In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Jason Stein, Vice President of Recruiting and Development at Sports Business Solutions and VP at Front Office Sports. Stein shares how growing up in a culturally diverse environment taught him to understand people, a skill he leverages in staffing and consulting. He emphasizes the importance of individuals taking control of their own career paths, offering practical guidance for self‑directed growth. Stein’s broader business advice centers on continuous learning, adaptability, and gaining an informational edge. He advises younger professionals to build relationships early and leverage every situation. When asked about happiness, he stresses its subjective nature and the need for self‑knowledge. The most influential book he cites is Jeff Olson’s The Slight Edge, which shaped his personal and professional development philosophy. His favorite quote, from Tupac Shakur, highlights the impact of inspiring others over personal fame. Finally, Stein directs listeners to find him on LinkedIn and Twitter (@jace9209) for recruitment and networking.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Jason Stein with us. He's the Vice President of Recruiting and Development of Sports Business Solutions and also serves as the VP of Front Office Sports. So welcome to the show, Jason.
Thank you, thanks for having me, Tyler.
Of course, thanks for joining us, man. And we'll dive in. The first question I have for you is is what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Absolutely. So I was thinking about this question. And basically, I don't necessarily know if I have a story per se. But ultimately, I think the biggest thing that, you know, for my life is ultimately the understanding of the settings that I've been in and just really understanding people per se. You know, I guess ultimately, I grew up in an area where there's lots of different, you know, I guess cultures and diversity around me, but a lot of the same people. And as I got into college, also in the same area, learned from a lot of different folks and had a chance to meet different people from different parts of the world. And, you know, that stuff kind of stuck with me and really taught me how to just learn to work with different people and ultimately move forward in my career, really serving in the staffing and consulting world.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Yeah, I think, you know, again, kind of going to my line of work in staffing and recruiting, the biggest thing, I guess valuable piece of information, I think is just the understanding of, again, kind of different people and more importantly just the understanding of your taking control of kind of your own path and your own career. I get a lot of folks that ask me, you know, to help them and guide them and I really genuinely do what I can to kind of put them on the right path, but a lot of things that I can offer, you know, things people can do kind of on their own and really, you know, take control and shape their own career and destiny, if you will.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, so not necessarily industry-specific?
Yeah, I think the biggest piece of advice, business advice that I would share is just really just to continue learning and, you know, evolve and the ability to adapt and always just looking to continue to gain an edge personally The more information you have, I think the more powerful and knowledgeable you can kind of share with others, and it really is gonna help you continue to grow as a professional.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I think for me, ultimately, I think it's just to remind yourself, or myself as a younger person, to just take advantage and leverage every situation that you're in, build more relationships early on, and kind of take advantage of that You know, the younger you get started on those things, the, I think, more polish and ability you'll have to navigate successfully in your future endeavors.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
In my personal opinion, I think like the ultimate key to happiness is really just understanding, you know, that happiness is subjective. What really is going to be my keys to happiness are gonna probably be different from a lot of other people. So I just think ultimately it's understanding yourself and understanding what makes you happy first and foremost. And I think that's kind of the first piece of, I guess, advice there as far as how my key to happiness is going to be, again, different from everyone else and just understanding that it's subjective to each and every one of us.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Yeah, I guess, hard to kind of pin down one book per se. I think that the best book is what I would point to is probably one of the first books that someone shared with me a while ago called The Slimeball. The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. It was actually a book that I was given, and ultimately it was something that I think really shaped a lot of, you know, just basic principles and understanding. Again, kind of going back to what the title is there, the slight edge of gonna give me an advantage growing and personally and professionally, and just taught me a lot of kind of basic principles of, you know, how to continue to adapt and evolve and grow across the board.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
So I'm going to go to really, I guess, growing up always was a big '90s hip-hop rap fan. So I'm going to pull from one of my favorites, Tupac Shakur. And one of the quotes that I've always looked at is what he had stated. I'm not saying I'm going to change the world, but I guarantee you that I'll spark the brain that will change the world. And I think there's a lot compacted in there. And just ultimately, the concept around that is just, you know, having the ability to impact others is sometimes more important than what you do, but your actions are gonna also have that effect and ability to impact everyone around you. So I think just taking that in and really putting that and applying that is really probably the most impactful thing to me.
Awesome, man. Thank you so much for coming on, Jason. The last question that I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?
Yeah, absolutely. As the recruiter, always, gonna be on LinkedIn. That's probably the easiest place to find me. And then Twitter is gonna probably be the next in line there. @jace9209 is the Twitter handle. So one of those two places is always the place you can find me.
Awesome, man. Thanks again for coming on. We appreciate it.
You got it. Thanks for having me, Tyler.
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