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Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 0:05

Welcome to Transacting Value, where we talk about practical applications for personal values when dealing with each other and even within ourselves. Where we foster a podcast listening experience that lets you hear the power of a value system for managing burnout, establishing boundaries and finding belonging. My name is Josh Porthouse, I'm your host and we are your people. This is why values still hold value. This is Transacting Value.

Mckael Carrera: 0:34

Don't ever feel embarrassed, because if you feel that way, then you're never going to start doing what could be your dream or your passion or your hobby.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 0:42

Today on Transacting Value. There's so many different options to be able to get to know people, so many different outlets to be able to cope, deal with stress, figure out who you are, who you want to become, but usually when we bring them up to our parents, when we tell our friends about them, when we admit them to ourselves, we get met with some sort of resistance. Our next contributor did too. She found her own clothing brand, picked up skateboarding and now it's her entire career. And so, over the last 22 years, Macau Carrera has been able to transform her life, her perspective, authentically represent herself, take pride in what she does and now show the entire world that she's good at it. But she started somewhere. Where is that? Well, let's find out. I'm Porter, I'm your host, and this is Transacting Value.

Mckael Carrera: 1:29

Hey Josh, how's it going?

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 1:30

How you doing Good, good. So I gotta ask you first of all because I haven't actually really ever met anybody who's been sponsored, let alone in skateboarding what does this mean to you? You're not just doing it for fun, it's not just a hobby anymore. Now you've got people backing you, you've got opportunities probably even more than you want, because you can't sleep in as often as you like. What does this mean to you? What does it like Good?

Mckael Carrera: 1:52

question, and you are right about all of that At this point. It's not just all about the fun, it's not solely fun anymore With this. It comes more responsibilities, of course, so it's more of a combination actually. So it's going to be both it's fun and responsibility. I'd say.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 2:11

Oh, look at you growing up. I feel like everything starts off fun when you're a kid, just because you don't have to worry about anything. You don't really have the responsibility. Your parents take care of that. There's controls in place. They go to the park. Did you go to the skate park? You went to a skate park as a kid.

Mckael Carrera: 2:27

Yeah, I actually. I started at the age of seven. In the park that I actually grew up skateboarding was Mount Trashmore. Slowly skating Mount Trashmore for I don't even know how many years, but that is where I started. I started just outside the house, but the first park was Mount Trashmore Sweet.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 2:45

So for everybody who's listening to the show, if you're unfamiliar with the show or unfamiliar with what a Mount Trashmore actually means, it is a landfill. It's been capped off, it's up in Virginia beach and the city, I think or the county, depending on how you look at this turned it into a park and so there's a little skate park there, but there's also a lake. There's also a fishing, oddly, and I don't know, probably the catching release. I eat any any of that. You can walk around the lake and go jogging. There's all sorts of cool stuff and the point being, it's called Mount Trashmore. So obviously you got your start there. Okay, and now you said seven. You started.

Mckael Carrera: 3:20

Yeah, it's age of seven, so I just turned 29. That'd make it 22 years.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 3:25

Crazy, You've. Yeah, Especially for a skateboarder man. What about your knees? You ever thought about them? Those poor guys.

Mckael Carrera: 3:32

I'm getting there so far. I'm grateful and lucky that it's only been both my ankles so far that I've had injuries, not the knees yet. But after everyone talking about getting old, apparently that's the next step. That's in your head.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 3:48

You're only as old as you feel is what they say. Yep, yeah, but you know what I'll tell you? This 22 years is a long time at anything. I mean, look at any industry hospitality, restaurants, medicine, military, law enforcement, all the above 22 years in any career. That's a long time. That's a long time. Yeah, don't tell yourself short, but I mean, with a lot of that stuff, there's got to be added pressure. Oh yeah, over 22 years ago, Britney Spears was in the Mickey Mouse Club. That's true, all right. Justin Timberlake and all sorts of Hollywood celebrities that did these things, that were child stars, that are still acting, still doing things, or, at the very least, still in the headlines, right, 20 plus years, of that, though, I mean. We see it all the time there's stress, there's anxiety, there's depression, there's I don't know varied coping strategies, right, mm-hmm, I think that's about right, is it, though? What do you mean? What does any of that have to do with you? Did you experience any of that, have you?

