Scott Duffy interviews athletes and industry figures at the ESPY Awards pre-party about what sports teaches business. They discuss focus, monetization, innovation, short-term memory, and hiring smarter people than yourself.
So I'm here in Hollywood, California and we are at the Vayners sports pre party for the ESPYs, which actually takes place this Wednesday. And what's going to be awesome is we have like the most amazing athletes that are going to be at this event. Athletes and entertainers from the NFL, from the NBA, from the NHL, from Major League Baseball. And so what we're going to be doing is we're going to be talking to them, not just about their careers in sports, but we're going to be learning lessons from these guys about, like, what they learned in sports that you can apply to your business today. Here's our red carpet and you can see we have some amazing sponsors here tonight. Vaynersports, you rule. Sheath Sports one Marketing, Dave Meltzer. We're also participating in the event as well. Can't wait to get started. Let's go, let's go, let's roll.
What is one lesson that you've learned being in the sports business, maybe around athletes that we can apply as entrepreneurs to what it is we do?
What I found in sports is that everybody loses focus when it comes to the business of sports. And so to utilize great athletes like Warren Moon as a bug light so that you can monetize sports. So a lot of people just like.
Innovation like we heard today.
Yeah, like innovation, they forget to make money. So I take a different approach throughout all these years of how can I make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and have a lot of fun utilizing sports.
What are keys to being good at interviewing?
Well, I think you want to ask interesting questions, questions that people would want to know. Not the most typical questions. I love you too. Hey, Robert, how are you?
Good.
Yeah. I think you want to ask questions that people want to know, you know, not just a typical question, how you feel or what do you think about the way you played today? Or something like that. You want to ask more in depth questions, especially depending on what the outcome of a game was and how that particular player played a part in that game.
As a player in the NFL, what's a lesson that you've learned being an athlete that we as business people can apply to our business?
We gotta have short term memory because sometimes things don't go your way and moving forward, you know, you can't have that at the forefront of your mind or else you're not gonna be as confident.
Perseverance, you know, perseverance on the football field, you get knocked down, you gotta.
Get up to reality. Being early, you know, I think the One thing I've learned being in the NFL is learning how to be somewhere before you need to be there. You know, being on time is being late.
That's so big.
Yeah. And I think, you know, you can really take that to the next level in the business world.
When all the.
Pressure'S on for all of us entrepreneurs. How do we lock in the way you are able to lock in and do what we need to?
The biggest key is believing in yourself and what you have to put out there. The whole thing is I have people around me that are smarter than me. You can't be afraid to hire people smarter than you because, you know, all those minds together, collectors, can make a good product. So that's why I'm so proud of my, my claims, because I have people around me that are smarter than me, know the business more than I do because hell, I know basketball. I don't know medicine. You know what I mean? Yeah.
In my profession, it's all about critiquing and self correcting and learning from your mistakes. I think being self aware of, you know, where your strengths and weaknesses are and applying that to, you know, how you operate in business.
Dude, good to see you again. Have fun tonight. I'll see you inside.
Yeah.
Business & Burgers-Sequence Collection bracelet for National Entrepreneurship Week
