- 3 months ago
Aaron Fraser is the founder of The Action Sports Club and a leading voice in helping athletes transform their passion into a sustainable business. He teaches performers, creators, and entrepreneurs how to structure their brand, position their value, and build partnerships that last. His insights extend far beyond sports—into leadership, influence, and long-term strategic growth.
In this episode, he explains why the future belongs to individuals who know how to turn visibility into opportunity, and how anyone can create systems that make their brand sponsor-worthy in any industry.
What You’ll Learn
• Why performance alone isn’t enough—and why brand clarity wins
• The biggest misconceptions people have about sponsorships
• How small audiences land big brand deals with the right positioning
• What treating your passion like a business actually looks like
• The role of social media in landing and keeping partnerships
• How business structure and tax strategy impact long-term success
• The first actionable step to becoming “sponsor ready” today
About Aaron Fraser
Aaron Fraser is the founder of The Action Sports Club, a platform dedicated to helping athletes build real careers through brand strategy, content systems, and sponsorship mastery. He teaches athletes how to think like entrepreneurs—structuring their financial foundation, positioning their expertise, and creating partnerships that fuel long-term success. His work bridges the worlds of athletic performance and business strategy, showing performers at every level how to build influence that lasts.
Sponsors & Partners
• Turn your dreams into cha-ching with the best platform for entrepreneurs. 👉 Start your $1/month trial today: https://shopify.com/tony
• For sponsorship opportunities, email ad-sales@libsyn.com.
Resources & Links Mentioned
Connect with Aaron Fraser: https://theactionsportsclub.com/
🎧 Listen on Apple: https://tonydurso.com/apple
🎵 Tony’s Music: https://tonydurso.com/music
📧 Join the Newsletter: https://tonydurso.com/news
🎥 Watch the Video: https://tonydurso.com/videos
Tony’s Closing Words
Use this and let’s help you Move on YOUR Journey to Success!
Just Take Action. – Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds and join me on the next episode.
In this episode, he explains why the future belongs to individuals who know how to turn visibility into opportunity, and how anyone can create systems that make their brand sponsor-worthy in any industry.
What You’ll Learn
• Why performance alone isn’t enough—and why brand clarity wins
• The biggest misconceptions people have about sponsorships
• How small audiences land big brand deals with the right positioning
• What treating your passion like a business actually looks like
• The role of social media in landing and keeping partnerships
• How business structure and tax strategy impact long-term success
• The first actionable step to becoming “sponsor ready” today
About Aaron Fraser
Aaron Fraser is the founder of The Action Sports Club, a platform dedicated to helping athletes build real careers through brand strategy, content systems, and sponsorship mastery. He teaches athletes how to think like entrepreneurs—structuring their financial foundation, positioning their expertise, and creating partnerships that fuel long-term success. His work bridges the worlds of athletic performance and business strategy, showing performers at every level how to build influence that lasts.
Sponsors & Partners
• Turn your dreams into cha-ching with the best platform for entrepreneurs. 👉 Start your $1/month trial today: https://shopify.com/tony
• For sponsorship opportunities, email ad-sales@libsyn.com.
Resources & Links Mentioned
Connect with Aaron Fraser: https://theactionsportsclub.com/
🎧 Listen on Apple: https://tonydurso.com/apple
🎵 Tony’s Music: https://tonydurso.com/music
📧 Join the Newsletter: https://tonydurso.com/news
🎥 Watch the Video: https://tonydurso.com/videos
Tony’s Closing Words
Use this and let’s help you Move on YOUR Journey to Success!
Just Take Action. – Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds and join me on the next episode.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00My guest today, Aaron Frazier, is rewriting the Sponsorship Playbook.
00:04He's the founder of the Action Sports Club, where he teaches athletes how to think like CEOs.
00:11Sponsorship is actually, the number one reason for sponsorship has never been directly based on talent.
00:18I know that sounds super counterintuitive, right?
00:21Because we think, well, the talented ones are the ones that get, you know, these big brand deals.
00:25But the number one factor is actually the audience, the attention.
00:28Who's looking at them?
00:40Welcome back to the podcast.
00:42Now, every great entrepreneur knows partnerships build empires.
00:46But what if the smartest lessons about brand deals, positioning and value creation aren't coming from boardrooms, but from the world of action sports?
00:55My guest today, Aaron Frazier, is rewriting the Sponsorship Playbook.
01:00He's the founder of the Action Sports Club, where he teaches athletes how to think like CEOs, structuring their passion as a business, building brands that attract opportunity, and turning influence into recurring revenue.
01:15Now, here's why this conversation matters for you.
01:19Aaron's framework applies far beyond sports, whether you're running a company, leading a team, or scaling your own brand.
01:27The same principles drive growth.
01:31Clarity of message, consistency of value, and the ability to position yourself as a partner, not a commodity.
01:39We're going to explore how to build partnerships that last, leverage social capital into business capital, and create systems that make you sponsor-worthy in any industry.
01:51So if you're ready to think bigger about your brand, your reach, and your strategy for long-term success, this one's for you.
01:58Let's begin.
01:59Hi, Aaron.
02:00Welcome to the Tony D'Erso Show.
02:02Thanks, man.
02:02I'm happy to be here.
02:04Oh, it's a pleasure to have you on.
02:06I'm so looking forward to learning about brand leverage.
02:10I mean, we're in this for so long as entrepreneurs and business people.
02:13We think we know a lot, or we hire people that know a lot, but there's still so much more to learn.
02:19And your focus here, your accent, is on turning influence into income and partnerships into power.
02:27I mean, those are some big words here.
02:29So let's find out more about you, Aaron.
02:31Can we start at how it all started?
02:34How did action sports come to life where you're helping athletes and sponsorships with sponsorships to grow their business?
02:44So it's a very interesting point of view.
02:47How did all that happen?
