Live with Restream, March 12

It'd be good to get an outsider perspective on what level they should be focusing on.

Excellent.

And then I think the couple things I was a little bit concerned about time-wise is like, how much time is it going to take to handle all this correspondence? Right? So we got— I don't know how much goes back and forth. It might not be as much as I'm assuming. Right? So that might be manageable.

Okay.

But then, yeah, we found it like editing these videos takes a good amount of effort. Um, he's gonna have Taka now, so Taka actually makes it a lot easier because you just download them, toss them in there, and then you can hit it.

Um, it does. Taka is great.

And then, um, I mean, that's pretty much all the things you had on your list, right? So I think We could— and it's just like your model seems like it kind of removes some of the time and energy required to do these things that you could theoretically do on your own, right? But it just makes it more efficient because there's other stuff going on too.

Yeah, very well said. I appreciate that. So to your point, Dad, of you just briefly mentioned their timeframe in terms of how much time does it take to go back and forth, obviously a rightful concern because your son has great grades. We want to focus on school. Our job is to help with that process. So it's not as much. It's also going to get a lot worse before it gets better, meaning, um, as he gets older and he's busier with school, he's going to get busier, as opposed to now, you know, you send an email consistently but there's no stress. Send an email, no big deal. When you're a sophomore and a junior, you know, you're frantic, got to get it done, got to get it done. Same with the freshmen, and then you got your SATs and everything else. So super helpful. Um, having said that, I do want to ask your son, you know, why do you think right now is the right time to start this recruiting process as an 8th grader? You know, why do you want to talk about this now?

Well, I did see your videos on when you should start and stuff, um, and I think that there's actually not that much time. There's like 4 years is not that long, or yeah, 4 or 5 years is not that long, and you have to kind of be committed by the beginning of senior year. And the deadline for the, or the beginning of calls with Division I coaches is like sophomore year in the summer, so that's like 2 years away. That's not that long.

Excellent, you're hired, you come work for me. Um, excellent, very well said. Now for your father, uh, same thing. I know you did mention like correspondence and whatnot, which we'll talk about, but why do you think right now is the right time to begin?

Um, Well, there's all— I think in addition to what he's saying, there's key— just like, we need to figure out what team he's going to play on next year. I mean, we could do this stuff, we could do on our own, but it'd be good to get another take on that stuff. And, um, he'll go to some ID— I mean, we've already scouted out maybe something, camps we think are good. For him to go to this summer. But it seems like things are going to start in earnest this summer. So getting ready for that is probably going to take a lot of energy. We've done a little bit of prep, so I think we're like part of the way there.

Well, okay.

But this would also— we'll probably get ahead of people a little bit too. So it seems like this is the right time to do it. Last year, I don't think it was right.

Yeah, well said. And it varies for every player and what your goals are. Because you want to play high academic, like to your son's point, you really don't have any of senior year. You'll have like midway through your junior year, you'll be done because you want to go to a high academic school. And they're the most competitive. So even if they're done, then you're competing with every other kid who wants to go to the exact same schools because they're so competitive. So to your point, this is a student of ours. Will received an email from a D1 coach telling Will he's attaching his cell phone, asking him to text him to set up a phone call. Will doesn't want to get in trouble because he's in 8th grade. So this concept that the D1 schools won't talk to you is not true. In addition to— I think you saw this already— I was talking to Berkeley and I said to him So to me, there is no— this concept of like not being able to talk to the coaches. Would you rather email them or would you rather talk to them in person? You'd much rather talk to them in person. Um, so this is where for me it's important that you guys have your headspace on perfectly in that idea. Does that make sense?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, plus at his club there's a lot of college, you know, there's college coaches all over the place.

I don't think this is a All of them.

It's not like you're gonna have to wait for them to email you or something like that.

Yes. So well said.

Show them over to YouTube and stuff, and then they can check you out.

You got it. So then I want to say to your son, why do you want to play college soccer? Why is this so important to you?

Um, I kind of fell in love with soccer, and I want to play at a higher level.

I like that. Now, when you say play at a higher level, right, you're gonna play at a higher level every year and during club. What is it specifically about college that's appealing to you?

Well, it seems really fun to play in college and stuff, and I feel like I like, like to do a lot of stuff. I'm playing basketball and soccer right now and stuff, so I have like a very busy schedule. I kind of like, like it that way. I don't really want to sit around and be like, excellent.

So the idea of you'll be very busy if you become a college athlete. So that's awesome. Now, for your father, one of the things I talk about often is that academics come first. I assume you agree with me, or so I was going to ask you, would you agree with your son and I that academics come first?

Yeah, yeah.

Now what argument then is we could lock him in a closet and not let him do any sport? Why do you want to help him play college soccer?

Uh, I mean, there's more to life than just academics, right? Um, also like the way things are headed, I feel like the skills you learn playing sports, team sports, in some ways they're going to be more valuable or just as valuable as kind of like classroom learning.

So very well said.

Um, plus it's like, he wants to do that. Who wouldn't? Who would not want to do that? I mean, any guy, if you could play a college sport or like maybe sniff a pro sport, to me that's worth doing.

Yes.

Um, Just because it's like, we're— there's sports people, there's academic people. We're more like on the sports world. So even just to say you played one year of pro would be like totally awesome.

Yeah, I love that headspace. And that was me. I played pro soccer. I did focus on school. I went to school and got my master's, and then I never made my high school team. And I did get to play D1, and I played pro for a long time. Now what I'd like to do is kind of give you guys a diagnosis of your situation as I see it. Is that okay with you?

Sure.

