IAM772- Founder Helps Olympic Athletes and Hopefuls Find Opportunities

Michael Rasile is the Founder of Our Athletes where he helps Olympic athletes and hopefuls find sponsorship and endorsement opportunities. He has also started the ‘Our Athletes' podcast where he speaks with Olympians on their story and path to the games, as well as ‘For the Love of Sports' where he speak with people in the sports world about what they do, why they love it, and the mindset they employ on a daily basis to take it to the top!

• CEO Hack: I have a friend to help me accomplish my to do list every day for accountability
• CEO Nugget: Thank you notifications every day to remind me how grateful it is to have another day
• CEO Defined: Get what needs to be done, done no matter the timing

Website: https://anchor.fm/for-the-love-of-sports

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Michaelrasile1
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rasile
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michael.rasile
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChrF4fA8uP7B6ImdfaHAe6Q?

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[00:00:02.20] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

[00:00:29.69] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gretch from the I Am CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Michael Rizzile of Our Athletes. Michael, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:38.79] – Michael Rasile

A pleasure to be here, buddy. Thank you.

[00:00:40.60] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. Before we jumped in, I wanted to read a little bit more about Michael so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Michael is the founder of Our Athletes where he helps Olympic athletes and hopefuls find sponsorship and endorsement opportunities. He has started the Our Athletes podcast where he speaks with Olympians on their story and path to the games as well for the love of sports where he speaks with people in the sports world about what they do, why they love it, and the mindset they employ on a daily basis to make it to the top. Michael, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:11.00] – Michael Rasile

I cannot wait.

[00:01:12.00] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Let's do it. So, to kick everything off, I wanted to kind of rewind the clock a little bit, and hear a little bit more about what got you started. Could you take us through, your CEO story? We'll let you get started with all the awesome things you're doing.

[00:01:22.70] – Michael Rasile

Yeah. So a couple of years ago, the twenty eighteen Olympics were on. I was watching the games, doing some work in front of my computer, and, I was rooting for all the people in red, white, and blue. And then I started I was like, wait a second. I know nothing about these people. And, you know, the least I could do they put in all this time, effort, energy, money, blood, sweat, tears. The least I could do is at least know their names or at least they'll know something about their stories. Right? So I went, did a couple of Google searches, and then started falling down a rabbit hole. Quickly found that about ninety-nine percent of our Olympic athletes make very little money. Literally, about eighty percent live below the poverty line when it comes to annual income. And I thought, hey. I love sports. I wanna help athletes. I wanna work with them directly. What can I do to help?

So I got connected with a few people. One, big mentor and a very important person to me is David Meltzer. Check him out on the Internet if you haven't. If you're a part of this community, I'm sure you've heard of him. But just in case, go double-check on him. And, you know, he helped me with some ideas on how to put the business together, what to do. And now for the last two years, two plus years, I've been able to help Olympians on, you know, what they've what they do and how they can make a couple extra bucks. Not here to make them millions of dollars yet, but, you know, if I can make them year-changing money, I like to think about it. Put five grand, six, seven, eight grand in someone's pocket. It's gonna significantly change who they are and what they do for that year, in my opinion, and in theirs after speaking with some of them. And it's, it's been a wild ride, but I've enjoyed every second of it since.

[00:02:37.40] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. Love that. And as a sports junkie and somebody who always is wondering about that too, I think especially with Olympic athletes, as you talked about, you know, from, what kinda sparked you with it. Sometimes you see every, you know, two, four years, or however it might be, you think that they just started training maybe that day. But, I remember taking a look at, I think, what Michael Phelps ate on a regular everyday basis, how his workouts are. You know, they consistently put in the time to be that excellent athlete. So, you know, why not give them the opportunities to kind of, you know, get some visibility, some opportunities from that, all hard work and sacrifice they're putting in?

[00:03:08.40] – Michael Rasile

Hundred percent, man. It is, it's it's pretty it's pretty ridiculous the amount of money that they make, considering what they do for our country, as you said, every two every four years. But, unfortunately, they get there fifteen days, you know, twenty days of fame, and then they kind of many of them, unfortunately, go back to being, know, for lack of a better term, close to irrelevant. But it's not like they stopped. They're still trying for the next time, and it's like the Olympics are the only competition they go to. They're yearly. They're monthly. They're weekly in certain situations, competitions that they're going to compete at the highest level. There's just not the media hype around it. So when there's no media, there's no eyeballs. When there's no eyeballs, there's no money. So it's disappointing, but there are some that I've been able to help and will continue to help and others that I hope to help, along the way.

