Ep #70: From Pro Surfer to Lifestyle Brand Creator: An Interview with Micah Nickens

You are listening to the Overthinker's Guide to Joy, episode 70. If you've been
listening to the last few episodes, you'll note there's been a common thread amongst
all my latest guests. And that thread or theme has been about starting second
careers later in life, and how age is just a number. That is,
it's never too late to start something you love. So with that, let's dive in with
today's guest, Micah Nickens. This is a podcast for overthinkers,
overdoers and overachievers who are tired of feeling over anxious and just want to
feel better. I'm your host certified life coach, Jackie de Crinis.
All right, so thank you guys for coming today. Today, I have a special guest.
He is not only a friend, but also an Inspiration to me. His name is Micah Nickens
and Micah was born on Maui, although his mom and dad, like me, were Californian
transplants. He grew up playing a lot of baseball, soccer and basketball. And his
dad, who was an avid surfer, spent most of his time with his dad surfing, and it
became a little bit of an obsession. So much so that by middle school, he stopped
playing all the other sports and just focused on the ocean. And the idea of
becoming a pro surfer was starting to become a reality. And at 13 years old, he
got his first official sponsor, which was DeKine, and started his journey of becoming
a pro surfer. He spent 15 years traveling the world as a pro surfer.
And at the end of his pro circuit career, he was hired by DeKine as a team
manager, where he continued to work with the greatest surfers in the world, both
world champions and Olympic gold medalists. He eventually became the marketing director
of all water -related sports for DeKine. And after 22 years,
he left to start his own brand, which is called Uncle's Movement, a lifestyle brand
with a very powerful message and mindset. And that's what we're here to talk about
today because this brand inspires me and I think it'll inspire you too.
So with that, I want to welcome Micah Nickens. Thank you very much. Thank you for
having me. Aloha. Aloha. Happy Aloha Friday. Happy Aloha Friday.
Although this I think airs on Wednesdays, but it'll be our Aloha Friday when we
recorded it. So Micah, I love this brand. I love what you're doing. I love that,
like me, you left, although I didn't have a 15 -year career as a pro -surfer. I
love, like me, you left corporate life. What we refer to as the safety of the
corporate bosom to adopt and develop your own brand and your own philosophy and
bring it to the world because you really believe in this mission statement and in
what you're doing. So I'd love you to talk about how uncle's movement was born,
where the name comes from, and all the things that it is. Okay. Hopefully I can
stay on track. So the name was created because I was so embedded at the kind on
focusing on the youth and the younger athletes. It was just the right thing to do.
You wanted to keep the brand young, you know, brand's age out, and that can be the
detriment to it in the future. So it was important that we kept a focus on the
younger athletes. And during that time, you know, I had my own social media, so I
would occasionally put a photo, upper video clip of myself surfing. I'd hashtag it
with Uncle's movement, just kind of more or less as kind of a joke because I was
by no means part of that youthful movement. It kind of caught on to where some of
my friends were doing the same. They were appreciating what it stood for, where it
didn't have the deep meaning it has now at the time, it was more just a reference
that we're not young, but we're still getting at it and trying to battle the
younger kids in the water and show them that we still got it. We still have what
it takes to create the wow factor. And as time progressed, I started to think about
how there's kind of a void in the action sports industry, where most of the brands
are trying to speak to the younger demographic. You've got that 18 to 25 year old.
And through the halo effect, they just assume that the older people and the younger
kids will resonate towards the messaging. And I just figured, well, let's just speak
to the older demographic, you know, that 35 and up. I want to create something that
has a lot of inspiration behind it, a lot of motivation. It drives people to either
maintain the mindset they have or to encourage them to create the mindset they
should have. It kind of developed slowly. It was over time. I created an Instagram
account. All of a sudden I had pretty legitimate athletes following it and making
comments and allowing me to post little features on them. They're like, "Yeah, heck
yes, I'd be honored." So I was like, it's being taken serious. This little idea of
mine is being accepted in a world where it's hard to impress a lot of my friends
and some of the peers out there because they're so talented and they expect so much
out of anything that I was like, wow, this is actually kind of working. So I felt
like this is an opportunity to really go bigger than just an Instagram account. And
I see there's opportunity to create an apparel brand around it and even so much
more. I mean, at the end of the day, it's become, honestly, I don't even know how
large of a platform this can become because it keeps, the opportunity keeps kind of
knocking every day. Like I realized, well, there's, yeah, I could do that as well.
