Building Authentic Athlete Brands and the First NIL Children's Book | Ep. 53 Greg Glynn

Most athletes get one shot at NIL. The ones who build something lasting are the ones who knew who they were before the deal arrived.

Greg Glynn has spent 20 years helping athletes get to that place.

Greg is the Founder & CEO of Pliable Marketing — a marketing, public relations, and broadcasting company and NIL agency based in Augusta, Maine. He is the only NIL agent in the country who holds Accreditation in Public Relations through the Public Relations Society of America. He is a registered sports agent in multiple states, holds NIL certifications from Front Office Sports, Sports Management World Wide, and CleanKonnect, and represents more than 35 high school, college, and professional athletes across a wide range of sports.

He is also a former broadcaster who called more than 1,000 sporting events — including serving as the voice of the Portland Pirates in the American Hockey League — a professor at Sports Management Worldwide, creator of Pliable's 10-Step Athlete Branding Playbook, host of the award-winning Athlete Brand Advisor Podcast, and author of The Magic Cleats — the first-ever children's book based on NIL.

His work has been featured in Sports Illustrated, the Wall Street Journal, and the Boston Business Journal. He has been nominated for Mainebiz's Business Leader of the Year and Innovator of the Year.

In this episode, Erin Sarles and Thomas Roe sit down with Greg to talk about what authentic athlete branding actually looks like — what the NIL industry gets wrong, what athletes need to build before the first brand deal arrives, and what it means to use a platform for purpose instead of just profit.

In this episode: — The biggest lie the NIL industry is selling athletes and families — What separates athletes who build lasting brands from those who chase quick deals — What the 10-Step Athlete Branding Playbook actually teaches athletes about themselves — How Greg's broadcasting background shapes the way he helps athletes tell their story — What character-driven branding looks like in practice — including athletes using NIL to fund childhood cancer research — What coaches, parents, and programs need to understand about preparing athletes for this landscape

This one is for every athlete building their brand. Every parent navigating NIL decisions without a roadmap. Every coach who knows the job extends beyond the field.

Connect with Greg: Website: PliableMarketing.com Podcast: Athlete Brand Advisor Podcast Book: The Magic Cleats Phone: 1-707-PLIABLE

The Standard Podcast™ — Raise the bar. Rebuild the culture. Become the standard.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:03

Good morning team and welcome to the Standard Podcast, where we raise the bar, rebuild the culture, and call out the lies or misconceptions that nobody else will. This isn't motivation, this is a movement. I'm Thomas Rowe with my co-host Aaron Charles, and today we're sitting down with Greg Glenn. He's the founder and CEO of Pliable Marketing, a marketing public relations, and broadcasting company, an NIL agency based in Augusta, Maine. Greg is a name, image, and likeness expert who specializes in athlete branding, including NIL opportunities for high school, college, and professional athletes. He's also an author, professor, and professional broadcaster with more than 20 years of experience in the sports industry. What makes Greg unique is his comprehensive approach to athlete branding. He's a registered sports agent in several states. The only NIL agent in the country who has received his accreditation in public relations through the Public Relations Society of America and has NIL certifications from the front office sports, sports management worldwide, and Clean Connect. Greg represents more than 35 high school, college, and professional athletes across a wide range of sports. He's the creator of a pliable 10-step athlete branding playbook, author of Magic Cleats, the first ever children's book based on NIL, and the host of award-winning athlete brand advisor podcasts. As a graduate of Quinnipec, I made Quinnipec University's broadcast journalism program and former voice of the Portland Pirates, Greg brings a unique combination of media expertise, marketing acumen, and genuine passion for helping athletes build their brands and character with purpose. We're diving into the truth behind what it really takes to build identity, discipline, and legacy in sports and in life. Let's get into it. Greg, thanks so much for joining us. We're super excited to have you here today.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Oh, thank you very much, Thomas. I'm excited to be joined by you and Aaron today. I know we're going to be able to bring the energy and also the education to a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

No question. So let's get into it. You're the founder and CEO of Pliable Marketing, NIL expert, and athlete branding specialist who represents 35 plus athletes across multiple sports. What does raising the standard mean to you in the NIL and athlete branding world?

