Athlete CEO

We’ve all been there – taking the field at the big game, stepping into the boardroom for an important meeting, coming home after a long day to rambunctious kids who demand your attention, or heading in for the massive exam.

It can be easy to get overwhelmed and shut down, to lose focus, to have 10,000 thoughts suddenly racing through your head that draw your attention away. 

How do you push past these mental hurdles? How can you be wholly present and focused on your intended results? 

In our Peak Performance episodes, Erik Averill, co-founder of AWM Capital, is joined by Josiah Igono, our resident PhD of Performance Psychology and founder of All Things Performance, to focus on helping you develop the greatest impact on your net worth: your human capital.

In the last episode, Josiah shared the skills and habits that are foundational for reaching our performance goals. This week, we drill down on focal points. Erik and Josiah discuss what focal points are and how to set them to achieve high performance at work, on the field, and at home.

Episode Highlights

• Focusing on focal points (00:28)
• Defining focal points (1:08)
• “A focal point is somewhere in the performance field whereby I can just anchor my thoughts and I can just take those 10 to 50,000 thoughts that are racing through my mind and calm it down and zero in on what I'm about to do next.” – Josiah Igono
• Find, Attach, Attack (1:41)
• Applying focal points for professional athletes (2:52)
• High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard
• Battling mental fogginess and finding clarity with focal points (3:55)
• How focal points lengthens the space for your responses (5:55)
• “Between stimulus and response, there is a space, and in that space is our ability to choose, and in our choice lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor Frankl
• Setting intention at home through focal points (7:06)
• “But when you have these focal points and some of these mental skills in place, what it does, it actually allows you to have control. Time is not leading me, I'm telling time where to go.” – Josiah Igono (9:25)
• Existing vs Flourishing (9:58)
• “We’re not created to just exist, we’re created to flourish” – Erik Averill (10:39)

Listen and Subscribe to the Athlete CEO podcast with Brandon and Erik Averill from AWM Capital on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

For more information visit: www.athleteceo.com

At AWM Capital, we believe that the greatest driver of your net worth is your human capital. So much hinges on your ability to perform – on the field or in the board room – over the course of your career, so it’s pivotal to continually work on improving your mental and physical game.

When it comes to performance coaching, Josiah Igono is one of the best. Having most recently left his position as Director of Peak Performance for the Texas Rangers to focus on building his own business, All Things Performance, Josiah will be joining us every other episode to share the most important Peak Performance resources available to improve your ability to grow and perform.

This week, Josiah and AWM co-founder Erik Averill discuss performance versus life hacking, defining your goals, and the 3 keys to mental performance.

Key Topics Discussed: 

• Josiah’s background in performance at Arizona State and then the Texas Rangers (00:40)
• How to define “performance” (1:10)
• “Performance boils down to the execution of a specific task or function” -Josiah Igono
• Life Hacking vs Developing Mental Performance (2:14)
• “The work itself is my reward” -Josiah Igono
• “Hacks are not a long-term solution for success.” -Josiah Igono
• Do you have a plan? (4:39)
• The 3 keys to mental performance (6:31)
• Implementing the 3 keys (8:33)
• What are your goals? (9:39)

1:50

GoWild is not just a “Facebook” for Outdoorsman.

“If you post a hunting adventure [on social media], you can get trolled you can get death threats...it’s crazy. We wanted to build something that catered to this audience in ways that social media just didn’t.”

10:00

Moving from the marketing side of business to the founder side can be difficult, what led Brad Luttrell to where he is today?

17:06

Is there anything that Brad can remember from his past that was really helpful to get him to where he is today?

23:15

Brad Luttrell: “I’ve come to realize, and I really believe, that this is not about as much 'it’s worth more,' - it’s more about 'I have more work to do.'”

25:35

What advice would Brad Luttrell give to someone who is building a company or product trying to keep the client in mind?

Brad Luttrell: “Talk to them. Too many people build products for somebody that they have never really talked to.”

31:00

What is it like to have co-founders?

37:03

As a CEO of a fast growing company, how does Brad Luttrell prioritize objectives while also letting his people do what they need to do?

44:49

Brad talks about Raise 'Em Outdoors, a nonprofit camp that GoWild donates 1% of their profits to. Raising My Doors is a camp that teaches kids how to safely hunt, fish, and shoot. 

