Opinion Person Of The Month: Tyler Morland

Howdy Opinion faithfuls! I want to start by saying I am honored to be featured in the blog among some other amazing people so thank you for asking me, Nolan. My name is Tyler Morland. I am from Brighton, MI, a small suburb of Detroit with a population of about 8,000 people. I had a rather traditional midwestern upbringing. I would consider my family blue collar. We have a family landscaping business on my dad's side and my mother is in car sales. I started wrestling when I was 7 years old, and this quickly consumed my family's time, not just mine. Wrestling is generally considered a poor man's sport, but at the level I was competing it took an investment from everyone. We were traveling 30-40 hours a week just for practice and often two tournaments every weekend. At one point I even started selling car air fresheners door to door in the neighboring towns to help fund our travels. Growing up I didn't understand the full picture as to why we invested so much in my athletics. I always thought my dad just wanted to have the toughest kid at every tournament. While there is probably some truth to that, it wasn't until I matured that I understood why. Nobody in my family had ever attended college or a university, and my parents certainly couldn't afford to pay for my tuition. With their traditional backgrounds, they thought all this investment into wrestling could afford me the opportunity to receive a higher education, get a good secure job, and not have to break my back like they had their whole lives. And they thought correctly! I was blessed to have attended Detroit Catholic Central High school which is known for its academics and national success in wrestling, eventually winning a couple state championships and receiving national honors. This got me recruited to wrestle in the Big Ten at Northwestern University outside Chicago. 

While attending NU I majored in economics, minored in business institutions, and received a leadership certificate from Kellogg School of Management- their business graduate school. As I finished my wrestling career in 2020-21, I suddenly had all this time on my hands. Wrestling was a full time job my entire life and once it was over I didn't know what to do with myself or really what I wanted. I started to tap back into some of my creative interests as a hobby from when I was a kid- drawing, painting, really creating anything while going through a gauntlet of interviews for investment banking positions. I ultimately wanted to get into the venture space but be a bit more hands on than just providing strategic investment. I received job offers from the big blue chip banks, but being around some of the employees of these companies eventually turned me off. Everyone was so melancholy. Nobody showed any excitement or passion for their work. Except maybe Fridays when you got to dress casually and the weekend was approaching. I didn't enjoy the energy in these workspaces and wanted to find something that provoked an enthusiasm in me. 

Like I said, I wanted to go into the venture space but be a bit more hands on so I decided to try to find an opportunity within a more creative business. I wanted to learn more about how to build businesses from the inside rather than only providing strategic investment so that I could do both in the future. That led me to taking an unpaid internship with Full Send/Nelk. I passed up on the banking job offers and moved to LA on three days notice about a month before my graduation. At the time Full Send/Nelk was an internet giant and even bigger with their merchandising. They were doing $10m merch drops every other month so this allowed me to learn quickly. I did this for about a year until one of the founders decided to exit the company. I was his right hand man and when he decided to leave he took me with him. We went from about 25 employees down to 3 and now it was time to figure out what was to be next. 

We eventually launched Sunday Studios together. It was a creative agency/venture studio aimed to launch our own brands. For the first two years it was a lot of agency work bringing in capital to invest into our internal brands. We worked with brands like Gel Blaster, Friday Beers, and Last Crumb along with an assortment of creators given our reach and founders background. This allowed us to launch our own brands- Sunday and Bloody Sunday. For the next two years, we got both brands to hit over a couple million in sales and then launched our first brand in retail across a couple hundred Zumiez locations and did a joint venture in cannabis. But I eventually hit a point where I couldn't really learn anymore or grow in any way internally so I decided last October to leave and start my own business. I have since launched Grunt Work. Grunt is a brand accelerator studio partnering with brands to help them grow through strategy, branding and design, and content (among numerous other sub services). We do the heavy lifting offering A to Z creative brand building services to remove the weight of hard work from their shoulders. 

But the long term goal remains the same as I stated above- to nurture, develop, or launch new IP, not just through investment but also getting our hands dirty in the process. 

We are six months in, and I am grateful to be able to keep myself busy working on projects with clients that excite me daily. Thrilled for the next 6 months. 

When you made the decision to move to LA, How did your friends and family react? Did you face any doubt or pushback?

My friends were stoked. They knew of the notoriety of Full Send even though I had no clue what they did. However, my family was devastated. Like I said, my family invested so much time and money for me to get the education I have and give me the opportunity to earn a high wage job with security, benefits, retirement plans, etc. So for them to hear that I was passing up multiple six figure job offers to move across the country for an unpaid internship with nowhere to stay and about $1000 dollars to my name- they thought I was insane. This really disrupted their traditional ideology of "go to a good school so you can get the good job." They invested their whole lives to give me the opportunity for the cushy job and no financial stress, but there I was giving them a three day notice that I was flying to LA to work with some internet bad boys at the time. Keep in mind, when I say my parents are old school I mean my dad had a flip phone until last year and neither have any social media or understand the internet in any capacity. When I told them we sell merchandise they asked what store they could walk in to purchase. No idea what ecommerce even means. They called me crying every hour until I left. So yes there was a ton of pushback, however, my family has never doubted me. They've always trusted me no matter what I choose to do. I will definitely hear their opinion and it won't be short winded, but if I make my mind up I know I will receive their unwavering support. They'd do anything in the world for me even if they thought it was a terrible idea. If I didn't know they had my back I certainly wouldn't have made the decisions or given the effort that has gotten me to where I am today. 