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Yeah, raising the standard to me, it really means more education for NIL, for NIL opportunities, because a lot of athletes right now are hearing about NIL. They're thinking that, oh, it's only for football, it's only for basketball, it's not for me. And what they don't realize is that NIL is an incredible opportunity to build your own personal brand. Right. And as part of that, that's the way that athletes can, as I always say, get ahead of your competition in life. And NIL has now presented a huge opportunity, which people haven't, as I said, been educated enough. That's not necessarily the fault of the NCAA, the NAIA, or their schools. And part of that is because this is still so new. There were a lot of messy rules when this whole thing got rolled out. So it wasn't cut and dry. And as a result, we're kind of playing a little bit of catch up here to be able to educate and empower a lot more athletes. There's over 500,000 college athletes in this country. You can imagine how many of them are not necessarily thinking they can do this. And the the truth is they can.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

That's 500,000. That is remarkable. I have so many questions, and we'll get to them, but what do you think is the biggest lie that the NIL industry or the culture of sold athletes and families about name, image, and likeness opportunities and building authentic athletic brands?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Yeah, I think there's two separate parts to that. I think one of the biggest lies is that you're going to make millions or you're going to get rich like with your NIL. And quite honestly, as we know, only 2% will go on to play professional sports. Right. So will those athletes get rich off of NIL? Absolutely, because they are the elite of the elite and they are very marketable. And so they will. Now there's the other part of this, which is again, there's now 98% of other athletes that will not go pro. So why would you not get ahead of your competition, start building your personal brand, and then become much more knowledgeable in marketing, finance, sports management? It can be a long list of things. I even work with athletes who are in the health sciences and they end up partnering with brands that are helping them in the health and wellness industry so they can learn about the newest products that are available and the latest recovery. And it's just fascinating to see when you really apply yourself as far as building your athlete brand. It's not about making a logo and then selling merchandise. Yes, there are kids doing that, but there are so much more to building your athlete brand. And that's why I love helping high school, college, and eventually pro athletes and even retired athletes because that's actually when you need your brand the most. Now who are you? What are you? And what do you stand for? And that's where I can really play a huge role in helping athletes as well.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Well, so there is an opportunity for retired athletes to cash in on an IL.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah. So what I look at is the fact that you become an athlete to whatever extent. And it it could be pro, it may even not be pro, to be honest. If you've built your athlete brand at the college level to such a way where Emma Eubank stands out to me, amazing pliable athlete. She played softball at Ball State University. Admittedly, I didn't even know where Ball State was. I had never heard of Ball State, their softball program. But I was willing to meet with her and her other teammate, Hannah Dukman, who were both pliable athletes, and they became the first athletes in the country to design their own cleats to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer. Awesome. Long story short, they go on, they do amazing things. I help them design the cleats. We get them auctioned off. They raise over $4,500 for cancer research. They walk in the National Childhood Cancer Awareness Walk. They get introduced to the leadership at St. Jude. And Emma Eubank goes on to right now be studying at Vanderbilt University, one of the top institutions in the country, to get her PhD in cancer research. That is athlete branding. And I can't think of a better story to tell than that one because that is also, as you mentioned, the magic cleats. That is why that book was written, is to inspire the next generation of children to learn about NIL and how you can give back.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

Absolutely remarkable. And so you have over 20 years in the sports industry, including being the voice of the Portland Pirates, and you're the only NILJ, uh NIL agent with public relations accreditation. How does your broadcasting and media background shape your approach to helping athletes build their brands?

SPEAKER_00 7:27

So I think that content is king. If you really think about it, how far we've come, right, Thomas, from you know, taking a few pictures and hey, your yearbook was cool, right? To all of a sudden, if you don't have a you know a TikTok or an Instagram account, like you're struggling. Like that's just abnormal at this point. So, like the idea is that you want to make sure you're building a brand and as content goes, as does your brand. So having that experience in multimedia, video production, podcasting, right? Like I can help an athlete in any way they need to produce the content that they want to be able to make themselves marketable. So, in many cases, I'm going and I'm traveling with an athlete to produce a video, or if they need an Instagram reel for one of their NIL partnerships, right? I can go do that because a lot of times these athletes are so busy and they may not be media production majors. Right. So if you're not, you're gonna need to work on your lighting, you're gonna need to work on your scripting. When I give kids a teleprompter, they think that's the greatest thing in the world. They're like, I mean, I don't have to memorize this. I'm like, no.