Mckael Carrera: 4:47

Yeah, I'd have to say pressure, right. So we start with the fun and then we move on, we move forward. So I think pressure comes up, we start to build on pressure and pressure is definitely something that starts to spark up when you are starting to get more recognition. Like he said, sponsorships, when you get one, when you get two, three, four, five and then you get six, I mean when the numbers just add up, the pressure builds.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 5:15

Okay, well, so let's clarify this. And what do you mean pressure? Obviously not physically. You're walking on your own Right. So what does that mean?

Mckael Carrera: 5:22

Well, when we talk about skateboarding solely right now, as we are, there comes things that you actually have to do. So, and when I say have to do, you are asked. I say monthly, I mean depending on the company, right? So right now I've got six sponsorships. So congratulations, thank you. Monthly you have to send in a certain amount of clips, and by clips I mean videos. Sometimes, loosely speaking, has to be a certain say, for instance, two minutes. I mean it can't be a minute and 30, it can't be a minute, can't be 30 seconds. It's got to be two minutes. You have to be wearing t shirts, you have to be wearing the shoes, you have to be wearing the socks. It might be the socks, it might be the pants, it might just be the t shirt. And then, besides the two minute video, so sometimes email them but say social media, right, that's so big, right now you have to tag their profile so that way they can repost it. I mean, it's marketing. I went to school for marketing so I know a lot about it. But overall it really comes down to marketing people, marketing yourself.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 6:34

Okay. So the pressure then, I'm assuming is I guess this is kind of the irony of what I'm hearing right, there's a sort of a balance with the amount of freedom you have for authenticity that you can gain or build or design to. Just because it's what you enjoy, obviously you wouldn't still be doing it right. And it's a passion, it's a hobby and it fits you, but you lose some of the control because it's not on your schedule anymore. More importantly, it's not only when you want, it's also when you don't want and when you don't feel like it and when maybe you have other things you'd rather be doing, exactly Like it's a job now.

Mckael Carrera: 7:04

Yeah, yeah, it is a job and I wouldn't say like I guess I would go 50-50 in terms of losing freedom, but it is a job Actually, you hit it right on the spot.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 7:15

Yeah.

Mckael Carrera: 7:16

So I like that you said it that way.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 7:18

Well, so, okay. So then some of the pressure that comes with that is, I'm assuming, similar to any other kind of job. Workforce industry demands, right, there's days you don't want to go to work and there's days you don't want to skate, right? I'm sure there's some of that. What about stress? Because there's. For me, for example, times when I get stressed are usually more because I'm doing it to myself. I'm putting whatever pressures on myself. Other people, generally speaking, can say something like, well, I need this done by tomorrow. I'll say, okay, cool, I'll get it done by tomorrow or tonight or whatever time, but it's not going to be after tomorrow. And so then I build up my own anxiety, I build up my own whatever in my head as a factor, and then I get more stressed and more pressure. But really it's me doing it to myself. Is that the same thing when you're out doing things you enjoy and you're skating and being active and sponsors and all these other things you making your essentially being self-employed?

Mckael Carrera: 8:15

I do the exact same thing. So just kind of like when you're in college and you have a paper to write and you have a deadline, it's the same thing. I do exactly what you just said. So if I'm working on a specific line or a specific trick, that day I give myself my own deadline. So I will give myself my own deadline for that specific line or that specific trick. So, for instance, if I give myself three days, that creates pressure that turns into stress and again, to reiterate what you're saying, I'm creating it myself in that exact scenario, but not always, Not always. And to be completely honest, when I feel this pressure coming on which turns into stress, as funny as it is I actually go to the skate park and that's how I release it. So, overall, I mean it kind of it's kind of a cycle, a never ending cycle. I'm grateful, but I feel very lucky to have this as my passion, as my hobby, whatever anyone wants to call it. I do feel very blessed.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 9:19

I bet not a lot of people can wake up on any given day and say, hey, I enjoy what I do, yeah, and I don't mean, you know, once in a blue moon, I mean period at all Every day. They just do it because they have to do it. There's needs, they have to meet sacrifices, they have to make anything in between and you go to work to deal with work. You know what I'm saying.

