00:00One of the mistakes I see a lot of young athletes and young entrepreneurs do is
00:03everyone wants a billion-dollar idea. Everybody wants 500 home runs. Focus on
00:07the process. The journey is the most beautiful part. Longevity to me means
00:13being consistent over a long period of time.
00:21My number one passion growing up was playing baseball and I was able to play
00:25for almost 25 years in the major leagues. I've had over 15,000 at-bats. I'm fifth
00:30all-time in the history of strikeouts. So I always say that I have a PhD in
00:34failing but I also have a master's in getting back up and I know so many young
00:38entrepreneurs that if something bad happens, it may take them three or six
00:41months to recover, I can fall on my face and get right back up like nothing
00:45happened. As long as you're learning from your mistakes and then pivoting and not
00:48make those same mistakes again, that's the key to a successful entrepreneur.
00:53A-Rod Corp is a private company. We have three silos we focus on. Sports, real
00:57estate and venture investing. You have to be able to identify a great deal, a
01:02great founder and then strike and be quick to the point. You have to have what
01:05I call VCP. You have to have the vision, the capital and the people and you have
01:10to be crystal clear in your vision. Then you need capital to be able to deploy
01:14into that vision and the hardest part is always the P, the people and you can have
01:19a great business idea if you don't have the right team and the right people, it's
01:23not going to work. Just like a good teammate for the Yankees, if they're
01:26coachable, if they're talented, if they have great work ethic, if they can adapt in
01:30real time and if they have their ego in check, these are attributes that I look
01:34for in young founders to invest in. One of the great advantages of building
01:38long-term companies is the same approach I had in baseball. I've taken that
01:43responsibility, those disciplines, the grittiness and I've brought that to the
01:48corporate room and it's always great when you're thinking about building a
01:52great business, building enterprise for the long run rather than, you know, what
01:56are the quarterly earnings after this month or this quarter. It's always much
02:00more sustainable to think long-term. Whether you're playing business or
02:05you're playing the sport of baseball, you want to have sustainability, you want to
02:09have longevity. It all starts with your health. When I was in COVID, I kind of
02:14lost my way a little bit and I put some extra pounds. I wasn't as healthy as I
02:18needed to be. I got diagnosed with gum disease. Almost 50% of all people over
02:23the age of 30 have gum disease and coming out of the pandemic, I made a
02:28commitment that every day from 8 in the morning to 12 was my me time and that
02:32meant my time to work out, train, do my cardio, lift, yoga, Pilates, whatever it
02:38took, making sure I'm taking care of my teeth, my mouth, making sure I'm clean
02:42because everything starts there, right? And then on my desk, suit and tie every
02:46day from 12 to 6 and then I will go have dinner with Jack and the girls at
02:50home and that commitment, it all started with my priorities to prioritize my
02:55health and wellness and then everything else will follow that. My benchmark for
02:58success, it's really about just putting great content out and sharing my
03:02experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly with the next generation of
03:07entrepreneurs. I look at legacy as something that other people can think
03:11about you. My message to all of you is you don't have to be defined by your
03:14mistakes. It's about being able to go down a path and being able to pivot and
03:19change your mind. That's sometimes considered to be weakness. I think it's
03:23growth.
Comments