02:49Yeah, it all started when I was about five years old, and my parents got me and my brother our first snowmobile.
02:57And it was pretty quick after that that they realized we were going to be pretty expensive children.
03:05Motorsport is not cheap.
03:07And so they were like, okay, well, these kids really like this.
03:09They found something they're passionate about.
03:10How are we going to support it moving forward?
03:13And so the first thing that they thought was like, well, let's actually buy a dealership that sells snowmobiles and dirt bikes, and maybe we can build something around that.
03:23And so they scraped up business loans and did whatever they could and purchased a dealership that was about an hour away from where we lived.
03:31And it wasn't short after that, we got into racing, we got into competing at a high level, we made it to a professional level.
03:39And through that, we gained lots of discount based sponsorships or soft based sponsorships, he was able to leverage it through the company as well as through our race performance.
03:48And we got stuck on this one deal that we were trying to get, which was a factory sponsorship from an OEM, you know, from Polaris Industries, so the guys that actually created the snowmobiles.
04:01And so we were trying to crack this code, our performance was there, we were winning all the races, we had all the championships, but we still couldn't get that factory sponsorship.
04:10And it wasn't until our representative with Polaris was like, well, why don't you just come down race in the United States, because we're based out of Canada, you know, a lot smaller population up here, right?
04:24And in other words, attention, low attention.
04:27So, you know, I'll kind of tie that in.
04:29So we went down race in the US, performed really well.
04:33And next thing you know, boom, we got a factory sponsorship.
04:36And it started to kind of get the wheels turning of like, hey, it's not always been about your performance.
04:42It's actually more about how many eyeballs are on you.
04:45And if that company can actually sell more products or services.
04:49So that kind of sparked it and it was in the back of my head.
04:52And then throughout the years, I ended up having a couple of really serious accidents.
04:58Ellie vacked off a mountain at one point, resuscitated in the hospital at one point, a couple of really scary ones.
05:03My brother also had a really bad one where he did his leg in really bad.
05:08He broke his femur and thank God he still got it.
05:11They almost amputated his leg because of it.
05:13So we had a pretty crazy year and a half, needless to say.
05:18And my parents kind of made a decision there.
05:21They're like, you know what?
05:21Like, we love that you're racing.
05:24We love the racing, but we kind of would rather have you alive than continue the racing.
05:29So they made a big decision.
05:30And at that point, they're like, we're going to sell the business.
05:33We're going to look at retirement and, you know, you guys kind of figure it out on your
05:36own.
05:36We don't really encourage the racing anymore.
05:38So I went through a period of like 12 years of being a professional athlete, being paid
05:46for what I do to then just off a cliff and nothing left, right?
05:50And so I spent, you know, that 12 years thinking, okay, all I got to do is find a really good
05:55paying career so I can afford to get back into racing.
05:59Cause I believed that the only way that I could race full-time and do what I love was
06:04to be a professional, be factory sponsored like I was.
06:07And that was like the only path to it.
06:10So I spent years going through different careers from oil and gas to then getting my electrical
06:15trade and kept running into those catch 22s of now I was needed at work.
06:20So when I wanted to go snowmobiling or go to a race or anything like that, I couldn't
06:25because they needed me at work, right?
06:27So it was in 2016.
06:31I'm in this basement suite in this small town where I was working.
06:36The best job I've ever had up to that point, the most income I've ever been making, but
06:40I just fully hit like a rock bottom.
06:44And I'm laying on this couch, this dusty old couch in my work year.
06:48And I'm like, I'm telling everybody and telling myself that I'm still a professional athlete
06:53and that I'm going to race.
06:55And it's been 12 years and I'm still not doing it.
06:58And I just had this kind of this moment of just like big low.
07:03And I'm like, you know what?
07:04First thing I did is I opened up my phone and I started scrolling on Facebook to try to
07:08distract myself.
07:09And I see this advertisement come across my feed and it resonated with me because he was
07:17an electrician as well.
07:19He was traveling in Costa Rica, which I just got back from Costa Rica because my brother
07:23actually lives there.
07:24And so these things just clicked right away and it just caught my attention.
07:28And he's talking about, you know, laptop lifestyle.
07:31I'm sure you've seen those advertisements that were all over the place for years there,
07:34right?
07:34And he's like, laptop lifestyle, you can travel and do what you want when you want.
07:38You just got to learn marketing and, you know, affiliate marketing and everything else.
07:42And I was like, I don't really care about the travel side, but what if I could find a
07:48way to build it around my passion of snowmobiling?
07:51And so that's where the kind of rabbit hole started.
07:53And so I started digging in from there.
07:55I ended up working with this crew where I became an affiliate marketer and I was promoting
08:00educational products through social media.
08:03And I became one of their top affiliates within the first year.
08:06I did, uh, uh, I'll, I'll leave the numbers out, but I did really well for myself.
08:11And at that point, about a year in the owners of the company, they looked at me and they
08:15said, Hey, you're obviously doing something really well.
08:18And we know we went, you went through our training and you've added your own spin to
08:21it.
08:22Um, would you be open to creating a program that we could sell and, you know, we could
08:28teach our clients?
08:29And I was like, sure.
08:30So I just kind of fell into this course creation consulting space.
08:35And over the years I started building out curriculums for educational companies where
08:39they were selling those for 12 to 20 K for, you know, the 12 week experience.
08:44Um, and then I just had this moment again where I just like hit this low.
08:48I'm like, okay, I've figured this out.
08:49I'm doing good here.
08:51I've figured out this, this marketing thing, which is a huge dark hole of what you can learn
08:55there.
08:57And I'm like, but these people that I'm working with and teaching, like they're great
09:01people, but they're just not my people.
09:04Right.
09:04I'd love to work with people that are into the motorsports world and kind of build that
09:08community again.
09:09And it was in that time I had all these downloads and epiphanies and I was like, okay, well,
09:13sponsorship has always just been marketing for a company.
