Primitive Skateboarding head honcho Paul Rodriguez went deep on explaining why skateboarders and even professionals are not getting paid in the industry and end up being broke.
It first happened when he spoke to The Berrics co-founder Steve Berra about selling boards online and how pro skaters can get paid.
Hence, the Switch God skateboarder said it's about people competing with each other and almost shaming individuals for seeking to profit from corporate sponsorships in the interview with Gary Rogers on the X Games podcast.
"I don't think it's any due to any greed from brands or companies." He said, "I just think our industry and also the way we've like almost cannibalized each other with almost making people feel bad for trying to make money, makes everybody afraid to wanna make moves so everyone kind of stays in their safe little bubble.
He added, "They don't want to, like, you know, risk getting sh*t talked but also like the industry just not strong enough to afford to give these guys deals. You know what I mean?"
The 39-year-old then explained what happened when he was trying to ride for Plan B, in which skate legend Danny Way tried to poach him, but Jason Maxwell from Syndrome Distribution also asked him to start his own company.
The Primitive boss then decided to have Way, and Maxwell talk about how things should be since P-Rod was still unsure if he wanted to have his own board company.
Hence, after the deal of Plan B going through Syndrome, the company paid too much to the pro skaters.
"At one time at the very beginning I was making more from Plan B than I was from Nike when it first started through Syndrome," P-Rod said. "They were spending so much more than they could afford to get this opportunity in hopes that having Plan B over there would bring so much more money but maybe after two years, they called us on hey we just can't afford to pay you guys what we're paying you."
At the end of the day, P-Rod said that he is trying to find new ways to get paid as a professional athlete. He even admitted that he is trying to earn money through YouTube skateboarding content, despite it being frowned upon in the core culture.
P-Rod even compared skateboarding to the process of trying to get paid by corporations. He said, if your first attempt didn't work, you should keep trying different opportunities until you find a better one. Just like trying a trick in skating, where you have to keep trying until you land the trick.
He said that you need to have the same mentality, not be afraid of choosing the right path, and not be afraid of criticism.