10 Jobs in BMX For Anyone Who is Too Shit To Turn Pro - Mpora

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10 Jobs in BMX For Anyone Who is Too Shit To Turn Pro

You don't have to be good at riding your bike to make a living from BMX...

Want to make a living on your BMX bike? Just picture it; you wake up in the morning, fall into your dressing gown and go downstairs to feast on the full English breakfast prepared by your butler Jeeves.

You stick your beanie on and head to the designated bike room, bypassing the couple of Audis you’ve got barked in the corridor on the way there, grab your BMX and off you head for another day on the streets. You’ve got to pay the bills some how.

Now wake up. Because obviously this life doesn’t actually exist; especially not for you – if you are a professional rider at this point please exit the page or we’ll be too jealous to proceed – but that doesn’t mean you can’t make an albeit significantly less glamorous living in the world of BMX.

How you ask? Here are a few ideas. They range is likelihood and some may be slightly more serious than others…

Photographer/Filmer

The dream job for most in love with BMX who have accepted they won’t make the pro ranks – and even for some who could have if they really wanted.

Photography and filming is a passion and an art. It’s capturing the true essence of BMX, being there when the big moments go down and fuelling the scene with inspiration for anyone interested.

Pros: Living BMX, hanging with the pros, and playing a huge part in the exposure of the sport.

Cons: Lack of sleep, incredibly tough to make a living from/become established, and even then, the work you sell may not always be your favourite stuff.

Bike Shop Worker

You’ll be the guy that people come to when they’ve got a flat tyre, when they need a new t-shirt or hoodie or some advice on what parts are best to run on their ride. You might even move your way up the ranks and even run a bike shop yourself one day.

Pros: Surrounded by people who love bikes, you get to work on rides all day everyday and get some sweet discounts.

Cons: The pay isn’t great, customers can be tricky and getting a job in a BMX-specific shop isn’t exactly easy, so you could end up dealing with road bikes or mountain bikes a lot of the time.

Office Dude

If you can work your way into an established BMX brand then you could end up with a sweet job running social media, advertising, marketing or fuck it, even doing admin. At least you’re still in the game.

Pros: Surrounding yourself with BMX all day, everyday, making a reasonable wage and possibly even having a voice on how the scene is run.

Cons: Difficult to get into with no contacts or experience, and god forbid, you might have to wear a shirt and shoes every now and then.

Brand Ambassador

This is the newest position here. It’s basically involved getting such a large social media presence that you can blag a living. We’re talking a massive Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat audience. Once you’ve got that sorted – whether you’re actually good at riding or not – you can persuade brands to sponsor you with free stuff in return for exposure.

Pros: You don’t have to be remotely good at BMX, and get everything free, from gear to travel.

Cons: There’s no actual money so you’d still need a real job (which would be easier to get in the industry with your presence), and it is damn hard to get that presence to start with.

Skate Park Worker

This involves being that guy who lets you into the skate park, or that other guy who stands behind the counter in the shop and looks miserable all day.

Pros: You live a skate park and when not working can more likely than not ride for free.

Cons: Lack of money. Lack of happiness.

Bike Welder

Welding bikes together for a company of choice, or better yet, for your own range of custom BMXs, if you’ve come that far.

Pros: Everyone is proud to know you and thinks you’re a primitive genius. Also, you can make bikes.

Cons: Getting one of these jobs is like gold dust, as most bike are now made in Taiwan.

Web Designer

The era of digital journalism is upon us and with it comes the era of the web designer; the person responsible for building the software which can best display the scene and keep you coming back for more.

Pros: In the modern age of journalism, you get to frame the words and decide what the viewer will be looking at. You have a whole lot of say on how the culture of the scene is digested.

Cons: A lot of specialist study and expertise required. Technical shit in abundance. Putting up with rash demands of people who understand none of it.

Part Designer

Designing parts for a BMX is pretty much the most important job in the game. You could come up with some revolutionary design that could change the game forever. Or, of course, something that gets laughed out the park.

Pros: Getting to shape (literally) the future of BMX.

Cons: Again, a lot of education on the subject and technical knowledge is needed, and you’ll need a lot of creativity to come up with something new.

Journalist

Writing about BMX is a career along the same lines as photography or filming in that for some people it’s a true passion, and they wouldn’t rather do anything else in the world. It takes a lot of work to get into, but you can really let your creativity loose.

Pros: You’ll get access to the pros, travel perks and get to indulge in BMX for a living.

Cons: You’ll have to choose two of breakfast, lunch and dinner to live off due to time constraints on your life and the fact you have no money.

Street Bum

This is less of a profession and more just living on the streets all day every day riding your bike.

Pros: Unlimited riding time.

Cons: Lack of money, food, shelter, warmth. Not recommendable to be honest.

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