Athlete CEO: Always Be a Pro | Zach Miller, Sam Acho, Jeff Locke, Riccardo Stewart | NFL Players’ Podcast #24
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NFL players have the unique opportunity to become more than just players but also Athlete CEOs. Sitting at the top of their family business they make important decisions about generating and stewarding their talent and wealth. Assembling a team of qualified individuals can be difficult for athletes.
In this podcast, the NFL AWM team discusses the importance of being a Pro on and off the field.
For questions, you can reach out to Riccardo Stewart at +1 (602) 989-5022.
+ Read the Transcript
Riccardo Stewart (00:11): Welcome to another episode of the AWM NFL podcast. My name is Ricardo Stewart. I get a chance to be your host and I'm here with my friends and my coworkers, Sam Acho, Zach Miller, and the man himself, Jeff Locke. And we started last episode, a new series talking about athlete CEO.
And what we say by that is not necessarily mean meaning that every athlete is going to run a bunch of businesses and so forth. But we do believe that to be a pro means that you yourself are the owner of your own family business and being the owner, you sit at the top. So you got to make decisions. You got to carry yourself a certain way. It's important that you choose the appropriate team. And last week we talked about the differences between choosing an agent, a sports agent that handles your contract, and then choosing a team of advisors that does the financial planning for you.
And today we're going to just step back and talk about what does it mean to be a pro? I mean, a pro in football and a pro in life and the way that you carry yourself. And so I'm going to start the way I usually start. And that is talking to my man, Jeff, because he always does a good job at explaining things. And so Jeff, when you hear the word professional and be a professional, what does that mean?
Jeff Locke (01:23): The first thing that comes to mind for me is you're at the top of a profession. We're in sports industry, you're at the top. You're a pro, you're not an amateur, you're up there. Second is really, I don't know any other better way to say this other than that you just handle your business.
You have so many things going on, there's so many different directions you're getting pulled and you find a way to stay on top of it. You get the right team, we'll talk about it in a second and stay organized and all of that allows you to then get better every single day and keep staying at the top of your profession because the people around you aren't static and that next generation coming up is not static. They're trying to take your jobs, right? You got to keep getting better every day. That's a pro.
Riccardo Stewart (02:07): Yeah, I'm a person that's always been inspired by others. I can look at somebody, do something, and it inspires me to do that. Or I can look at somebody in a completely different discipline, practice, or job than what I do, but them being excellent at what they do, it inspires me. Because I do believe, you've heard me say it before, more things are caught than taught. Sam, when it comes to being a pro, who are the people, or who are a person, or a group of people that you looked at and said, hey, that's it right.
Sam Acho (02:38): For me, was Kaleus Campbell and it wasn't even my rookie year. It was before my rookie year. I had just signed and there was an NFL lockout and I was looking for somewhere to train. And so the first thing I did was right around the advent of social media, I looked online to see who social media looked like a normal human being. Somebody who I could trust and connect with who was on the team that drafted me. And Kaleus Campbell's name showed up. Looked like he took care of his business. It looked like he was doing things the right And so I immediately started following and emulating him. I remember going to Arizona, asking him where he trained, and then that began a process. And then there's another, began a process. There's another guy that joined it with him, a guy named Adrian Wilson, a seven or eight year veteran at the time, safety, Ricardo, you're not in your head, big six foot three, 215, 20 pounds safety, but he just took care of business. And so both those guys from an early age were examples for me on how to be a pro, especially as a rookie, found those examples as a young person in the NFL and follow.
Riccardo Stewart (03:34): That's good. That's really good. Yeah. I know both those names and those both large human beings. So Zach, we talked about this on the podcast and other episodes, you know, in terms of how you chose an advisor, how you chose an agent. And both times you mentioned your parents helped you. Well, you were able to play eight years in NFL. You made ton of money. You were at the head and you still are of the Miller, the Zach Miller family business. And so what are some of the things or when did
(04:04): it begin to take over it yourself, where you begin to own it and it was no longer, okay, my parents or other people, but mainly you making the decisions.