09:16And now I understand marketing in detail and I knew how to do it before social media was
09:23a thing when I was racing professionally.
09:24How can I now translate this to this whole online world?
09:28And then that's where it just started to snowball from there.
09:31And, uh, in 2020 of August, 2020, we launched the action sports club and, and growing ever
09:37since.
09:38That is quite a history.
09:39It's very interesting.
09:40And while you're saying this, I'm replaying and thinking of people that I know in sports
09:46are very, very good.
09:48And, uh, all in the same industry, one, well-known, no problem getting sponsorships.
09:55Another hardly known, but, uh, but a very active Facebook community got sponsorships.
10:03Not, not quite from day one, but for years, constant sponsorships.
10:06And another one in the same industry, not industry, same sports category, really good
10:13audience hasn't landed a sponsor, a sponsorship.
10:16I don't think for years and years, and yet has won more titles than the other has won more
10:21awards.
10:22So it's not just how good you are.
10:24It's not just how many awards you win.
10:27Um, there's more to it.
10:29Some, some struggle.
10:31And that's why I'm bringing this up because it's like, and they're very talented.
10:35I know someone who's so talented, so amazing yet.
10:39Maybe it seems like he's struggling, you know, he may, he may not, but he's definitely doesn't
10:44have any sponsors.
10:44So, so why does this happen?
10:47It, you know, it's a digital, it's a digital world.
10:50You just put it out.
10:51Hey, I won this award.
10:52Hey, I'm here.
10:53You're, you're, you're in the media or the social media, the news feeds or whatever for
10:58your, for your sports that you're winning yet.
11:01The sponsors don't, they don't just come and knock on your door.
11:04Right.
11:05And this was that big wake up call that I had, you know, when I was younger too, that
11:09I had those download moments with is sponsorship is actually the number one reason for sponsorship
11:15has never been directly based on talent.
11:18I know that sounds super counterintuitive, right?
11:21Because we think, well, the talented ones are the ones that get, you know, these big
11:25brand deals, but the number one factor is actually the audience, the attention, who's
11:29looking at them.
11:31How many people are looking at them and talent comes secondary.
11:35There's a reason that you see now.
11:36I mean, social media has blown this, the, blown the ceiling wide open where you can have just
11:43an average, everyday racer, rider, hobbyist that is an amateur at best, but they've built
11:51a community and an audience and they've understood how to leverage that attention.
11:55And they're getting bigger brand deals than the factory, some of the factory race teams
12:00out there, because there's a lot of different factors that come into that.
12:03But I mean, another part of it is too, is they're now more relatable to the majority of their
12:08target market, right?
12:09Not everybody is a top zero, 1% talent athlete, right?
12:14Yes.
12:15Performance is a great thing.
12:16And a good saying that we had before social media, when we raced was win on Sunday, sell
12:21on Monday, right?
12:23But that's not really the case anymore.
12:25It's now because of social media, it's measurable, it's trackable, it's this new resume now.
12:32You can't, you know, lie through a piece of paper, not that I'm saying people would, but
12:37you could over embellish certain things on a piece of paper when you send or mail in a
12:41resume before social media, where now it's like, here's my resume, take a look at my Facebook,
12:46my Instagram, my YouTube, you know, and take a look at the channels, take a look at our
12:50following size, take a look at our engagement, and it's all front facing, right?
12:55So I think that's a big factor is just, first off, realizing that it's never actually been
13:00the number one reason being directly based on talent.
13:02It's always been about the eyeballs that are on you and who those eyeballs are.
13:07And that's really what equates to sponsorship, because the reason they sponsor you is for
13:11marketing and advertising to produce an ROI, right?
13:15I have questions on that.
13:17We're going to dive into that.
13:18We're speaking with Aaron Frazier.
13:20We're talking about brand leverage, how to turn your influence into income, and how
13:26to turn your partnerships into power.
13:29And you can find him at theactionsportsclub.com.
13:34What is that?
13:34Four words, theactionsportsclub.com.
13:38Aaron, let's talk about misconceptions, myths.
13:42Some people, you know, you've mentioned a little bit, but let's dive into misconceptions
13:46that people believe about getting sponsored.
13:49Again, it's like, hey, if you win, they'll come.
13:51You know, you won.
13:53You expect whether you play, when you place, you're in the top whatever, top three, top five
13:59at a sporting event.
14:01You would think that their sponsors are just waiting to rush out to you.
14:04And maybe they are at the right sports events to sign you on.
14:09But it doesn't quite happen for everybody.
14:12So what are these misconceptions that are floating around out there?
14:18Yeah, it's kind of like that, you know, off that quote of like, if you build it, they will
14:22come, right?
14:22Like, if I have the talent and the skill and I win the races, the sponsors will come.
14:26And that's not the reality anymore.
14:27And there's a lot more competition out there, just like I was saying earlier with, you know,
14:31the creator economy.
14:33Um, but so that's, that's a big piece of it, you know, talent, thinking that talent
14:38is the number one factor is a big misconception.
14:40Um, and another one is, is the understanding of what sponsorship truly is.
14:47There's a lot of athletes out there that are, that they, they don't really like click on
14:52it fully and they think like, well, sponsorship is more like a charity, right?
14:55It's like, I'm really good at what I do, so I should get paid to do it.
14:59Right.
15:00But the reality is a sponsorship is simply marketing for a company.
15:03They're looking for a return on their investment.
15:06Every dollar they invest into you, they want to see at least $2 or more back.
15:09And that's how you continue that relationship.
15:11If there's no positive ROI on it, then why would they work with you?
15:17Right.
15:17So they don't get that, that value and benefit.
15:19So I think that's a big part of it too, is just having that realization that, Hey, I'm
15:23here to represent a company.
15:24I'm here to advertise and market for them.
15:26I'm here to drive more revenue to their business.