[00:03:47.19] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I think we saw too, the the women's soccer team, and that was definitely at the forefront about equal pay and things like that. So I think I appreciate you for providing opportunities for, these Olympic athletes. They're stellar at what they do to be able to get those stellar opportunities as well. So, I know you touched on a little bit. Can you take us through exactly how that process works? How exactly do you serve these athletes that are doing phenomenal things? And what exactly do you do to kinda help provide those opportunities that they get?

[00:04:11.00] – Michael Rasile

Yeah. So I've built a relationship through the Our Athlete podcast and now with the Through the Love of Sports or For the Love of Sports podcast, I've been able to build relationships with athletes themselves. I've also been able to build relationships with industry experts, industry veterans, just sports business executives, and everybody knows somebody. Right? So that's always nice. And being able to go through that through the podcast and meeting all these people, after then being able to amass a pretty big Rolodex, for everybody out there that doesn't remember what that word is. It's just a list of people, a bunch of names, some numbers, and people that I've been able to build relationships with. So through that, I've been able to build a relationship with probably around a hundred and fifty Olympic athletes at this point, which then means I'm one phone call away from just about everybody outside of that top, top, top tier of athletes.

So, what I do is I sent I speak with brands. I speak with, you know, sports industry executives. I speak with, people that are just looking to work with athletes, whether they know it or not. And then understand their wants, their needs, what they're trying to get out of a deal. And then I can go back to my list of athletes and say, hey. I, you know, I can have five athletes for you at a specific price point that is much lower than if you wanted to work with one NBA athlete even if he's seventh, eighth man off the bench. I can we can do it for cheaper. We can give you more stories to connect to. We can give you a bigger demographic to connect to, a more specific demographic to connect to. And then from there, we're really just able to aggregate the talent. So if the athletes are interested in it, we're then able to put those deals together. Whatever those brands are looking for, we at our biggest end, try and fulfill them at the best possible and and above expectations.

So, obviously, we want them to come back. And then be able to really just run from there, you know, just continue to build relationships and learn new ways because I do believe these athletes' stories, there's nothing like it. There's no one else like them. And what they do again on the on national level every couple of years, yes, but really just on a daily basis. They're still grinding. They're still putting in their discipline. They're still putting in their hard work. So it's not like they just vanish. They still have audiences. They still have people who connect with them within each of their respective sports, within their demographics, their hometowns, and their home states. So their audiences are still very big, which I think is an important part of understanding that aspect of it. So it's really just getting brands to understand the opportunity and how much more affordable it is to use, you know, five Olympic athletes versus one NBA athlete or, you know, not to pick on the NBA or MLB or NFL athlete that, you know, may have a, at first glance, a big audience. But once you aggregate the five or six of these athletes together, it's going to be bigger and it's gonna resonate more, which I think is the most important part.

[00:06:28.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And definitely, you know, what I hear, like, obviously, the term influencer has been used, a lot. And a lot of people know these are they could be pro athletes, the NBA athletes, NFL, whatever that might be that might be these influencers. But I think that what's coming or emerging even more and more with the sophistication of the Internet is those micro-influencers. Those people that are influencers, maybe, like you said, in their hometown or maybe specifically for the type of, the sport that they do and having the opportunity to not just, you know, reach a broad base of people, reach a really focused demographic that you spoke to is really something phenomenal.

[00:06:58.10] – Michael Rasile

Yeah. It's been a lot of fun in getting able to, you know, work with these athletes. Obviously, the last couple of months has been a little weird, with everything that's going on around the world. But back into it, now that sports are starting back up, you know, as of recording, we're starting to see a lot of these things start to happen. So very excited to, you know, just just get back at it, see what we can do, and see how we can help.

[00:07:15.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for you personally or your podcast and your organizations, but what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:07:24.10] – Michael Rasile

You know, that's a great question. First, I'm gonna start with everybody not watching. It's my mustache, of course. I mean, I think I know I'm kidding, of course. It's it's really just, you know, the the the passion that comes with it. There's a lot of things. As I said, I brought up David Meltzer before. And, again, anybody out in the community who does not follow him already, he's been a huge, huge influence. It's it's really been the mindset. Right? It's it's the I never ever say I have to do anything because I get to do it. I, you know, I wake up every day extremely grateful. You know, I've meditated, I think, something like seven hundred and fifty days in a row at some point. And when I do my thirty push-ups or whatever that number ends up being for the day, I do my you know?

