateboarder out there, birthday gift, holiday gift, stocking stuffer, whatever it might be. And again, like John just said, just, you know, checking a lot of boxes, fun, educational, getting your child involved in, you know, or adults into other aspects, playing card games, you know. And who doesn’t love sitting around the table playing card games. So, my goodness gracious, Randy, as we take it home, parting thoughts, words of wisdom, anything that you want to share with folks as we close out, just kind of sharing like your entrepreneurial your entrepreneurial journey, what it takes to get you where you are today. What are your thoughts there as we close out?
Randy Korwin 38:35
I mean, going back to that idea that you brought up earlier, about any of the partnership, and I think that is, like, such a huge component of going down the path of entrepreneurship. It always like, you know, puts people in this category of like, it’s, it’s you, you have to deal with you to do wear all the hats you have to, like, when you start off, you’re doing every checking every box. And the sooner you can realize that, like, you know, maybe that’s not the best use of your time and to find a partner who can do that for you and focus on that like, you know, the faster you actually can grow as a business. And that’s where the relationship with apparel redefine. Like really just took us from possibly mailing this out from my house as like a like, what most startups do, we just became from like, you know, a small little startup, to now an established brand that, like, can take care of the needs of apparel and our product getting in your hands right away, in such a short, timely manner, like that. I I learned so much from partnering with apparel redefine. But also was talking with Derek about, like, you know, just the logistics. And then that that me and him were at apparel redefine the other day, and I was geeking out on, like, how this all works, and so to be able to, like, have that relationship where I actually get to learn about, like, the inner workings of their business, it was awesome. It was just like, it was night and day, where I’m like, now I feel more confident in our brand, because we, like, if there’s a request, we we went for. From coming out the gate and launching to then being able to ship to Europe and all the different countries because of apparel redefine where it would have been just shipping to the states, we just doubled our reach, like, you know, exponentially. So it was great. But, yeah, no, I appreciate you guys so much for the time to chat about this is, it was awesome to kind of put my thoughts out there, so I appreciate it.
Curt Anderson 40:25
Well, awesome. Well, Randy, thank you. We’re going to close out, hang out with us first for a minute here, we just want to thank everybody for joining us. And again, John, thank you for just, you know, these, these sessions are just, man, for me, so inspiring, educational. You know, we’re all in this together. We’re stronger together, and when we can bring in entrepreneur entrepreneurs like Randy and like, get this story. Just absolutely love it. So Randy, big Hey, how about a big round of applause for Randy, for absolutely crushing it. So Randy, keep keep priming in all cylinders, man, keep it going. We can’t wait to have your partner mike on the show and again. Thank you for all that you’re doing. We wish you a phenomenal wherever you’re catching this we’re closing out the year at this time. We wish you a phenomenal, successful new year, and we can’t wait to talk to you soon. So hang out with us one second, and we’re, we’ll, we’ll catch you next week. You.