SPEAKER_03 8:35

Oh, that's amazing. I mean, you think about it like how far technology has come. And now I think right around the corner, you're gonna have these apps where where you could just AI apps where you just drop in your footage and it'll just kind of put together a reel or a story for you. I mean, it's coming. It's coming. It's coming.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

And I I warn athletes a little bit about AI because that's one of the things I think can actually disrupt the NIL industry quite a bit. Sure. Because here's why uh you've got athletes out there right now that think they can make a contract using AI. So that's a bit that's a big problem. Right. You've also got the fact that there are copyright images, there's copyright, you know, infringement that's out there. Athletes don't know those rules. So you've got to be careful about what what you're pulling, what audio, what video, um what graphics, right? Like all these things. Kids can't be using their logos in most cases of their schools. So so there's a lot of rules with NIL. And that's not to say it's not you know hard to follow them, but you've got to know the rules. And AI doesn't know the rules of NIL right now. And you really need to make sure that you're working with, in my mind, a registered NIL marketing agent who can help you with all those things because the last thing you want to do is put your eligibility, your scholarship, your playing time at risk by making a mistake with something that was supposed to be intended to be a career-building opportunity and ends up actually coming back to haunt you.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

Yeah, no question. I mean, we've uh Aaron and I have had cases where we've had some of our clients put out their own content and used, you know, a song from ACDC, and then you know, social media just shuts it down. The whole post is silent because the the social media platform caught on that they didn't have rights to use that and then game over. So they had to, you know, strip it down and start over.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Yeah, one of the I'll I'll actually throw in there because this is very detailed, but it's along those same lines, and I feel like I would be doing a disservice if I didn't mention this, is that there's also Federal Trade Commission rules that require athletes or any influencer, quite honestly, to disclose that the absolute post you're just about ready to make or are making is actually a paid partnership. And the reason they do that is because they don't want unauthentic content out there with people just making ads and getting paid for them and there being no back trail on why that person is making that post? Is that an endorsement? Is that a true endorsement? Is that an ad? Because they're getting basically paid to say that potentially. So a lot of athletes don't know that you have to put either hashtag ad at the front of your post. It can't be buried in the hashtags. And if you don't do that, it must be indicated in the upper left-hand corner or wherever else they're gonna move it, depending on whatever platform we're on here, that indicates a paid partnership.

SPEAKER_03 11:33

Fair enough. Fair enough. Gotta know the rules, team. Gotta know the rules. On that one, we're gonna turn it over to Aaron for segment two, which is identity and legacy. Aaron, take it away.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Awesome, Greg. Thank you so much. I actually just learned something new, I actually did not know. The hashtag ad. So that's incredible information and just I think Lynn's credibility to why athletes need to work with individuals that are knowledgeable in the space. And so I get to dive in a little bit more about who you are. So beyond all the accolades Thomas shared with our audience, who is Greg Glynn?

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Yeah, Greg Glenn is passionate from day one about whatever I do. I'm 110%. And that can be a good thing, it can be a bad thing. I'm sure athletes will relate. But the idea is that I'm passionate about whatever I do, which is why when NIL came out, I really wanted to start my own NIL agency. Because as a former athlete, having a back injury, knowing that this can end at any moment, I realized I had an opportunity to help, you know, a lot more athletes share my story. And I'm not only proud to, you know, own Pliable, I also, of course, launched Pliable U, which is an educational platform. Because as I mentioned earlier, athletes aren't getting enough education. So I'm an educator at heart. And then I'm also a girl dad. You know, quite honestly, that's one of the reasons why I built Pliable the way that I did, is because I've seen the inequality in women's sports and it drives me crazy. Aaron, I I grew up as an only child male athlete. So I did not see the inequality when I was at a very young age. Now I did notice it a little bit in high school. You know, I dated, you know, athletes and I would see it, and nobody was coming to the game. So I was like, why is no one here? Like, this is kind of weird. And so then I started to notice it, but then I really noticed it when I started working with athletes. And Kaylin Bork was the first athlete I represented. And at her hockey game, they actually were wearing the wrong jerseys. They didn't even have the right name of their team on the jerseys. Um I've coached my daughter in softball. You know, the equipment we're using is five years old. I was surprised we weren't using wooden bats. I mean, it was just really bad. So the idea was I started pliable to really help increase the popularity of women's sports. That's why I have mission E50, which is why I will always represent more than 50% female athletes. And that's because of my daughter. And I'm very proud of you know who she's become. And, you know, right now she's 14 years old and she's starting to get into this influencer space. And, you know, I'm just so proud of her, but I also know the athletes that she's gonna have her role models are just off the charts.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

That's awesome. I love that. Yeah, I'm a I'm a girl mom and I'm a boy mom. I have too, but yeah, I definitely see it in the space with my daughter, and it's fun to watch. I think there is a shift that's coming slowly but surely. And I think men's sports will always have that appeal. But being a softball mom, I absolutely love it, and it's fun to watch, and it's fun to see the girl down in Texas get that nice big deal from us.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Absolutely. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