So it's the routine that I build into all these days that while some people say, yes, I meditate on a daily basis, they'll they might miss a Sunday or they might miss a Tuesday. I've sincerely not missed a single day in almost, if not more than, two years at this point. And I think that is something that does set me apart and not just the meditation, but it's just the dedication, the discipline to do something every single day. Everyone says it's really easy until you get today, like, sick, and you're like, I don't really feel like doing my push-ups today. You know, I've I've felt that. And sometimes it is 02:00 in the morning where I'm just like, shoot, I forgot to do them today. You know, let's get up. Let's do it. You gotta do what you gotta do.

And there are other days where things get in the way, but, you know, I'm doing a minimum every single day. I think that's really something that more people can take advantage of that they don't realize how difficult it is, but also easy it is to really do something every single day. It's not not Monday through Friday. It's not, you know, every day with Sunday or just, you know, occasionally when you want to. It's literally every single day. Now, of course, I have other things that I get to work on and the things that I wanna get better at. But at the same time, it's I think that's something that sets me apart because there are so few people who have a list of things that every single day they do. And for me, I think that list is about seven long. I do them every single day, and I haven't missed a day in, you know, as I said, over two years at this point.

[00:09:02.89] – Gresham Harkless

I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this might be what you spoke to. It might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what do you feel, makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:09:13.50] – Michael Rasile

Yeah. So with that list of things that I get to do every day, as I say, get to do every day, I made sure it was difficult for me in the beginning to make sure that I was doing it every day. So I spoke with a friend of mine, Rob Kressey. He's incredible. If you haven't had him on the show, I highly, highly suggest it. I'll make an introduction if needed. He told me he's like, alright. What you have to do is you have to find a community of people who are as dedicated as you are. And it was a little difficult. You know, some of my friends are, like, no. I don't really wanna do that. Like, that sounds kinda like no one whatever. So it was just, like, hey. Every single day, you have to text me with an emoji of all the things that you did that day. And it has to be the same thing. Sometimes you can add new ones. Sometimes you can take away old ones if you don't feel it's as effective. But every single day, you have to text me the day and all those emojis.

So, you know, it's day three seventy-five. It's day 04:56, whatever that ends up being. And for me still, personally, it didn't work that well. So he's like, alright. You have to take it a step further then. So what I did was I went and I found a friend of mine. I said, hey. We're gonna do this thing. It's our accountability test. What we're gonna do is every single day, both of us have to do whatever we say and whatever we set out to do. He's a good friend of mine. He's Luke. He's in my, wedding party coming up in a couple couple months here. And I said, dude, well, we both have to do it. And to add that extra layer of accountability if either of us misses, we're both starting over from zero. Mhmm. So right now, I think we're only on, like, day fifty-six as of recording because one of us missed something, you know, how you know, fifty-seven days ago or whatever. But when one of us misses, the other person gets to add something to what they have to do every single day.

So it's not just the accountability of knowing, like, he and I are connected in this journey. It's also we do some mean stuff to him, man. If he misses, you know, we've we've thrown some ideas back and forth. And it's like, alright. The first time we miss, I'm not gonna add something too crazy. But, no, if it's the fourth or the fifth time, man, you might be, you know, running a mile every single day minimum, on top of everything else that you have to do. I don't care about time. I don't if you're sick. I don't care about anything. Because if you miss it again, I get to add something else on top of it. So it's adding that accountability factor of someone else who wants to improve their selves themselves as well. But it's also adding a little bit of fun, a little gamification to it saying, like, hey, man. If you miss, like, I can make you do thirty chin-ups, you know, before 10:00 in the morning. You better not miss it.

[00:11:18.70] – Gresham Harkless

I absolutely love that, that hack. And so, now I wanna ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell yourself or if you were to happen you were to happen to a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

[00:11:33.10] – Michael Rasile

The I have to versus I get to. That and grateful every single day. I have, I think I have, I have on my watch. I have two notifications that go off that say thank you on my phone. I have three alarms that say thank you. The first of which is the alarm I wake up to that's just labeled thank you. It's just being grateful, man. You know, I sincerely sincerely appreciate every single day. I think it's awesome. There's obviously a lot of stuff going on in the world now and really just forever. There's always been a lot of crap going on. So just understanding that it's a good day to be alive. You know, I'd rather be alive than not alive. So, you know, every single day is a good day to be alive and really understanding.