Mckael Carrera: 9:40

That's a good way to put it. Actually, you go to work to deal with work.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 9:43

Yeah. And so what about boundaries then? Right, there's gotta be times where you're like you know what, man, I'm going to the movies today, yeah. Or where do you go? What's your place to slay your demons If it's not at the office, in the whatever? That's a good question.

Mckael Carrera: 9:58

That is a good question. You know what? Actually, I just got a puppy. I think it was five months ago. So when I'm not at the skate park, literally the only place I met is the dog park. His name's Diego. He is going on nine months right now, so I'd say the past five months it's been the dog park. Before that I'm actually having a hard time remembering, and that sounds goofy, because what we already said has been 22 years, right.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 10:26

So no man, kids will change you. That's what happens. Yeah, Once you start getting little ones, there's the only photos you're having your phone that's. You can't remember a time without them.

Mckael Carrera: 10:36

I'm really trying. I'm really trying to sit here and remember what I used to do. I guess you know I've always had a decent size group of friends, so but then again we just go skate, and I don't really like going to the movies, so I think we just all go skate, or if we're out of town we'll go skate. So I think we just skate. Really, I really don't know what else I do.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 11:00

Sweet, well, okay. So let me ask you this then Aside from stuff you do, you said, hang out with people obviously a pretty solid sized group of friends family, yeah, yeah, I had to talk with a guy a couple of weeks ago. His name is Tom. Tom has a company called Hubler for family business. Okay, he's a counselor and he helps counsel families that also have family businesses on how to balance the two work and family right, and one of the points that he brought up was that it really has to come down to how you view your family, and he said you've got families of origin where you don't get a choice, and families you create. We're, generally speaking, you do. If you take the agency and the ownership to play an active role in who you're hanging out with, all right, folks sit tight and we'll be right back on Transacting Value. Are you a marketer, brand strategist, ceo or podcast fan at work, seeing the benefit and profitability that podcast advertising can bring to your business, noticing that billion-dollar valuation that advertising through a podcast can convey? Maybe you're missing out on the millions of listeners to audio podcasts and wondering how do I reach that market segment? Recapitalize your wealth-generating strategy with Ad Value from SDYT Media. Bring your business marketing gaps into added value. We'll work with your marketing team to highlight your brand's values, vision, mission and social governance with your product or service in a custom-designed audio-only, podcast-ready advertisement, written and recorded in-house with our decentralized team. Don't just think of adding value. Work with SDYT Media to Transact it. Here's some of our work featured in our most recent season of the podcast, transacting Value, and visit TransactingValuePodcast. com to read along in the transcripts as well To get your custom-designed advertisement from SDYT Media email advalue. That's advalue@ SDYTmedia. com. And he said you've got families of origin where you don't get a choice, and families you create. We're, generally speaking, you do If you take the agency and the ownership to play an active role in who you're hanging out with, because other times you don't, you just have things in common. It stays. You know conversations are superficial, which is fine they can be, and everybody just has similar interests, so that you don't talk that much, you just hang out, which is totally cool. But between the two points that he brought up, one of the things I thought was pretty interesting in both cases, as we're talking about these families we put together and people we hang out with it's always the same right. It starts with some sort of way to explain the type of people maybe you should be around, could be around, might want to be around as you're growing up because you see your parents hanging out with these types of people. Whoever these types are right, maybe it's ethnic, maybe it's work friends, maybe it's just neighbors that live in proximity, in the neighborhood. But it sort of gets explained like who are these people? Oh, that's your uncle. No, he's not. I don't know that guy. We're not related at all. It's okay, auntie, so and so who is that? Who is the? Who are these people? We're not related at all. It's like that. I don't remember the name. Rosie O'Donnell, I think. Voice the elephant in Tarzan, right? Is this water sanitizer?