Zach Miller (04:15): It took me probably too long. really waited until my second contract really when I was done playing. And that's something I would go back and do differently. Like I was very focused on the field. I knew how to do what Sam said and, you know, copy the best players in the locker room and see what they did for recovery and all the pro things and emulate that kind of in the locker room. But off the field, I was like, well, no, I just want to put all my effort and focus into football.
When I could have had, I had capacity, I had off seasons, I had things where I could have actually taken more ownership over the off the field stuff, the CEO stuff, like making sure that ultimately I was the one picking people on my team. I was the one, um, overseeing, I was the one, I should have taken more responsibility there because I could have done it. And so when I did finally do that, once I was done playing, like I made a ton of changes because. That I just saw how much it could be done better.
And then that sent me down the whole path to eventually become an advisor. But that's something I would encourage any player to learn as much as you can as early as possible. And there's a ton to learn. So the earlier you start, even if it's rookie or second, third year, you're going to be way ahead of the
Riccardo Stewart (05:28): That's good. That's good. Okay. Well, we're now out of our careers. We're not playing anymore. Well, we work with a lot of men who have done really, really, really good with their finances and so forth. now, Jeff, we've talked about this in other episodes. You were that guy in the locker room that were helping your teammates when you were playing. You were helping them budget. You were helping them with financial plans. And that really what led you into the career and profession that you're doing now and that you're very, good at What like knowing what you know now and working with the the you know tens and tens and hundreds of athletes we work with now if you were back in that locker room now what Sage like wisdom would you give as it relates to being -
Jeff Locke (06:12): Yeah, there's this concept that's tough to understand, but I call it having a split mindset. And here's what it means. Zach and Sam are completely correct. One of the best things you can do is follow the vets. See exactly how they act in the locker room. See exactly how they train, how they prep for training. See what they do at home to recover. See when they go to bed at night, when they wake up. Emulate everything they do. But then you need to split yourself financially from what they're doing, because these vets are on second and third contracts and they have it, right?
So don't need to go out and spend like the veterans. You don't have it like that yet when you're in your first contract. So you have to have this split mindset of like, I'm following everything they do to become a better football player, but I'm in the same spot financially to be buying all the things that they're buying because your financial plan and your priorities might be totally different at the different stages of your career. So it's this constant battle that you got to try and balance between those two things.
Riccardo Stewart (07:10): I mean, we got one of the best professionals, I believe, on this podcast, and that's Sam. And so I'm gonna put you on the spot here. I've been with you in Dallas. I've been with you at the Heisman ceremony. I've been with you in Los Angeles. I've been with you in so many different places where the room is flooded with other superstars and men and women athletes who have made lots of money.
And then they come to you and we sit around a table and inevitably what happens is somebody says, know what? I respect the way you carry yourself. I I see you on TV or I remember watching you play or man, don't you know as a kid growing up in Texas, I used to look to you and you didn't even know these things, but you are for a lot of people like the picture of a pro. And so, you know, not to put too much weight on you, but as that, as that happens for you, like, how did you develop that? Or is that something you've always had growing up in Texas? you know, St. Mark's High School's finest. Like, did you always have that?
Sam Acho (08:10): I definitely didn't always have that, but I think I started to learn that there are decisions that you can make that can take you one way or another. Decisions to try and build character or go against character. Decision to try and do the right thing or the wrong thing. And there's always ways to counter those decisions. But one thing I learned, I remember being a young kid and realizing how easy it is, and Ricardo, you'll resonate with this because you have young kids, how easy it is to like just to tell a little fib or maybe not to go all the way to the truth, or to kind of just like cheat and just kind of do a little bit of, and I was like, man, I could be pretty good at this, you know? Like I could say one thing, be believable, but then I realized, but that's not going to get me where I want to go.
