I have never been known for my ability to sit still. Time and time again I have found myself choosing the path of most resistance when presented with an easier alternative route. I love the struggle that comes with pushing yourself to your absolute limits and then trying to see how much further you can push before your body shuts down. That last bit, where you are trying to figure out if you might have gone too far, is the thrill for me. Moments and memories are made during that window, taking an otherwise normal situation and turning it into an epic lifelong story.
Well we have officially done that with Awesome MTB. Before embarking on this journey of running an independent media program, we knew it would be difficult. But that was the thrilling part for us. Creatively, I find some of my best work comes when my back is against the wall and I am just trying to tread water. That sink or swim stress is what has driven me through so many life events ranging from riding my bike 215 miles across Florida in a day to starting our business from scratch 7 years ago.
When we first went independent, the uncertainty of what lay ahead for us gave us a sinking feeling in our stomachs. We knew passionately this is the route we wanted to embark on. However, as anyone who ventures into the world of “betting on yourself” knows, the stress of making the wrong move can sometimes be what crushes a dream entirely. Overcoming that sinking gut feeling is oftentimes the hardest part of chasing your dreams.
The second hardest part is adapting to change. And oh boy, has there been a lot of change recently. “If you are not growing you are dying” is a saying that resonates deeply with me, and adapting to the rapid change that followed after we went independent has been overwhelming. When we first made the move, we tried to establish some form of stability thinking that is what we would need. However what we found almost instantly was that sometimes the same stability you think can help you in your journey might also be the comfort zone preventing you from experiencing your true potential.
Another interesting obstacle we have run into is logistics. With big dreams and goals comes lots of bandwidth needed to try and achieve those. Our reason for going independent was to create content that is not just another corporate marketing copy and paste, but rather passion and soul filled content that would allow us to speak to the end consumer honestly. And while we are very thankful for what we have achieved in such a short period of time, we are also trying to figure out how this 3 person operation can run this program while also not having a homebase. We have a few ideas here but the biggest thing we know is that we don’t want the grassroots nature of our content to be watered down and turned into the things we think are killing the soul of mountain biking.
Speaking about soul, networking has been another very interesting situation of this whole change. I have met so many awesome people and companies over the years in various different positions throughout the bike industry. However navigating personal relationships while also maintaining a level of integrity for the end content is an interesting curveball. When you live and breathe bikes, you end up with a lot of friends who do the same and work within the same space. Maintaining those relationships while also being on the media side is an interesting thing to balance. I genuinely love bikes and learning more about a brand, and getting a look at the behind the scenes element of it has been amazing. But when you have been in a certain role for 11 years and have embarked on a new chapter, adjusting those relationships has posed a unique challenge I didn’t see coming. I have been in the “bike industry” in some capacity since I was 20 years old. Now at 31 on the independent media side, running into old friends within the bike industry and working with them in a different capacity is interesting.
Awesome MTB has been the most fulfilling job I have had yet. It has given us a fresh set of eyes on the bike industry as well as a resurgence of passion to create the content we want to create. Currently, in typical us fashion, we have bit more than we can chew on a big project which is why we have been a little quiet here. However, as with every other decision we have made, we are betting on ourselves and at the end of the day are just thankful to have the opportunities provided to us, even if life right now is a little chaotic…
Stay Tuned.
-Mo Awesome
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