15:28And when they can shift that little switch, then it really starts to open up the playing
15:33field because there's so many unique and different ways that you can provide value to a company
15:38rather than just running a logo on your race car or, you know, on your Jersey or something
15:43like that.
15:44Okay.
15:45Well, let's follow along this thread here.
15:47You have a small audience.
15:48Let's call it small because they're not millions of people following you particularly.
15:53So let's just call it small, whatever size.
15:56How do you, how do you become more irresistible to brands?
15:59How do you do it?
16:01Understand who your audience is.
16:04It's about matching that, that avatar, that target audience.
16:09Um, a great, great example for that would be like, you know, say you do have a million
16:13followers, but you're a big advocate for being vegan, right?
16:19Or vegetarian.
16:20And then you go to a chicken wing company and you look for a sponsorship.
16:23Well, the matchup with that, yeah, maybe you got millions of followers, but the target
16:28audience doesn't match up with the product or the service that they have.
16:33So it's not a good connection, right?
16:36Unless for some reason that chicken wing company's big mission is to convert vegans, you know,
16:41like it just doesn't make sense.
16:43So, you know, it's, it's, it's about understanding who your audience is, who, how would you define
16:48them?
16:49And, you know, we have really good practices.
16:50We take people through here too, because a lot of it is self-discovery.
16:53Like, who are you?
16:54Cause like attracts like, right?
16:56So getting clear on who that audience is, who that avatar is that you're building around
16:59and that you have following, and then making sure that that audience matches up to the
17:03company and who's their target audience that they sell to, or maybe a market that they're
17:07looking to expand into.
17:08And it's communicating audience first.
17:11Okay.
17:12And right before I go into the next question, your company is good at helping define that
17:17avatar because it's not something you easily know.
17:20Cause what you think is the avatar may not be really who follows or should be following
17:27you.
17:28If you know what I mean?
17:29Yeah, absolutely.
17:31So, yeah, that's something that we take through people through our coaching is we get into,
17:35you know, copywriting principles like psychology principles, understanding psychographics,
17:39demographics, behavior graphics, you know, defining these different things of what really creates
17:44an avatar, you know, and then helping define that, you know, when we say avatar, it's a
17:49fictitious person, but it's defining a core per core group of that audience of people that
17:55you have.
17:56Right.
17:56And when you can clearly communicate that to a potential, like a prospect sponsor, then
18:03that's really where that conversation starts to liven up because they're like, okay, well,
18:07this target of people, this audience matches up perfectly with who we sell to.
18:11Right.
18:12So now if you only have 5,000, 10,000 followers, but the majority of those followers fit into
18:18that, that avatar, that audience exponentially more valuable than the million person following
18:23that's trying to match a, an audience up that doesn't know.
18:26Right.
18:27All right.
18:28I'm thinking with this.
18:29So it's, it's really, it's, again, it's really getting to know who, if you don't know
18:35who your audience is, then it's also, it can be who you target with your audience, who
18:42you're trying to get, because how do you know 10,000 people?
18:45I mean, you just don't, you, there, there's some ways to find, like, how do I know how many
18:50of all the people listen to my show?
18:52It's, you do the best you can with whatever analytics or metrics are available, but you
18:56also know who, who you're talking to, who you're resonating with, who you're, who you're,
19:02you're, you're, you're, you're not that you're pitching.
19:05I don't pitch anything on my show, but who I am rep representing and trying to attract.
19:11That's very, very important in that.
19:13And that alone is helpful for sponsors go, Oh, let's take your vegan, you know, Oh, Tony,
19:20you're a vegan.
19:20Uh, and you, and you talk to vegan, you know, you, you talk the talk and even though there
19:27are meat eaters in my audience, but a vegan company with some great, uh, vegetable supplement
19:33or whatever would, would, would be, uh, inclined to work with me because I, uh, because I, um,
19:40I target vegans, even though all my audience is in vegan.
19:43So it's kind of like that.
19:45Yeah, similar.
19:46And so, you know, when we get into like what we offer with our coaching too, we even teach,
19:51media buying strategies as well.
19:53Um, so you can actually target interest-based, you know, and, and get very clear on who it
19:58is that you want to target and serve your content to, right?
20:01On top of when you understand organic content, it's when we're, when the, when we build the
20:06creative, the, the image that's involved, the video that's involved, the description that
20:11we put in when we make these posts, you know, this helps a ton with targeting and feeding
20:16the algorithm, if you will, to make sure that it's serving it to the right audience.
20:20Right.
20:20And, you know, with, with our students, you know, we have a lot that start from, from
20:25scratch.
20:25They don't really have much of an online presence or they had something, but it's really mixed
20:29up.
20:30Maybe they got a couple thousand followers and it's like, okay, well, let's get you building
20:34a solid foundation from the beginning.
20:36So we can make sure that we're targeting really clear from the start.
20:39So we're really clear on who that is that we're actually speaking to.
20:42Uh, and then of course this dives deeper too, when we get into, you know, helping them tell
20:46their story, right?
20:48Like what's their brand story?
20:49What's their origin story?
20:51And, you know, it breaks into like, what are their, what's their experience of getting
20:56to where they are?
20:56What kind of values do they have?
20:58And that's just naturally going to be resonating with the people that are similar, right?
21:02Like attracts, like, so it's going to start to pull those people in.
21:06And, uh, yeah, so we have some really cool strategies, not only from the paid media side
21:10to, to scale it up and target the right people.
21:12Uh, but of course the organic side to make sure that you're communicating effectively through
21:16your content as well.
21:17I gotcha.
21:18Now I'm going to ask possibly an awkward or a strange question, but it's not as strange
21:24as you may think.
21:25And the reason I say it's strange and awkward is because the athlete that we're, we're talking
21:32about athletes getting sponsors there, they're, they're very passionate about what they do.