54:44

Brad Luttrell: “Am I gonna be sad if I don’t do this anymore?...You can add a lot of value into your life at 15-20 minutes a day, or you can waste a whole lot of it.”

Listen and Subscribe to the Athlete CEO podcast with Brandon and Erik Averill from AWM Capital on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

For more information visit: www.athleteceo.com

Athlete CEO Podcast  

Optimizing Your Human Potential

Joe Schmidt Ep. 4

Guest: Joe Schmidt, Former Notre Dame football captain, investor in Excel, a venture capital firm and he now runs strategy, sales and partnerships for Ethos Life.

Twitter @joeschmidtiv  

On the fourth and final part of our interview with Joe Schmidt we discuss how Joe puts his high athletic performance into his real life, the four pillars that Joe has broken his life into, and the greatest advice he’s gotten from a mentor. 

4:02

What cultivated Joe Schmidt’s intense desire for learning and has he always been a lifelong learner?

“This isn't the dress rehearsal, this is the show. We got one shot as humans in one lifetime.”

5:12

What are Joe Schmidt’s go to resources and does he have a specific approach to how he goes about learning?

Joe finds it’s better to be malleable in the things you seek to learn about. He doesn’t read the same newspapers or magazines or blogs every day, but he comes upon different topics he’s passionate about and gains a deeper understanding of those topics.

7:20

As former elite athletes, one of the things they believe in is high performance, and they believe that high performance should go far beyond the field. How does Joe Schmidt approach his life outside of work and how does he optimize all aspects of his life?

Joe has Four Core Pillars: Athletic or health, academic or professional goals, spiritual and social. 

“If any of those core pillars goes to zero, the entire value of the equation goes to zero.”

11:19

Who are some mentors in Joe’s life? One of the most important takeaways from a mentor in Joe Schmidt’s life is the idea of Galileo’s Theory of Relativity. 

14:20

What has Joe learned in this time of COVID and how has his life shifted?

Listen and Subscribe to the Athlete CEO podcast with Brandon and Erik Averill from AWM Capital on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

For more information visit: www.athleteceo.com

Athlete CEO Podcast  

15 Minutes and a Cup of Coffee

Joe Schmidt Ep. 3

Guest: Joe Schmidt, Former Notre Dame football captain, investor in Excel, a venture capital firm and he now runs strategy, sales and partnerships for Ethos Life.

Twitter @joeschmidtiv  

1:47

Brandon Averill on building up your network through Joe Schmidt’s advice by asking for 15 minutes and a cup of coffee. FInd people, meet them and build your network.

2:57

You don’t always know where your next opportunity is going to come from, but you got to play to win. 

4:05

What advice would you give to founders looking for capital and how do you give a good pitch from the founders prospective?

Joe Schmidt: “You’ve got to recognize what you are doing in these meetings. You’re selling yourself, your co-founder, and the dream.

6:37

Joe Schmidt quotes an African Proverb, “If you wanna go quickly, go alone. If you wanna go far, go together.”

10:50

His approach to investment has more to do with the people than anything else.

Joe Schmidt: “I’m gonna go out there and meet as many people as possible. Not interviewing, just meet people and learn.”

14:10 

Joe Schmidt: You’re not asking for anything other than 15 mins of coffee”

Do not go around begging for a shot or interviews, just ask someone for a small amount of their time to learn from them.

Listen and Subscribe to the Athlete CEO podcast with Brandon and Erik Averill from AWM Capital on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

For more information visit: www.athleteceo.com

Athlete CEO Podcast  

Venture Capital and the 99.9%

Joe Schmidt Ep. 2

Guest: Joe Schmidt, Former Notre Dame football captain, investor in Excel, a venture capital firm and he now runs strategy, sales and partnerships for Ethos Life.

Twitter @joeschmidtiv  

1:51

Brandon Averill on AWM Capital and how their approach to investment mirrors that of Accel Ventures, which is focused on long time outcomes. The deal flow that pro athletes might see has already been picked over by professional investors.

3:07

Erik Averill on one of the most important mistakes pro athletes and others make when it comes to venture capital investments, which is understanding the terms and the implication of those terms. Getting access to certain funds or opportunities is great, but the terms of those deals is extremely important in the investment outcome.

4:05

Venture capital investments do not make sense for 99.9% of people.

4:46

Joe Schmidt on getting a deal across the finish line: Accel will look at 10,000 or so companies and only invest in around 10 over the course of the year. 