Sometimes like doing the harder, right? Being honest, man, saying I'm sorry, you're actually being accountable. It may hurt in the temporary, but in the long run, it'll pay off. And I think one thing that you're speaking into me, which I really appreciate and that I'm seeing is “Man, some of those daily decisions from way back when of maybe being accountable or showing up or saying I'm sorry or trying to just help someone when I didn't have to, those decisions five, 10, 15 years later, all of a sudden build a, not necessarily reputation per se, but character.” And that's one thing that I'm learning, even as I make mistakes of like, oh wow, let's recalibrate, right? Let's turn that thing around so that to your point, when you are in a room with people, it could be a conversation “man, I really respect who you are and what you're about.” There's so many people on this call and on our team who I look at in that vein and they may not even know it. Some of them I've told, some I haven't, but it's those daily decisions, what you do when no one else is watching that builds a character that helps you.
Riccardo Stewart (09:52): Yeah, I just think piggybacking in on that, Zach, you're a pro and I'd love your advice right now. And that is, how do know when to say yes, or a better way, how do you choose to say yes and choose to say no? And that could be from deals in the locker room to things off the field. I'm talking just generally, how do you make that decision?
Zach Miller (10:14): It really comes down to what's your one thing? What's your true priority? If you want to be the best player at your position, you want to win football games, you're not making sacrifices when you are putting in the extra training or not going out a couple nights before the game, like hydrating and not drinking, like all of those things. You really only play 17 games a year plus playoffs. You only get to play for maybe if you're lucky, eight, 10 years. If you're really lucky, you can go longer than that.
It's such a short window to actually be successful. You have to truly know like what, what's your main thing when it comes to money, like is money is either important to you or it's not. You either are going to go be a huge spender, spend all your signing bonus, go to nothing. Then it's just not important to you. If it is important to you, you're going to make sure that you're watching what you spend. You're going to have the right team around you. You're going to say no to a lot of things. Saying no is actually a really good thing. The younger you are as a player to say no to a lot of things until you learn
Riccardo Stewart (11:15): I heard somebody from the NFL front office was speaking at this event that Sam and I were at. And he said that 7 % of NFL players make it over 10 years in their career. 7%. And it was just like, and he's looking at one guy goes, you're in the 70%, you're in the 7%. And he's like, I got lucky and I was in 7%. And when you put that in perspective, that can like, if you're lucky, eight to 10 years and like, we're talking really from a percentage standpoint, really, really lucky. When you step as the athlete CEO, you are at the top. But being at the top doesn't mean you have to do everything, And so, excuse me, Jeff, how important is it for you to hire a team and the right people on that.
Jeff Locke (12:00): I think it's extremely important. The most important decision you make in your life is who you marry. I think everyone here can agree. That's going to be number one most important thing. But then who you hire around you to be part of your team is going to be second, third, right up there. Because it affects you on the field and off the field. Having the right team doesn't just mean, they're managing my money. Hey, they're making sure my legal stuff is together. Hey, my agent's negotiating my contract.
It allows you to then go and focus on the things you need to focus on if you know those things are being handled correctly and not pulling you out of things when you really need to be focusing on ball. So it's a hard thing to get right, right? But it's something you really should focus on and put the effort into making sure the team is correct.
Riccardo Stewart (12:45): That's good. Well, guess what? I know what we're going to talk about the next episode. We're going to talk about the different people, the different roles on your team. And then we're going to touch a little bit on, know, people say you shouldn't go in the business with your closest friends or your family members. And what does that look like when you have family members that are on the team? And how do you give them a role in an assignment and how do you hold them accountable to it? And so we're looking forward to like the building out of the team. And we're going to talk more about that the episode after this one.
If you have any questions of what we're talking about, what does it mean to be a pro? What does it mean to be athlete CEO? Or any other financial questions, we'd love to be able to answer them. You can shoot us a text. The number is 602-989-5022.