So we need more of that, and these girls are being rewarded based off their the their performance and not potential, and I like that too in the women's space, is you know, they actually perform and then are being rewarded, and I think that says a lot about those young women. So I love that.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

And as just to throw another fun fact at you here is that as we sit here early 2026, women's sports uh revenue is intended to increase by 24%. And we've come a long way. I mean, obviously in the last five years, we've had substantial growth, but they're even saying another 24%. And one of the reasons why I feel that is, Aaron, is because now money's starting to come into women's sports. You have to have money in the sports to be able to grow it, and now they do. I mean, look at these contracts now with you know the women's soccer leagues, right? The WMBA, the structure of the PWHL is set up for success as well. So it's really exciting to see. And by the way, watch out for flag football. It's gonna be a pretty big thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

That's gonna be huge. And I love the new major, the new softball league that I think MLB sponsors. So seeing those girls get their golden ticket, like it launched last year. It's really fun to watch and see. So congrats to all of them. It's an exciting time for women's sports, which I think is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

So, with that, you created the pliable 10-step athlete branding playbook and work with athletes from high school to professional level. What does legacy beyond NIL deals and brand partnerships mean to you? And how do you help your athletes build that?

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Yeah, so to me, it means did you leave this world a better place than you found it at the end of the day? And I really believe that athletes have a tremendous opportunity to do that because of the platform that they have as athletes, as role models. There's nothing more, honestly, that I would love to go do than a community appearance and have, you know, young athletes come up to pliable athletes and realize that this is an amazing human being. And yes, there are pro athletes on TV and you know, you hear stories about that all the time, but let's let's actually let these athletes tell their stories. And it would be amazing to see how many more positive role models we have in this, you know, world and what they're gonna be able to do with it. And, you know, I mentioned Emma Eubank earlier, but there's just so many more stories. A lot of these athletes want to help cure childhood cancer because that's just that's who they are. A lot of athletes are very passionate about mental health, so there's another one, right? That you know, just continues to in in some ways hurt athletes and they don't even know it because they're not addressing their mental health. My work with Dr. Jan Jigian, who is a phenomenal mental performance and and health coach. And I'm just so proud to be able to offer athletes an NIL partnership with her so they can actually address some of these mental health things or be aware of them so that then they can be stronger people.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

That's awesome. We've had her on our podcast as well. She's amazing, uh-huh. Um brilliant, brilliant mind, and I love it. So you were just, I want you kind of to you're gonna, I think, give me more backstory on this athlete. So you represent athletes like those who who created the cure cancer cleats to raise awareness for childhood cancer research. What separates athletes who use their platform for purpose from those who chase deals? And what's the character piece that drives brand, authentic branding?

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Yeah, so I think that's a big question. And I love this because I always present to the athletes, whether it's a Zoom call or in person, whether I'm gonna represent them or not. So I am always vetting them. Pliable has an application process. So I need to know at the end of the day, do you care more about the impact you have or the money you're gonna make? And that to me is a big question, Mark, because if you care more about the impact you're gonna make, then I know that we're probably on the same wavelength here. Now, can money come along with that? Absolutely. I certainly have athletes who are making substantial money using their NIL. But having worked in pro sports, I understand that there are also athletes out there that want to make money. They want to make as much bank as they can. And that's a different kind of athlete in my mind. And so I'm here to look for the person that's going to make an impact in their community, understands long-term value of their career. This isn't a get rich quick scheme. This is this is build your brand. And I always kind of use this example for some of the athletes that might not be in marketing. But think about it this way: if Coca-Cola stopped branding themselves and stopped running commercials, what would Coca-Cola be? So they're always thinking about their brand, they're always running ads, they're always running new products, new promotions. And when you kind of put that in their language, you realize that how many times has Coke had to evolve or change their brand? And that's a good way to help athletes understand that, you know, branding never stops. At the end of the day, that's why this lasts from I mean, I can even argue very early on that you can be branded. And it can be even some of the work that you guys do, you know, you know, you're a six-year-old and you have a temper tantrum at a T-ball game, uh that's going to hurt your brand right out of the gate, you know. So, like, you got to be careful how early this can start. And the other thing is, as we said before, this is about during and after your career, because when your career's over as an athlete, it that doesn't define you. And so many athletes don't understand that because you could be doing public speaking engagements, you could continue to build your brand. If you're not mentioning that you're an athlete when you do a job interview, you're doing yourself a disservice because you're hardworking, you're reliable, you're dependable, and it's hard to get that these days with an employee. So by being an athlete, you have your own personal brand, and it's a lot better in many cases than just someone's average personal brand because you work so hard for it.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Yeah, that's a great point. I think that yeah, you're building your brand all the time.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