Mckael Carrera: 14:17

You know it's funny when you say auntie, so because I'm Filipino. I don't know if you have anyone related to you or just any of your neighbors are Filipino at all, but it's literally a Filipino thing. Or even if they're not your aunt or your auntie, but your Filipino or your brown and your close family will literally call you auntie. It's a straight up fact. Like me, any Filipino person, and you see someone standing next to him and they're brown, like oh, that's your auntie.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 14:46

It's so a thing. So it's a culturalism, right? So what does that do for you? When you're looking for friends as you grow up, you just hang out with other Filipinos.

Mckael Carrera: 14:53

No, to be honest with you, growing up I never had any Filipino friends. I never had any, and actually right now I have one Filipino friend at the skate park. I do, and I don't know why. I just didn't have really many Filipinos at my school, even in elementary school or high school. It was weird. I mean I hung out with Filipinos all the time because of my family, but at school I just didn't have many at school and it was, I mean, it was odd. To me it wasn't odd and it wasn't not odd, but that's just how it was.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 15:27

Okay. So then, as a kid, most and maybe this is age dependent, but most kids, as they're growing up, start with what they see and then you know, imitate it because it's safer and because you don't know any better. Right, you hang on your mom's back and you pick fleas off, monkeys to it. You know like it's a thing. But then you know, you start to get older, you start doing your own thing and you know, for me it was just a couple of years ago really. Yeah, and I was like I'm going to go away to the military, essentially because it gave me an out. Yeah, I didn't have to think for myself. People told me what to do, what to dress, when to be where, how to do it, how to show up, who to talk to, how to talk to people. You know, like I didn't have to worry about any that. So the social pressure was gone, also because everybody else was told to do the exact same things. Yeah, you know, I had to deal with, obviously, my own self things and getting through whatever I was afraid of or whatever made me depressed or whatever applies, but in terms of social isms, I didn't have to do anything. And so up until a couple of years ago, and I'm in my mid thirties now. I didn't have to deal with any of that, and so I really just started sort of leading the nest right From what I thought was familiar and these experiences, making my own decisions being more genuine or authentic, or in crowds or around people, and it's uncomfortable, right, right. So for you, you said, most of your friends, or at least now, and maybe even also growing up the whole way through but most of your friends, you guys, weren't the same ethnicity, so you obviously weren't brought up in the same family, customs and cultures, traditions, and so then, how do you move from that into creating a family? How do you identify the things you want to align with? What did you look for?

Mckael Carrera: 17:03

I mean legit, it was just skateboarding. I well, it goes two different ways. I mean, I picked up skateboard right, so I was always skateboarding. I had the neighborhood kids gravitate towards me, whether they were younger or older or the same age, so we'd always skate together. So I had my neighborhood friends, skateboarder friends. And then, of course, in high school and middle school, elementary school, I had my girlfriends, who none of them skated, even my step sister, I mean she wanted to learn how to skate, so I taught her how to skate. And then my best , Ashley at the time she wanted to learn how to skate, so I taught her how to skate. But other than those two girls, no one skated. But then all the guys, I mean, they skated and they loved that a girl skated. It was fairly easy to make friends because it's either they skated or they thought skateboarding was cool or they wanted to learn how to skate and in a sense I guess it was kind of a tool as well.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 17:56

Something in common to bond over? Yeah, yeah, I'd say Well. So okay, what is it about skateboarding that brings people together? What's your opinion? What is the appeal? And I don't mean to sound like the old dude in the sweater vest right Like what are you kids doing?

Mckael Carrera: 18:11

We're all committed. It takes commitment. We're all motivated, we're all focused and we're all committed on one thing. I mean let's speak loosely here, it might not be one thing, we all have the same interests, right. But we're all those three things. We're all committed, we're all motivated and what did I say? Also Focus, and that would be on what we want to accomplish, whether it's just a kickflip or what it may be. We're all those three things and we just all wanted to get that one thing down. We just want to do it.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 18:43

Just do that, Jack Black. You see video about kickflips?