You know, there's, there's not only selling apparel, but creating a platform where
it's a community where people can come in and feel like they're a part of it. And
they feel like, you know what, I'm part of the uncle's movement. And this is
driving me to be a better person every day, you know? And whatever that looks like,
it's case by case. Everyone has their own personal drive and some go really hard.
You know, they're doing their 75 hard challenges or they're just going to relax and
stop drinking as much as they normally do. Or they're going to put down, you know,
stop eating as much sugar as they normally would and then try to just create a
better scenario for the future. So in a very long winded answer,
I think I got You got it. And let's go back to basics though, because you have to
remember the audience is not predominantly from Hawaii. And so there's some terms
that we'll probably end up using in this podcast where we might stop and explain.
And one of them is the word "uncle." So where does that come from? So growing up
in Hawaii, we would address people, older people, and respected peers in the
community as uncle or auntie, instead of just saying their name, they'd be like
Uncle Micah, you know, no relation whatsoever, but it's just a sign of respect. And
in that same aspect, these uncles and aunties also, it comes with a bit of an
earned privilege to be addressed as an uncle or auntie, you know, because these
people look at these kids and the younger generations look up to them and view them
as what they would like to be in the future, whether it's in the water or athletic
or just respected in the community or how they give back. There's so many different
angles to it, but it ultimately boils down to, it's more or less an earned
privilege to be called that. So the brand is kind of evolves around that same ethos
where it's respect and respected. Love it. Love it.
And movement is obvious, right? It's to keep moving. Talk to us a little bit or
talk to the audience a little bit about your philosophy, about age just being a
number, which I adore, and it's something I write about a lot. Yeah, it's really
important that we maintain a mindset as we get older. As soon as that falters, a
lot of our day -to -day habits are going to change course in in most likely a
negative way. And it's for me, I just turned 47 a couple of days ago.
And before I'd be like, oh my God, I'm almost 50. And after kind of developing
this brand and trying to live through this mindset myself, it's like,
you know what? I'm healthy, I'm blessed, I'm happy. I should be excited for every
year I And then we walk around the planet and there's a term. Oh,
another year around the sun? A year around the sun, thank you. Yeah. And so rather
than being discouraged that I'm getting older, it's like, heck yes, I'm getting
older. And I mean, heck yes, I'm still doing what I love to do as I get older,
more or less. So age is only a number is more true than it could ever be,
ultimately. I mean, it's really, If you truly believe that, then the sky's the
limits for the future. You know, we all deal with our own issues, whether it's
injuries, there's health issues, there's mental issues. I mean, we all have,
we're not, no one's perfect. You know, we all are human. So we all fall short to
a lot of things. However, if you hold that, that messaging high above everything
else, the idea is to try to overcome these issues in a way where you can still
march forward with a real positive mindset. And that's the whole the messaging behind
the brand is really like, age is only a number. Let's let's march through life.
And, you know, is it Dylan Thomas, the poet who says like rage against the dine of
the light? Like, I love that. It's just like, bring it on. We're going to have fun
as we get older, instead of complaining and making up excuses. Well, and you as a
recreational athlete and a professional athlete, and now a recreational athlete, so in
that kind of arc, right? You started out playing traditional sports like baseball and
soccer and basketball, and then decided to devote all your time to water sports so
that you could become a professional surfer. Since becoming a professional surfer, or
I should say since you stopped being a pro surfer, how many different sports have
you added to your arsenal. Can you even name them all? - Yeah, I mean, the list
doesn't stop, you know? But yes, I mean, I can name a few of them for sure. I've
picked up tennis. I am absolutely in love with tennis. The waves can be relatively
good and I still may jump ship and go to the tennis courts, which was something I
never would have done in the past. I love martial arts. I love Jiu Jitsu.
I love Muay Thai. I love the arts of, yeah, of combat,
you know, in a very friendly way. I picked up pickleball, which I really appreciate
now. It's what's great about pickleball is you get all these walks of life because
it is an easier sport to pick up versus tennis. So a lot more people jump in and
want to try it. So you just, you meet a lot of new people. And yeah, that's hand
-eye coordination. I feel like that sport really helped sharpen that. I picked up
foiling. I tried skateboarding recently again, which didn't end well. - And then don't
you also ski in snowboard? - Yeah, I'm a snowboarder. So I've been snowboarding since
I was really young. I love getting up into the mountains and yeah. So I'm kind of
just a jack of all trades when it comes to sports. I still love to play soccer. I
used to play in a softball league well before COVID kicked in and that kind of
shut everything. Yeah, I love being busy. I love staying busy. It's so therapeutic.