What was the hardest moment you faced after moving to LA?

Everything difficult has been pretty relative. I am not unique in any hardships. Early on, and the most constantly difficult moments are just being away from family. My dad isn't in great health and the most troublesome thought I have regularly is if something were to happen I wouldn't be there. Or for example my brother is having his first child soon and trying to time birth isn't the easiest. Outside of that, my bank account dwindled down to about $11 dollars before I started to get paid, and I slept on a floor or in the office for a couple weeks before I could afford my own place. But, again I wouldn't consider this unique when moving cross country and understood what I was getting myself into. 

What’s the worst piece of advice or criticism you received about moving to LA, and how did you respond to it?

I did not receive much criticism. I have been fortunate my entire life to have a great support system of people in my corner that have often believed in me more than I believe in myself. I have been the toughest critic through every stage of my development. If I had to choose something I would say maybe some of the pushback I received from my family in regard to undervaluing myself. While there may have been some truth to that at the beginning I understood that in order for me to learn in a new field I had to start from the bottom. I did many things that were not asked of me for free, because I wanted to gain the experience that was required with being hands on every step of the way. 

Was there a moment where you questioned yourself because of what other people were saying? How did you push through?

Again, not really. I didn't question my decision to not go into banking at all. I knew this wasn't the path for me. I often ask myself, "What's the worst that could happen?" Gives me a different frame to think about and it often isn't nearly as bad as we dramatically imagine. Like I said before, I am more likely to question myself based upon my own self criticism than I am from others. 

What’s one thing you’ve accomplished since moving to LA that makes you proud you took the risk?

I've had the opportunity to work with so many extremely talented individuals launching new ventures and seeing them grow made me proud. Getting new insights, coming up with new ideas, and putting them in place to see them have a direct reflection in the growth of a business or project is always very gratifying. However, what I am most proud of or at least has brought me the most fulfillment is taking the leap to launch my own business. I battled with leaving my previous company for a long time before I ultimately decided to leave. I was there from day 1 and was so deeply ingrained into what we built that it was tough for me to accept for a while. But, as time went on making that decision became unavoidable. There was so much potential there, but I saw the certain issues that I tried to address were outside my control in order to progress the business but could never get them resolved. I had to come to peace with it and decide to move on knowing there was no room for me to grow or learn anymore. Taking the risk to bet on myself is what I am most proud of. However, I do not think moving to LA was a huge risk in and of itself. Sure, I passed up some great opportunities to do so, but I knew that wasn't the best route for me and wherever the move took me would be where I ought to be- at least temporarily. I understand that my newest venture with GRUNT is also not a final destination, but I am trusting the process, as cliche as that sounds, that it will lead me to the next pitstop.

What advice do you have to anyone who has recently graduated college and wants to pursue something they may not have majored in or have no experience in?

My advice would be to become a student again. I don't necessarily mean going back to school, what I mean is start studying whatever it is that you're interested in. There are infinite resources to learn anything these days. We are so fortunate to live in a period of time of unbound accessibility. Everything is one click away. Whether that's watching content, reading a blog or book, listening to a podcast, or reaching out to connect with someone in the field you're interested in. It is never too late to get involved or learn something new that peaks your interest. However, I am not going to advise everyone to follow their dreams no matter the cost. I think that is dismissive and irresponsible. There are limits. I wouldn't advise someone that is 5ft tall to learn everything about being a basketball player because their dream is to be in the NBA. However, within those limits, if something intrigues you to want to learn more than don't feel guilty for leaving what you already know. I think we tend to idolize the specialists-the people in the top 1% of their craft. I don't think we are incorrect for doing so. These people are admirable for dedicating themselves to be the best at whatever it is they do. In this case specializing is not necessary, it's the only way and requires an extreme singular focus. While this pursuit is admirable, it is the most difficult route to take.  Growing up we are told we have to pick something and stick to it to be any good. This is hogwash, unless you want to be the best. We are capable of being good at a lot of different things, and it often makes us better at each singular thing in return. 

I strongly subscribe to the quote, "A jack of all trades is a master of none," but what most people don't know is that is only half the quote. The second half of the quote is, "but oftentimes better than a master of one." To simplify this and give further context- let's use a graphic designer as a real world example. This designer could be the best in the world at photoshop, but he's spending every waking second practicing and studying only photoshop. This is incredibly useful, and this designer would have the highest utility in photoshop. But what if the designer used some of that time to learn illustrator? His utility in photoshop goes down, but his utility as a designer goes up. What if he then takes the time to learn motion design? The same thing occurs. Now he is a multidisciplinary designer. Take this same principle and apply it to other things outside just the technical component of being a designer like product development or business. If the designer understands how the product is made that he is designing he will be more informed in his design and understand the limitations he must work within. If he understands the financial implications of his design then he can design it in a way that would allow for a higher margin on the product. While there is demand for the specialized skills of the photoshop designer, there is also demand for the generalist skills of the multidisciplinary designer, and oftentimes he would be considered to have a higher utility. The photoshop designer may require a business to hire numerous designers to be proficient in multiple areas as well as a creative director to carry out the vision for the goals of the product and business. It is often more advantageous to be proficient at many things, than to be the best at one thing.

Don't let fear of leaving your past experience to start something new stop you from diving into new curiosities.