All the time.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

All the time, and you're evolving it.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

And I will tell you, Aaron, one of the things I enjoy the most is when I go to a game and I'm recruiting an athlete. Yes, I can see you score, you know, 25 points, you know, four goals, whatever sport it is, whatever you're playing. But to me, the moment that I actually zone in and I lock in on is when they come and they meet their parents and do they hug them? Are they upset? Do they throw the bag down? You're like, what are we talking about here? And in that two or three minutes, that's how I know this person's either a pliable athlete or not. I mean, you imagine you have kids coming up to you, right? Like young kids that look up to that athlete. And it could be a high school game, honestly. It could be a college game, it could be a pro sports game, whatever it is. What does that two minutes look like? Because that that'll tell you a lot about an athlete.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

That's such a good point in the work that in the foundational stuff that we really focus on is that you know, you know, yeah, yeah. So, what is one truth you wish every athlete, parent, and coach understood about NIL that most brand that they're not hearing, that most people aren't sharing with them?

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Yeah. So let me dive into this because this is it, it hurts me as a former athlete to hear this. So I'm gonna say this and then I'll break it down. Is that a lot of these colleges right now are telling the athletes coming out of high school, we'll handle your NIL, right? They're gonna say, oh, you know, they come on campus during the recruiting. They might ask, a family might ask, oh, you know, what about NIL here? What is the NIL culture like? Or how much money can my, you know, athlete make? It depends on how you ask the question. But the point is, is that these schools will say, oh, we'll handle all your NIL. We've got a marketplace, we've got a content studio in some cases, whatever it may be. Okay. Problem is that they get on campus, they go to the one-hour seminar that is NIL. It's probably gonna have some sexual harassment in it. It's a compliance thing, there's boring paperwork to fill out. The last thing you're really laser honed in on is your NIL at that point. You're probably ready to go to the next orientation thing that you've got to go do. Okay. So what happens is a lot of these schools work with multimedia rights holders, which are also playing a role in getting potential deals for athletes. But the schools also work with a marketplace provider. So this could be open doors, icon source, there's several of them, okay? But they've partnered with those marketplaces. So the unfortunate thing for athletes is if they go to that seminar or they're told your school or we are gonna handle your NIL, they really just mean you're gonna get signed up on a marketplace. Now, the thing with the marketplace is that there's about eight to 10 good ones out there. But do you think that school is gonna tell you about the nine to you know eight other ones that are out there? No, because they work with a one provider. They want you to sign up on that platform and they want you to go get deals on that platform. So one of the things that's important is having an independent NIL marketing agent who's gonna blow your world. I do it all the time when I meet with kids and they're like, oh, how does this NIL stuff work? And I show them all the places they could be getting deals, and they're like, I had no idea. And I'm like, that's because you're in this one track mind because you've only been told these things by your school. You're not listening to independent people who could actually help you a lot and you'd be getting a lot more opportunities. Not to mention, I know you and I'm gonna help you build your personal brand. The schools don't have enough resources to build your personal brand. I just did an appearance the other day that was set up by Pliable that totally could have been set up by the school, but they just don't have time for it. It was a community appearance at a local soccer facility, and it was amazing, but I used my knowledge, my experience to go help these two athletes create an amazing experience. That's the personal level of service you need from an NIL marketing agent that you're just simply not gonna get at your school. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

You hit it on a you hit the nail on the head for sure. Yeah, I think that's such and nobody's actually shared that. So I think that's super valuable. So with that, I'm gonna kick it back over to Thomas.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

Awesome. Greg, we're gonna get into segment three, which is advice across all stages. And uh you kind of you've touched on this throughout the interview, but if you could sit down with a high school athlete just starting to think about their brand and NIL opportunities, what do they need to understand about building an authentic athlete brand from the beginning?