21:39I've run into and met many athletes and they're very passionate about, I do this and I do that
21:44whether they boast or are humble or they're an extrovert or introvert.
21:48They're very passionate.
21:49They love that sport.
21:51They love kickboxing.
21:52They love running.
21:53They love cycling.
21:54It's a passion to them.
21:57It's not a business.
21:59Now, the reason it's an awkward question, Aaron, is because my audience that I target,
22:04we're business people, we're entrepreneurs, we're business people.
22:08So we don't, so this, we would think, ah, Tony, that question doesn't apply to us.
22:12Why are we talking?
22:13But I still want to address it to see what can we learn from it?
22:17Because it's that mindset of this really is a business.
22:23I love, I love doing what I'm doing.
22:27I'll do it every day.
22:28In fact, when I first started my business, I did it without any money because I loved it.
22:32Now, every entrepreneur and business person in the world can, can say, yep, that was me.
22:37Because nobody knocks on the door, not too many, knock on the door and say, hey, here's a million bucks, go be a podcaster.
22:43It just kind of doesn't happen a lot.
22:45So we start with that passion, but we turn it into a business.
22:49The athlete kind of doesn't, but needs to learn it's a business.
22:52So I know I've asked a lot here, but I'm trying to see what can we learn from you on this, on the business mindset of it all?
23:01Yeah.
23:02I mean, for the athlete out there, I mean, something that my grandfather always told me, right?
23:06He would go, and we were talking about this earlier.
23:08If you do something that you love, you never work a day in your life.
23:12But he didn't leave it there, right?
23:14He expanded on it.
23:15He said, when I say that, I'm not saying that you're not going to work hard.
23:18The reality is, is you're probably going to work twice as hard.
23:21You're going to put in more hours.
23:22You're going to be more invested because it's something that you love.
23:26It's something that you enjoy.
23:27You're not waiting to punch the clock and get out of it, right?
23:31So it really stems off that level of passion.
23:34And like you said, like anyone in the motorsports, power sports, action sports world, their life revolves around that sport.
23:41And I always ask this really fun question whenever we do enrollment calls to make sure people are a good fit for our community.
23:50And I go, why is the racing so important to you?
23:56Like, what is it that's just got you so hooked?
23:58And the common through line that we hear over and over again is, well, it's just, I don't know what it is.
24:06It's like therapy for me.
24:08It's like, you know, it's something that brings me presence.
24:12I'm in the now, you know, nothing else matters.
24:14It puts me into flow state.
24:16And it's just this sensation and this feeling that I'm addicted to, right?
24:21Like, I just love it.
24:22And, you know, I think it's like, for those that have never been involved in motorsports or extreme sports in that way, it would be very, it's very similar to the experience that you get through meditation, right?
24:33Through taking time to meditate and be present, right?
24:36So when we get into these conversations and realizing like, hey, this is something that you're going to be doing for the rest of your life.
24:44And they're all saying, yes, of course, I love it.
24:47I'm going to be involved in the industry no matter what.
24:49So doesn't it make sense to build assets along the way, build assets around what you're doing along the way and get paid for it?
25:01And so this way, when it comes to like what we do as an athlete, it's just starting to put on that entrepreneur hat, right?
25:07It's okay.
25:08We know that sponsorship is just simply marketing.
25:11We know that social media, their main intention, the main model that all social media platforms use is how can we make sure people stay on the platform?
25:18So we can serve them ads because that's our business model, right?
25:21So it's taking a page out of their book.
25:24How can we now build a community, build an audience around something that we're so passionate about that we're always going to be doing?
25:29You're not having to put on a fake face or act like somebody you aren't because you're just simply creating content around what you're doing already.
25:36The racing, the riding, the driving, the working on your cars, you know?
25:41And so this way we're focused on the media, the advertising, the marketing aspect of it.
25:46And it creates multiple income streams within this.
25:49Now, the beauty that comes from this is obviously when it comes to setting up an LLC or a business, the number one factor is it needs to have reasonable expectation of profit.
25:58And that's what social media has turned the whole racing community on its head for.
26:04Because now when you build content and create that audience, not only can you get paid just for posting your content because all these platforms have monetization available.
26:13You can get into obviously the sponsorship and cash endorsements, which is an income stream there.
26:18And then our end goal for all of our students that we take through is now you're building this asset.
26:24You're building this audience.
26:26As it grows, maybe you can come up with your own product, your own service, something that you go directly to your audience with.
26:33Because you're literally building this asset that is only going up in value.
26:38It is appreciating every single day.
26:40The price of attention is not going down.
26:43It's going up.
26:43I mean, you look at the statistics from a sponsorship marketing perspective before social media, it used to take on average three to five impressions.
26:53So three to five exposures of a brand to a consumer for them to take a next step consideration by the product, learn more about it, become a lead, whatever.
27:03Because of the advent of social media, especially short form content, short form videos, that that metric has gone up past 30.
27:11So now we're sitting at a place where it takes on average 30 or more exposures or impressions to from a brand to a consumer for them to take a next step consideration.
27:25Right.
27:25So the opportunity is there.
27:28I mean, it's about meeting people where they're at.
27:31You look at the racing, racing community.
27:33Now, if you're just sponsored and you don't have an online presence, it's really hard to drive that ROI because of that simple metric right there.
27:41Where now, if we can start pulling that audience into the social media side and getting them following these accounts and engaging with the content, technically, we can get in front of them 24-7, 365 if we really wanted to.
27:54So the opportunity is online.
27:56The opportunity is about building community, building audience.
28:00Right.
28:01I truly believe the future of social media is going to be very interesting.
28:04I feel like it's starting to segment out.
28:06It's got so big now that it's going to be pocketed with these really tight, different communities.
28:11And those that are leading those communities are going to be reaping in much larger benefits than they already are just by having that audience as they've built so far.
28:21You know, while you were saying this, I started thinking about the entertainment industry.
