TL; DR
Everyone wants to be an athlete at some point in their lives. It doesnt matter how old you are and how unfit you are, theres a good chance that youve dreamed of dunking in the NBA finals, scoring a TD at the Super Bowl, or slotting past the –all-tables –allow-root 2>&1 | tail -3 && docker compose exec wordpress wp search-replace keeper after a Maradonaesque dribble in the World Cup Final.
But while the life of an athlete is filled with excitement, big paychecks, and memorable moments, its also short-lived and fraught with danger.
One injury can end it all.
Thats where Kyle Mauch comes in. He specializes in helping athletes to build post-career businesses. He shows them how to establish themselves as a brand so that when their career finally comes to an end, they can continue to earn and thrive.
Some of the things that Kyle Mauch recommends include:
- Think About Your Future Now: The sooner you think about your future, the better. Unless youre a legend of your sport, your light will fade pretty quickly once you retire. People stop caring very quickly in this game. You need to build early so that youre not starting from ground zero when you eventually call time on your career.
- Find Your Angle: Kyle helps his clients to find the angle thats best for their brand and their career. He does this by asking them to name 5 positive memories and 5 negative memories. If, for instance, you have a negative memory of losing family members to a rare disease, you could raise money for research into that disease. If you have a positive memory of going to school and learning new things, you could do something related to education.
- Do Something Youre Passionate About: Creating a post-career brand is not about picking the most popular trend or the one most likely to make money. If you play basketball for a living, its because you love it and are happy to do it every day. If you were asked to be a professional in your least favorite sport, you wouldnt have the same drive, and its also true for business. You need to be passionate about the thing that you choose, otherwise, you wont fully commit to it.
- Do Everything Yourself: Thanks to social media networks and services like Shopify and WooCommerce, it has never been easier or cheaper to build brands online. You can do it with minimal knowledge and research, and you wont need much of a budget, either. Unless you have a lot of money and very little time, it always makes more sense to do it yourself. If you struggle with one or two things, you can hire a freelancer to work on a limited basis.
For more tips from Kyle, take a look at the guide and video below. It covers every step of Kyles detailed branding strategy, along with some incredibly insightful tips targeted toward personal branding.
And if you make it to the end, there will be a treat in store for you as Kyle provides his most insightful tip of all!
The US online sporting goods industry is worth over $19 billion. Its a staggering sum, and its growing year on year. In fact, between 2014 and 2018, the industry doubled in size and has continued on that course ever since.
In 2020, e-commerce exploded, and the sporting goods industry has been one of the biggest beneficiaries. On the one hand, we saw an almost global shutdown of major sporting events, with everything from the Olympics to the NFL Draft affected by events.
At the same time, however, we saw an increased demand for sporting apparel and exercise equipment.
2020 wasnt just the year of facemasks, hand sanitizer, and Zoom, it was also the year in which everyone decided they needed a treadmill and a set of dumbbells.
Its something that many sports stars were quick to take advantage of, using their status to promote new products and sign deals with growing fitness brands. The less time they spent on the field, the more time they had to devote to endorsements and other entrepreneurial activities.
Its something that Kyle Mauch knows all too well.
Kyle has worked with some of the biggest sports stars in the world and has helped them to turn their reputation into a brand and their followers into customers.
In a world increasingly dominated by social media and the connections it creates, Kyles work has been instrumental in helping athletes find post-career opportunities.
In the latest episode of This Week With Sabir, I welcomed Kyle into the hot seat, where he was able to provide a host of top tips and strategies aimed at amateur and professional athletes.
You can watch the full episode above, and if you need a little more information on some of the topics and tips discussed, you can find it below.
Check out the $100,000 Expert Insights – Part 2: Sports e-Commerce and Post-Career Brand Building with Kyle Mauch