Why Great Leaders Build Great Teams with Former NFL Quarterback Brett Hundley Jr.

From NFL stadiums to building successful businesses, Brett Hundley proves that leadership doesn't end when the game is over.

In this episode of Built to Grow, Ryan Naylor sits down with former NFL quarterback Brett Hundley to discuss the mindset that helped him succeed at the highest level of football—and how those same principles are driving his success as an entrepreneur today.

After spending eight seasons in the NFL alongside legendary quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, and Carson Wentz, Brett has transitioned into business ownership, building a thriving commercial cleaning company, a real estate development business, and the Brett Hundley Foundation, which has raised more than $1 million to support children and families affected by epilepsy.

Ryan and Brett dive into what separates great leaders from average ones, why building the right team matters more than having all the answers, and how entrepreneurs can create cultures where people thrive. Brett also shares the hiring philosophy that's helped him scale multiple companies, why communication is the foundation of every successful organization, and how embracing challenges has fueled his growth as a business owner.

The conversation also explores Brett's personal mission behind his nonprofit foundation, inspired by his sister's battle with epilepsy, and why impact—not income—is ultimately how he measures success.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, business owner, leader, athlete, or someone looking to build a winning team, this episode is packed with practical leadership lessons you can apply immediately.

In this episode you'll learn:

•  Why consistency is the foundation of great leadership 
•  How sports prepare entrepreneurs for business ownership 
•  Brett's approach to hiring A-players and building strong company culture 
•  Why communication solves most business problems 
•  Lessons learned from starting businesses from scratch 
•  How to overcome setbacks and embrace entrepreneurial risk 
•  Why purpose is the ultimate competitive advantage 
•  The inspiring story behind the Brett Hundley Foundation 

If you're looking to become a stronger leader, build a better team, and create a business that lasts, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey, I am here with an incredible special guest. I got Brent Hudley, the former UCLA, NFL quarterback that has got a tremendous amount of experience on the field. But this is a podcast where we talk about business, we talk about leadership, we talk about stuff off the field. So we're gonna draw from that perspective. So Brett, I want to jump in to a question and specifically talk about kind of leadership because you were a leader, you were a captain, and you had a lot of experience. But maybe you could jump right in and talk about what is one leadership lesson you learned in the locker room that still applies to your life and business today.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

It's a beautiful thing that I've realized now being out of the game, but a lot of the things that I learned in football growing up that I thought just were in the locker room, you know, translate to business now, running it and stuff. The biggest thing that always sticks out to me as a leadership quality is like just staying true to like who you are and what you stand for. And that's the ups and more importantly, the downs. Um, I think we talk about consistency a lot in the NFL and as a leader of leading men, leading locker rooms as a quarterback. Uh, one of the things I've always always tried to stick to, and you know, it was taught to me growing up, but like I learned this from the guys ahead of me. I learned this when I was with Aaron Rodgers for three years, like with Russell Wilson for a year, with all these greats. The one thing that I really take away, especially trying being a leader or being in that position of a leader, is staying consistent, and that's day in and day out. You can have a losing season, you can have a uh a loss, but the way you prepare is the same every single week, and it doesn't change. And like that's the stuff also that I love to now speak on that translates extremely well to business life. Those are a lot of the things that I just try to hang my hat on. And then whether that's leading the foundation, whether that's leading, you know, the companies, real estate, commercial cleaning, how I hire, like it all comes together, and that's also a big play into the culture of how things are built. So there's a lot of things that cross over with uh sports and business. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

I I've seen some incredible success stories of people coming out of whether you know, they didn't have to be in professional sports or even collegiate sports, but just being on a team and being part of a locker room and the leadership and learning kind of how to go through kind of a war together. Yeah, right. And as you put it, there's there's ups, there's downs, but knowing how to prepare yourself is really kind of the difference in success in the post sports world, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Yes. Oh my gosh. The one good thing about sports is it teaches you how to prepare, and you know, again, you learn from those in front of you, but like once you're in business, it is the exact same. Like I, you know, getting started in real estate, getting started in commercial cleaning, all this stuff. Did I have any experience in this? Absolutely not. And it's almost like the Will Smith saying, like, if we're both on a treadmill, I'm gonna die before I let you beat me. Like I love that. But that's that's that's the approach, and it's like, you know, okay, now I'm in real estate, and I might be behind the eight ball if you know I'm looking at somebody who's been in this for 20 years. But my approach is okay, I take the same exact thing what I've been doing that got me to the NFL, to the highest peak, and then I apply it now to business. And yeah, it might take me a little bit to get going. Once I start putting the pieces together, I know I can learn fast, I know I can operate, I know I can execute, I know I can manage a team, I know I can bring it all together, and you know, we all get on the same goal. Those are the things that sort of just come natural, especially when you've been playing sports. So then once you get into a team atmosphere of business or creating a company and then seeing it grow, easier transition for myself also brings me a lot of passion. I think you know, I I'm a big believer in like, you know, doing what you love, waking up every morning with an excitement. You know, I wake up every morning and I love what I'm doing outside of football now. And I never would have thought I would be in this position, but like I truly wake up with an excitement every day. I get to work with my wife who's a realtor, my mom who's a designer, and everybody else I work with. And like I have good relationships with everybody I work with, and that stems the same to the locker room mentality. Like a lot of the guys who are in there, I still have relationships with. I still talk to, even you know, like Marcus Wheaton. You know, I know uh we grew up together playing high school sports and same mindset mentality, play together. He does landscaping, and I build home. Like we can work together on these things, so it's like cool to see it all come together and uh to where where things are at today.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