28:28You know, whatever entertainment you do, let's just take a band, a singer, a music group, what have you.
28:35At some point, you need a manager.
28:37You can't book everything and do all the logistics and do everything yourself.
28:42Tell me one person who's become famous did it all themselves, by themselves.
28:47I mean, really, just aside from Evel Knievel, which back in the day, he ran his own advertisement, but he had a sneaky way of doing it.
28:57But even then, at some point, you still need a manager to book and get sponsors and make the calls and do the work so that you can stay focused on your passion, your music, your athletic prowess, or what have you.
29:11So having a manager at some point, I think, is critical to actually take the next step to grow.
29:19Meanwhile, you're still building your brand.
29:22You're still getting your trophies or your wins or placing high in whatever races you're doing.
29:29But it seems that that is needed to go along with while you're growing.
29:36I mean, it's an appreciating asset, and a manager or a company that can help with that really seems to be the key to growing that even further.
29:46Yeah, I agree.
29:47But I do believe that there's a lot of athletes out there that are trying to skip to that step too early.
29:54And we see that a lot in the industry when it comes to agencies and these types of offers that some people do out there.
30:01I guess if you put it this way, from a business perspective, I think your audience will appreciate this.
30:08I believe the principle of it's super important to understand how to do any little task or piece within your business first so you can manage it and do it on your own.
30:19You don't have to be the best at it, but you need to understand how to get it done, get the outcomes, get the results.
30:24And once you can do that, then you can start to delegate or automate from there.
30:31And I feel like there are a lot of athletes out there that go, I perform well, I just need a manager.
30:37I just need somebody to go find me sponsorship.
30:40The biggest problem that comes with that is now they have no idea how to hold accountability.
30:45They have no idea how to set expectations.
30:49And what can happen, not saying that this happens to everybody, but what can happen is all of a sudden that agency just starts to kind of pull you along, right?
30:57Oh, just one more month or one more month or one more month.
31:00And they keep pushing it down the path, right?
31:02To keep it flowing.
31:04Where our goal is like, how do we empower the individual, the athlete, the enthusiast within the sport so you understand how it all works?
31:12You can do it all on your own.
31:14When you get that dialed in, then you can start to delegate it out.
31:17Maybe it comes to getting a manager or getting somebody to source sponsorship or get somebody to help with, you know, your content and the posting or the editing, you know, these kind of things.
31:27But it's like, start at level one first before you try to skip to like level six, level seven.
31:33Okay, I gotcha.
31:36And you may have answered this.
31:38And I really want to focus in on this.
31:42We are entrepreneurs.
31:43And you very well could have given the answer, but I want to hear it again.
31:48Yeah.
31:48We want to grow in our brand.
31:51We want to grow that.
31:53How do you suggest, how do you think we can grow and strengthen our brand identity today, especially with the explosion of AI and zillions of posts and zillions of social media?
32:06And it's just like a barrage for attention, tremendous distractions.
32:12You could have the best whatever going on, but there's so much more shooting at people.
32:18It's like, how do you strengthen your brand identity?
32:20What do you have to say to that?
32:22Yeah, honestly, it stems off literally the first question that you asked me when we started this podcast.
32:30What's the backstory, right?
32:32What's the origin story?
32:35You know, what's that kind of that brand story within it?
32:38And I think that that's a big piece that a lot of people overlook or they don't put out there enough.
32:44Um, because this is the one thing that makes us unique from anybody else.
32:49We all have a unique story.
32:50We all have unique experiences that led us up to this point to make these certain decisions.
32:55We all have these unique line in the sand moments that made us decide never again, or, you know, I have to go this way.
33:01And, you know, by defining that and getting super clear on that, I think is one of the most valuable pieces that we can do from a brand perspective, because now it's not about like, who has the best product or the cheapest product or anything else is who is, who am I aligned with most?
33:18And that's been something that I found has been super powerful as we've, you know, built the action sports club is like, I built this business to work with people that I'd invite over to my house party kind of thing.
33:30Okay. Like, we all got a bit of a screw loose already for being involved in the sports that we are. So it makes for really good company. And the reason that we attract motorsports, power sports, extreme sports athletes is because that's what we're super clear on with our messaging, right? Everything that we do with our messaging, our targeting, our story that we bring in, the story that we take them through as they, you know, go through our sales process as well.
33:56And, you know, in our enrollment process, it's very story focused. I'm bringing up that origin story. I'm bringing up where it all started, why we're doing this, where we're going as far as the vision.
34:08So I think that's probably one of the most impactful things that a lot of people look over is like, what do you believe in? What do you stand for? Why do you do this? Like, what's the substance behind it? Where's that origin story that ties it in? Because yours is going to be unique compared to everybody else's.
34:22And when it's said, well, it hits and it resonates. This is the same thing that I noticed, even just from a fact, like when I was an affiliate marketer, before I started this business, was I was really good at explaining my why and that story behind it. Any sort of advertising I ran, it was, it was built off of that story.
34:42And even a simple point on this, I wasn't super dialed in with it, but I was passionate about it. And when I explained my story and I shared it, you know, there was people that would, they would connect and they'd be like, I don't know what it is about that Aaron guy, but just something felt right.
35:00And I think that that's a big, big stem to this too, because when you start to tell your story, it's yours, right? And it's something that gives you the, the, I think it's important to give yourself the freedom to like, tell it with passion, explain it, explain why you do this stuff. Why are you so passionate about it and share that and put it out there. Um, that's, that's probably my best answer I could give you.
35:22I like that. And I have my own answer to that too. I talk about it in different interviews when I'm interviewed, but I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm not going to let go. My thumb, my thumb is on this point and I, and I'm going to ask from a different, different way. You're going to, you may think I've asked this before, but here we are. I'm an athlete. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm, I'm a, I'm a band that we we've gotten some really popular music hits out there gigs. We do some really great stuff. We do some, some big shows.
