Terrell Owens – from Athlete to Entrepreneur
Dave Kerpen, entrepreneur, best-selling author, father, and dad, interviewed NFL athlete, Terrell Owens. The interview was part of the Celebrity Ask Me Anything show in the Likeable Business Club, which is part of Listening and Beyond, founded by Dave and Randi Zuckerberg.
Sign up for the “clubhouse” first in-person, here
Here’s an overview of their discussion – tips for life, business and beyond.
From Athlete to Entrepreneur
Terrell Owens worked with a marketing representative and in partnership with Lasorda Family Wines launched his first line of wines – 81 Vino. You can expect other ventures from Terrell which include a clothing line, candles, and more.
In the black community, Terrell said, that we have hard liquor, gin, and etc, but not good tasking wine. Terrell wanted to change that. He was first introduced to good wine in Los Angeles, during his football career.
Biggest Challenge in Business
Finding the right team of people to work with and help grow his companies has been Terrell Owens biggest challenge. Terrell’s not alone. Many entrepreneurs say that finding the right team is tough. It’s easy to find people to pay to do a job, but it’s much harder to find people who are as excited about your business as you are.
One of his first ventures went bust, after sinking several hundred thousand dollars into it. The investor’s wife was micromanaging the process and the venture fizzled.
Terrell said making money is surely important but it’s also important to enjoy what you’re doing while making money.
One of Terrell’s biggest mistakes in business was trusting too much in people. Terrell’s a firm believer that people must EARN your trust. He might have been referring to losing most of the $80 million he earned, by trusting financial advisors who led him astray and having money stolen by a friend.
Do your due diligence on people and understand that while money is good, passion and emotional investment is better and make a great partnership.
Terrell Owens 3 D’s of Success – Desire, Dedication, Discipline
Desire, dedication, and discipline are Terrell’s 3 keys to business and life success.
He says that you can have a lot of desire and dedication but you MUST have discipline.
Discipline is what separates the top 1% of the 1% of people who are successful, from others. This was in answer to a question asked by Glenn Lundy, who has the largest rooms on Clubhouse.
Terrell explained that discipline is the bridge between goals and success and discipline will beat talent any day.
Hall of Fame Controversy
Terrell was very open about the “controversy” surrounding his “late” nomination to the Hall of Fame. He explained that while other athletes, such as Tom Brady could be praised for being “different” and showing “passion” when Terrell did it, it was not accepted, Terrell expressed that part of this reason could be due to racism.
Ironically, when Terrell would do “touch down” dances it was an issue for the NFL but today there’s special camera’s setup to capture the “touch down” dances of athletes.
A simple Google search will reveal a laundry list of controversy surrounding the great TO. However, in today’s interview, we heard from a smart, articulate, and impassioned man, who’s definitely doing a lot of good, having fun and succeeding in his entrepreneurial ventures..
Terrell explained that the reason he wanted to celebrate his Hall of Fame induction at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga was to give back to the small-town team who helped start his career. When he was playing in college he never expected to be where he was today. 3,500 people attended the acceptance speech, more than who could have attended in Cincinnati, Ohio where the NFL Hall of Fame is at.
You can watch his speech here.
His grandmother and mother played a large role in Terrell’s life and in growing up he always wanted to pay them back for their sacrifices.
Terrell’s favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
His advice to us was to – surround ourselves with like-minded people, worry about ourselves, and not so much about others.
He’s not one to judge, he’s not perfect, Terrell said. He admonished us to love first and foremost.
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