That's fantastic. I want to transition, you know, I want to talk about that business side and like how you see yourself growing your business and you that work ethic. But for those that don't know your journey, let's just talk through just a little bit to give some context. So, just for a little backstory. So, Brett was big-time Arizona native, played football in in Chandler, Arizona. I live in Arizona, our offices are in Chandler now, and was able to get to UCLA and have some incredible success. You guys had a serious run there, and you've kind of been kind of the the laughing school in LA for a little bit, and then all of a sudden Brett showed up to town and you guys took it to the Trojans and some others. But tell us a little bit about that experience in college and and going from high school to college and kind of where your nerves were and and how you built yourself up with uh I think it was Coach Mora, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yep, Jim Mora, um junior. The same I would say for every athlete. Like it's not perfect. You know, I I thought, hey, I'm gonna be a first-round pick, I'm gonna go this, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna win the national championship. Like it's an up and down, but you're still going to where you you're trying to get to. And uh for myself, for everybody that knows, you know, born and raised out here in Arizona, went to Chandler High School and uh was around some great athletes at Chandler High School. Went to UCLA and retroed in my first year, and then after that, became the starter of my retro freshman year when Jim Moore came in. Rick Newhouser was my coach right before that in my retro year. Jim Moore Jr. came in with uh Noel Mazzoni, who was my offensive coordinator. He came from ASU. And man, what a journey. I had a great run at UCLA. I I like to uh say I never lost to USC. Yeah, I like to stick it to him in that uh we had never lost USC. Really, USC was the team running the California till yeah, uh our run. And we never lost in those three years. We finished top ten in the country once. We had two 10-win seasons. It was a dream come true, man. And uh then was able to get drafted and then play in the league for eight years, and that's a whole nother journey, too, because I was able to play around some greats and got drafted behind Aaron Rodgers, played as his backup and learned from him for three years. Got traded to Seattle, played with Russell as his backup for a year. Then when Kyler Murray got drafted to Arizona, I was able to come home to the Cardinals, played here for two years as his backup, played with Carson Wentz in Indianapolis for a year, and then finished my career with Lamar in Baltimore. It's awesome to be able to stand here now because, truthfully, very, very honest speaking, you couldn't have asked me maybe back then when I was getting going in the NFL or even college, like what I was gonna do after football. Like, I I had no idea. Um never never thought about it. To be able to be on podcasts like this, speaking on the transition and the culture and business and it just everything, man. I've had a great journey in football. I am so grateful, you know. I was able to leave. Um, you know, I wanted to play 10 years. I got eight, regardless of everything that happened. I'm so grateful for my time. Just turned 33, man, so still got a world uh uh ahead of me and uh and just excited, man, uh for for where things are at and uh where things are going.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

That's fantastic. Well, let's let's talk about kind of let's transition in and talk a little bit about what you got going on today, what you've been working on, and kind of some of your leadership tactics to approach it. So tell us about the football Brett Huntley today. What's life post-football?

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Thankfully, man, in my transition when I was towards the near tail end of my career, I sort of fell into a couple things. I had bought a couple properties when I was in Arizona, started a management company. And like again, where I'm at today, it's such a microcosm of like just getting started and jumping into things. Uh today, right now, I I own a commercial cleaner, a cleaning company. We do a bunch of post-construction janitorial work all around Arizona for Greg Cardone to Chevy dealerships to salad and go nationwide. Um, we do power washing as well. So that has grown uh tremendously, and uh we employ over 25 people. I have a development company called Streams Developments, and then just streams for short, but started in the new builds uh back in COVID and then got into higher uh uh redevelopments, sort of like the one, two million dollar exit points, and then have gotten into lower end flips in the four to eight hundred thousand range, and uh have been really pushing those really, really strong. And then also on the backside, I have my passion project, my foundation, which that got started maybe seven, eight years ago now. Uh, we'll get on that story. Uh my sister has epilepsy, so it started with epilepsy uh and just creating a community for those battling uh through that journey. And uh to date, I mean, and I just randomly have been saying this because it's it's sort of wild to my imagination from when we started the foundation, but we've raised over a million dollars, we've impacted hundreds of thousands of kids over the last seven years of starting it. We do Secret Santa programs, we do poker runs, we do a bunch of stuff. So those three things sort of uh entail everything I have going on right now, and um just again, just really thankful for it all.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

That's fantastic. I want to end on this experience with your nonprofit because I think it deserves its own specific conversation. But what's your number one skill set? Like you've got your hands in a lot of different things. How do you specialize? Like, I mean, you've learned that more than anybody is specialization is the best way to grow. What do you specialize in?

