At the end of last summer, on a blustery day in August, I threw on my Sartoro suit, gave an all time pump up speech, and walked from HQ down to Golden Gate Park. I did not know it at the time, but in that span of eight hours or so at Outside Lands '22, the media mogul life had begun.
While events are an absolute blast, OSL no exception, the last ten months hasn't been all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows... there is a lot more that goes into the media mogul life that others may not see. From website development, to storyboarding for content, to editing and coming up with electric ideas, to selling the mediocre-decent content we do produce, to finding sponsors, to blogging, to recording for radio, raising in the low thousands of dollars for local non-profit organizations, to hanging out with Marina babes, it's not just a job, it's a lifestyle.
So this Friday (last night) as I was mentally preparing for a monster day at the track with my two friends and colleagues Tavis 'TacoMagic' Ino and Reese 'Producer Reese/The Asian Cowboy/The Asian Tom Holland/Young Wong' Wong, I felt quite content in reflection with where we were as a small, scrappy organization. It was a casual evening for myself after a Thursday on the town... I have been making more of an effort exercise even with a reconstructed knee (credit to me) so I went to my local gym, hit about an 8:15 on the 2K row (not great, but not terrible for post 60 minute yoga class), did some hang cleans for reps at 135, and called it an evening before getting some fajitas at 'El Rancho Grande' on Divisadero.
While the usual chatter was going on in our company Discord, there had been one voice unheard over the last week and a half or so... another friend turned colleague of mine, and his name... is B-Rider.
I was happy to hear from our friend initially, as I was expecting a Red Sox comment, or some sadness about Chris Sale going on the 60 day DL, until I realized what this was: a guerilla attack on the very bedrock of our organization with four simple words: 'Yea, It's About Money.' and an electric selfie to boot.
When I dove deep into the shark-infested waters of the media mogul life on that warm August day last summer, I did not foresee a contract dispute to one of the guys I saw as a key early contributor in the near term and one who does have star potential as he stated, but alas, here we are.
In what some have called the most scathing blog of the 4 (FOUR!) total blogs Brett has written in his OTM career (including one introducing himself and one complaining about his status), many have called this by far his most scathing and purposeful. He makes the cogent, succinct argument that a company making $0 month over month, completely funded by Dan, and which he contributes a solid 45 minutes of his time/week on OneTake Radio, doing probably 12 of the 22 episodes we've produced, has helped our Twitter presence grow MASSIVELY, and has written an outstanding semi-weekly blog for should get a contract in from of him and give him the B-A-G. Many would say he is wrong to make such demands for, after being so jubilant at the launch of our site just last month (really appreciated that phone call on my birthday), but a great leader like myself says: he is right.
This is, at the moment, a passion project, not a business... but I very much dream of the day when that is no longer true. I dream of selling our first proper ad deal and having embedded content on our site, and in our social channels, outside of what we're doing with Sartoro (buy a damn suit). I dream of being sponsored at the events we cover, and having B2B customers who rely on us as their proper marketing/brand firm. And making stars of our writers and contributors. This I dream... and the first to reap the benefits of said dream will be our loyal contributors, and team members, who have gone to war in the era of early conquest.
But that day is not today... and it likely will not be for a while. So I am relying on others within our organization to see that same vision with me, and have the temerity, and risk tolerance to bear the burden of uncertainty to strive to achieve what cannot be achieved without true risk, and that is greatness in its most pure essence. I believe we are building that team, and will continue to build that team until I can no longer bear that burden and have to pass off the OneTake Media (.com) mantle to a leader a new... it would appear B-Rider may want to be a mercenary on said team, which is fine in most circumstances. Though I am unsure it is to be in this current epoch.
That is why, amongst other things, one of our mantras is 'framework... process... the team, the team, the team.' That is done in a very purposeful manner... you cannot have a team unless there is a process, and you cannot have a process without a framework, and 'the team' is stated three times because the team is far and away most important. We are looking for team guys and gals at this point in our trajectory, and trust is a big part of that equation.
In his argument, Mr. Rider made a list of demands, to which am happy to respond to at this moment:
This is the best that myself, our HR, and corporate management can come up with at this time.
So sure, B-Rider... let's get you a nice fat contract to sign. Let's make it happen baby! You have my telephone number, have your representatives call mine and let's hash this thing out! Until then, I'll be out amongst the people today, working on creating content, and building the brand, and taking small steps forward on our journey towards a more perfect organization. Will we ever achieve it? Likely not. But I will die trying (salute emoji).
Daniel - 6/10/23
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