From Hall of Fame to Financial Freedom ft. Marshall Faulk | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby

0:00First down, calls to the 11-yard line to get a ball, breaks through a 3, 6, 5, down to the goal line! Most know the name Marshall Falk because of what he did on the field.

0:12NFL Hall of Famer, Super Bowl champ, one of the greatest running backs to ever do it. But what most people don't know is what he's doing off the field. Today, he's the co-founder of Virtuity, empowering thousands with financial education and entrepreneurial strategy, especially those who never got it growing up. In this episode, we talk grit, legacy, financial transformation, and what it really means to lead, not just in a huddle, but in life. From the NFL to CEO, from touchdowns to teaching others how to own their futures, welcome to Coffee. Now, I got a lot of questions because, you know, this show is really for entrepreneurs and people think, like, why does Joe have a Hall of Famer on the show?

1:01It's like, guys. People know me. They know me. Marshall Fox, not just an amazing athlete, like Marshall Fox, you know, we all know, cause you had insanely high football IQ, you know, that, that really is what allowed you to dominate, um, at such a high level in comparison to, to all the other folks you were competing against. You think that football IQ translated over to the entrepreneurial world and how so, you know what it did. And I'm, and I, and I want to make sure that people understand this. It did because I allowed it to in the sense that everything that I walk into, I don't walk into it with this high IQ.

1:39Like I know everything. I walk into it and I go on the ground level and I learn the basics just like everybody else. Then I have an opportunity for my IQ to really kick in. I always want to know anything that I'm involved in. I want to know the people walking in the door entry level that's working for me or working with me. I want to know what their experience is so I can help them and advance them and not only use my IQ for me, but to help them grow as well. So it's not the, oh, you have this high IQ. You come in at this level. I don't think you're doing anyone any justice when you come in at this level because you can't explain to the people, you know, who are coming in, pounding the pavement on the ground level, how to elevate.

2:25You can't tell them that if you didn't experience what they are experiencing. Now, you know, you've been people know this. Like, so I'm going to go through your entrepreneurial side. Number one, you're an entrepreneur. Now you're the founder, CEO of Virtuity. You want to give folks a, you know, 20 ,000 foot overview of what you do. I'm co-founder. There's a lady named Hannah Hornstein who's the, you know, she, she birthed this thing. And then I came along and helped her kind of push it to where it is now. But what we do is we empower, enrich, and educate people on financial literacy and how to become an entrepreneur in the financial service space.

3:06So we don't really coin ourselves as financial advisors. We don't look at ourselves as that. We're financial educators. We work alongside of anybody. We don't care if it's a CPA. We don't care if it's a money manager. We don't care what you do in the financial service realm. We can show you another financial vertical for how you can generate more income doing whatever you do with the exact same clients. That's how we look at it. And you guys are partnering with pretty much every financial company out there. If listen, if you're a financial company, we want to partner with you and show you how to make more money.

3:44So this is a question people are asking me. So we know the physical toll that football puts on your body, but what mental or emotional challenges from playing those days that still stick with you until this very day? I'll just mention mentally the arduous task of week in and week out, getting your body beat up, repaired, and then beat up again. It sounds like the business world now. It is. It is in a sense. but but there's a physical and mental the business world the physical you do it to yourself by putting hours in and the mental is what you get from it when things don't happen the way you want to happen but in football you know there's just a there's just wear and tear on your body and on your mind and and and more mentally as you get older because it's not like business you can do business forever yeah but in football there's a small amount of time that you have and you have to dedicate a lot of time to maximize that time so you can have the opportunity to be as great as you can whatever that level is let me ask you this Marshall because I'm I'm fascinated by this it's like and I got two questions but how what do you think really made you stand above and beyond everybody you played with like what allowed you to be a dominant force on the field uh just desire I wasn't the biggest.

5:08I wasn't the fastest. I wasn't the strongest. But nobody was going to work harder than me. I felt like nobody was in better condition than me. Most people, it was like, you know, they wanted to go four quarters. I always wanted to go in overtime because I knew that I put more work in than most people. and in those times when most people are tired, that's when I'm going to dominate you. That's when I know I have you. And, you know, I just, you know, I desired it more than others. I was having a conversation with my neighbor yesterday about you and we were talking about like, when was it that the world knew Marshall Falk's name?

5:53and he said it was San Diego State versus USC. And you guys were getting your – San Diego State was getting pounded, and then you came back and just dominated. You just went wild. Yeah. Southern California football was all USC. USC, UCLA. Yeah. And I go to San Diego State, and I'm having this stellar year. and we have USC on the calendar. And it's like, oh, yeah, you know, yeah, he's a pretty good football player, but we'll see when he plays USC. And, you know, USC kind of jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and, you know, we ran off like three touchdowns on them. And I had probably one of my best days, and it was like, hold up, wait.

6:41Like, this kid can play football. It's not just some fluke. Good game, but, you know, you make your marks against well-known teams. And that was one of those games that lifted me to national stardom. Yeah, that was the, like, I mean, from what people, you know, from what's being said, you know, all over, it's like that was the pivotal moment. One of them. One of them. Catapulted fame. Yeah, I mean, it was one of those games. It was, you know, because what people thought of, you know, my bad, what people think about when you think USC football. Yeah. and versus San Diego. So you could never imagine San Diego state versus USC now.

7:24Exactly. Like that's not even a, but when you watch that game and you watched us play, you know, it's, it, it, it looked like, wow, that this looks like a fair game. Like this, and people were surprised to see us competing in this game. Yeah. And why did San Diego state play SC? How did that even happen? They just, they, they took the game, you know, It's like you play certain teams, and that was scheduled before I got there. And luckily, I came, and it happened. But it was one of those games nationally that helped to elevate the college career. Yeah, that's awesome. Now, can you think of a defining moment in your NFL career, like something that really was transformational?