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Whether it's being a quarterback growing up my whole life, the one thing I know I'm really good in is putting together a team and getting us to where we need to go. And that's building the culture, that's building and hiring the people. I know as a quarterback, I couldn't do it all. Like, I trust my offensive one in to protect, I know where my receivers are gonna be, I know where the defense is, but like bringing a team together, getting us on the same mission, and uh achieving getting to where we need to go. I think in business it's it's the greatest thing that I was able to learn in football, now translating and just again doing that. I know I can't, I know I'm not a GC, I know I can't build these homes myself, you know. But what I can do is I can learn everything I can to help make things a lot more efficient. And does that mean you know, I start off with a bunch of bumps and bruises? Absolutely. But if I can underwrite correctly, if I can learn how to, you know, take a group of people who you know, we need to clean this building, we need to do this, and get them all in the right place going at the right time, and bring in the people also who can lead and manage those schemes. And then on the foundation, it's really taking groups of people and pushing us to where you build a good culture, you build a great team with great people, and then you know, you achieve the goals that you set out to achieve. I think that's that's probably where I would like to say my my skill set lies.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

I study entrepreneurship, like some people study stock market or whatever. I I don't know. I love entrepreneurship, and I can't brett I can't tell you how many times the greatest entrepreneurs were the best at building teams. And it's no surprise to me you're having success the success that you are having. And I wanna I want to dive into that a little bit because you're still a young guy, you've got a huge career ahead of you, and for you to already build your team and find the success and traction you're having shows me you're like you've you've got a great entrepreneurial hat on and you're you're gonna be poised for a lot of growth. Tell me a little bit about what is it you look for when you're hiring the right person to know if they're a right fit or if they're the wrong fit.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

You know, to be honest, I don't care about one thing, especially in the uh cleaning world. Like I don't care about where you went to school, resumes, like I know that's a big thing. Even in the uh development space, like I have sit-down interviews with everybody we bring in, everybody I meet with, everybody I bring on to the team, development, cleaning, foundation, everybody. I know that I can teach, I have confidence in me being able to explain what we're doing, why we're doing it, and the standard that's set. I also have confidence in the ability of like the culture and the people that should be on this team to get to where we need to go to make sure like it's a locker room, like we're we're we're teammates in this. Like, I'm not a screamer, I'm not a yeller. I I regardless of if I'm an owner, I treat everybody the same. Like I look for in people the things that I can't teach. You know, even when I'm hiring the back-end staff who you know, they might not know the numbers of real estate, or I don't care about any of that, to be honest. Uh, I care about like how you show up every day, your professionalism, like your energy. And not to say like I don't expect everybody to wake up every day and be happy and joyous, but I expect us to understand like every day we wake up is an opportunity we get to push ourselves just a little bit better. And so I really, really do try to like over-communicate. Like, communication is number one. Like, I'm used to it in the football world, and I expect it in the business world. So, like, regardless, where maybe some teams don't communicate, you can go through each of my companies and like, man, there is over-communicating, and it rightfully should be, because then there's no grayer, there's no black and white. It's like, hey, this came up. There's people saying, Hey, I'm gonna fill in for you here. Like, it's a very open dialogue type of thing, and they have direct access to me, like, we're all chiming in, like, this is to get to where we need to go to. That's it's like the intangible things that that I really look for in people when I sit down with them and I just say, Hey, like, tell me about yourself. Like, let's talk through, you know, maybe your last job, your last position. What are the things that make you feel you know comfortable in working with people? In are you one who likes to take something and you know move forward on your own? Do you like oversight? You know, I don't like hiring robots. One thing I always say to people like, again, I could teach you out of this, but at the end of the day, I also like if people ask me for questions like, hey, how do I solve this? I never answer with a direct answer. Like, everybody knows when they ask me something, I'm like, how would you solve it? Like, what is your thought in solving this thing? And I let them work it through before I answer and say, Okay, maybe let's think about it this way or let's do this. I want people to feel empowered to make decisions and to be their own leader and being able to, you know, grow into the position that we're hiring them for. I don't like robots. I want people who want to be here as well. I think too many times I think I've seen it now where people don't like what they do or they don't love what they do. I'm not looking for those those people to join on my team. You know, I I want people who are excited to, regardless if it's cleaning, regardless if it's helping out with the foundation, if it's building. Like I want passionate people. I think passion is probably another key word. And that's everything I can go back from being around, and I I vividly remember my moments with you know Mike McCarthy at the Green Bay, how that culture was, how he set the culture. Head coaches are huge in the NFL with like how they actually set the culture. Pete Carroll is an amazing example. Dude was you know the oldest head head coach in the NFL, but he was the most youthful. When you scored a touchdown, you expect the coaches, the players, everybody to join in on it. Like, it's the same in business. I want people to be excited for working. If you don't want to do what you're doing or you what you've applied to do, then all right, you're just not a fit for us. And and I'm very open with that when I start. I'm like, hey, we're pretty slow on hiring and like who we bring in, how we bring them in, the training and stuff like that, but like we don't have a lot of turnover for that reason, you know, and that that that holds true with cleaning, with the development team, with the foundation. A lot of the people that we bring in stay with us, they rock with us, and just because it's again, if there's a mistake, I've seen it time and time again where people, you know, the owners or the leaders are crashing out, calling people names, use abusing power. I don't operate like that. Like I'll tell you what needs to change, how we need to change it, when we need to change it, and I expect you to take on this, you know, accountability in in making the changes. And and that's it. It's it's nothing directly at you, it's the problem is the you know, the issue at hand. And so that's my approach with like everything in business is just finding the people who fit and have a passion for what they're doing. I can teach everything else. Like, I don't I can bring in the people who can teach it. It doesn't matter. Like, I feel confident in my abilities in that. I just want the right people with the right attitude and the right mindset.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

