Legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk has turned his one-of-a-kind brand into a highly successful business. But at the Iconic Tour in Los Angeles, Hawk admits that there is one piece of advice he would give his younger self: Keep control of your brand.
"I signed away control of my name and likeness early on, when I was like 19 or 22, to all kinds of different companies," says Hawk. "I didn't know any better."
Hawk says that these companies, which were often "overlapping and conflicting," used his name however they saw fit.
"They were putting it on really crappy products and, you know, terrible imagery," says the entrepreneur.
Hawk says he complained to these businesses but they dismissed his objections because he had legally signed over his rights to them.
"They said, 'So what? We have full rights to do this," he says. "I didn't realize that I had given up those rights."
However, the professional skateboarder says that he learned from his past mistakes. Ten years later, he was given another chance to turn his brand into a business.
Hawk now oversees his skateboard company, Birdhouse, and has released branded Tony Hawk gear, including bicycles, clothes and shoes. He's also the author of a best-selling autobiography and has an ongoing video game skater series with sales topping $1.4 billion.
"I wouldn't tell myself not to [make that mistake] because I had to go through that hard lesson," says Hawk.
He has some more advice for himself as well: "I think if I were to tell myself anything, I'd say, 'if you find yourself on a TV show wearing a monkey costume, don't try and do a full loop without a helmet," he says. "Because you'll end up with a broken hip and a concussion."
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How a mistake at age 16 led the founder of Zumba to launch a multimillion-dollar business
A blogger's social media revolution sparks a retail revolution, and $1 billion in sales
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