But I think the point that I was making was that in your 40s, even after having
this illustrious career in one discipline, you still do that and, and that's the big
word is and, right? And you've added pickleball, tennis, martial arts, et cetera, et
cetera, and winging. Did you say foiling or winging or do you do both? - I can
foil the winging part. I'm still very beginner borderline cook.
- I'm sure it's just a matter of time till you learn that and master that as well.
But the point is you're always adding things. And I've known you for several years
and like me, you've had your share of injuries. Yours are more severe than mine,
although you recover faster, which is kind of amazing. like you'll sprain an ankle
or break something. You'll be like, yeah, I'm back on the court. It's six weeks
later, it's kind of amazing. But I love the can -do -ness of your spirit and I love
the can -do -ness of your brand. - Yeah, yeah, I mean, it kind of comes with the
territory. If you play hard, you pay hard, it happens. You just have to accept the
fact that injury is imminent if you really give it a go at a sport. It's going to
come eventually. It's one of those things. You just have to accept it. It's funny
because when I do go down from an injury, my brain now kind of just automatically
clicks, which is great because I bypassed the depression now. I just go into like,
it is what it is. I have to let it heal. And then I take the PT incredibly
serious. Like with the rolled ankle, I've rolled my ankle too many times now playing
tennis, where I already know what the procedure entails. I immediately go to
acupuncture. There's ice elevation. I mean, there's deep tissue massage,
and it does it. You can turn an injury around a lot quicker if you're very
proactive about it, for sure. Definitely, definitely. So every time I go to play
tennis or every time I play play pickleball, or even when I'm walking around just
like my neighborhood, I see another uncle's movement, t -shirt, water bottle, or hat.
It's like they're having babies. Literally, it's growing so fast. Talk to us a
little bit about, I mean, that's a local thing because so many people know you here
on Maui. So you're so involved in so many different sports and sports communities.
Everyone loves you. They're happy to wear your brand. It's also a super cool t
-shirt hat, water bottle. I mean, you've got so much great swag. But talk about
what's showing up in your business just as you've just launched this not that long
ago. What's showing up in your business in terms of partnerships and other
opportunities nationally, internationally? What have you? Yeah, it's been great.
Every day, there's, oh my gosh, this brand wants to partner. I've had some great
success partnering with other brands and doing collab Instagram posts. I recently got
invited to the K -Challenge Channel 2 News and did a seven -minute interview live.
That was crazy. - I saw it, it was excellent. - Yeah, thank you. I was nervous. I'm
actually, this Monday, I'm heading to Oahu and I'm co answering that new wave pool
on Oahu, where they just put like a $115 million facility over in Ewa Beach,
it's beautiful. It's just crazy how beautiful it is. But they're gonna do, for the
next six weeks, every Monday night at eight o 'clock, it's the uncle's paohana sesh,
and the idea is to just try to encourage some of the uncles that are, and aunties
that are in the 35 and up realm to come, check it out. There's a discount, come
on a discount. That's actually a very nice one. And get them out there to give it
a go. You ride that wave and it's not surfing per se. I mean, it is, but it's a
different approach. But the exercise you get from riding that thing is ridiculous. My
legs were burning for days afterwards when I rode it a couple of weeks ago. But
that's another opportunity I had. I mean, the This is long, but I've also started
really getting a lot of curiosity going all over the United States. I call them
like little fires. I got little fires burning all over the United States. It's
great. I have Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina all over California, Central,
the United States like areas, Vancouver, Canada, Australia, France. I mean,
it's great. These little hubs are starting where people are getting into it and then
their friends are getting into it and they're starting to learn about it and it has
the ability to really grow and blow up. I'm approaching it very grassroots -ish at
the moment, you know, I'm not trying to pump a ton of money into it and fake it
till I make it. I really want it to grow uniquely and organically and I feel like
that is happening. Obviously Maui has taken off, you know, I have a pretty good
sphere of influence on Maui just because of what I've done over the years. And I
do appreciate that. That's very close to my heart. But when I see like some guy
sent a shot to the Instagram account who lives in like Michigan and he's rocking a
hat and he's just so proud of it. It feels so good. It's like, yes, this person's
into it. And yeah, so the growth of this brand has taken off and it's been
exciting and super busy. - Well, what I love is it's not just local and it's not
just men and it's not just men of a certain age because I'm seeing young men
wearing it, older men wearing it, middle -aged men wearing it, and then some of our
top female pickleball players and tennis players are wearing it. And so Uncle's
movement is not just for men. It is while Uncle the reference is male. It is
really a lifestyle brand. It truly is. I mean, it just really represents, at the
end of the day, if you look past the fact that it says, "Uncle," it's, you just
start to focus in on the mindset of what it represents. And yeah, I mean, I'm
about to put a post up today with some of our top pickleball playing women wearing
a shirt and a hat while they're competing. I had this 30 -year -old, very local
bodyboarder come up to me in the water and be all, "Brother, "I love what you're
doing." And I was like, "Yes, I'm holding you until 30." I'm like, "Whoa." So yeah,
it goes well beyond my so -called demographic of what I'm aiming and targeting for.
