diff --git a/server-api/src/main.rs b/server-api/src/main.rs
index 58de189..d87ea2b 100644
--- a/server-api/src/main.rs
+++ b/server-api/src/main.rs
@@ -207,9 +207,25 @@ OPTIONS:
     if let Some(owner_name) = args.value_of("create-owner") {
         let p = Pool::new(&env::var("DATABASE_URL").unwrap());
         eprintln!("Creating owner {{ {} }}...", owner_name);
-        if let Ok(owner) = members::insert_new_member(&p, owner_name.to_string(), std::u64::MAX).await {
-            println!("{}", serde_json::to_string(&owner).unwrap());
+        let owner_secret = auth::generate_secret();
+        // creation of owner should just dump straight to stdout since this fires
+        // from a commandline parameter anyway
+        match db::member::Member::add(&p, &owner_secret, "owner sama uwu", perms::OWNER).await {
+            Ok(response) => {
+                match response {
+                    db::Response::Row(owner) => 
+                        println!("{}", serde_json::to_string(&owner).expect("SQL query passed but serde couldn't parse the data for some reason")),
+                    db::Response::Empty => {
+                        eprintln!("SQL server failed to return owner data, check configs and also the members table to make sure there's nothing there by accident");
+                    },
+                    _ => {}
+                };
+            },
+            Err(_) => {
+                eprintln!("Could not communicate with the SQL server, check your configs!");
+            }
         }
+        //println!("{}", serde_json::to_string(&owner).unwrap());
         p.disconnect();
     }