In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner introduces Joe Crochet, a former All‑American Division I football player, SAG‑AFTRA actor, and author of My Winning Season. The episode opens with a brief sponsor plug for Anchor, a platform that simplifies podcast creation. The conversation then explores Crochet’s formative experience in second grade when an NFL player delivered a “why not me?” speech, a message that has guided him through adversity. Crochet shares his core professional insight that success hinges more on who you know than what you know, emphasizing the importance of building supportive networks. He offers overarching business advice to be a good human being, give more than you take, and stay genuine. When asked what he would tell his younger self, he advises starting early, not fearing failure, and relentlessly pursuing dreams. Discussing happiness, Crochet defines it as doing what you love with the people you love. He highlights The One Thing by Gary Keller as his favorite book, summarizing its lesson to focus daily on the single most important goal. His favorite quote, from Muhammad Ali—“Don’t count the days, make the days count”—reflects his mindset of living fully in the present. The episode concludes with Crochet’s online handles: his website JoeCrochet.com and his Instagram/Twitter @JoeCrochet5.
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Thank you for listening to the Business Blast podcast. So for all my listeners out there that have been wanting to do your own podcast, I'd like to introduce to you Anchor. Anchor is a one-stop shop for recording, hosting, distributing, and monetizing your podcast. So before I found Anchor, I had never actually done a podcast because all the research that I had gathered made it seem very complex. Then I found Anchor, and Anchor makes podcasting extremely simple. So if you want to do your own podcast, go to anchor.fm/start. I can't wait to hear your podcast. All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Joe Crochet with us. He is a former All-American Division I football player, SAG-AFTRA actor, and most recently a published author of the book My Winning Season. So welcome to the show, man.
Tyler, thanks for having me.
Of course. Pumped to have you here. So the first question I got for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Yeah, so, and this kind of dates back all the way from the very beginning. When I was in second grade, I had the privilege of having an NFL player come and speak to my class at St. Thomas More Elementary School in Decatur, Georgia. And the theme and the message that he delivered was, why not me? There's always going to be people out there that are going to say that you're not strong enough, you're not big enough, you're not fast enough, you're not smart enough to accomplish the goals that you want to accomplish. But he is one living experience and living example that was able to say, I was told that my whole life, but I believed in myself. And I ended up playing in the NFL for 10 years and went on to accomplish so many other different things. So that one speech, that still resonates to me at this time. And it's kind of been through me with any battle that I faced with adversity or anything like that.
And then what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Yeah, so I'm in a lot of industries, television, sales, sales and marketing, and now the book industry. But I would say the best advice I would give or the valuable piece of information would be it's not what you know, but it's who you know. So with everything that I've done in my life, I've been very privileged and fortunate to meet great people that have helped me along the way. It's never been something that I've self-made or been it just through a sole experience. I've always had somebody else kind of help me out, and likewise, I've been helping out others. So it kind of goes back to the thing my defensive coordinator at the Citadel used to say is, you know, as you're climbing the ladder to success, you need to always be lifting. So surround your people that have that same mentality, and it's amazing what you can accomplish.
And then it could tie in, but what's your best piece of overall business advice and not necessarily industry-specific?
Yeah, so I mean, and this is just be a good human being, give more than you take, and be genuine is what I'd say.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would say start earlier. Don't be afraid to fail. And always just follow your dreams.
And then in your opinion, kind of going down a different path, in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
So I kind of believe, you know, doing what you love with the people you love is— that's happiness, you know. And I think if you can do that, you'll achieve that nirvana.
And then what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So I've read a couple of books just this past year, and if I was to sum it up, I'd say the book The One Thing written by Gary Keller. And basically the premise of the book is that no matter what you're doing, there's always one thing that is important to you. And no matter what things are going on in your life, Every day, if you just attack it 1% a day trying to get better toward that one goal, you ultimately achieve it.
Yeah, man. That's one of my top books as well. And then, what is your favorite quote and why?
So, I'm going with Muhammad Ali, "Don't count the days, make the days count." It's actually inscribed in my Citadel class ring. It's kind of one of those things that got me through the Citadel, which is a pretty tough environment if you're not familiar with it. But it's just also just kind of puts things into perspective of living in the now and, and do the best you can with the ability God gave you and let God do the rest kind of thing.
Well, thanks so much for coming on, man. The last one I got for you before we let you go is where can our listeners find you online?
Yeah, absolutely. So I'm on website JoeCrochet.com, as well as I'm on Instagram and Twitter. At Joe Crochet 5 and I am BD as well.