I really appreciate that. - Yeah, I love what you said. This is in one of your
marketing endeavors. Never stop doing the activities you love. Never stop appreciating
your life and your ohana, which again, that means family. Never stop being a
respected pillar in the community, never stop loving yourself. Our ethos is to live,
love, and laugh. Look forward to the future with optimism and excitement. Understand
that age is only a number. Grab life by the horns and own it. We are living in a
very divided time. Politics can become nasty no matter what side you're on. The
uncle's movement is a community where everyone can put aside their differences and
appreciate life has to offer. Yeah. That is so cool. Thank you.
Thank you. Yeah. I got so sick of being on Instagram and seeing both sides just
yelling at each other and telling each other how wrong they are. And it's just
like, you guys were friends before this, like why even go down that road? Who
cares? Keep your opinion to yourself. You know, like everyone has an opinion, respect
it. That's it at the end of the day. But the uncle's movement is not about that
at all. We leave that at the door. We want you to come in and appreciate the
finer things in life, you know, and what brings a smile to your face and encourage
that to maintain. Ideally, I want everyone to feel like they're invited. You know, I
want this to be very inclusive. I want anyone who feels like you don't have to be
great at a sport. That's a misconception that I get quite a bit. Like, I'm like,
oh, people come up to me. I'm like, oh, I'm not really that good, But I love what
you're doing. I'm like, that's, no, that's not where we're going with this at all.
Right. Like you're in the fact that you have an inner fire that creates your drive
to get up and go, I want to go surf. I just learned how to surf in my forties.
Yeah. And I am absolutely addicted to it. I just learned how to play pickleball in
my sixties. I'm hooked. That's it. That's all I want to hear. That's all what the
brand wants to represent you with is just that encouraging inner fire, you know,
whatever it looks like. - Or I started taking a walk around the block every day and
I've never exercised before. Like, great, whatever it is, just move and just be out
wherever it inspires you. Whether that's a gym or whether that's a mall or whether
that's the beach or a park, just move. Talk to us about this Betterment Challenge
that you created. - Yeah, so my friend Nick Ponti and I came up with this challenge
to the idea of the challenge is to kind of recalibrate your life's balance.
It can easily get offset with priorities, family, personal, you know,
mental anguish. I mean, there's so many reasons why we can be off kilter and I
personally have experienced it myself deeply and I have you to thank for helping me
get out of it. The challenge is ultimately it's a 14 -day challenge. And each day
there's a task and a focus that you ideally should give it the proper attention.
Like day one, it's a reflection, like reflecting on all the good things you've done
in your life and write them down and acknowledge them and appreciate them and be
proud of yourself for what you've done. 'Cause it's easy to are becoming pessimistic
and looking at everything from that glass half empty, right? So let's flip the
script and come at it from a positive, optimistic mindset. Then there's the clear
vision where the idea is for you to like set your goals, set your goals out for
the next five years, 10 years, 15 years. What does that entail? Is that gonna
change from what you're doing now? Are these goals going to encourage you to,
you know, put certain vices aside, maybe even put them away entirely, or just to
moderate them? Forgiveness. That's a big one. A lot of people, you know,
including myself, that's a tough one. And if you can find forgiveness in your heart
for whatever the situation might be, that takes away so much unnecessary stress in
your life. It just, it frees up so much energy that you don't need. And I really
appreciate that one. Mindfulness is a huge one. And that's something I kind of
encouraged from the beginning of the challenge where, and this is something that you
really brought to my life is just to sit down and have peace and quiet for five
to 12 minutes or however long it needs to be and just focus on your breathing and
you put some kind of white noise behind you or something that just doesn't distract
you and just focus on some really good, perfect breaths. It's crazy how good you
feel after one of those. I mean, you get this tingling sensation that feels so
good. It's just like, it's kind of like a runner's high is the way I can compare
it. But it just, it really like resets your brain and just your daily mantra to be
a lot more positive. And you put aside a lot of the negative thoughts in your
head, you know, gratitude as another one, just being grateful, looking at life and
being grateful for the things that are around you instead of being wanting the
things that you don't have, being grateful for the things you do have and just
living in the moment of gratitude. I think that's a huge one. The challenge isn't
about like, it's not like a 75 heart where you have to drink a gallon of water
every day and you have to do 30 minutes of workout, but in the morning and twice
a day, it's not extreme. It's completely doable. But I really feel like if you do
practice these tasks and then you try to turn them into a day -to -day lifestyle,
it's really going to help reset your life in a really solid, powerful way.