Mckael Carrera: 18:47

I don't think so, Dude. There's so many kickflip videos.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 18:49

There are a lot, but he's driving around SoCal and he's got his face on the bottom side of these skateboards and it says do a kickflip. And it's put on the bottom underside of the board. And so he's just driving around to these skate parks all around town trying to find skateboarders and he's just yelling at them across the vehicle through the passenger window hey, do a kickflip. And if they land it he gives them a board. That sounds rad, yeah, but you know, one of the things that I found about skateboarding culture is everybody's well, generally speaking, everybody's genuine and everybody's okay with being vulnerable with each other. You know, to whatever varying degree, that's not normal. I mean, I don't want to say it's not normal.

Mckael Carrera: 19:34

Well, you can't find it. It's not common Exactly.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 19:36

Yeah, what's the difference? Why not Like oh man, it took me, I don't know, you know three years to nail that trick and you just land it and then you just instantly bond. Is it a shared struggle or something? What's the draw there?

Mckael Carrera: 19:51

There's no easy answer to that. What I do know is it's a lifestyle, and it's a lifestyle we all understand. When we're all together, we just really get it. We all understand each other. And when I say that, I don't mean we have to hang out to get to know each other like you normally would when you just meet someone, whether it's at the dog park or at school, in your class, you know through all walks of life. What I mean is we all understand each other, whether we know each other or not, and that's because it's a lifestyle.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 20:22

Okay, I see, so you walk in.

Mckael Carrera: 20:24

Everybody just gets it we just get it, because we're all doing the same thing.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 20:28

Yeah, okay.

Mckael Carrera: 20:29

We all understand the hobby, the sport, whatever you want to call it. We all understand how much work it takes, how much work it takes to do that kickflip when you're seven, when you're 24, when you're 54. We all understand literally how much it takes. People watch skate videos, people watch us. I hear people and I see people that don't skateboard and they're like, wow, these people are so talented. How do you guys do that? You make it look so easy. Well, it takes a lot of work, it takes a lot of commitment. I mean we just all get it. We all understand that it's not just easy. I mean it gets easier.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 21:04

Yeah.

Mckael Carrera: 21:05

Yeah, we make it look good with style and all that jazz, but it takes a lot of work.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 21:10

So the only thing I mean genuinely, I think the only thing that resonates with me about skateboarding, are two things. One is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for PlayStation. I had to work very hard at going down that ramp in the warehouse to get up into that area of top.

Mckael Carrera: 21:25

Yeah, I know exactly what warehouse you're talking about. Yep.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 21:28

Yep, and so there's that right. So obviously I totally empathize with hard work. But the other cool thing I think about this culture you're talking about is it's implied the value systems that are inherent in the culture. Every culture has value systems, every single culture. We talked about the Filipino culture earlier. I'm Irish and Sicilian, and so there's obviously cultural things there that maybe don't resonate with a whole lot of other people, but there's aspects and values there that are, or at least have been for me, sort of bred in as I've been growing up. Right, but it was never explicit, it was never like here's why we value hard work, period as a sentence. Nobody ever sat me down and said here's why teamwork's important. And I played t-ball and did all the little kid stuff, and so maybe there were speeches, but I don't remember them now, so they must not have been that effective. Hey, everybody line up and give each other high fives. I don't want to. I don't know why we're doing this. I really just want to eat those fruit snacks and drink my Capri Sun, which is probably in a skateboarding culture too. But I think there's a lot of overlap where you don't have to talk necessarily openly and explicitly about these specific values like teamwork, commitment, authenticity, freedom, spontaneity, the whatever any of these other things right, honesty, for that matter but you pick them up over time because they're still on display, absolutely. So how do you gain that awareness, or how do you recommend other skaters, for that matter, first time going to the skate park all the way up to a decade and change couple of decades, expose themselves to these value systems to be able to share it and keep the culture alive?

