In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Speaker A interviews Andrew Prater, owner of Baseball Solutions. Andrew shares a personal story about "staying the course" through the ups and downs of his baseball career, emphasizing perseverance. He stresses that the journey—not quick fixes—is where the real value lies, highlighting the importance of building strong relationships to load the bases for big successes. Andrew identifies awareness as a pivotal business skill, translating the intuition he honed on the field to corporate culture. He recommends the "hungry, humble, smart" framework from Patrick Lencioni’s Ideal Team Player as essential personal development, and adds real‑estate investing as a financial strategy. On happiness, he attributes fulfillment to the gospel filling a "cross‑shaped void" in the heart and advises holding life loosely to stay open to new opportunities. He cites two influential books: Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages for understanding people’s wiring in both personal and business contexts, and The Mental Game of Baseball for confidence rooted in preparation. His favorite quote, "Go take on the game," adapted from Dr. Laura’s "Go take on the day," serves as his personal mantra to stop making excuses and act. The episode concludes with a plug for BaseballSolutions.com and a brief Anchor podcast platform advertisement.
Chapters
Alright everyone, welcome back to the Business Blast Podcast. Today I have Andrew Prater. He is the owner of Baseball Solutions and we'll kick it right off with the first question, Andrew. The first one I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
That's a great question. So really the best story for me is stay the course. I had a resume of baseball success, both as a youth and then as a professional. And, but it didn't come easy. It didn't come quick. I missed a few All-Star teams. But as I wrote a chapter about becoming invaluable, I became an invaluable asset without undeniable skill. So it would have been easy to take a less-than-glass-half-full approach, but I just stayed the course and, you know, just threw something to the grind.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Sure, definitely the journey is where the meat is at. A lot of meat on the bone in the journey. I think too many times I've witnessed not just athletes, but in business, people looking for the quick fix or the easy gain. There are certainly short victories, but for the most part, it's really the journey and the relationships you build along the way. When you hit the big home run or the grand slam is when the bases are loaded. So, just like in baseball or in business, you want to hit a big grand slam, you need to have your bases loaded. Key players in place and strong relationships is really the key.
And what's your best— so maybe that ties in with this next question, but what's your best piece of overall business advice?
Yeah, it's definitely awareness. Just something I've really been diving into as a business professional transitioning out of sports into baseball. The awareness that I've kind of almost in I inherently had on the ball field, it's transitioned well into business. And I can tell when there's a lack of awareness or a lack of understanding of your culture or who you're engaging with. And so I think awareness is just a big enough word for people to unpack what that means and applies to them. But if there's a lack of awareness in the room, At least for me, it really shows.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
I have to steal— this won't tie into my later answers, but Patrick Lencioni has a book he wrote, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, but he also has come out with a book called The Ideal Team Player. And yeah, I think he nails it: hungry, humble, and smart. And so I would tell my younger self You know, continue to cultivate the hunger and the drive. I think deep down in all of us we have a drive. It comes out in different ways in each of us. You don't have to be an athlete to be hungry. Certainly, the humility partnered with that drive will go a long way to become an invaluable asset. And the third component is just being smart. And it's not so much intellectual smart, or academic smart, but smart in every situation, whether it be your finances or hiring or trying to close the deal or just being social, looking for new prospects. So hungry, humble, and smart. Again, I didn't come up with those, but boy, I think that nails it. And then the other thing would be invest in real estate.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Well, that's an easy one for me. I truly believe, certainly my personal testimony is we all have a heart, a cross-shaped void in our heart. Certainly we have a heart, but this cross-shaped void, and I think only the gospel fills that cross-shaped void. But it's also consistent with that is holding things loosely. I truly believe God has a plan for our lives. It doesn't have to be weird or disconnected. Again, we're looking as human beings looking to fill voids in our life and voids in our heart. I truly believe there's absolute truth and it's the gospel. And, you know, just hold things loosely because, you know, some doors close and just around the corner, just outside your headlights, is a new opportunity. And I truly believe they're out there if we're willing to to hold things loosely.
And what's the best book you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from it?
Sure. I understand the question clearly. I have two and I'll make it quick. I read a book early, many years ago by Gary Chapman called The Five Love Languages. And I truly believe that conveys not only relationships of friendship, romantic relationships, it's pretty obvious, but also in business. And understanding how other people are wired or better understanding how they're wired. When you're doing business, when you're doing life with people, we're all wired differently. And so when you understand these 5 love languages and what speaks to people differently, again, whether it's relationship or business, that had a huge impact. And then there was a book called "The Mental Game of Baseball" by Harvey Dorfman and Karl Kuhl. And I mentioned that because in there they talk about in my opinion, one of the best definitions of confidence that I've ever come across. And it's just that have confidence that you've prepared well. If your confidence is solely based on the outcome, the win, the loss, the hole-in-one, you know, you shot par for the day, you made a 3-pointer, if you're always focused on the outcome, certainly, you know, it's easy to see that outcome will let you down. But preparation, confidence and preparation, in my opinion, is where it's at. So have confidence 'cause you've prepared well.
[Speaker] And what's your favorite quote and why?
[Speaker] That's an easy one also. It's kind of been my tagline as an adult in business is, "Go take on the game." I somehow stumbled across Dr. Laura. She's smarter than I am, and her tagline was, "Go take on the day." So I enjoy listening to her. Pretty much black and white, stripped down. Stop making excuses. There is compassion, there's humility, but there's a bottom line in there when she speaks to people about issues and family issues or whatever. So if I'm engaging and have engaged with my industry and my culture built around baseball primarily, go take on the game is the spin of her go take on the day. And that's really been my approach that, you know, Again, let's just stop making excuses, pull up your bootstraps. I get it, but let's get to the bottom line and move on.
Thank you for all of your answers, Andrew, and where can people best find you online?
Yeah, so, pardon me, BaseballSolutions.com is my company's Baseball Solutions. We've got some legacy wisdom in there in our blog and some other things, but BaseballSolutions.com would be the best place to get in touch with me if, you know, obviously there's anything I can add to what we talked about today.
Perfect. Thanks again for coming on, Andrew.
You bet.
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