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Yeah, I think, and I do this all the time, by the way. I I love visiting. That's the other thing I do, is I'll visit a high school athlete in their home most of the time. Like I will have a relationship and they'll say, yeah, because of their schedule, like, yeah, come on over, you know, and I'll put my presentation on their screen. And then they sit there, they start to learn. And it's amazing to see the parents also starting to learn about NIL and you know where their head is at or what their motivation might be, right? And I'm also observing that because if the parents are like, okay, so where's the money part? You know, like that that's not attractive to me, versus, oh, okay, I see now this is more than just about money, this is about building your brand, and this is about, you know, growing your followers on Instagram and building authentic content and building content that's actually focused on the future of your career, which is extremely important. And uh, so many athletes, even in high school, they don't know about LinkedIn. They, you know, the parents know about LinkedIn, and then they're like, oh, okay, I could see how my athlete could start to build their network, start to understand that you know, social media is more than you know, pictures of food and pictures with your friends and your tongues hanging out, which by the way, which by the way drives me crazy. So if you're an athlete and you're sticking your tongue out in your photos, it's not a good look, and brands probably aren't gonna want to work with you either. So just a heads up. So the idea is that it's really important to understand the content you're creating is gonna set you up for success. So, again, another piece of advice, because I know this is the segment, Thomas, right, is as much as those tongues are hanging out, put them back in. And then also do not do not swear, do not put swears in your lyrics because what's gonna end up happening on those videos, a brand is gonna see it. A brand is gonna maybe be looking at you when you get to college, they're gonna go in there, they're gonna scroll right through all your content. It's gonna take one piece of content for them to say, nope, not touching this. And all of a sudden, you as the athlete had no idea that a Fortune 500 company was looking at your profile, and you just missed out on an entire opportunity because of the content you created.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

No doubt. No doubt. That's you know, that's one of the things that Aaron and I stress with our athletes and as well as the families is you know, we tell the story that, you know, it's like your your LinkedIn says focus and driven, but your Facebook and Instagram says Jack Daniels and bikinis. So you want to be consistent across all platforms. And, you know, um, and I always tell the two Ps, right? You know, politics and porn, stay away from it.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Just I got I got the two P's. We got the same thing. I got politics and parties.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

Uh third politics, porn, and parties, right? So good God, good God. What about college athletes who are navigating NIL deals right now? What should they know about the 10-step athlete branding playbook and building something that lasts beyond their playing career?

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Yeah, absolutely. So one of my favorite things to do is say to the athlete, how marketable do you think that college bio makes you right now? Uh if you I mean it's it's laughable. It's laughable what what those things are. You know, it's a headshot, it's your you know, height, your weight, where you're from, and then maybe, you know, stats. And then if you're lucky, it's some of your hobbies, your interests, and it's like dot, dot, dot. It's like not even a paragraph, and maybe it's like a quick five things to know about this athlete. Okay. That is not your athlete story. So you really need to be better about telling your athlete story, advocating for yourself. In the last month, I've advocated for athletes to have their social media handles added to their college athlete bio. Because guess what? That makes them a whole heck of a lot more marketable if a brand is looking at that roster and then there's a social media icon for Instagram or TikTok. And if those other athletes don't have them on the roster, but because I'm the independent marketing agent, I said to the sports information director, can you please add the Instagram and the TikToks for the athlete that I work with? Now I've just made that athlete a whole heck of a lot marketable. And that was just one email. So it those are the types of things that if you're not telling your athlete story through your content, what pliable does is I create your athlete story on a profile page as part of this athlete branding playbook. Because if we're not telling your story, then nobody is going to latch on to your story. And so that's part of the branding process. Then we're going to get into things like audio and video. What are we creating for content? Right? Are are we creating content shoots? Do you want me to come film some stuff of you? Are we showing day in the life of? Are we showing things that people are going to resonate with so that you then become not only more marketable, but you actually become more approachable because a lot of people put athletes on a pedestal. Right. And if we can make them more relatable, that's going to be a huge benefit. But the the branding playbook goes through media training, it goes through message mapping. You know, these are very valuable things as athletes get recruited to be able to tell a coach when they say, Well, tell us about your greatest weakness. And the athlete gets blown away because they weren't expecting that question. And all of a sudden, now they're now they're stumbling. Now that interview doesn't go well. You know, the official visit is a little, you know, wavering now at this point. So it's important to really make sure that the athletes understand who they are. And that process really identifies that. And it's built for professional athletes. It's built to build your own website and create a game plan essentially for what your future is going to look like after sports, because that's why we're building the playbook is what can you then go and rely on to be successful after your career because you've built this personal brand.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

Awesome. Awesome. And this is one that I find is really intriguing. What about the professional or retired athletes? What opportunities do they have in the NIL space and athlete branding and what they might not realize?