Mckael Carrera: 23:17

Don't be embarrassed, because a lot of people growing up and even now I run into a lot of people. I just got back from out of town and there was this little girl. She mentioned that she wanted to start skating, but she didn't want to go with her dad. Every single time she wanted some friends to go with. She was embarrassed. She felt embarrassed to go alone. And that is what I find with 90% of the people that want to learn how to skateboard. They don't want to go to the skate park in front of everyone because they're embarrassed. And I think a lot of that stems from because they're not like seven years old or nine years old or 12. They might be 20. And it's just like don't be embarrassed, because I understand the feeling of that, because they're around more experienced skaters and so they just they might feel like low or dumb or whatever, but that's the advice I have Don't ever feel embarrassed, because if you feel that way, then you're never going to start doing what could be your dream or your passion or your hobby.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 24:16

All right, folks, stay tight and we'll be right back on Transacting Value. Inside Us. Gratitude is in you from PassItOn. com.

Mckael Carrera: 24:50

Don't ever feel embarrassed, because if you feel that way, then you're never gonna start doing what could be your dream or your passion or your hobby.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 24:57

Well, it's like walking into the gym, right, especially if you don't go to the gym that often and you're intimidated by what you see or not. Let's say you said some people may be in a 20, some people may be, could be whatever age. Yeah, well, could also just be a different skate park. Yeah, you just haven't been to that one before, so it's a different group of people, right, but okay. So when we're talking about confidence, I think a lot of that it comes with practice and repetition and it builds your comfort and it comes from in you, its self-confidence, right, exactly. But Sometimes I think there's external factors too that can help influence that. And if you don't have any friends, anybody in your corner I mean physically there with you that's tough. When you're going solo, it is tough, yeah. So have you ever done that? Do you always have an entourage?

Mckael Carrera: 25:42

Actually I would say a hundred percent of time I show up by myself, but I'm OCD, so I'm not gonna say 100%, but like 98% of the time I showed this skate park by myself. But that's just because, that's just how I am. But no, there was a point in time I remember I was young I don't know what age it was, but uh, there was a time where I mean, I felt that I didn't feel embarrassed but I felt I didn't feel a hundred percent or 98% and like comfortable going to a certain spot. I was pretty young. I was definitely way younger than 20. I was like mid teens, definitely mid teens. I was still in high school, I think, or middle school.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 26:20

So what did it? What made you more comfortable or how'd you get through it?

Mckael Carrera: 26:24

I stayed home skating in front of the house, which I always did. I mean, I still do it now because I have a combination of both like parks and at home. I just kept skating at home until I felt comfortable hitting that certain spot. I had to get certain tricks of mine down before I hit that spot to feel like a hundred ninety eight percent. That's all it was really. It was my own doing. Like you said earlier, it was my own doing. I had to feel a certain way Before I hit that new spot because it was new to me, right. So I had to do something, no matter what it was, to make me feel that Specific confidence.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 27:02

I guess you to why not try something new? Not only the new trick, I mean a new sport, I mean a new anything. Why stick with skateboarding then? Like, obviously you had to keep putting in time and effort and energy, and what does it do for you that you just decided to stick with it?

Mckael Carrera: 27:16

I'm telling you, ever since I was seven, something told me that this is it. This is the one thing, and it's the one thing I'm gonna stick with, because what I haven't mentioned is the same exact time, when I was seven, I picked up surfing because my dad, so I've been surfing too and Doing soccer. My parents put me in soccer. I was supposed to go to college for soccer, but I always suck with skateboarding. I don't know, it's just that's how it worked. And so I mean, my dad still surfs and I always thought that'd be one thing. Me and him could always like bond on and always do Mm-hmm, I wish we did, but, like I said, it's just always been skate.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 27:53

He doesn't skate.

Mckael Carrera: 27:54

No, he never picked it up, he never tried to skate with me, but Serving was always fun together. And then, like I said, I did. I did soccer all the way to college. I was supposed to go away for college. For it I quit. Why I? After all the last, yeah, extra amount of conversation, of stick-to-itiveness and commitment well, because I knew I mean I was skipping Accounting in college to go skate. I literally failed accounting twice to the skateboard. So I knew Playing a D3, d1, d anything skateboarding I mean soccer I would fail. Mm-hmm you know I wasn't gonna go through all the way.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 28:35

Yeah, but so even still, I don't think that Really means you lost out, and I don't mean in terms of success I mean in terms of, like Drivers like you, still develop some awareness. It wasn't like I'm just going with the pack, because I'm not doing what you say, dad, and I'm not gonna you know, it wasn't just like angsty teenage things, Like it sounds like you were still pretty aware of your strengths and what you brought to the table to push through, yeah.