Joe Schmidt: “It’s like the old Ted Williams quote, the master of waiting for his pitch, that’s kind of how you’ve got to be as an investor, you’ve just got to wait for the right pitch to cross the plate.”

6:20

Why Venture Capital Investment is not for 99.9% of pro athletes and/or other investors.

 Joe Schmidt: “I listened to a very, very well known player in the NFL stand in front of an entire group once and give the advice that you need to know your financial advisor’s name. The amount of  insanity that’s happening around athletes…”  

8:41

It’s very difficult to do investment the right way. It’s important for everyone to realize that even if you’ve made money playing pro sports or as a founder or CEO, you might know your industry well, but find people you trust to help navigate important decisions that take a lot of careful consideration.

Listen and Subscribe to the Athlete CEO podcast with Brandon and Erik Averill from AWM Capital on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

For more information visit: www.athleteceo.com

Athlete CEO Podcast  

Skin in the Game 

Guest: Joe Schmidt, Former Notre Dame football captain, investor in Accel, a venture capital firm and he now runs strategy, sales and partnerships for Ethos Life.

Twitter @joeschmidtiv 

2:01

Brandon Averill on Ethos Life disrupting the life insurance model and the need for disruption in the insurance industry.

2:58

Erik Averill on the transition for Joe on moving from being an investor to an operator within a company and how much skin in the game changes the approach.

4:20

Similar to working with consultants, you can only learn so much as an investor in a company. 

5:20

What exactly is Ethos, and what exactly are you doing there?  

Ethos LIfe is a next generation life insurance company that flips the archaic way of buying and selling life insurance on its head. There is a massive coverage gap with people who should have life insurance, but don’t because the process is so archaic. The goal of Ethos is to help and protect the next million families looking for life insurance.

7:00

The reason Ethos Life is attacking the life insurance market is to flip the current archaic model.

Joe Schmidt: “When it comes to life insurance, you have these companies and distribution models that really have not changed in 150 to sometimes close to 200 years.

11:10

What are the differences between the investing side of business and the operating side of business, and what are some of the challenges that Joe faces?

13:45

How did Joe Schmidt end up at Accel and how did being an athlete work in his favor?

Listen and Subscribe to the Athlete CEO podcast with Brandon and Erik Averill from AWM Capital on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

For more information visit: https://awmcap.com/

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Athlete CEO with Erik Averill and Brandon Averill

Separators of Success

Guest: Craig Domann

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

Website: https://360sportsrep.com/about-360/

Podcast: https://www.promindsetpodcast.com/

3:00

There are seven key ingredients that someone needs to be successful:

• Believe in yourself
• You need passion for what your sport
• There needs to be a motivational factor
• Outstanding habits
• Hard working
• Lifestyle must be consistent with your dream
• Competitive performance 

6:15

What are good habits, and how does someone modify them if they do not have good ones?

11:51

How do you change your identity, and how do you go about changing the way you think about your life?

19:09

The most important thing for a player to decide when retiring is to determine what their passion is after they are done playing professional sports.

36:57

If you did not have 30/40 minutes to have a conversation with someone, say you only had a few minutes to leave an impact, what advice would you give to a young NFL player?

37:29

Craig Dowman: “Be all in. Have no regrets. This is it. Nothing is promised after this season.”

Listen and Subscribe to the Athlete CEO podcast with Brandon and Erik Averill from AWM Capital on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

For more information visit: https://awmcap.com/

Investing in Tik Tok US? 

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Investment in Tik Tok US is starting to make headlines; Erik, Brandon and Justin give you The Average Joes vs. Pros on Tik Tok impact in public + private markets.

:40 - 1:16

Apple’s app store charges are back in the news.  Spotify, Fortnight’s Epic Games and Tinder have all partnered with the non-profit coalition called the Coalition of App Fairness to bring legal action against Apple to see if they can bring down their charges.

1:34 - 2:50

The latest legal standing for Tik Tok in the United States. President Trump being asked to defend his status on Tik Tok to a US District Court. 

3:02 - 5:30

Average Joe’s vs. Pros:

What does the Tik Tok news mean for investors? Should you go buy Oracle and Walmart stock with their investment to Tik Tok US?

5:31 - 8:28

What does the Tik Tok news mean for the private markets?

8:42

Recapping the news on Tik Tok and the impact it will have on the public and private markets.

Judge says U.S. must defend or delay TikTok app store ban by Friday

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