I've heard this saying quite a bit is the quickest way to drive A players away from the organization is to hire a bunch of C players.

unknown 16:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

What are some things you look for to make sure you're not hiring C players?

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Again, like what I was uh touching on. Like, I I don't I don't want robots. I don't want people who just come in and say, okay, I I need a checklist that like no, I want I push people to solve the problems. Like I want to see how you work through a problem. I want to see what your thoughts are in create in creating and finding a solution.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Do you see that in the interview process? Is that is that where you look for it?

SPEAKER_00 17:07

That's what I think is hard. Like, yeah, first I tried, you know, specific questions that might, but you can fake the funk of an interview. Um you can you can get in there and answer all the questions correctly, and until you're in the heat of fire, like we don't know what you're made or capable of. A lot of the times when people do start with us, whether I'm seeing how they operate on one project or they just got started, and hey, I'm telling everybody, maybe they don't know, but I'm telling everybody, like, hey, don't answer no questions. Like, let them figure it out, let them come up with their own solutions. Like, because the team, it's the same thing that happened to them when they came in. I try to speed things up where like I want to see as soon as you're first week or second week with us. Honestly, a lot of the times when I'm doing interviews, I sit down with them and I try to break the ice, right? I'm like, look, this you can't answer these questions correctly, incorrectly. This is for me to get a sense of your energy, you to get a sense of mine. And I'm a straight shooter. This is how I operate, this is how we operate. If you like this, if you're about it, like we'll give you, you know, this is this is how it works, this is our expectations. Uh, we're gonna have fun, we're gonna enjoy what we're doing, we're gonna hold the standard, and if it's not, we're not gonna scream at you, we're just gonna tell you what needs to be changed and get to it. And the same mentality in football. Um, football might have a little bit more custom screaming. Business, I realize you can't do that. Um, what I've seen is too many times that just when people get into these positions, they get a checklist or they say this is how you're supposed to do things. I always tell people, look, if there's a better way for us to do it, I expect you to tell me. Like, I don't think my ways or our way is 100% right. Like, I expect you to say, hey, maybe we can do it this way, or hey, I need this equipment to handle this better, or you know, maybe let's change it up this way. Tell me because I want to vet, and and I expect you know, this type of communication um in it because it's only gonna make us better. And so I try to put those who are first with us in those type situations to just see where they're at, see where they're meant, see if they can speak to a group that they have to lead on doing this, or see if, like, hey, when we get in a meeting when they're like, hey, what's this question? You know, they they might think we're just gonna answer the question. And it's like, okay, how would you answer it? And then we all just shut up and be quiet.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

I love that. I like I like being able to see who's gonna shine in those moments without you know, we always want to keep the training wheels on all these new employees, and sometimes it's best just to take them off and see kind of how they're gonna handle on their own. So I really like that approach. Now remind me, I I'm not sure on that these facts. Did you acquire this cleaning company or did you start it kind of from scratch?

SPEAKER_00 19:47

No, man, that's that's why I say it's it's if you were to ask me when I was in football, if I ever thought I would own a cleaning company, like absolutely not. And the cleaning company came out of when I was originally buying some rental properties. I had started a management, like a short-term management company, and we got up to manage in 15 properties. And this was while I was playing. So I just hired the people who could manage and I create a checklist. From there, we were having troubles with our cleaning. Airbnb at the time, a while ago, they had this like cleaning offset company. It was not good. So I was like, you know what, screw it. If I'm gonna do it, I'm just gonna hire a dang cleaner. I'll we'll just go to these properties and build a checklist. Like when the cleaner comes in, you just follow the checklist, everything's good to go. And then from there, I started a residential cleaning company to just clean the properties we managed, built a checklist for every property, so it was easy for them to go around and we kept them busy. Now, my business partner, there was a guy named uh Ron grew up in Green Bay, and um he's a professional fisherman. His best friend was living out in Arizona at the time too, and they grew up together out there. He did power washing, and so we had connected Ron and introduced us. We just became really good friends and then you know, started doing some deals together. He had exterior stuff, I had interior, and then we were like, screw up, man, let's just try this out. We went from residential cleaning and power his power washing, we merged and then created a commercial cleaning company, and it was new to both of us. We started doing commercial cleanings like post-construction, LGEs, like these big jobs where we needed 20, 30 people to clean a big building, and then we realized that's good, but then also you need to keep people busy because those are sort of once a month or twice a month, big projects, and uh so then we got into janitorial space and then got some big contracts from there, and then just I mean, over the past two years, snowballed that into you know, my residential cleaning company is power washing into now a big commercial cleaning company. And like I said, we we employ over 25 people, we got some big contracts, and it's all been just a small, you know, thing at first how it started. So that's honestly I got into this uh cleaning world. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