Mckael Carrera: 28:57

I just think there was something inside me where I just knew, and still know, that it's skateboarding, it's always gonna be skateboarding. I mean honestly sometimes I think Without it, or if I were to get I mean not going wood if I were to get like injured pretty badly, I, I would definitely be depressed and I don't know what I would do without it. I truly don't, and I don't think about it every day, but it's definitely something to think about often. I don't know what I would do.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 29:24

I mean, that's a dangerous place to be into though. Yeah, because you can't do it forever.

Mckael Carrera: 29:28

I can't, so you know, I probably just go surf, honestly.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 29:31

Yeah, you would be involved in the industry and do stuff. Oh, like you can't physically just too demanding, that would suck if I couldn't, Right. But so that's what do you do?

Mckael Carrera: 29:41

You know like you still stay in the industry, you still stay involved and you still do skateboarding, just maybe not physically. I see, yeah.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 29:50

And then I'm sure you can still find circles of friends or just similar groups, similarly minded people, even different industries, that you can Sort of get along with and have things in common. I mean, a support network goes a long way, right, it doesn't just have to be you and Community is huge. Community is a good way to put it, yeah, for sure. So let me ask you this, and I probably could have done this earlier, but I like where the conversation was going. So this is a segment of the show called developing, character developing character, the segment where we talk personal values, past and present. Since we're talking about community, it's important, I think, to try to identify these things and other people before you commit your time to other people or resources, money, whatever it is you value and prioritize to other people. This segment of the show, for anybody who's new, is two questions, McKael, entirely as open as you want to be, it's up to you Cool, but all about your values. So my first question as you were growing up and we touched on this a little bit but what were some of the values that you actually preferred or that were taught to you when you were just brought up? Around?

Mckael Carrera: 30:54

now, in hindsight, I'd have to say continued improvement. Growing up and now and forever, my dad, I mean, as most dads, they really push you to do better, to always do better, right? The other day I sent them some film of me skating in Texas and I mean, to me it wasn't bad, it was decent and it was clean. And he goes. All he said was grind longer. He didn't say word, he didn't say cool, he didn't send an emoji, he just said grind longer. And so it's like for the longest time I would either feel disappointed in myself or put myself down. But no, now I know that he's just making me better and so I don't have to go into my response back to him, because it was actually funny, but I learned that it just makes me better. Continued improvement You're clearly, obviously, continuously improving, but you get stronger and that's what I need and that's what my dad does for me, that's what I do for myself.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 31:57

I just swapped because I'm sure it didn't start that way. He was giving you advice, or he's giving you ridicule or criticisms or whatever. I'm sure you didn't always take it positively.

Mckael Carrera: 32:05

This literally no, it's just happened a few days ago. Okay, it's just happened a few days ago. All right, I had to do it for myself, because I do it. I changed my mindset. I had to change my mindset, otherwise I'm always going to be bumming myself out, and I'm good at doing that. I'm not good at doing it because I'm such a positive human. I mean, I'm so positive all the time that sometimes it weirds me out. I'm like what's wrong with you, like why aren't you normal? But no, I had to do it for myself, because if there's one person in my life that pushes me but makes me better at the same time, even when he says grind longer, when I'm skating in the HUBBA and I'm not supposed to grind longer because it's the board slide Like that's the point of a rail, you're supposed to grind longer. I wasn't skating a rail, it's my dad. He pushes me, he makes me better and even though we have a love hate relationship, he does that whole continued improvement thing and it works out.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 32:58

And so then, what have you adopted for yourself? This is my second question what are some of your values now, then that you've designed on your own, that you fall to, that you use to identify friends, safety and numbers, kind of thing. Whatever works for you. What are some of your values now?

Mckael Carrera: 33:13

Well, I would always say, if this counts, authenticity, sure, because I firmly believe it's just really hard to find authentic people these days. And when I say fine, I don't mean literally you're like scouting looking for authentic people. It's just a beautiful thing when you can find an authentic person.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 33:31

How do you know what's your benchmark?