SPEAKER_00 32:18

Yeah. So I think that one of the things that a lot of athletes don't realize is that when their career is over, they are still marketable. Now, what happens in that one to two years after you're done, that is a pivotal moment because you have to stay relevant. If you start to disappear, you start to kind of lose your identity, you lose your brand, that's when you're going to start to lose opportunities. Because in those one to two years, if you do some speaking engagements and you can actually create opportunities for yourself and motivate people, or even if you do a few commercials and have fun with it, right? Like go go do a commercial for AARP. You know, you just retired as an athlete, right? Well, go do something that that resonates with retirement. Or, you know, it can be even creams and you know, all kinds of things that you know you need because you're older, your body's not the same, right? I don't wake up and I don't feel the same. So I take this pill or I do this vitamin or whatever it may be, collagen. There's so many things you could do for products that that may I mean just look at Shaquille O'Neal, and he's been done a long time and he's still super relevant.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

No question, no question. With that, let's uh let's kick it back to Aaron.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Aaron, you're gonna go on to she's gonna take the segment for which was rapid fire around. Aaron, it's all yours.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Awesome. I love it. Yeah, Shaquille O'Neal still relevant.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

He never I still feel like he's playing. Uh you know, he doesn't even play, but I feel like he's relevant enough.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Like, you know, it's crazy, it's wild. Okay, this is a fun little section. So I'm gonna start a sentence and you're just gonna finish it for me, Greg. Okay, discipline equals success. Leadership equals that's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

So leadership equals respect. Opportunities and optimism. Legacy equals long-term sustainable success.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

And what is one thing you would never compromise on?

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Passion.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

I love it, and you can feel it in this interview. I love it. I do. And if you could put a billboard out there for all athletes about branding and NIL, what would your message on that billboard be?

SPEAKER_00 34:53

What are you doing to build your brand? Question mark, just straight up.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

I love it. Ponder that, kids. That's a good one. Okay, I'm gonna toss it back over to Thomas.

SPEAKER_03 35:06

Cool. Awesome. Thanks, Greg. Greg, we're gonna get in to our closing round here. But you know, it's something that you know my dad shared with me long before social media. And he's like, when you think about yourself and what you're trying to produce and accomplish, think about Thomas Inc., right? You are your own company. And now with social media, I mean, you're your own brand. I mean, it's it's that's what it really comes down to. So before we wrap up, Greg, is there something we didn't touch on today that you feel athletes, families, or coaches need to hear about NIL? Athlete branding and building authentic platforms. This is kind of just an open floor for you to just share whatever's on your mind.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Yeah, I actually like the segue you just provided because a lot of athletes don't realize that they are their own personal brand, their own business. And they actually, in many cases, should be setting up an LLC because if you set up an LLC, now all of a sudden there are severe benefits to doing that. Not to mention, if you're gonna host a camper clinic, for those of you obviously know about LLCs, this is gonna protect your own personal liability. So if some kid rolls an ankle, they can't come after you personally, but also there's many, again, tax benefits to it. There's also professional benefits to it. So I mean, I work with several athletes who have created LLCs, and Cash McClure comes to mind. He knows exactly what he wants to do in his career. He's a finance major at Bentley University. He's gonna have his own basketball training business. He already started creating camps through pliable camps. I helped him get that up and running because he was a little timid. He didn't think he might be able to do it. He didn't know that he should be starting an LLC and starting his own business, even while in college. And I think that that's a misconception. I think that people look at that and they say, oh, that's just for businesses, and that that's not, you know, something we need to do. Well, it is something you need to do because it's something you need to start thinking about, because I guarantee you that in every hometown where we're talking about college athletes, if you went back to your hometown and hosted a camp or a day clinic or an hour clinic, you would have people signing up. And if you have an LLC, and imagine if you did that, Thomas, over four years, or what now, by the way, by the way, now could be five years. So that's another extra year that you're gonna get to be able to benefit from your NIL, okay, as a college athlete. And you go back and do that every summer, or even the summer, even after your senior year, while you're probably most marketable if you've won, you know, Miss Basketball, Miss Hockey, Mr. Basketball, Mr. Football, whatever it is in your state, you're extremely marketable at that moment. And if you haven't thought about creating an LLC or doing NIL, you're already behind. Yeah. So it's really important to get the knowledge and the education and the skills and the tools to make you be successful. And that's why I started pliable. That's why I started PliableU. And I want to help as many athletes and families as possible.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

That's awesome. That's awesome. You went from the rapid fire. Now you're gonna go to the hot seat. This is my favorite segment. Not to say that what you haven't shared is awesome, but I always like to ask this question of all of our guests. It's kind of art imitating life. According to Greg's world, what are the top three sports movies of all time?