So when we look to work with students, what I do is I put their video into two— that's not true. I don't mean that. It is true. But I put the three categories here: personality, your video, what does a coach think of your video, or what will a coach think of video, and what level you can play. To your dad's point of like getting an opinion on all those things. So I got to watch all your videos, which I really enjoyed watching, and I want to say this to you, which is exciting. The first thing is you guys are great to talk to, so thank you. You watched the video, you're awesome, you're listening. I'm always concerned with 8th graders if they're really ready to apply themselves, and your son is. The next thing is I don't love the formats of our video from the length perspective, from the order. Taka's amazing, I love Taka. Taka will also give us statistics that I cannot get. Like, Taka's the best, but Taka doesn't necessarily make it for recruiting, right? It's just giving the facts. We're supposed to do PR and make him look good. So if my analogy would be if every D1, D2, D3 school watched your video from the beginning to end, I think 30 to 40% of Division 1s would be keen on learning more. It's 50 to 70% of D2s, and 70 to 90% of Division 3s would be like, I want to learn about this kid. Now we're never going to get 100% of the schools to watch your video. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

So these percentages do decrease, right? Now we're at 10 to 15%, 30 to 40%, 50 to 70%. Now this is based off your current package from what I saw today. We do plan on improving it and being consistent, etc. So people do see your awesome moments at Fest, etc. And I know you just started, you just posted this one, you get, you know, you sent these out to some degree. I really want people to see this stuff consistently, many, many times, so that way, like this video, it's too long, etc. The coaches can say to us, and this is the most important thing, um, I'm gonna skip down here actually, is You already— this is the most important thing of like anything you'll hear from me today, basically. This is accidental. Not to say your video is a nightmare, but it's not super easy peasy lemon squeezy. Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay, so I want to ask your son, have I managed to make you want to quit soccer so we don't have to do this anymore? Uh, nah. Okay, too bad for your dad. Now this is where I kind of show you guys what I think we need to do one way or another. And I think, Dad, you saw this video already, but, um, mainly the 4 points are ID camps, showcases, ID camp showcase environment, camps, video, and a touch point from somebody in your environment, maybe at FC Delco. That doesn't happen until we finish your videos. You guys saw the email system. You already mentioned camps. I would like to guide you if you'll let us. We want to do an audit, right? You have your dream schools. I'd like to tell you that one is a great school, great coach. This is how you leverage this one against this one if we need to. Your club soccer, which you already brought up. And then I want your son to say to me, Zev, what is your number one job? Will you ask me? Uh, I would like your son to.

Trent, what is your number one job?

Have you ever had a coach or a teacher you didn't like very much?

Yeah.

Would you like them to be your coach or teacher for 4 years in a row?

No.

So my number 1 job, even though I know you want to go to a high academic school and I want to help you do that, if you don't love your coach, you will be miserable. I had a great experience. My coach changed my life forever. And my brother had a horrible experience playing high academic soccer and he got a lot of money and it was not worth the money. That makes sense.

Yeah.

So my job is to make sure you're happy. Now, you guys already brought up NCSA, so you guys obviously know about NCSA. Here's the one thing, if you don't already know, that you must know, even if you don't work with us. Is especially true with high academic schools. Does that make sense? So no matter what, you can have NCSA account, does not hurt you, but we will not use it and we will not depend on it. But it's great. It's like email marketing. Get the emails, doesn't hurt you. Awesome. I bought NCSA, but that's that. Does that make sense?

Yeah, yeah. And we— my wife had set up a meeting with them too, and it was kind of like, oh man, it was bad.

Yeah, yeah, they, they are— look, they are humongous. I think they're bad too. I looked them up. They make $100 million in every sport. Like, they are— I am nothing compared to them. But I only do soccer, so that's my deal. I'm a small, tiny, tiny village in comparison, and I don't trust them. And you guys get the idea. So the last thing, their, uh, their system is actually pretty good. I feel like, yeah, I copied their system. I copied it to a T. The only difference was that it's not from an NCSA account. Otherwise I copied it directly because I agree, it's organized, you can look up schools, but coaches hate NCSA. So that's the problem. So with that in mind, I get this question a lot. Can I directly connect you to college coaches? And the short answer is no, I cannot directly connect you. So my workaround is the coaches will text us, I think this player wants to come out tomorrow, the UCLA coach is gonna come watch, can I put 'em in touch with you? They compliment the videos. Did you make the every touch video for this kid? Did you do the interview? It makes my life so much easier. Remember, that's the key. Make their life easy and you get recruited. Simple as that. If you're good, which you are good. And then the coach will say, when do you plan to send me your ballers? And then they'll tell me what positions they need. And social media now plays a role. All exciting stuff. Northwestern just messaged me the other day, actually. I gotta put that one here, which is super exciting. So all that is to say, while I cannot connect you, I do help you create your list based off the information I receive from coaches. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay, excellent. The last thing is, which you guys both saw, when you work with us, you'll get a Cold Star Guide coach plus myself, but you won't have meetings with me. They'll be with my team. I— you can still directly message me, but I'll be responding through your coach. You get unlimited video edits. We will go take you through the Google Drive and get your every touch videos. You saw that. We'll do game review, and you'll get the email system. And then finally, if in the next 3 months, despite your age, I expect genuine interest from all levels, D1, D2, D3, whether it be at the camp, whether it be in an email. I expect that within 3 months or I will refund you. And then the last piece is your grades are so good that you are on track to get a scholarship between $60,000 and $300,000. The money is in academics. Division III, $300,000. Division III, $100,000. The money is because of your grades. Now, you may not get into the school without soccer. So that's where this is a perfect— Luke just got an offer and committed to Williams. The offers of roster spot with admission support. That's the dream. Then you get in because of soccer, you get to play soccer, you get the money, and the coach loves you and you love the coach. Does that make sense? Okay, um, the last thing I just want to say to your son is we all like money, right? I want you to get a bunch of money. I like— I got a bunch of money, my brother got a bunch of money. But money is a message. If they don't get you into the school and they say to your face, I love you, then they're kind of lying to you. Or they're fibbing to you. So money's a message. We want to know what the truth is, and money's the only way to know, or to be admitted. Same difference. Having said that, I want to ask your son this question. Why do you think you're the right fit to work with us? We don't work with that many kids. What makes you different? What makes you special?

Well, I've worked really hard. Um, I practice. I have practiced like every day for like anything I had to lift earlier, and I'm going to practice later. Yeah.

Now, I, I know, and I know Dad's giggling because there's a lot more to you than that, but also I'm going to push back on you a little bit. You are going to be told by somebody, maybe even your club, you don't need to start yet, just relax. Um, and some coach will say it's too early but keep me updated. Another coach will say you're too late, I already have 3 people ahead of you, and, uh, too bad. Another D1 school will say, you know what, I think you're really good, you have a lot of potential. And some D3 program will say, I think you suck and you'll never play soccer. That's the deal. How do I know you're not going to quit when things get difficult? Do you have an example that you could share with me that would prove to me even when things are tough, you won't quit?

