Build It Yourself – Tyler Craig | Episode 268

What happens when a life spent surfing, making things, traveling with musicians, and figuring things out on the fly eventually becomes the foundation for building something of your own?

In Episode #268, Moped Outlaws rides with Tyler Craig, owner, creator, and artist behind Makau Maker. Tyler grew up surrounded by surfing, with three generations of his family connected to the ocean. From Southern California to the Big Island of Hawaii and back again, the water has been a constant presence in his life.

That relationship with surfing eventually became part of something much larger. Tyler talks about growing up in Hawaii, earning respect in the water, learning the unwritten rules of local surf culture, and what the ocean has taught him about patience, timing, adaptability, and paying attention to the conditions around you.

We also travel back through another major chapter of Tyler’s life: his years working in the music business as tour manager for Pepper. What began with friends from Hawaii arriving on the mainland eventually became more than a decade of touring, from vans and house parties to the Warped Tour, international travel, and sold-out shows at places like Red Rocks.

Tour management taught Tyler something that now serves him as an entrepreneur: communicate, don’t procrastinate, use your community, and make sure the curtain goes up on time. He learned how to work with dozens of new people every day, solve problems on the road, protect the team’s space, and keep moving when circumstances change.

Today, that experience is being poured into Makau Maker. Tyler talks about making wooden surfboards, miniature surfboards, keychains, ornaments, custom work, and a new line of apparel built around a distinctive crew-neck sweatshirt with a functional front pocket. He is taking the products directly to surf shops, gift stores, boutiques, and anyone who might connect with what he’s making.

There is no elaborate formula behind Tyler’s approach. Learn what you can. Ask questions. Find the people who know what you don’t know. Pay attention to the conditions. Then go do the work.

From the ocean to the road to the workshop, this is a conversation about building a life by participating in it — one wave, one board, one relationship, and one piece of work at a time.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:44 — 86.2MB) | Embed

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