Businessman Tony Hawk still learning tricks - of the trade, that is!

Tony Hawk on the cover of Entrepreneur.
(Image source: entrepreneur.com)

By now, approaching Tony Hawk with the  “skateboarder / businessman” perspective is almost a cliché.

It is hardly any news that he’s behind Birdhouse, Hawk Clothing, Boom Boom Huck Jam, Shred or Die and, of course, his namesake best-selling video game series.

Nevertheless, the Birdman is once again appearing heftily around mainstream media – a bit before the release of the new Tony Hawk Ride video game (due out on November 17) and, of course, just in time for the Christmas shopping season.

Recently, he emerged on the cover of the October edition of Entrepreneur magazine. Sadly (albeit not surprisingly), the story starts off with an unfortunate gag, saying that he is "...about to introduce his latest trick: a skateboard without wheels".

Anyhow, the companion website also features a video recorded at Hawk’s headquarters and, arguably, the most amusing part of the tape is Entrepreneur’s photographer David Johnson testing his skills on Tony’s board and slamming face first on the flat bottom of the ramp (!).

Although Hawk is the world’s highest paid action sports athlete (with earnings of $12 million in 2008, according to Forbes), he admits he’s got plenty to learn about big business: “…to me, a lot of it is just mumbojumbo”, he confess in the Entrepreneur interview.

Although a statement like this appears to contradict the very idea of featuring him in such publication, it actually seems to be the case.

Just yesterday, Hawk spoke at the Twitter Conference here in Los Angeles and, sometime in the afternoon during the convention, he twitted:

How ironic... No T-mobile service at the Twitter Conference.

Oops... Bad move!

T-Mobile happens to be a business partner of his (via the Tony Hawk edition of the Sidekick LX phone). 

One of the many examples of Tony Hawk's twit being re-twitted.

Evidently, the posting was soon removed from Tony’s Twitter page but, too little too late: with so many re-twitting services over the net chasing celebrities and the like, the infamous twit now can be found here, and here, and here…

Ultimately, it boils down to another business lesson for Hawk to learn: do not mock your business associates via Twitter – especially when you have over 1.6 million followers!