I don't think I really— I mean, my parents have taught me to never quit. I don't really remember a scenario where I—

Let me ask you this. Have you ever been benched before?

Yeah.

Did you quit then?

No.

Have you been in pain before?

Yeah.

Did you quit then?

No.

And these are— it's okay, you don't have a perfect answer. But the reason I do bring this up is the other thing for high academics is they're going to interview you. And we need a story. We need a pitch, an elevator pitch. And for today, you're allowed to say, I don't know. But as we grow together, we are going to create a sentence, a few sentences that you would talk to the coaches about when they ask you the same question. That makes sense.

Yeah.

And you're— it's— you're not really that shy. Like, you're great with me, but it will be important that when we talk to a coach, we have an answer for everything they ask us, which is a good life lesson also.

Um, oh yeah, oh yeah, we've all been there before, right? Yes, we have.

Making it up many times. So then I'd say to your father, you've known your son longer than I have. Why do you think he might be the right fit to work to work with us, to work with you?

I mean, I think, um, at his level, so like this, the MLS 2 level, I feel like he could benefit from you guys maybe a little bit more than like a top MLS person who's just gonna kind of fall into— they won't fall into it, but it's going to be— there's more exposure there. Um, but I do think he has like certain characteristics of his athleticism in his play, he could get to like a certain level, but it's going to have to take outreach, marketing, things like that, which I think was— is probably a good fit more with you because you'll get to know him and yeah, help him figure out how to, how to get the best situation he could.

Excellent. Um, I appreciate that big time. With that in mind, I kind of know your dad is already, you guys have seen this, that I wanna show you kind of what we do with our students at this stage. Is that okay?

Sure.

I'm gonna pull this up right now. Is when we do this, so I'm gonna just share my screen. I know dad, you've seen pieces of this already, but the first thing is when we work with students, we have kind of 4 different models. The first model is if you say, look, Zev, we just want to talk to you. We really don't want to talk to anyone else ever. Then there's a model for that. I don't recommend this, particularly at his age, but it does exist. Okay. The next model is what we call the white glove, which is where we do it for you. We log into your email account, we press send. We still have to meet each week to give you updates, but we do it for you. Going back to your question of like, how much do we go back and forth? We're just going to do it. So don't have to worry about the time. This model is we do teach you how to do it. To give you an idea, just that so you do know timeframe, it is probably— we expect 30 minutes a week dedicated to call and that is pretty much all you will need from that perspective. A couple other weeks could be more, a couple other weeks could be less, but on average it's about 30 minutes a week that we expect. And then finally, if you want to do it on your own, we can give you our tools. There are no meetings and no guarantee, but you could do it on your own. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay, um, now I know you've thought about this already, so I'm going to ask Dad. Of the 3 models, was there one model in particular you felt was best for your son?

Uh, I mean, obviously it's either this one or like the lower one. I'm not sure if we could get away with that for now.

Um, and that's what we recommend for this age, just so your son knows. One, the problem we face with this model is if we date the coach, right, we're flirting, and you go on the date, sometimes that doesn't go very well. So it's better than— yeah, the other thing is we are an annual service, so we're with you from now, February 10th, until February 10th of next year. You will not be done with the recruiting process in a year from now. So we want to teach you, and in the next year you will experience everything. You'll talk to coaches, you'll do phone calls, you'll do visits. So at the end of the year, if you still need our help, which for 8th graders happens about 5% of the time, that you'll have some question of some— it's an à la carte, something between $10 and $100, just depending on what you need at that time. Does that make sense? Mm-hmm. Excellent. Now I have one more question for your son. I want your son to say, Zev, why should I work with you?

Zev, why should I work with you?

Well, you guys called me. Just kidding. Um, the other reason I obviously find exciting is you are a good soccer player. I've seen your video. Technically, athletically, you're definitely a high academic D3 in 8th grade. I am very impressed with what I'm seeing. Division 1 can be in the cards potentially. That will very much depend on how much interest you get from D3 schools in the next year-ish. And if you get a lot of interest from those high academics, the D1 schools will talk to you on June 15th. And we are aiming for the high academic ones. So selfishly, I look at you going, look, if you do what is the protocol, you will write me a testimonial in a couple years' time from now, which of course is something selfishly I would love. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay, excellent. Now obviously this is something you guys need to discuss, but let's pretend Dad you had to decide right now if you want to work with us, what questions can I answer for you?

Uh, what do you guys do? Like, do you watch his stuff and tell him what he needs to work on? I mean, obviously you're not going to watch all of his games, right? I mean, I think I know, but it'd be good to get— because you have the live experience, or whoever we're working with, right?

Yeah, great question. I'm so, I'm so glad you brought it up. I'm gonna just share my screen. The answer is it's my favorite thing to do. If you'll meet with us every week, we'll go do game review every week. This is a huge part of what we do. Selfish, because my job is to get you recruited, the first 2 to 3 months are very recruiting heavy. After the 2 to 3 months, I would love your son to go, like, I've watched your video and I already have a couple tips I'm gonna tell my team about of how you play out of the back that I'd like you to do differently. So I am going to give them feedback that my coaches will also give you. We all played college, we all played pro. I want your son to get better at soccer. And that is the beauty of 8th grade. We can make you better. Once you're in 10th grade, I can't really make you that much better. Uh, so that is something we will definitely do.

Okay, that's good. Um, can you just talk to him about what grades he needs to hold up? Does he need like straight A's, or like, what do you— what does he need to do?

Do you guys have a dream school?

Uh, I mean, he's got dream schools, but they're like—

that's okay.

I have like either top D1s, or like, he talks— he was interested last year. He got interested in Egypt this year.