Absolutely. It's just finding balance, right? We get off kilted with that balance
really easy in our day -to -day. And I feel like this reset and realign that
balance, so. It's so good. Yeah. I love that. And where can the listeners go and
read about the Betterment Challenge? Where can they see you on Instagram? Where can
they... What's your website? Like all the things. Yeah. So I do have an Instagram
account. It's @unclesmovement. Facebook is the same. And then unclesmovement .com is my
website. So if you go to the website, you'll see under the menu, you'll see the
Betterment Challenge, you click on it, and then you have to download it. So it's
too big of a file to just pull up, you have to download it. So you have to go
through all the prompts, and then, yeah, the idea is to just flip through it each
day. You can print it and mark the task, or just mentally mark it, and try and
accomplishment. It's, like I said, it's completely doable, it's super achievable, and
I really feel like you will see some success by the end of it. Yeah, I've seen
just a massive transformation in you in the last year or so, just as you've adopted
this philosophy and brand and really living your brand and being an embodiment of
it. And I think it's contagious and it's such a good way. And I love it. Thank
you. Yeah, I've really had to hold myself accountable in order to practice what I
preach, right? I mean, it's not that I'm preaching this, the brand's talking about
it, but I am the face of the brand, therefore, I need to be an example of the
brand as much as humanly possible. Like I said before, we're not perfect, and I
certainly am not. But I am going to try and be a better person. And the cool
thing about the uncle's movement is I kind of hold it to a standard where, well,
my 14 -year -old daughter approve of what I'm doing. And you know my daughter, she's
incredibly mature for her age. And if I were to do something that goes off brand,
she's going to give me a heads up on that. So the idea is to like follow the
guidelines and script to where my daughter's like, this is cool. I dig it. So it's
really cool. It's just holds me accountable whether I'm in the water or on the
courts or just driving. It's like, all Right. I have a sticker on my car. I have
a sticker on my surfboard. I'm wearing a shirt or a hat. Like, I have to maintain
this. I have to be a better person. I have to rise above situations at times.
And yeah, it's been great. I really feel like this brand is helping me as a person
more than anything has thus far. So it's I'm really I appreciate what it's done for
me. That's amazing. That's amazing. It's like having a mantra, right? It's like
writing down a mantra, knitting it on a pillow, putting it on as a bumper sticker,
wearing it as a tattoo. It's a mantra. And so when you see Uncle's movement, you
remember get up and move and be a good person. - Yeah. If you could just try to
have the mentality that I want to be 1 % better every day, at least. I feel like
you're going to be on to success. You know, if you're always trying to hold
yourself accountable to mental and physical well -being, like just really identifying
how self -aware you are. That's really important, being aware of your flaws,
the things that you're really good at. Just how can you contribute to society where
when I do leave this planet, I feel like a lot of people will be like, she was a
great person and he's going to be deeply missed. So I don't know. I mean, it's a
little deep, but yeah, there's not many brands out there that are trying to
encourage people to do that. And I was like, I want to create something that makes
people want to be better,
make themselves better. And yeah, it seems to be working. I love it.
I love it. Well, like I said, you're here today because it inspired me, your
mission statement, just your promos, your Instagram feed. I mean, everything about the
brand inspires me. And I was like, you've got to come on this podcast because
that's what I do as a life coach. I mean, we're all about trying to manage your
own mind and body so that you are more successful in life. Whatever success is
defined by you, because for some people, that's money. For some people, that's
health, for some people that's richness in relationships, for some people it's just
managing their own chaos in their brain. And uncle's movement is an extension of
that philosophy that I believe so profoundly in. And so I wanted to have you here
today and sort of just say, great job, keep going and let everybody who listens to
this just know that it's available to you via Instagram, Facebook,
on your website, as a t -shirt, as a hat, as a water bottle, as a sticker for
your surfboard, whatever it is. But it's available for everybody. And I just wanted
them to know Micah Nickens. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you having me.
Thank you. That's awesome. Great seeing you, Micah. And we will talk soon. Aloha.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Overthinker's Guide to joy. If you're
enjoying these episodes, please subscribe or follow this podcast so you can always be
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working with me as a coach, you can connect with me through my website at
jackiedecrinis.com. That's J -A -C -K -I -E -D -E -C -R -I -N -I -S .com.