That that's so common. You see a problem, you see a pain point, and you just go and build a solution around it. So we just stay aware and in tune on that. Do you where do you see that company going in the the next five years?

SPEAKER_00 22:00

I would love to get up to doing like, you know, hopefully five, ten million of revenue a year and see how that is building a company to those levels. We've grown pretty fast in these past two years, and uh we're still in the small business stage, but like we're growing, we're bringing on more people, we're hiring different type of positions. And uh hopefully, you know, if we can continue getting bigger contracts and making sure our clients are taken care of. It's not a shiny business that most people think about, like roofing, HVAC, plumbing, but it's a good business. It is a great business. I sort of fell in love with the model, um, everything about it. And you know, hopefully, like I said, if we get to five, ten million of revenue, it's something that, you know, again, maybe it gets sold, maybe we keep it in-house and just keep growing it and see wherein it goes. But right now, it's it's it's been more than anything, like good learning for me. Like on the development side of things, um, that's been awesome to see that scale. But like on the cleaning side, I've really witnessed us go from zero from just residential cleaning, and then we jumped into commercial and then go from zero to you know uh half a million dollars of revenue and pushing things and you know, uh bringing in people and like to see the growth of the company and like to see how it all plays together. Like it's all learning from me. So it's just been a fun experience just seeing something from nothing go to what it is today.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

What a great experience. I mean, in your own little baby, you get to grow and kind of cultivate. But but I've also been Brett, I've been around the block enough times to know not all small businesses are uh blue skies and rainbows. So what are some of those hardships that you face? What are some of the things that maybe like shocked thee along the way?

SPEAKER_00 23:34

There's a lot, honestly, in the foundation uh side of things. Like I remember, you know, when we first started, and we were always at a deficit, and that was you know, we hired a CEO, we had salaries and stuff like that. And I remember it was always you know the end of the year where I'd have to fund, and we're not talking small checks, you know. I'm done playing football, so we're talking $10,000, $20,000 to make sure our overhead is taken care of so that the next event we can and like things like that. When I first started a foundation, like I to be honest, I was just thinking, hey, we bring these people together, we raise some money, and then you know, we do whatever with the money, like as far as the impact and stuff, and then you keep it recycling. But then once like once you grow, I mean, at a at a point, even with the foundation, we had a CEO, we had a full-time person in Arizona, Vegas, Michigan, and we were raising tons of money, we were doing a bunch of stuff with impact, but like you also realize like the cash conversion cycle of like raising money, making sure the payroll is taken care of, and that's just the foundation side on the development side. I mean, I can go in on and on about getting into a project and thinking, you know, hopefully this takes a year long, or even my new new build. I remember when I first started that, and that was the first project I ever did. And I again I tell this story to all athletes. I was getting a construction loan to, you know, so I don't have to come out of pocket for this uh rehab, and this is a brand new build, we're talking a million, some dollars, and uh I had just got released, so I couldn't show W-2 income anymore, so I my construction loan fell through. I had already purchased the house, so I had to move forward with it. So, like, and then on top of that, COVID hit, so the city shut down and I couldn't get permits to even start the work. So I ended this project that I this first time ever doing this, first time underwriting a deal where I'm thinking, hey, it might take 18 months, top to bottom, now takes two and a half years. You know, I have to now come out of my own pocket to fund this thing, which people say over leverage, like I was in a very hard time at that place. Honestly, even the GC I worked with, every day after practice, I had to get on a Zoom for an hour to talk with him and the designer because you know, this is I tell people this all the time too, vet your contractors. I knew him, but like I didn't know how he operated. And so I realized that there would be a week or two where nobody was at the project. I'm like, what are we doing? And it was a bunch of stuff that I had to learn, man. But it's like it's all things that looking back, regardless of all the hiccups and things that happen, like I'm still standing, I got through it, and I'm better for it. In business, I think I what is it, Boston Celtics, Jason Tatum's? It's like the reframing. I think this changed my mindset a lot too on it. You know, when these big problems come up, everybody wants to be a trillion dollar company or a billion dollar company or a million, but like, do they want the problems that come with it? Um I think that's what people don't think of a lot. And I think it's the reframing of like, I get to do this. Like, yeah, this might be a hiccup, and this might, you know, some of these issues are big issues. If I didn't have enough capital to go out and put my money up to do this first project, I would have lost a lot. It's like getting the reframing it to say, like, hey, I started regardless of the hiccups, and you know, I ended up making some money on this, and nothing close to what I thought I was gonna make on that new build. But like, I did it, you know, and I got to experience those problems because now I know what not to do. You can read as many books as you want, you can talk to as many people you can get mentored, but I I'm a firm believer that until you jump in the water and start swimming, you'll never truly figure it out until you actually just make the leap.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