So let's pick Tufts. Tufts is a good example. So you definitely need above a 3.7 for Tufts to talk to us. So that's kind of— that's true. Your test scores can vary, you know. You guys know what above average is. If you don't have a great test score, it's not the end of the world. But in terms of your grades, it's better to have like, uh, A's and take less APs than have like B's and take APs. But if you can manage APs, the answer to your question is twofold. One, there's the minimums, you could Google them, but you're not, those don't matter to you 'cause you're competing with other kids. So that's what matters. So you have to be on par with those, which are typically 3.8 and above for Tufts. So that grades-wise, it is very important. Hence partially why when I work with 8th graders, right now your grades technically don't matter just for college purposes. They matter for you, but not for college. Over the next year, if I say, hey, I need you to spend an extra hour learning my protocol. When you're a freshman, my protocol will be automated. You'll go, Zev, here's a video. Zev, I got this email. I know how to follow up. So you can focus on school because once you hit freshman year, it does matter.

Yeah. Yep. Makes sense. And then, um, do you have a take on— because he's in the younger age group, so But top MLS, that's not going to matter. But if he was in a position where he had to play MLS 2 or ECNL, top ECNL, I mean, it seems unclear to me.

Yeah, that's a tough one.

Like, they would always lean ECNL, but the ECNL programs are a farther drive. Is that going to hurt his grades? You know, there's a lot of considerations, but I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.

Good example. Let me say to your son, let's say you stayed exactly where you were and you got recruited. Would you be happy?

Yeah.

If you left to an ECNL team that was maybe better and you did not play college soccer, would you be happy?

Not really.

So that's a very fair question. The answer is we need to know the college coaches know your son. If they know your son and he's playing at FC Delgado MLS next to you, you're fine. If they don't know him and you guys don't do proactive recruiting, then it does matter even more so, you know, it gets expedited. So the short answer to your question is two things. One, It's a question we have to ask us every, every 3 weeks. You're going to ask us, so that's good. We're going to help guide you. But the best thing you can always do is let the coaches get to know you. They will in the future say, are you going to be at this ECNL Showcase? And if you get that email 3 times, you'll have your answer. You'll be like, we gotta go. Yeah, you want to hear from the coaches. And again, you may not have to leave because the coaches know who you are. And also with your club, I would say like, you guys are in a good place and your son is good. If I thought there was nothing there, that'd be different. But it does depend. Also, MLS 2 now, in my opinion, is the place to be with FEST. It changes everything. So that's that.

But yeah, it was awesome. It was like— so that was like the greatest tournament ever for Venture.

I know. I wish I could be in that tournament. I never got to do that. It looked incredible. Um, so that's going to change everything, including your highlights like that you do have from that. That changes everything, you know. That's— that changes a lot. So Uh, also going back to your dad's point, playing time, who is your coach that you like, if you're happy. So it's a harder question than black and white, but we're going to help guide you if you'll, you know, if you want our help. All right, excellent.

Sounds good. Excellent. Okay, I think— do you have any questions, Trent?

I have one more question for Trent. Trent, based on what you heard today, would you like to work with us?

Yeah, over, over NCSA. Yeah, definitely.

Okay, we like hearing that. Dad, would you like your son to work with us?

Oh yeah, but we just got to talk about whether, you know, because it's like a certain investment.

I don't think it's unfair or anything, but absolutely, I want you guys to talk about it. I just wanted to answer all your questions. So here's the next stage. I'm going to email you guys everything we spoke about just so you have a copy of it. And then we have two options from here. Obviously, I want you guys to take your time to think about it. This is my schedule today, and we do have a number of other calls with other students, as you can see. And we don't work with this many kids. We work with about— there's 50 calls this week. We work with 50 kids in total. So having said that, if you guys sign up by tonight, the spot is yours. If you want to sleep on it and you're not sure, which we are more, more than happy to accompany, then I would book a follow-up call with you, Dad, tomorrow. It'd be 5 to 10 minutes. I'd answer your questions, and then from there I would ask for an answer.

Okay, can we get a couple more days?

Good question. The short answer is probably not. And it's not because I want you to make a decision. But if these 3 people say yes, I am full.

Sure.

So I can do tomorrow, maybe latest Thursday, but I would ask to see what time you could do tomorrow.

Ah, shoot, tomorrow, I just got a bunch of meetings.

I think that's true. And I'm happy to stay late as well as it's 5 to 10 minutes. I mean, you're there to go, Zev, I've— we thought about this, this, this, Yes or no? Um, it's not meant to be long, like longer like today.

Uh, what are we doing?

And tomorrow I can do your time. I can also call you on your cell phone. I can do 4 PM, um, I could do 5:30, I could do 7 PM. Um, yeah, and your son does not need to be there. I just need that.

Yeah, okay, you can just call me. What did you say?

Um, I could do 4 PM Um, I can do— I can confirm you guys are telco. Yeah, so I could do your time. Can I confirm you guys? Yeah, East Coast. So I could do— sorry, I misquoted myself— I could do 7 PM your time, um, and I could do 8:30 PM your time, and then later than that I can also do, but that's late for you.

Uh, let's see.

Um, and I think, I think my time for is 7 PM your time. So I— 7, or I could do 7— I can do, uh, 8:30, or the other one is 10, but that's kind of late.

8:30 my time? Yeah.

Yeah.

Hmm, can we do— can you just do Thursday morning? Tomorrow's just gonna be tough.

Yeah. Um, okay, Thursday morning. Um, I can do 11:00 for— let's see, no, yeah, I could do 11:00. No, that's your time. Yeah, 11:30.

Sorry, that's fine. Anytime then.

11:00, 10:00, 9:00, 8:00. Okay, wait, I can do 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 1:00.

Um, shoot, morning time, because that's like 5:00 AM for Um, 3:00 or 1:00, whenever Thursday. I've only got one— I'm tied up 1:00 to 2:00 Thursday, but other than that—

okay, let's see if we could do, um 10. Uh, let's see here. Okay, what about— I'm doing that wrong. Um, what about 10? You said you're booked. 9 AM your time. Yeah, what about 9 AM your time? Which is— sorry, sorry, 12. That's 12. Is that too late?

No, that's fine. Yeah, that's totally cool on Thursday, right?

Thursday. Yeah, perfect.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, that's totally fine.

Excellent. Okay, sent that follow-up so that way I have it. Um, is there anything in the email you'd like me to send over about any concerns that you— obviously I want you to talk about amongst yourselves, but I can always send some emails over going, hey Zev, here's why we're not ready to move forward, and I can send you any information you want.