Mckael Carrera: 33:33

It's probably one of my last questions but I mean, I mean, for me I can just tell people are so, they're so fast to act, they're so fast to want to be something or want to be someone that they try so hard. I don't like that. I don't like it. I just want people to be natural and just be you. To me that's all it is.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 33:55

I think it's stress driven. In my experience, right In my line of work or whatever in the military, I think it's stress driven. That's what brings people the opportunities to drop a facade because you don't have time to deal with it or you don't have time to put it up. True that? makes sense you just got to do. I mean, that took a long time for me to get used to. I'm more of a intellectually driven guy or logic based, I guess, but that's how I dealt with my discomfort for training emotions. It made me feel achy and I didn't want to touch it, so I didn't grow up and then I just said, all right, well, you retreat to whatever not books necessarily, but not people for sure.

Mckael Carrera: 34:35

Yeah, that makes sense.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 34:38

Yeah, and then. So then, finding groups of people starting this podcast, talking to people, any other number of things, I didn't know how to do it. And growing up, I remember thinking this one thing specifically my first girlfriend, I went over to their house. I think it might have been my first time going over to their house, I don't remember exactly. I just remember going over to their house and in my head I had no idea what they were talking about her and her family. I didn't get the jokes, I didn't understand the references, I didn't know what was going on, so I didn't know to laugh. But I didn't want to look dumb, but I didn't know how to laugh because I didn't think it was funny. Like there was. I just didn't know what to do, right? And so I just I remember looking at her dad and I said, okay, well, whatever he's doing, I'm going to do Right, didn't pay off.

Mckael Carrera: 35:23

I would probably do the exact thing actually. Yeah, it didn't pay off, right?

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 35:26

No, no, didn't get five bucks yeah, right, over time everything seemed better and easier for me, at least in my head, but I remember at first just feeling uncomfortable because I didn't know who I was, I didn't know how I wanted to show up. But I like what you said you don't have to. Once you realize you don't have to try, it's okay. Yeah, everything's okay. McKael know, yeah, . For the sake of time, though, for anybody listening to this or anybody that's going to hear this in the future that wants to track you down, get in touch with you, watch some of your material, go see you at a competition, whatever. How do people reach out? How do people find you?

Mckael Carrera: 36:03

My Instagram is @its McKaelSix and no one ever gets my name right, so I'm going to go ahead and spell it it's @its mckael, m-c-k-a-e-l, so @its mckael, and six is six. So I'm on Instagram. Oh, I'm on Facebook too. Okay, that's about it.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 36:21

Sweet. So if you're listening to this, you'll be able to find links to mckael" social, depending on what player you're listening to this conversation on. If you click see more. If you click show more, go to the drop down the description under the player, and you'll be able to see links to mckayle social and that'll take you to her profiles as well. So for anybody who's interested in your listening to this and you're looking for somewhere to put your merchandise and your apparel and your time and your investment, your talent, your feedback or just your willingness to support, those are options for you too. But I really appreciate the opportunity you come out here so we can talk for a little bit, especially because I guess you can say it's difficult to showcase the breadth and reach and application of values. A lot of people hear value systems and they say, okay, well, now we've got to talk about I don't know whatever spirit and religion and faith and civics and things that I don't care to talk about. And it doesn't have to be the case at all, just like you brought up right, Some of that stuff is implied. But you know, you find your group when you find your group based on those things, and so having an opportunity to talk about some of this with you was good.

Mckael Carrera: 37:25

Yeah, so thanks, I had fun. Thank you so much.

Joshua "Porter" Porthouse: 37:29

Thank you to our show partners and folks. Thank you for tuning in and appreciating our value as we all grow through life together. To check out our other conversations, merchandise or even to contribute through feedback. Follows time, money or talent, and let us know what you think of the show. Please reach out on our website, transactingvaluepodcast. com. We stream new episodes every Monday at 9am Eastern Standard Time through all of your favorite podcasting platforms and we'll meet you there. Until next time, that was Transacting Value.