I love it. No, that's some great insights. Brett, let's talk a little bit about your foundation. I I want to talk through the kind of the history and kind of what obviously you've got some passion behind it, and it's your big motivator in life, and I'd love to learn a bit more about it. But I I believe it starts with your sister and getting diagnosed with epilepsy.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

That is like my baby, my passion project. We had um when we got started, and for everybody that doesn't know, my sister was diagnosed with epilepsy when we were probably seven, eight years old, and so uh she was another great athlete. A year apart, man. So we're like super tough. Yeah, that's my rock. And um, she was a big athlete. We ran track together, and to uh see her go through the battle of having seizures, you know, getting picked on as a child because of the seizures, going through the medicine, which stops her from running track. Each shoulder has been dislocated over 50 times, maybe a hundred countless nights in the hospitals. Like just to see somebody go through that who's you know, my close close sister, you know, we were really quiet about everything at the at the time back then. There wasn't uh in to our knowledge, we didn't we didn't have many resources um that we could that you know Paris could share her story or feel heard. You know, she just really just had us. There wasn't many other people who were going or sharing, at least that they're going through this. And so it wasn't until I got to UCLA, and we've been battling this for years, you know, um that I just opened my mouth because you know, they were like, Who do you play football for? And I'm like, hey, my sister, you know, I was watching her go through all this, and you know, she's healthy now, seizure-free, has kids, and I mean, doing great. But, you know, I mentioned something as far as her battling and our battles and the reason why I play football or what drives me. And uh sure enough, that led to us getting connected to the Epilepsy Foundation of Los Angeles, which is really where my sister probably first felt the community aspect of having uh those battling the same thing she's going through, and then able to tell her story to those kids who are going through the same thing. And from there, you know, we we came together and we was like, hey, you know, maybe let's start a foundation. And the reason being is for this community aspect for people who are going through it, who might not have other individuals that they can connect with and maybe tell their story about what they're going through, how they're what's affecting them, you know, their mental and stuff like that. There's a lot of stuff, and it's not only for the individuals going through it, but it's even the caretakers, the parents, the brothers, the sisters. It affects a lot. And um, that's the whole reason that's literally how we started the foundation. I said, Hey Paris, do you want to? Yeah, I was like, Do you want to be the CEO and try to run it? And she had no idea what she was doing. Like, we we didn't know. When we first started, man, it was like, let's just do it and see where it goes. And that was really what we started with. We had no idea what we were doing. It was me and her, which is like let's do it, and you know, we would do small things, and then you know, I brought on again bringing the right people together. Um, my co-chair, Sam Estees. Um, you know, long story, but a lot of people uh from the Epilepsy Foundation, we got really close with them, and Sam was on the board. Rick Harrison of the Pawn Stars was on the board, Danielle Morano was on the board, and like all these people from the Epilepsy Foundation came right over to the foundation at the right time. Sam became the co-chair, Danielle Morano. We hired her to be our CEO. Suzanne, who was working at the Arizona Epilepsy Foundation, came on and ran now our Arizona side. Shannon, who was working on the California lead, she came over and like all the pieces came together at the right time, man. Rick Harrison came over as well, and now his poker run started benefiting our foundation. And then from there, man, once we had all the pieces in line, again, it started from Paris being a CEO, we weren't doing nothing to where like we brought all the pieces and then things exploded. And it went from us maybe helping five to ten kids a year to helping. I mean, we're talking thousands a year. Our mission statement is to help children and families in need. So, you know, that was a big debate, you know, if we should be more specific to epilepsy, but you know, we want to leave it general for the purpose of like being able to give back and help out. If it's not epilepsy, maybe it's autism. If it's not autism, maybe it's fatherhood programs. If it's not fatherhood programs, you know, when COVID happens, we were able to donate meals to uh children's uh Phoenix Hospital right here. And we wanted to give back where we see fit. So our base is epilepsy, like our events are epilepsy-based, our what we raise money for is epilepsy-based, and all of it pretty much goes to epilepsy. But we have done fatherhood programs with Eisner Helps in California that was running for four years, where it was a 12-week program for first-time fathers to teach them, you know, the the father-daughter connection, the you know, mother-son connection, just how to be a good father and maybe something they weren't taught, you know. And then, you know, even from giving meals back to um man, we've done just connecting with Waymo and and uh and salad and go, even you know, and random enough, we clean salad and go, but it's like bringing all the pieces together and just giving back. I mean, now we do a lot with Sunrise Hospital, they have a epilepsy unit up there, but we don't keep it strictly to epilepsy. We go up there, I was just there, you know, maybe a few two months ago, and we do two things a year with them. We bring gifts for the whole hospital. We'll go through, and it's not December, so you know, I I would say it's it's Christmas in uh February or March out there, and we just go through giving gifts and just to see the kids, the smile on these kids' faces, to talk to the parents, especially when we're in the epilepsy department, and to hear what they're going through, which is the same stuff me and Paris were going through, and Paris was going through specifically back then. To the events with Rick, we're now going on our 11th or 12th year with his poker run, and we brought it to Arizona now. It has grown into something more than our wildest dreams of what we could have ever thought when we started it. So that's why I said, man, the foundation is just a huge, huge, huge passion project. And now, you know, we've we've scaled things back even when we had salaries and people uh heads. Now we scale things back. Over 95% of every dollar is going to some impact, whether it's epilepsy, whatever. So it it's it's just been a crazy yeah, man. Nobody nobody takes salary. We've touched it, changed everything, nobody takes any salary who's working for us, who's on the board, nothing. Everything that comes in goes direct to impact. You know, we have overheads.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