I mean, it's really just the investment.

Okay, cool. So one other thing, very helpful. The other thing about the investment, just I think I should have clarified, we break it up into 3 payments. First month, second month, third month. If after the first month you say, Zev, this was great, but we want to pause, then you can pause. I'll still save your spot. You'll keep all of our tools forever. We would have edited a lot of your videos, told you camps, etc., and you could go on your own and you don't have to continue if you don't want to. Where like with NCCA, you're stuck. You could also downgrade. So let's say you started with this model and you go, Zev, we still want to be able to message you, but we don't need weekly meetings, then we could downgrade. But game— there's no game review in this model. Um, so just to be clear, it's 3 payments is what I'm getting at. And we could talk about it on Thursday too.

Got it.

Okay.

Awesome. 3 payments, a $2K.

Exactly.

Exactly.

And you can stop anytime along the way. And then once you do all 3, we're with you for the year.

Got it.

Cool.

All right.

Thanks.

Sounds good.

We'll talk to you on Thursday.

All right.

Hey, great to meet you. I mean, this is really helpful.

Yeah. So glad to hear that. Talk soon.

Okay. Thanks.

Thank you.

Bye.

Hi, everybody. I know we're live right now. Um, I have another call. Oh darn, there's no Zoom meeting. Dang it. Okay, let's see if I can fix that. One second, everyone. Okay, now I have to call them, so give me one second. Hello? Hi there, is this Jack Schuler's mom, maybe?

Yes, this is Brittany.

Hi Brittany, this is the College Soccer Guy. Can you guys hear me okay?

Yeah, we can hear you great. Sorry, we're in the car on the way to practice.

No worries, that's a perfect time. All good. If you guys still are up for it, I'm happy to do the little spiel and we can obviously talk and then book a follow-up if you have more questions. Is that okay?

Yeah, that sounds great.

Okay, perfect. Jack, are you there with your mom?

Yeah, I'm right here.

Hey Jack, thanks for taking the time. I really appreciate it. I got to look at your videos and whatnot. Before we get started, could I ask who found me first?

It was my mom.

Amazing. Let me ask your son, what did your mom tell you about me?

She said you're like a college recruiter.

That is true. I help kids play college soccer. Have you seen any of my videos before? Uh, I'm like 90%. I bet you have, which is very cool. Mom, there was a slightly longer video that talks about how we work with kids and the price structure and all that. Did you see that already?

I am not.

Okay, no worries. I'll talk to you guys about that today. Um, having said that, in the email it talks about our price and whatnot. Did you see that?

I'm not seeing that either.

Okay, no worries. I will make sure that that is getting sent over. Um, with that in mind, uh, my first question is for your son. Um, we have 3 goals today. You're gonna interview me, I'm gonna interview you, and then I'm gonna see if I can make your son quit soccer. So we don't have to do anything anymore. Sound good? Okay, excellent. So with that in mind, I want to start with your son. And I want to ask your son right now, how many phone calls have you had with Division II or Division III schools?

I've had zero phone calls, but I have sent out a lot of emails.

Okay, awesome. Having said that, Right now in the process, uh, what is it that you think you need the most help with from a recruiting perspective?

Like, do you mean by things like—

good question. My question is about recruiting. How come you think you haven't had any phone calls or emails that are about coming on a visit yet? What do you think you need help with? Um, More connection to the coaches. Very helpful. Mom, what do you think your son needs the most help with?

Um, yeah, I think just emailing as many coaches as he can and just getting on their radar. Um, you know, he's got a pretty good start. He's at about 30 schools he's emailed so far, so just continuing to build his— he does a lot on YouTube.

I got to see his YouTube videos. The views are a little underwhelming for me, to be honest. But we can talk about that in a minute. I want to ask your son, why do you think right now— actually, I'm gonna start with mom. Mom, obviously, you booked the call. Why do you think right now is the right time to start this process?

I just think the earlier you can get on radars and start building the relationships, it's probably more helpful because it's such a competitive and intense process now. So I think if he can get in early and they can see his development, he's a kid who works every day and puts in an incredible amount of time on his own. And if you've seen his profile, he's moved up a team every single year. So he is not in this for like, I gotta play at this level. Like, he truly enjoys the game and just like loves the journey and continuing to like see his hard work pay off, which I think is pretty— like, I'm fairly proud of him from like being 14 and a half years old and learning that the hard work you put in will pay off eventually. Not tomorrow, but it will pay off eventually. I just think it's important that, you know, he's working on that side of it, like the recruiting process side of it, as well as what he's doing for his game and excellent development.

Yeah. Uh, do you know Jack? Do you know Vitinha? Yeah, you're very similar to him. It's fun watching your videos. Um, having said that, Mom, that's like another short center mid like me. I'm one of you. So having said that, I want to say to your son, you know, why do you want to play call soccer? Why are you so passionate about this? Where does your passion come from?

Honestly, I just like playing the game. Like, whenever I like play, I just like have fun and it like relieves stress too. And I like having like teammates and stuff. It's just fun.

Excellent. I love hearing that. Having said that, Right now, this is for mom. One of the things I talked about is I got to play pro soccer and I played college. And then I went back to school to get my master's degree. So I want to ask mom, would you agree with me that even as we look for the right school, academics come first?

Absolutely.

Now, excellent.

Given that— that's what we love to hear. Given that, why do you want to help him play college soccer? We could lock him in a closet and just focus on school. Why do you want to help him play college soccer?

Um, I think he's just— he's got this, uh, internal drive that I think— I think he can play at that level if he wants it. It's got to come down to what he wants. And, um, his free time, that's what he spends his time doing. So when you see the passion there and a drive there It's like, well, you can, you can do it if you want to. Um, you just gotta, you gotta stay focused and keep going, and you gotta make sure you love it, like, and you love the game.

Um, recording in progress.

And always have plan B, C, D, E, F, G.

Yes, well said. I love hearing that. Uh, and that is super great for your son to have a mom as supportive as she is. My mom was the same. I played college soccer and then I got to play pro soccer, but I never made my high school team actually. And then I went on to get a full ride to play Division I soccer and then I played pro for 10 years. So I love hearing that academics is equally important to you guys. Now what I'd like to do is kind of give you guys a diagnosis on your situation. Is that okay?