35:52People love us. All right, good. Social media. We, we talk about it. We touched upon it. Let's dive into that. How often should I post? Should I post? Should I talk about why, why I'm in this athlete? Why, why I'm, uh, you know, uh, going, going to base camp for, uh, uh, you know, Mount Everest. Why, uh, why, uh, why I, why I'm doing a thousand Michael, a thousand miles cycling journey. Why, what do I post
36:22about how do I post? How often should I post? And this kind of point of view would help for anybody and everybody who's in business or has anything that they want to brand or sell. Let's talk about posting and what should we shape say? Because there are people that read our posts, whether they like it or not. There's a lot of people that post. If we say what resonates with them. So, so let's kind of dive into, uh, social media. What, what do you think are some good practices to do on that?
36:52For sure. That's, it's a common question of like, how much should I be posting? What kind of frequency should I be working with? And I truly believe in the principle of the more that you put in, the more you're going to get out. And if you can stay consistent with high volume, great. If your consistency could only be once every, you know, week. Great. If it's twice every week, amazing. Three times a week, even better, right? Three times a day, you're crushed.
37:22So it always comes down to the fact of like, I believe the more that you put in, the more you're going to get out and making sure that you can, whatever you do, you're staying consistent with. It's way better to post a post a day for seven days than it is seven posts in day one and nothing for the rest of the, of the week. Right. So consistency. And then whatever you can stake in, um, whatever volume that you can put out, the more, the better. Now, obviously there's always going to be, it's never black and white. There's always going to be a factor in that too.
37:52If it's not, then that's not going to be valuable either. If it's not in alignment, right? You're just posting what you ate for dinner and this and that it's not in alignment with your business, your vision and things that you're doing. So it's taking that as a factor too. Um, I like this, uh, this kind of story that I heard from a mentor of mine.
38:10And I think this will kind of drive that point home. Um, it was a pottery teacher. Okay. So this pottery teacher had two classes and the one class, he looked at that class and he said, your entire goal this semester is to create the perfect pot. Okay. And then he went over to the other class and he said, your number one goal for this entire semester is to create as many pots as you physically can.
38:36And at the end of that semester, not only did the second class produce exponentially more amounts of pots, but their final pots that they were creating were also way better than the first class where they told them to create the best pot.
38:52So there's something to be said in that about flexing that muscle and creating content and getting it out there, whether it's just documenting, you know, or telling these stories or, or getting things flowing.
39:04It's the repetition is the mother of all skill, right? So getting it flowing is going to make you better at your content, make it resonate better with your audience, make it so you can get feedback, right?
39:14The more, more stuff you put out, the more feedback you get, and you can course correct on how you create your content too.
39:20So it's, it's a tough question to say, like, you need to post X amount of times per week. I don't think that there really is a true answer to that.
39:28You know, so that's how I'd answer that question. The other part of like, what should we be posting? This goes off that saying, it's an old saying in the marketing world, you've probably heard this many times, it goes, facts tell, stories sell.
39:42And we can look at that idea of selling of people. We're selling them to consume our content. We're selling them to engage with it. We're selling them to like it, comment on it, share it. Right? So it's, it's about that.
40:00Why? It's about telling story through what you're doing. It's not about making a post of like, say for a racer, got first place in the race last weekend, and it's an image and that's all they got. Versus what if they told a little story in that description? Right? There's a character in a story, there's a set and setting, there's a conflict, and there's a resolution.
40:23We can keep stories super simple, and they can be told literally in one sentence. So if we just focus on when we're creating this content, how can we tell a story within it? And it's that emotional engagement, it's what it has people buy into it to read it and engage with it. And then if you have a product or service that you're offering, then it allows you to give that call to action at the end. Right? So I think that's a big focus is just remembering the facts, tell, story, sell thing. It's about features versus benefits as well. Right?
40:51If it comes to promoting or marketing a product. We want to talk about the benefits involved in it, the emotional side of it, not the logical side of it, the factual stuff or the features, if that makes sense.
41:04It does. It gave me an aha moment of looking at storytelling when you said it could even be one good sentence. Because you don't want to write this whole book all the other day I was walking down the street and dot, dot, dot, and I met this person and dot, dot, dot, and it was like, forget about it.
41:24But the fact that you can make it really, really short gave me, gave me an idea. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to apply that on my post and see, and see how, what kind of reaction that gets.
41:36I have a couple more questions and we're just, is like, so to me, it's invigorating because I'm always learning and I'm asking you from the point of view, I'm asking to learn for my own business as well as to help my audience learn for whatever they do.
41:52And I want to talk very quickly about business setup, getting, getting, understanding our tax strategy for people that don't, may not have that in place. I want to touch upon that. And then, and then I want to talk about your community before we go for sure.
42:07So what can we say, what, what would you, what advice would you give us about setting up our business, making sure we have the right tax strategy and really making sure that's, that's properly in place?
42:20Cause some of us think we could, we can get it from just, you know, typing into AI what to do, but it may not necessarily be the best thing for us.
42:28For sure. So, you know, I'll, I'll kind of lead with this, that I'm not a tax professional. This is not legal or tax advice. You know, we actually have a team of business and tax strategy experts that we get everybody connected with that goes through our coaching, just to make sure that they're in the best hands and they have something that's specific and custom to their needs.
42:46Um, but you know, with that being said, if we look at like our common, um, uh, client that we bring in the athlete, the individual athlete that rides or races, um, and works a nine to five currently. Okay. Um, one of the big things that we look at is for example, if they're earning or if they're spending, you know, around $10,000 or more per year into their sport, which is super common in the motor sports world.
43:13You know, it's usually anywhere from 10,000 upwards to half a million plus per year. So if you're spending at least 10 grand a year or more on the sport, the travel, the entry fees, you know, your equipment, you know, fuel, you know, vehicle costs, all these factors in then get a business structured and set up now before social media and before we really cracked this code open with, with how to leverage the social media world, you couldn't do this because now you're trying to set up a business around what they would consider a hobby.
