GF Issue 54

but I stay in touch with the gaming world, watch Mortal Kombat and Rainbow Six tournaments and keep up with what’s relevant and coming up. The chief gaming officer needs to be inside the heads of gamers and know what everybody’s into and what’s hot. How do you manage the balance between playing sport at a top level and the demands of your business ventures? I give a lot of credit to my team to enable me to do both. Building a healthy, supportive team is always going to help you in business, more than you ever could imagine. My wife, Dominique (CMO of ESA Holdings LLC) is really at the forefront of the business right now, going to different cities to look at locations and helping us to advance, which allows me to focus on football. And then, in the football off-season, I’m blessed to be able to go back into the business in a more active role. I can just step back into the team, and they don’t take offence about me not being able to be in both places at one time. What gives you the most pleasure in your role as investor? It’s a tie between the actual gaming itself and the kids who take part that makes it exciting for me. There’s nothing quite like seeing a kid getting their first Fortnite Battle Royale or Warzone victory, or just seeing them reach a level they’ve been striving towards and finally getting to the top of that mountain and witnessing their celebration. It’s seeing the joy on their faces – the same expression I had as a kid. That’s why we’re here. We want everybody be the best they can be at gaming and help them achieve those dopamine rushes. What advice would you give to other athletes or individuals looking to invest in the world of franchise opportunities? In the short time we’ve been rolling, I’ve learned a few lessons. In the same way that gamers must develop and learn about themselves, you must figure out what kind of business owner you are. You’re not going to hit your goal or target on day one – sometimes it takes a year, or even two or three, to reach your membership goal or break even. It’s very rare that a business makes an insane amount of profit in the first year. Like gaming, you must stick with it, because the only way to get better in business is to keep doing it. There were things that weren’t 100% right to start with, challenges we had to overcome to grow. This process has helped us so much. Now, when it comes to future locations, we know exactly what to do and what not to do when, where and why. My advice is to stick at it because it’s not going to run as cleanly as you think. But when you get to realize the hours of work you’ve put in and see your product come together, it’s all worthwhile. What’s the best lesson you’ve learned along the way? There’s an old saying that proper preparation prevents poor performance. We’re figuring it out as we grow, improving our timing to be better on the grand openings and smoother on everyday operations. Personally, it helps me to have someone experienced on the team – a person with the grey hair, if you will. Somebody who has taken those lumps and bruises in their past, and who can guide us from making the same mistakes and feeling the same pain. We’re all eventually going to become those grey-haired people in the group. How do you envisage your role in the franchise business landscape evolving in the future. Do you have plans to expand your portfolio? I want to expand into new locations with Valhallan, but in a marriage you must also give and take. Dominique dove into Valhallan and I would like to support her back by investing in a casual winery meet-up place or coffeeshop-slash-bookstore, and help her to really make a success of something she’s really passionate about too. How do you measure success and what legacywould you like to leave behind? You know, I try not to get too caught up in dollar signs. I just want my kids to be able to see how we’ve built up a successful business, and obviously I would like them to be a part of it one day. So that would be my full circle – where they can walk into a location and know that we put this thing together. They may not see our actual handprints on the wall, but they can appreciate the effort we made. That’s my goal. “The only way to get better at business is to keep doing it... we had to overcome challenges to grow” GLOBAL FRANCHISE.COM 81