Yeah.

So when I look to work with kids, we do 3 things. We put them in a personality category and we look at their video. So Your first thing is personality. You guys seem lovely, you're fun to talk to, as well as the fact that you are clearly passionate about soccer. The next thing is your video. So when we look at video, we put it in two categories: what will a coach think of your videos, and what level are you? So I do want to say, from a coach think of your videos, they are not formatted correctly, they are too far zoomed out, the order is not correct, and it is a big concern to me. It's great that I actually— some of them have more views than others, But one of the things that I'm going to send you in a follow-up email is a video about how important it is to make the coaches' jobs easier. And if you don't make their jobs easy, it's very difficult to get recruited. And at the minute, you are not making their life easy with your videos. So that's step 1. Step 2 is if you said, what level could you play if every single coach watched your video in the entire country, Division 1 through Division 3? I think about 30 to 40% of Division 1 schools would be very interested in learning more about you. You've got your grades up, you've got good feet, you've got Bettina Soccer IQ. You're not the biggest, which means there are certain schools that may not like you, just like me, but you definitely have good technical ability. However, we're never going to get 100% of schools to watch every single minute of your videos. So we're really looking more like, and with the current package, 10 to 12% of Division I's, maybe probably 30 to 40% of DII's, and 50 to 60% of DIII's. Does that make sense?

Yep.

Okay, so for your son, I want to be clear, you can play college soccer, but I don't think your package right now is optimal to get recruited to the level you want to be recruited because your grades are also really good. 4.134 is amazing. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Okay, so with that in mind, I need to ask your son, have I managed to scare you away and make you want to quit soccer so your mom can stop driving you?

Wait, can you say that again?

I can. Can you— do you want to quit soccer now that I've been honest with you, and that way your mom doesn't have to drive you anymore?

No.

Okay, too bad for your mom. Now, having said that, the next piece to this is when we work with students, I want to kind of explain what I think you guys need to fix in order to get recruited. Is that okay?

Sorry, you're like cutting like— you cut in, you cut out.

Cut in, cut out. I'm going to just say it again. I was saying, I want to explain to you guys what I think you need to fix if you want to play called soccer. Is that okay?

Yeah.

Okay. So the first thing is your videos. We do need to fix your videos. You're missing a self-interview, certain every-touch videos you have, you don't have, the titles of your videos are problematic. So the little things like that are a problem. The second thing is camps. You have to go to camps and our job is to help you decide some of that. I need to do an audit. If you are sending emails like you said you are with your top 30, I need to know what you're saying, how you're following up, how you plan to go to their camps. Because if you don't do that part correctly, it can be very difficult to down the line wonder why the heck they're not responding to you or what you need to say next. So that's that stage. The next piece is an audit because I want to see what you're sending. And then 3 is I want your son to say to me, Zev, what is your number 1 job?

Zev, what is your number 1 job?

Jack, have you ever had a coach or teacher you didn't like very much?

Yeah.

Would you like them to be your coach or teacher for 4 years in a row?

No.

Um, having said that, uh, my question to you would be— or my point is, my job is to make sure that you love your coach. If you have a great coach, you'll have a great experience. If you don't have a great coach, no matter how great your grades are, you will not have a good experience. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Awesome. So my job, Mom, is even though we want a great academic school with a lot of money, my job is to make sure your son is happy. Does that make sense?

Yep.

Okay. Now I want to say to your son, we often get asked what makes us different than other companies, and there's kind of two things. Number one, it's mandatory that you meet with my team and I almost every week, or we will fire you ourselves and you won't get to work with us. Number two is unlimited videos. We will edit all your videos for you at this point moving forward. Number 3 is you will get an individual college soccer eye coach who you will be speaking with weekly. You will also get me, but you won't be able to have Zoom meetings with me because I'll be working on which camps to go to. And the last piece is, while I cannot directly connect you to college coaches, my workaround is that the coaches will message us and ask us which positions they need. And they'll say to me, who do you have that's really good? Who do you have is like Vettinia? And then I will tell you to send that to them. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, excellent. Now, with this in mind, I know we're on, you know, on the car and you're about to go to practice. So Mom, I'm going to email you over almost everything except I don't have your email. I just have your son's. Jack. I have jackshu@ten. Mom, what's your email?

Mine is Brittany, B-R-I-T-T-A-N-N-Y. Schuller, S-C-H-U-E-L-L-E-R, at Gmail.

Thank you. Okay, now I have that, so I'll be able to send this to both of you. The— Jack, the next piece to this is we don't work with that many students, and there's a couple reasons for this, mainly being that we have a lot of applications and we can't help everybody. And the other thing is I can't make videos for hundreds of thousands of people. So for that reason, Jack, why do you think you're the right fit to work with us?

Um, because I'm dedicated.

Now, to your point of dedication, which I believe you, you can imagine I get that answer pretty often. So what I want to push back at you, and I want you to ask you, you're gonna be told you're too late. That will occur. You're gonna be told you're too early. That will also occur. A D1 school will say, I think you're great, and a D3 school will say you suck. That's part of the deal. How do I know you're not going to quit? How do I know you're dedicated? Do you have a story you could share with me that would prove to me you are as dedicated as you say you are?

Um, so I started soccer probably about only 5 years ago, which most people I know started it when they were like 4 years old. And like, I like really have like worked like all this time. And put a lot of time in. And like, I'm at like the ECNL level, which is considered like one of like the highest levels.

Excellent job. That's really remarkable to have improved that quickly. Is amazing. And your mom said a really great point, you know, your pack— your package or your information— you've improved every single year. Do you think college coaches know about that? No, they don't. Do you think they'd like to know about that?

Yeah.

So this is why it's so important, to your mom's point, of starting as soon as possible so that way they can learn about you and they can actually fall in love with you. So with that in mind, I want to say to your mom, you've known your son longer than I have. Why do you think he's maybe the right fit to work with us?

Um, I mean, I agree. I think that the amount that he can commit and dedicate to whatever process he is focused in on, you're gonna show up for him, he's gonna show right back up for you.