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Oh, good one. Okay, so I'm gonna go first with Mighty Ducks. I'm a I'm a hockey guy. Like that movie to me still resonates with me today. So I think there's a lot of good life lessons in that movie as well. And then I also would go with Tin Cup. So Tin Cup, great golf movie. Awesome. Uh, really love that. I work with a lot of golfers, so this uh and uh and I and I'm still working on my golf career, but I love that movie for everything it brings to the table. And then I gotta go with probably more on the humorous side, I'd probably go down the the road of Happy Gilmore just because I think it really it showed people that you can have fun in sports and and Adam Sandler and what he's done, and you know, he's a big sports guy, you know. And I just think a lot of kids growing up in my generation, you know, when you have your own swing named after a movie, like I mean, as far as branding goes, it doesn't get much better than that, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 39:23

Right. That's awesome. You know, I'm not a hockey guy, never played hockey, but my number one movie is Miracle. You know, it's funny that you said Mighty Ducks, and then you know, you touched on two golf movies Ten Cup's Amazing, but Caddyshack, the original, right? I mean, that's the that's the first golf movie. Um, my second is Rocky, my third is Hoosiers, and then everything after that is an honorable mention. But I thought I love to ask this question because you know what's amazing, Greg, is we'll get like we'll get Super Bowl champions on, and they're like, all they talk about is baseball. I'm like, why didn't you play baseball? You know, it's just like, you know, as an outside linebacker at 6'4, 260, there's not too many outfielders. I was like, okay, good point. So awesome. Greg, where can people connect with you and learn more about pliable marketing? Whether that's a website, your social media, LinkedIn, email, share the information for our audience.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Yeah, absolutely happy to help. So I'd start with the website, pliablemarketing.com. There's a ton on there. There's an athletes tab, drop that thing down. I keep growing that. There's just so much more and more I keep doing. So I would definitely check out that. Then I also, of course, have pliable you.com. Pliableu.com is the educational hub that I've created for short form content and classes. So if you're looking to learn more and you just want to kind of dive in, you know, you're curious, a great place to do that. It's also gonna eventually have tons of videos for athletes who are doing NIL so they can learn everything from how to do an autograph session to all the platforms that you don't know about. And then also, you know, taking a look at pliablecamps.com. If you're interested in hosting your own camp, that's a great resource. Uh, it'll give you packages on how you can do that. And then obviously social media, right? It's gotta be there. So at pliable P-L-I-A-B-L-E-M-K-T-G. Uh that's on Instagram as well as TikTok. Also have LinkedIn for pliable. You find me there. Also at Greg Glynn on LinkedIn. I mentioned that earlier. Build your brand, start building your network. Happy to connect. And then also, you know, just taking a look at, you know, Facebook obviously is out there as well. But there's so much that athletes can be doing to build their network. And like I said, connect with me, love to help. I do free athlete consultations to be able to help athletes. Because at the end of the day, as I like to say, is I can't represent everybody, but I can help anybody.

SPEAKER_03 41:44

That's awesome. Well, team, the barrier entry to get a hold of Greg is low. He gave all that information. Internet, I'll drop that in the show notes as well. Greg, thank you for helping athletes build authentic brands and use their platforms for purpose. Team, if this conversation hit you, do two things for us. One, share the episode with someone who needs to hear it. An athlete building their brand, a parent navigating NIL opportunities, or a coach helping athletes funders and their platform. And two, visit pliablemarketing.com and check out Greg's 10-step athlete branding playbook, the Athlete Brand Advisor Podcast, the Magic Cleats book. And if you need NIL guidance or want to learn more about the authentic athlete branding, Greg brings to his experience and character-driven approach that you'll need. And if you need it, and if you're an athlete parent or coach ready to raise the standard, check Aaron and I out at blueprintbluechip.com. We help athletes build identity, discipline, and legacy that goes well beyond the game. And if this episode resonated with you, team, do us a favor, give us a solid, and leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps us reach more athletes, parents, and leaders who need to hear Greg's message. This is a standard podcast, and this movement only grows when we raise the standard together. Talent fades, but truth endures. Let's raise the bar, rebuild the culture, and become the standard. We'll see you next time, team. Greg, Aaron, thanks so much. Appreciate it. You guys have a great week.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Thanks, Tommy.

SPEAKER_03 43:16

Thank you.