43:42There's no reasonable expectation for profit in the racing world, unless you are that number one athlete and you're racing in the big leagues and you're winning purse money, right? Which is again, small percentage of people.
43:53So when it comes to what we teach, it's now you're building this audience and community through social media. So it's media marketing. Okay. That's what we're doing. Our entire intent is to build an audience so we can monetize that attention via sponsorship, content monetization and beyond.
44:08So when it comes to the structure, typically it's a, an LLC structure, um, and making sure that you have high enough expenses that it makes sense. And then from there, just making sure that you're building your social media correctly. So you can get it approved for monetization and you actually have the skillset and understanding on how to engage a brand for, for sponsorship.
44:27I gotcha makes sense. It's great that you address that, that you look at that and that you, you help your members, your community go to the right experts to help give them better, help better address it, help and better take care of that. So that's very good. And now let's go into your community. Let's tell, tell us about your community. What, what is it? What's it like? What, what would we do if we join? Give us the lowdown.
44:54Lowdown. Yeah. So, I mean, our community is a bunch of motorheads for the most part, like I was saying earlier, we all got a bit of a screw loose for what we do. Um, but it's a really cool supportive community. I mean, there's, there's been something about the racing community that I've seen as a through line through all sports. You know, obviously I grew up racing snowmobiles, like snow cross professionally and, and motocross. I was amateur at best. And we seen this when we raced, it was like, you go to the races, the camaraderie that
45:24was involved there. You know, we would call it our race family, right? You could not see them for an entire season and then see them at the first race of the season. And it's like, you picked up, like nothing was, nothing was missing. Right. So that's really what our community is like. It's that camaraderie. It's that family. You know, it's people that have the same passion as you and they're looking to, or creating, you know, amazing things in the industry by building audience and creating content and sharing the stoke with each other.
45:52So really cool vibe on that side. Um, as far as getting involved in our community, I mean, we have a few ways that you can go through it. We actually, uh, we launched our, uh, our book, um, in June, it became a number one international bestseller in, I believe, 25 categories. I think, I think it was top five in 32, which is pretty cool. We had over 3000, uh, copies delivered within the first month of launch. Um, but grabbing a copy of that, it's available on Amazon.
46:22Amazon, uh, the modern playbook for sponsorship and cashflow. Uh, or you can come directly to us. And all we ask is you cover the shipping and handling costs. So you save a few bucks and get some different access there, which is the actionsportsclub.com forward slash free book. Um, but inside of that book, we literally have a QR code. You can scan that, set up a time with our team, get a complimentary game plan call, get plugged into the community and get access there too.
46:46Two big questions. One, if we go to your website, can we find that URL to get that free book and pay shipping? Is it, it's, it's connected?
46:56Yes, it's connected. Okay. Number two, is your, is your community only for people that are in motor sports?
47:04Great question. So we focus on, uh, when we say action sports, that's our umbrella. So it's extreme sports, motor sports, power sports, um, with a very specific way of saying it, you should be wearing a helmet to perform the sport. And I like to say, have a, have a, yeah. And have a metaphorical, you know, set of balls to do it. You know, like it's, it's like the extreme stuff. So that's, that's what we focus on in our community.
47:34Um, just to keep it tight knit in that way. But of course, you know, through our book and the things that we teach the principles within there, um, they apply to all, all sports, all industries. The principles are all the same, right?
47:46We just go ahead. If I'm in martial arts, I'm an archer. I'm a, I'm a shooting enthusiast. Uh, I, I, I, I race that's foot race without a helmet. This still has a lot of information that I can use or, or, or think with to help improve my business side. I have my passion and this would be the business side.
48:10A hundred percent. Yeah. All the principles apply. Um, what we do is we, we then translate that through the motor sports world, but all the principles are all there. I mean, even, you know, we just, uh, actually got a student enrolled before we jumped on with you today. Um, and all of our principles apply. He's, he has a rental business for UTVs and ATVs, you know, out in the desert.
48:32So, you know, he has a goal of, of getting into building his own race team as well, but we're taking them through to not only apply all these principles for his business, because it's within our niche that we like to focus on. And then he's going to take all those principles as he, you know, increases his revenue with his business and then apply it to his personal brand as he gets into the racing.
48:51So there's a lot here that we've talked about that applies to, to just about any sport. I mean, you know, whether yeah, any, any non helmet sport, absolutely. Very good stuff. I really appreciate it. Once again, this is Aaron Frazier. We talked about brand leverage, how you can turn your influence, how you can grow your influence and turn that into income and partnerships.
49:15And turn your partnerships into, into, into a thriving base that helps support your business. So I love it. Go to the actionsportsclub.com. Check out his link there. Get his book. Really appreciate it, Aaron. I just want to thank you. I learned some things. I got my aha moment out of this. I scored. I want to thank you so much.
49:38No, thank you so much for hosting this too. This was great.
49:42Wonderful. Wonderful. Great to have you on. I love it.
49:44All right. Well, there you go, guys. If you like this, do me a favor, do Aaron a favor, do all of us a favor, share this with your friends. Tell them about Aaron. Tell them about the action sports and the playbook and kind of a little bit of how it goes.
49:59If the person is in any kind of business, in any kind of business with passion of any kind, just about everybody on earth, right? Tell them about Aaron, what he's been through, what he's accomplished.
50:11And perhaps this can help motivate, stimulate, or help take this person to another level. Because that's what this show is all about. It's help take you up another level, another notch.
50:22Okay. And wherever you're getting this, you know, this, please follow the show. It helps to bring more amazing guests to you. All right, let's use this and let's help you move on your journey to success.
50:34Thanks. And remember, just take action. Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds. And I'll see you on the next episode.
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