How do you measure success? For those for those that don't know, you know, I get a lot of business owners that are listening to this, and you know, to measure success, we're looking at our sales KPI and our product margins. How do you measure success in a foundation?

SPEAKER_00 33:32

You know, the one thing I had to realize uh is especially with the foundation, it is a business. Like it like while I was saying my story earlier, like there is times, especially when you have overheads and stuff, that you gotta figure out how to raise some money and throw these events and stuff. But at the end of the day, like what really chained moved the needle for us was like now I I love it because we've been doing this for seven, eight years. I've seen kids when they were small, now through high school, and like that to me is my measure of success. Like to see when we first started with them, and they were very reserved, they were very closed off just because of you know, maybe the epilepsy things they were going through or the struggles they were going through with whatever it is. To now for them to feel heard and to have a community where they they they they're excited to come to these events, they they know me by they run up and say, Hey Brett, like what's up? You know, like that to me is success. That is nothing I can do on a monitor. Yeah, we can chart like for our Secret Santa programs at the end of the year, we do big gift giving and we can chart how many kids we give gifts to. That has been something to see that's been awesome to grow and expand. But like to me, in a foundation, it means nothing about that. Like, to me, it's like when we're actually like when I'm in person giving these gifts to these kids, and like these kids have have nothing but to see that smile on their faces or the parents' faces of relief because we were able to provide Christmas gifts. That is the best thing that I could have ever asked for, especially in the foundation. There's no tracking of anything. It's like, what can we do to impact whoever's life in the most positive way, and to see that impact actually unfold over, you know, maybe it's seven, eight years I've been working with these kids, or maybe you know, these families, or maybe it's a kid I've I it's just new to the program, and I get to see like, wow, this is available. Like, you know, I feel heard now. Even my sister, seeing her now being able to open up and share her stories to hundreds of kids, and for these kids to know that they're not going through this alone. I think for for me, that's that's how I track success now in the foundation.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

That's amazing. And I I think what I'm hearing, Brett, is going through these hardships alone is is sometimes as painful as the obstacle you're dealing with. But giving them a tribe, someone that they can go to battle with and they can know that someone's got their back, gives them purpose, gives them hope, gives them motivation. And I think that's that's an incredible gift that you're you're offering to these families.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

I appreciate that, man. Yeah, and that's that's what it's all about, man. That's the reason we started, and uh, you know, we've we've made the choice when we were growing as a foundation, and we like I said, we had staff, and you know, we we even pulled back from that because we were like, are we getting away from impacting the people we started this for? Like, we're not in this to make money, we're not in this for any of that. Like we're in this to impact whether it's one kid or thousands, that is the whole purpose we started this thing. So, like that, and and that has been the biggest I mean for me, like the biggest thing outside of football that I I mean that I ever could have done. That's your why. That's a gives you up, huh? Absolutely, man. It keeps me busy.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

Right. I I want to wrap this up here, but I also want to have some fun. I want to end it on uh some fun questions, if that's alright. I'm gonna rapid fire a handful of questions at you. I know you're good at thinking on your feet, so let's have some fun. I'll ask a couple of questions. So kick things off here. Toughest defender you ever faced. Who is it?

SPEAKER_00 36:57

Toughest defender ever faced in football? Like just uh oh man. Um gotta gotta go with I would have to say, as a collective, it's and I played with these guys. It would have to be Eric Kendricks or Anthony Barr when I was playing for Green Bay, and it's the whole Vikings defense, to be honest. We played them twice a year, but when I was playing versus Green Bay and I got in because Aaron got injured, playing that group, I played UCLA with these guys, and then they were playing for the Vikings. So it was Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr, Daytone Jones, Cassius Marsh, all UCLA teammates, and now I had to go against them. So it was just it was. They were hungry and they were ready. Oh man, they were, but it was fun times because I'd be running out of bounds, or I'd be trying to run out of bounds, and they'd be like, throw it away, throw it away. Like I could hear them behind me screaming at me, like, all right, I'm not gonna knock you out, but like get the ball out your hands. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

