Podcast appearances and mentions of stephen bienko

Welcome to episode 234 of Sports Management Podcast. College sports has changed forever. NIL is here, brands are everywhere, and student athletes are now entrepreneurs whether they like it or not. But are they actually prepared? Today I'm joined by Stephen Bienko, co-founder of 42U, former dual-sport athlete and life coach. We dive into: NIL Athlete identity Branding Why passion alone won't prepare athletes for life after sport. And much more!  SPONSOR: Listeners of the Sports Management Podcast get an exclusive 20% off on SportsPro+ with the code SMPOD20. All you need to do is head to sportspro.com/membership and start exploring today. 00:00 Intro 00:28 What 42U Is Building in the NIL Era 02:03 Transferable Skills Beyond "Hardworking Athlete" 05:16 Athlete Identity & Overthinking Performance 08:45 NIL Should Have Existed Years Ago 10:35 Soft Skills vs Hard Skills in the AI Era 12:18 Why Identity Impacts Performance 14:21 Why Athletes Are Underprepared for NIL 17:37 Why Most NIL Partnerships Fail 20:33 Brand First, Deals Second 23:41 The Power of Athlete IP & Social Media 29:31 The Future of NIL and High School Athletes 32:59 Putting "Butts in Seats" Through Athlete Brands 39:44 The Decathlete Mindset in Business 49:18 Why Now Is the Best Time to Enter Sports 55:00 Outro Follow Sports Management Podcast on social media Instagram Twitter LinkedIn YouTube www.sportsmanagementpodcast.com  

My venture into franchising with College Hunks Hauling Junk began in a bit of an odd way. I was watching a reality TV show and the founders were on the show. When I saw them the show a lightbulb went off related to another conversation I had with a Starbucks barista. The barista was a college graduate but had chosen to work at Starbucks because she liked the lifestyle better than her field of study. I picked up the phone and called College Hunks and one of the founders answered. After some discussion, I joined as a franchise owner because I saw a massive opportunity to provide people with jobs that didn't require them to sit behind a desk and made an impact in people's lives.  After exiting College Hunks, I got involved in Fownders, which was founded by Gerard Adams because the mission resonated with me. Fownders is a start-up accelerator focused on building an entrepreneurial ecosystem for the disadvantaged in urban markets. When you develop a product, often the most successful products solve a need or pain point. When you work with people from disadvantaged backgrounds they often have vast experience with both tangible needs and pain points. So we launched in New Jersey where Gerard and I lived to make an impact in our local community and beyond. Each quarter we would bring in a cohort of 12 companies to establish a presence and hopefully expand operations after the program.    Social media has been an industry I've kept my eye on for years and when I finally saw my mother using social media I knew it had reached the impact level needed for small businesses to leverage. However, being a small business owner myself for years, I realized social media marketing was not the best use of the business owner's time. Rather, they should be focused on their customers and the product or service they offered to solve a problem. We launched 42 Growth Strategies to help small businesses reach their desired audience while they maintain their focus on the customer.  Sports have always been a part of my life and if I could advise the parents out there. Sports is one of the greatest ways to teach the necessary disciplines that lead to success in business and life. When your kids are involved in the right programs they help form the building blocks for many of life's most important lessons. Sports can teach you how to work with others, the value of hard work, and how to deal with failure. I failed all the time in sports and when you have great coaches they are always pushing you to become the best version of yourself. Even if your child doesn't excel to the level of earning scholarships, sports still opens the door to other opportunities.   Resources Shared: 42 Growth StrategiesCollege HUNKS Hauling Junk & MovingEat The Frog FitnessThryv Connect Conference

This Week’s Guest: Nestor Velez First of all, if you haven’t listened to episode 27, you should! It explains what we’re doing this month with Fownders Month and gives you a chance to learn more about our collaboration with Fownders. You’ll also hear about the schedule and who we’ll be interviewing each week. You can also find out more on our website. This is the third of our four Fownders episodes, and we can hardly believe the month is almost over already! You’ve heard from the Fownders leaders. Now, it’s time to hear from the startups! In this episode, we hear from Nestor Velez, the CEO and founder of SanoMind. This platform connects people with mental health-related audio content at a fraction of the cost of therapy. It’s such a hit that if you’ve listened to our previous Fownders episodes closely, you’ll remember hearing about it from both Toby Dattolo and Stephen Bienko. As we learn in the episode, Nestor was born and raised in New York City but has recently moved to New Jersey. He grew up with anxiety and depression, and in fact tried to commit suicide, which ultimately led to the creation of SanoMind. As he openly shares his experiences and journey, it becomes brilliantly clear how invaluable SanoMind will be. For the shownotes; http://stageonestartup.com/ep030

This Week’s Guest: Stephen Bienko - CEO Fownders First of all, if you haven’t listened to episode 27, you should! It explains what we’re doing this month with Fownders Month and gives you a chance to learn more about our collaboration with Fownders. You’ll also hear about the schedule and who we’ll be interviewing each week. You can also find out more on our website. Now, let’s chat about today’s Fownders guest! Stephen Bienko is the CEO of Fownders, as well as the head track and field coach at Newark Academy, a nationally ranked prep school in New Jersey. His journey from stage one to success has been a complete rollercoaster, and, as a result, he has some incredible insight to share. Stephen was the president of 42 Holdings, which was the largest franchise owner of College Hunks Hauling Junk (which he’ll discuss in more depth in this episode). He spent a decade in sports marketing and athletic management, including having worked with marketing for an Olympic gold medalist. As you can see, he’s experienced in many realms, and brings quite a bit to the table for Fownders -- and for this interview! For Full Show Notes; http://stageonestartup.com/ep029

Stephen Bienko and i have known each other since grammar school. He was one of the top decathletes in HS and college, played football in college and learned amazing things along the way that have helped him to become one of the most successful entrepreneurs I know. Steve's expertise is starting businesses, getting the capital and executing. His franchises that he owns of College Hunks Hauling Junk have had wild success and are the top selling franchises in his company. You will learn amazing startup success and business execution from Stephen. Stephen discusses his sure fire tips and philosophy for hiring the right people for your company and how to get the most out of them.

Stephen Bienko and i have known each other since grammar school. He was one of the top decathletes in HS and college, played football in college and learned amazing things along the way that have helped him to become one of the most successful entrepreneurs I know. Steve's expertise is starting businesses, getting the capital and executing. His franchises that he owns of College Hunks Hauling Junk have had wild success and are the top selling franchises in his company. You will learn amazing startup success and business execution from Stephen. Enjoy this podcast! Thanks for being a special guest...go to to https://acorns.com/invite/T4FDX8 to claim $5 as your first investment. Acorns provides micro investing that anyone can do and get extra cash from their every day lives. Also as a special guest please go to www.nfldraftbible.com and put in code Draft2016 for 30 days free membership to the largest independent authority on THE NFL AND THE NFL DRAFT. visit Dave Schuman @nucfootball on twitter