And I try and do it with my friends. I try and do it with my fiance. Anytime someone says, oh, I have to do this. It's done. No. No. You get to do this. You really do. And if you have that mindset, personally, that's helped me significantly deal with stress, deal with anxiety, and, you know, really just understanding that I get to do this. Right? Like, there are so many people who hate every single day of their lives. But if you just said I get to versus I have to, you get that gratefulness into your life. And gratitude, I think, is a huge piece that many people are missing. You know, I'm grateful for my friends. I'm grateful for my future wife. I'm grateful for my family. I'm grateful to be here with you today. And not everybody gets that opportunity, so why not be happy that I get that opportunity and thank you for it? Now Now

[00:12:44.29] – Gresham Harkless

Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote, unquote, CEOs on the show. So, Michael, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:12:52.39] – Michael Rasile

Whatever whatever needs to get done, you can get it done, man. You know, obviously, working with brands, working with, you know, other companies and seeing what they do and working, you know, especially in the smaller companies. Obviously, have haven't talked to the CEO of Procter, Gamble, or Johnson and Johnson yet, but I'm sure it's coming. And it's really just understanding, you know, what needs to get done and how do we get it done, whether that's delegating, whether that's doing it yourself. And it's really just putting your path to the metal. I mean, you know, it's it's funny. I have my laptop in front of me at all times pretty much, and my girlfriend and, you know, fiance, whatever you wanna call her, and my family, they're like, why do you still have that? It's like, well, things are I still need things to do.

Just because, you know, I'm not doing something doesn't mean you know, just because it's a weekend doesn't mean there's stuff to do. Right? You know, I truly do believe all twenty twenty-four hours in the day, they're all created equal. It doesn't matter when you're doing something or how you're doing it. You know? All that time is created equal. So if you wanna take time off, that's great. But you're gonna have to make it up somewhere else. So, I mean, Monday through Thursday are jam-packed for me. It's more fun that way in getting everything out. Yeah. On Saturdays and Sundays, I like to hang out with my family and my friends, of course, but all hours are equal. So it doesn't matter if it's six in the morning or if it's 06:00 at night that, you know, time wasn't created in, you know, nine to five chunks. Time is created all equal, and we have to utilize it when we can.

[00:13:59.20] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And being aware of that, especially as it is one of the most precious resources that you have, how you're gonna leverage it in in in the in, alignment with the vision that you have and what you hope to see is so important. And I think, it's definitely a great reminder. And, you know, as a quote, unquote, CEO, business owner, entrepreneur, whatever we might call it, it's so important to be cognizant of how we're spending those times, where we're putting those chunks and investing it into what we hope to see in the future. And I think when we do that, then we start to see the to see the to see the to see the fruits of our labor.

[00:14:23.39] – Michael Rasile

Couldn't agree more, man. Could not agree more.

[00:14:25.70] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Michael, truly appreciate that definition. I appreciate your time even more. And what I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and, of course, how best they can get all of you, Strive to the podcast and hear about all the awesome things you're working on.

[00:14:40.39] – Michael Rasile

Yeah. Check out, the podcast, Apple, iTunes, Spotify, Anchor, and Google Podcasts. It's everywhere For the love of sports, I've actually taken the Our Athletes podcast and pretty much just plopped it into the For the Love of Sports podcast. That's why I don't have to do multiple. I can have athletes on and talk to them all the time. I've had it, and it's it's it's worked out pretty well. So, yeah, For the Love of Sports, wherever you listen to your shows. Also on YouTube, Michael Rizzile, For the Love of Sports as well. We have some pretty cool interviews up there. So I do all the interviews live on LinkedIn, so you can get me there. Michael Rizziel again, and on Twitter, Michael Rizziel one. But Twitter is a terrible place. I try not to spend too much time there. It's the greatest and the worst place of all Okay. Behind into one.

So I try not to spend too much time there, but you can find me there as well. And, yeah, man. I mean, just just be a good person. Do what you can. Understand that, like, as I said, time is not created equal, but time is created equal. So that nine-to-five mindset, if you're coming out of the corporate world and into the entrepreneurial space or if you're in the entrepreneurial space, maybe even find some time for yourself as well. I think that's important but talk to people, man. Especially now where we're not really allowed outside. We're not really allowed to go to events. I used to go to them all the time. That was my favorite thing. I would go network and I get the energy from it, and I don't I haven't done that in months, you know, being here right so close to New York City. I can't take advantage of it, unfortunately. But talk to people, ask questions. I'm a big believer in karma, so we'll find ways to get karma on your side, and I'm sure very good things will happen to you.

[00:15:55.00] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Well, I definitely appreciate that, Michael. We will have the links and information in the show notes just to make it easier for people to follow you and connect with you. And, you know, I love everything you stand for, everything that you're doing as well too. And I appreciate, you know, all the good energy that you put out on this podcast and in the world as a whole. And I think it's a great reminder for us to kind of be what we hope to see in the world. And if you wanna see good, then be good. If you wanna, to see greatness, then be great. And it's definitely something we all should carry with us all the time. So I appreciate that, my friend, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Gresham Harkless

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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