So I love hearing that. That's what I liked. And those are the types of kids I want to work with. So the last piece here is our price structure, which I emailed over to you, Mom. So you'll get to see a copy of this because I know it's hard to take in at the same time. But just so you can put it in your, in your head, is the first step is what we call white glove. This is where we do everything for you. We send all the emails, we log into your email account, and we follow up as we feel is needed. Um, so that's step 1. Um, step 2 is we— or package 2 is we do it together. This is where we work with your son on a daily basis and a weekly basis on what to say, what to send, and we still fix your videos. And the third tier is we give you all of our tools and we do it for you. The first package is $9,999. The second package is $5,997, and the third package is $3,997. So I'll send out an email so you have a copy of all that. The next stage here is for you guys obviously to review the email and talk it amongst yourselves. My only dilemma is this, because I only work with so many students and we have today alone 10 calls and we only work with about 30 to 40 students I would do a follow-up call with you, Mom, and answer all your questions and see you on a Zoom call just so that way I could share my screen and let you guys make the best decision for your son. Would you be open to booking a follow-up call in the next day or so?

Yeah, why don't I review everything from like what you sent over in the email? And then we can go from there. Jack's got to actually— he's got to hop out.

Yeah, bye, Jack. It was really nice to meet you. No worries, Jack. It was so nice to meet you. Go have fun. Mom, just before I let you go, if I don't get you on my schedule today, then I have to give your spot away because we have too many applications. I'm happy to put you on my calendar and then you can cancel or you can reschedule. There'll be a link for that. But if you don't, if you think I heard what Zev said and I'm hesitant, then I'll take that as you're not interested and I'll have to move on just because of the number of applicants. So I'm happy to do a follow-up call. It's my pleasure. But I would have to get you on my schedule today for tomorrow.

Okay.

If— can I confirm your time zone?

I'm just—

what's that?

Um, go ahead. Sorry.

Oh, I was just saying, I think that like right now I think we're kind of in like a good place where we're at. I know when we were kind of messaging back and forth that, um, we weren't really ready to commit to anything yet. So is there— can maybe we just—

I think we're—

I know it is very important and crucial and all, all his stuff, um, that he, he gets going right now with everything. Um, but we also do have a lot of people like through the club and everything helping us out.

So if he's not on phone calls with Division 3 schools in the next like 2 or 3 months, Division III soccer, the high academic soccer becomes really difficult. I'm so glad that you have people in your environment. If they're willing to, like, I guess my hesitation for you, even if you don't work with us, if they're not telling you your videos are not okay, because they're not, and also that your emails that you're writing, how you're writing every single email and responding, whether you work with me or not, you don't have to work with me, but every club has what they say tools. And if your club is the exception to the rule and they're super helpful and they're willing to look through every email and talk to you about every club team, or rather college team, and they're going to actually be genuine, meaning they're— they don't want to tell you to go away, of course, because they— you're paying them, then that's great. Then you guys are the exception to the rule. Part of what I'm very proud of is I have no agenda. I only care about your kid. I don't care about the club. I just want them to do well. So if you guys aren't ready, I appreciate your honesty. I am not going anywhere. You can, of course, reach out again in the future. I will admit that over the near future, I will be full and my prices may change. But to your point, we don't want anyone to work with us unless they're super excited to do so and, and see the value, and of course, you know, see the investment as an investment. So if you're not ready yet, then I'm going to mark you down as no, which is totally fine. Unless you'd like me to book you out a week, then I can still do that. Um, I don't know if I'll be available, but I can still put you on my calendar. Just if I let you go now, then I'll, I'll move on.

Yeah, I just, we just joined a new club and it's a smaller club and they, they do have like, they're known for their college recruiting pathway. So I'm just like curious to try them out and really see what they're going to offer for Jack. We're just starting right now.

So yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Your services and what you're doing and honestly what you're putting out there is, is so amazing and helpful. And I, I, I, I think you're very, very good at what you're doing. I am a college athlete. I played D1 soccer. Soccer as well.

Cool.

But the game is so different, so different, um, going through the process now than it was when I went through it all. Obviously we know, um, but I just think you're doing such amazing things and I wouldn't want to take your time and your spot away from someone else right now if we're not ready to. I really kind of want to see where this club kind of situation, their, their programming is at, um, but I would love to just, you know, I'll for sure keep you in mind, and I've been telling all my friends about you as well. So I'm trying to push what I can towards you, but I know you're busy and you're full, so I wouldn't want to take that spot from anyone else right now if we're not fully ready to commit.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

I really appreciate talking with you. This has been super insightful, and even for Jack, you know, just to hear what you offering and what you were saying, I think was super, super helpful.

No problem. My pleasure. No worries. Thanks so much for taking the time. And I look forward to hearing where you guys end up. Make sure he fixes those videos. Those videos have to be fixed. Okay.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Bye.

All right.