All right, hardest stadium to ever play in. College or pro.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Yeah, I'm gonna give you one for each. In college, it was Oregon Stadium. I think they built that thing great. Like it's a very close-knit and it's when it's when it's a lot of people, it's it is loud. Uh Seattle would be another one at Washington, their stadium. But like in the NFL, that's is I don't know if it's the same stadium. Yeah, Seattle's. That stadium, I played for them, I played against them in that stadium. When that stadium is rolling, if I was sitting next to you, like you can't even have a conversation. But like, I say it's the hardest stadium to play in, but it's also like one of the funnest stadiums to play in as well.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Well, if man gets you, yeah. It does. What teammate was the funniest teammate you ever had? Like just rack up laughing anytime you see this teammate.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Man, there's a lot of those teammates.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Uh we have a good time in the NFL.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

You guys have heard some stories, I'm sure it was good to man. I would say one of the funniest teammates I've ever had, and this is actually going back to to college, was Jonathan Franklin. He was a running back for UCLA. Uh then played in the Packers for a while, but like not only a good dude, but like just a funny dude. Like, out of all everything, just being around him was a good time, and he was one of my closest friends too. So I would say he's one of the funniest teammates I've been around. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

Best leader, like just all-around leader teammate that you had.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

He didn't speak much. There's I mean two, because they were both playing for the Packers at the same time. A guy named TJ Lang, he was an offensive guard for the Green Bay Packers, and he was a great speaker. Oh my gosh, like you would want to run through a wall when this dude was done with a team speech before about to go play a game. He was a great leader, like just a man's man. Again, he's a big offensive lineman, a great dude. And then the other one on the same team was Julius Peppers. Didn't speak as much nearly, but like holy crap, when he did talk, just the insight he had on playing, on how to be great, those two dudes as a leader were phenomenal, phenomenal. And uh, and you know, I always always always think of them a lot. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Who had the best work ethic, like best work ethic you ever saw. Really?

SPEAKER_00 40:01

Russell Wilson, man. That dude. Why why is that? It was it's funny, like Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers. I loved, and that's how I operate. Like, I'm all about working hard, but I'm also about like taking time for your family, your friends, you know, have you you you do all this work to enjoy it. Like, Russell Wilson didn't have that time off. Like, it was like Tuesday day off. You're in the facility, you're you're scouting, you're working, and like even after you're done with the day, like texting or like, hey, let's have this by the there was no time off for Russell. Like, even in the off-season, like, where you know, Aaron and I took this approach too. Like, you know, you throw all season, and then in the off-season, you know, I probably wouldn't touch a ball for a while. And then, you know, maybe a month or two before I'd start picking up a ball to get back into it and stuff. I feel like I'll give my body a break. Russell was of the thought that like if I just do this throughout the whole year, like it doesn't matter if I'm in season or not in season, like I'm working. And that dude taught me a lot, a whole lot, but like, man, there was no days off of Russell. Like, I'm telling there were no days off. I even had to think, like, man, it's I'd like to think I work hard. This is this is a cat that, like, if we were on that treadmill, like the Will Smith thing, I Russell would probably I'd probably die because Russell would probably keep going. Like, he was the hardest worker I've ever been around.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

That's awesome. All right, last last question. What's the biggest misconception about NFL quarterbacks?

SPEAKER_00 41:22

I feel like growing up, you had the Tom Brady's and you had, you know, maybe the Michael Vicks. And the Tom Brady's might not be mobile and active, but like they were smart as hell. And then you had the Michael Vicks that you might not think he's gonna break down a defense, but damn it, if he don't know what he's doing, he's gonna run 100 yards. I feel like the common misconception was like the difference of the two. Regardless, both were smart. Like, Tom Brady's on a whole different level, but both. I think that was the biggest misconception as a quarterback speaking, was like the difference of like athletic quarterbacks and just pocket passers. Like both are extremely smart. Like, both can break down a defense, it's just one probably knows what he's throwing to his check down. The other is like, well, I'm gonna just take off and run. And I feel like that was the common misconception, probably the most I've seen.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

Either way, they're still smart, they still know what they're doing.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Yeah, still brilliant. Putting the time watch.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

Yeah, yeah. Brett, you've been a phenomenal guest. I really appreciate your time talking through, opening up with us, telling us, man, what a great success story you've had. I know not all success is a straight line. There's the dips along the way, but you've had an incredible run, and I and I know you'll continue to have one. How can people follow along your journey and kind of kind of cheer you on?

SPEAKER_00 42:41

Two ways. You can follow me on Instagram, and that's at Brett Hunley7. And that's probably the best way to follow me. I probably I'm a big Instagrammer. And then, you know, if you want to follow the website or anything, we have our our uh websites and stuff. But yeah, if you follow me, you'll be able to see everything else. So follow, give me a follow on Instagram and uh take a tune into my life. Awesome. Brett, thanks for being a guest.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

Really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

Thanks for having me on, man. I I greatly appreciate it.