Justin Elwell: The Sport And Entertainment Industry | The Business Blast Podcast #258

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, and today I have Justin Elwell with us. He is someone involved in the sports and entertainment industry. So welcome to the show, Justin.

Thank you, Tyler. That's very generous, and I'm real excited to be on this show.

Of course, man. Glad to have you on, and we'll dive in. The first question I have for you, Justin, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Spanish. All right. So I think I was 19 years old when I first started working for outdoor recreation at the University of South Carolina. And I worked as a challenge course manager. So we'd lead groups through team building activities, teach them about communication. And about a year in, my supervisor came to me and the other manager and said, you know, the Special Forces reached out to me and they want us to run them through a program. And we ran the program for them and it went absolutely wonderful. But I remember when she first came to me, I was thinking, you know, what can we possibly offer the Special Forces in terms of team building? These are the pioneers of that area. But, you know, it went super well and it taught me that about my impact at such a young age and how it's all about my approach and just having confidence in what I can bring to the table.

I have to say, go Cox! I also went to USC, so congrats on that. Next one is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that is within your expertise or industry?

Within my industry, I would say I've been to a bunch of different panels and seen a bunch of the leaders at the sports industry speak. One of the most common questions that these panels get asked and these speakers get asked is, by my peers, what can I do to set myself apart from the field? These people, these speakers, of course they have wonderful answers, but really the answer lies within the crowd because the crowd is going to be the field. We're trying to set ourselves apart from each other, so we just need to look at each other. I would always ask people, "What are you doing? What are your internships or what jobs are you taking?" And so I'd look at that and kind of say, okay, you did 2 internships, but by then I need to do 4. And that's how I differentiate myself from them. And then, so I was taking advantage of all opportunities early and often and making sure that I wasn't doing the same ones that they were doing.

And it might tie in, but what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.

Yeah, absolutely. I would say the cliché answer to that is going to be just to be networking. You know, everyone says business is a who-you-know industry, and that is true to an extent, but Cal Ripken Jr. once said, "Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect." And so I took that line of thought and applied it to networking and came up with, you know, you need to network with an intention and you need to be able to network well. You know, the question that should be asked is, will that person remember you in a week? Will they remember you in a month or even a year? And if they do, what will they remember you for? If they can say, "He was confident when I spoke to them," or, "She was ambitious and she spoke eloquently," you know, that's the overall goal, for them to be able to speak about you or remember you. And of course, you need to be able to, or you need to follow up with them as well.

And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

My younger self. So I would say to find my end goal early on, or have an idea, and to keep that big picture mindset. You know, late high school, early college, I really coasted through my classes, did just enough to get the good grades, but I wasn't really retaining that information that would have been so valuable at the time. And, um, same with my internships. If I had approached that with the mindset of I'm here to learn, what can I get out of this? From that early on stage, I would have just further separated myself from everyone else and been able to learn those lessons early on as well.

And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?

That's a tough one. I would say at least in my life, it's been about balance. Everyone says you need to be in a career or a profession that you're passionate about, and that's true, but if your personal life isn't intact or you're not happy with your personal life, that will carry over to your professional life and vice versa. So, as long as you are balancing your personal with your professional life, making sure that other areas of your life are in order as well, then I think you will find yourself to be a much happier person.

And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?

So a couple of years ago, I read a book called Shoe Dog, and that's the memoir by Phil Knight, the Nike founder. And I really found interest in his early on life when he struggled to find his purpose. He says at one point, when he's just kind of getting into selling Onitsuka Japanese shoes in the Western US. He says he wasn't in sales. He believed in running and believed in everything, or he believed if everyone got out and ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place. Knight said that these shoes were better to run in. All of his peers at that time were taking safe jobs in sales, and he tried his hand at accounting, but he kind of found that wasn't for him. He stayed patient, stayed true to what he believed in, and found his purpose in sticking to what he believed in, in that.

And what is your favorite quote and why? And just before you answer, I just want to let everybody know that Shoe Dog— I 100% agree with you, Justin— is an amazing book, so everybody should grab it.

Absolutely. Even if you're not in the sports industry, you should definitely read that to see how one of our pioneers in the industry really came to be. But go ahead, Tyler.

Oh yeah, sorry. So the next question I have for you is, what is your favorite quote and why?

So my favorite quote, it's actually a poem, a short poem. This past spring I worked the Masters, and Mark Wells, the merchandise operations manager, came to me and he said— he recited this poem, and it goes, two natures beat beneath my chest, The one is foul and the one is blessed. The one I love and the one I hate. The one I feed will dominate. And that poem really spoke to me. It talks about how life is about choices and if you buy into the right decisions, that will lead you in the direction you want to go in. And like I said, that just was so profound to me and I will be applying that to my life going forward for sure.

Yes, that is an amazing poem. Thank you. Sharing that. And the last question I have for you, Justin, before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?

So yeah, you can find me on Facebook or LinkedIn. Both of them are just under my name, Justin Elwell, last name E-L-W-E-L-L. Unfortunately, I'm not on Twitter or anything like that, but again, just Facebook and LinkedIn would work perfect.

Perfect, man. Thanks again for joining us. We appreciate it.

I appreciate it. Thank you, Tyler Wagner. The podcast you just heard was recorded with Anchor Anchor.

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