All right. All right. We have another follow-up call here. Let's do this one really quick. Hi everyone, I know you guys have a lot of questions. If you want to talk to me, uh, you can schedule a call with the link in the bio or send me a DM on Instagram and we'll send you a link. Uh, probably easier just send me a DM on Instagram and I'll be able to talk to you. Um, and that will be able to help you guys out with whatever it is you need. Josh Endler Flanagan. Okay, Joe. And yeah, I'm here to help you guys as much as I can so that way you can play college soccer. We have another call coming up right now. Recording in progress. I'm a couple minutes early, so yes, there's that. And okay, so I'm a couple minutes early, so with that I can answer a couple questions here. Um, I'm in 6th grade, is IU camp okay over summer? Yes, that's a great one. Only 36 minutes if she wants to play club soccer, pro soccer, that's an answer for your question. I'm not sure, uh, about 2 to 3 team practice a week, 5 to 6. Okay, looks like you guys are talking to each other. My daughter's freshman in high school, plays club, and is about to begin playing our high school team. How often should you be training outside practice? Every day. Um, but if she's got high school, then she could train. She could wait until after high school season. Hey, I'm a freshman right now, 4.5 GPA, moving to MLS 2 season. Can I reach D1? I would say maybe, James. I would need to see your video. Send me your video, Mr. James. Um, okay, good luck, my guy. Hopefully— I'm a little size player for Colorado and I try to commit, but it's hard school and I'm thinking I'm just giving up because it's getting stressful. Look at that, Gunnar Pintz, what a great I'm gonna take a photo of that. I'm an F6 player for Colorado and I'm trying to commit, but it's hard with school and I'm thinking about just giving up because it's getting too stressful. Gunnar, I'm sorry, nobody said it was easy. Unfortunately, it is a tough, tough gig. Tough, tough gig. Okay. All right. Uh, all right, we have one more call later and that's it. So my next call is not until 4:30. So if you guys have any videos that are on your Instagram, I would be happy to review them, um, if you want. Oh, did that work? Okay, let's see if I can do that. Uh-huh. That didn't work. Okay, let's see here. Media. Here we go, add a source. Let's go to screen share, entire screen share. Okay, so now I'm sharing my screen. If you are on Instagram or TikTok or YouTube, I think you can see this. Um, and I'm gonna go to my Instagram DM messages and see if anybody has sent me— can I change this? Let's do this one. I'm gonna see if anyone has sent me— this is really cool, I like this page. Um, this is a very cool page. Uh, if anyone has sent me um, any highlight videos. So let's take a look. Okay, here we go. We got some here. Let's take a look at some videos. Okay, so take a look at this video. Here we go. All right, 4 minutes 447. Let's take a look at him. Okay, 2 photos. That's way too confusing. That looks ugly. Mexican, Mexican phone number. So you're an international player and you're 22. 22, I cannot help you. So I'm sorry, if you want to play college, let us know, but you're otherwise, you're older for that. Okay, hi, that video message. Okay. Oh yeah, this is the coach of San Diego messaging me, which is cool. Okay. All right, here we go. Any other videos? Let's see, general. I have a video. Here we go. All right, PDA MLS Next, Jack Wheaton. This looks good. I would like a self-interview, but otherwise it's clear. What position are you? Center attack man, left wing. Okay, let's watch your video. Let's watch your video. Okay, we don't know who you are. No circle, no circle, no circle, no circle. Stopping watching. That's how quickly the coaches will do it, man. What's up, Jack? You gotta fix your video. This is no good, no good, no good, no good. What's wrong with you? Um, video needs big changes. Um, book a call when you can. That is not good. Okay, I haven't played call and I haven't played in college. Okay, um, Went to college, junior college, one year in junior college. Junior college is a type of college. Are you trying to transfer? Okay, I think I'm on time. Okay, um, send your video. Okay, let's see here. Sent the video. Here we go. Daniel sent the video. Here we go. Daniel, fullback, 4.1, 5'11". Nice. So this needs to be on YouTube. Dribbling out of the back of center back, good feet, nice pass through lines. I like that. What's your GPA? I don't know your club level, so that's a problem. But this has potential. Um, I hope you book a call. Did you book? Did you book? Uh, first clip. It was good. Okay, let's see here. All right, done. Yeah, okay. Hockey dokos. I'm a freshman, I play MLS. Next. Okay, don't give up, Gunnar, don't give up. Okay, I don't see anyone else submitting their videos. Let's see if anybody submitted. Here we go, here's a video. Let's take a look at William Patrick. Okay, good. First clip is soccer. I like that. Good feet, good defending, good pass. I like that. Look at that. That's because you guys followed the soccer order. And then self-interview. Big fan, big fan, big fan. Very good. I wouldn't say this is a really good clip though. Like it's an okay clip. I wouldn't say it's like a best clip, but like yourself interview, good circle clear, nice, good feet. Um, I'm underwhelmed by your highlights though. There we go. You're a center back though, so I understand. That's better. See, I want that in a stadium. That's a lot better of a highlight. Longer balls are key for coaches. That is not a highlight. Let's wait, wait, maybe there's more. Nice, that was good composure. I like that composure. Um, let's see here. Nice, good job, Garen Thornberry. I love your self-interview. Um, do you put your coach's references at the end? No. Um, your video is good. You can definitely play college soccer. Um, you have more videos. Yeah, this is good. 15 views, 103. So I don't think you're sending your video out often enough. What level are you again? 2027, junior. Let me know what's happening with you because definitely D3 is possible, high academic D3 for sure. So let me know what your deal is. Um, would love to learn. Great work. How many phone calls? Okay, here we go. Here's a video. This is my highlight from my term at Ashley. You think I can do better? This is not appropriate to send out to college. Coaches. Please book a call. Needs to be fixed. Okay, Landon sent a video. Let's see here. Landon.

Nice.

Good call, Landon. Nice. Good moments, Landon. Um, this needs to be re-edited. You can't re-edit this. It can't be sent to coaches like this. How many calls have you had so far with coaches? Um, uh, your discussion for this Buddy. Thanks, Logan. We always like to learn. Where do you play? Tell us how you got recruited. Okay. Where LinkedIn UK offer remote work opportunities?

Okay.

That's annoying. Delete. All right. Anything else? Okay, I'm MLS 2015. Okay, here's another video. Let's take a look. Joshua Chong, the Nationals in Australia. Okay, here we go. Take a look here. Okay, this is him. Left foot, golazo. Okay, kid, touch. Good, this is good. This is D2, D3 level. This has potential, this has potential. Very good, this has potential. Can you please book a call? Uh, let's see here. Okay, this is the coach of Northeastern. How cool is that? Booyah. Um, I'll deal with that later. Okay, so good job guys, thanks for tuning in and we got to go through some videos. I can now try and answer some of your questions if you have any. Um, my games are right now in a quarter. What's the best way to make a tape for IG? You got to get a— you got to get a camera. No excuses, have to get a camera. Very, very important, gotta have a camera. Um, so the team has to get a camera, parents have to get a camera, somebody has to get a camera. Um, iPhone can work. Okay, any other questions here, guys? Instagram? Nope, I don't see any questions. What's up, Productive Recruit? What's up, dude? Uh, okay, could I get into D1 if I play Easton RL? Yes, we just had a girl commit from Easton RL, so you could still do that, but it is a lot of work, so just have to remember to do the work. Uh, let's see here, any other videos? Okay, um, well, thank you guys for joining. I, um, will be going on to my next call. If you have any other questions, DM me and I'll answer your questions if you DM me on Instagram. Okay, talk soon.

Bye.