My YouTube channel is AndrewSchrock
and it focuses on me.
It heavily focuses on skateboarding
but everything in my life that I think is entertaining
is there on the channel.
Funny fact: When it comes to business and my YouTube channel,
I had no desire to start a business.
I started getting comments, saying:
"Hey, you should make shirts." "Hey, you should make skateboards."
I wasn't against starting a business. I just didn't really have the honest desire.
But I wanted to give my audience what they wanted.
So, when I started to see it being more and more of a potential thing
that could create revenue
could get me somewhere that I wanted to be in life,
that's when I reached out to Brian Ambs
and I was like, "Brian, I need someone to run this with me."
We started the business when we were in Andy's mom's basement.
I grew up with the kid, he's my best friend.
And we were able to move out of the basement
We moved into our first warehouse and it was a very small warehouse
and we only lasted in that warehouse for maybe 8 months
before we moved into a space that was 4 times the size of it.
It was at that point I realized that this could actually be a thing.
Early on, we were called Revenge Skateboards.
But we hit a hiccough in the name,
the people who had a trademark for "Revenge" said "no, we want money."
So we were like, "we'll just rebrand."
So, we had to just cease everything and rebrand and come back as Revive.
And we didn't know how it was going to go.
So, we hyped it up as much as we could — we made it dramatic,
and then when we came back,
it was wildfire.
I think that when we did make that transition from Revenge to Revive,
it felt way more real.
Because I had full emotional investment in it at that point,
where I was there for the birth of a brand new company.
When I was coming up with the branding of Revive
I wanted simple and bold.
Revive, it's easy to say, it's easy to remember.
The word "revive" is very positive.
There are no questions on the spelling of "revive."
I have been wearing red shirts for 20+ years.
That's weird, I know, only my wife knows why — there is a reason.
And the red graphics are very indicative of his style
and the vibe that he puts out on his channel
and so it translates very nicely over to the YouTube Space.
Revive Skateboards is essentially me, in the skateboard version.
It just made sense, and sure enough, the red decks — they sell better.
So, when we make videos, we have to keep up the same energy
that you would see in the company and the themes for the branding.
To this day, Andy edits 95% of his videos.
The brand that he has is the way that he edits.
I want it to be: exciting part, cut, get to the next exciting part, cut,
and keep that machine going
and you make the branding the same way, the same vibe, the same feeling.
The content drives and brand and the brand drives the content.
It's this back-and-forth relationship.
They work off of each other and it's very natural.
The biggest thing about our brand that helps the success of the company,
is that we let people in.
When you watch our videos,
you feel like you're there hanging out with us.
And in response, it's going to make them want to support the brand.
People started identifying with the people that are behind the brand
and once they started identifying with them became emotionally invested in their lives.
And they kind of wanted to come along with the journey with us.
And we showed them
from the beginning of the skateboard company with Revenge
through the name change.
They want to see you get out of the basement
and move into a bigger warehouse
and then build your own skate park.
When they see that journey and they've supported that along the way,
it's almost as if they feel like they're a part of it
and it makes you want to come back for more.
So, if someone were starting out, seeing a potential business from YouTube,
I would say, do your homework, ask questions, and don't give up.
Andy and I joke all the time that
we're not very talented skateboarders but we're very stubborn skateboarders.
You can try a trick 5 times and give up or you can try 5000 times,
eventually you're going to do it if you're stubborn enough.
You have to keep fighting for your business, for your brand.
For you.