8:17I wouldn't say one particular game. It was just being consistent. There's guys that come in, and they might have a good season, and they might maybe have a couple of good games. But throughout my career, I was a guy that was going to post anywhere around 150 to 200 scrimmage yards. I was going to score a touchdown or two or three per game, and I was consistent. I was somebody that you could count on. I remember my high school coach used to always say, the best ability in the world is availability. And making sure that you're in the game, where you're supposed to be, alignment and assignment was something that I always wanted to be known for.

9:04Now, you get done with your career. You're now inducted to the Hall of Fame. You don't got to grind anymore. What the heck inspired you to be an entrepreneur right after that? Yeah. Get right back to it. I'm a business major, you know, and I love business. And I just like I was born like you think retirement is like right off into the sunset. Joe, I'm gonna tell you right now, man, any any person that's that's that's successful at anything will continue to find things to become successful at anything to challenge you anything to push me. And, you know, getting into different businesses and stuff like that, it pushed me.

9:44But when I got into financial services and I realized how many people are financially illiterate, I was like, wow, this is unbelievable. And I'm going to be honest. The number one thing that I found out, although I was in business, I was successful, made a lot of money in my career, took care of that money. I was like, I'm one of those people. I'm not that smart about money. And my relationship with money wasn't where I would have, what I liked it to be. So it just made sense for me. You know, if you're going to develop something, why not develop yourself in it and then bring people along? Yeah.

10:28And that's something I'd mentioned to you. And that's something that we're working on. You know, we had that meeting with Dan Fleischman. And I was like, we really want to help, you know, athletes, celebrities, musicians. so many there though that group that makes so much money where they're they they're in the middle of showtime and that show's gonna end and that money's gonna stop raining in and they're so they don't blow their money in that window because you didn't blow your money thank god most players it's statistically proved i think what is it like 90 of nfl players they don't they don't blow it somebody help them blow it you can't blow it by yourself.

11:07There's some bodies to help you blow it. Yeah, but most of them end up broke. If they started immediately with a property that they own, as soon as they get that money, they get that paycheck from the NFL, they go buy an investment property. Now they're a landlord. Now there's a level of accountability. They're not going to be partying at night. Their tenant's going to call them with the busted toilet. They've got to take the call. That's sort of grounding that they need so that they can keep focused on the prize, which is like, Hey, when this show ends, I got properties, et cetera. So we're just trying to, and with your help, you know, I'm, and I don't know how much you work with the NFL with financial literacy, but we're scratching the surface right now.

11:49Um, we want not, and I'm very basic with these guys. We want to show you how to make your money work. Like we know how to spend it. We know how to make it. How do you make it work for you? and and that's whether it's buying property whether it's um being smarter and asking the proper questions and knowing how to be a part of the conversations when your monies are being invested like knowing how to be a part of the car instead of just sitting there what's on the bottom line okay cool you need to know how to read what's in between the lines as well so you're starting to scratch the surface working through different are any programs right now available for NFL athletes that you're a part of?

12:31We're talking to them. We're starting with their assets. We're having conversations with them about the things that they're doing because in this business, we're all still learning. There's so much to learn about. And I want to know from guys, what are you doing? Because best practice, I want to take it to other people. I want to share in the information. When we start sharing and collaborating, then we as athletes, we have a better chance at retaining our money. So one thing we're working on now and what we're doing for, I'm doing it for different YouTubers, different celebrity athletes, is we're helping them acquire multifamily properties where they don't need tax returns because these young, like have a YouTuber, he's 19 years old, he's making, you know, a hundred grand a month or whatever, but he doesn't, he just turned 19, doesn't have credit, doesn't have like, you know, tax returns.

13:20He just got, you know, but he's got money, right? So what we can do is we got like these no doc programs that are basically, you know, you just use the rental incomes to qualify. And that's what all athletes, celebrities like can acquire immediately. Early start. Immediately. And that's you're showing them how to make their money work. Immediately. Yeah. So rappers, you know, whatever it is. Remember, anybody that's coming into money, that want to learn more, want to do more. And it's not that they need the income right now, but down the road, that's going to be a good asset that's providing them passive residual income.

13:59What I think about more that's more important for these guys is it helps them stay grounded during the journey. Sometimes. Of celebrityhood. Sometimes. I mean, it's another more like it's another tool in the tool chest, like mitigate the damage of celebrity hood. Yeah. Yeah. To a degree, man. And I'm going to say to the person that decides that they actually want to get involved, you know, putting money in is one thing. Being involved is another thing. Actually learning about it is a whole nother. Because there's a lot of people that's like, you tell them about a deal. It's like, okay, here's the money.

14:35Talk to my guy. Yeah. They're like clueless. That's how most athletes are that you're saying, huh? That's how most people whom are making money and they don't want to do non-income producing activity. They want to stay in their realm of making money. They don't want to focus on that other stuff. And hopefully, and we have those conversations about having the right kind of people around you. Yeah. Yeah. What age, what point did you start to become financially illiterate and start to take, you know, your monetary aspect of your game serious? You know, the minute you get that first check, it's like, wow.

15:16And then you go meet this uncle who you've never had. Uncle Sam's like, Uncle Sam's not my uncle. That's the first lesson when you learn. Hold on, wait. I got all this money. I have no write-offs. I got to pay 41 % in check. What? That's the first lesson. That's the first lesson you learn. And then from there, it's about how much can I save, you know, and how much can I live off? How little can I live off, but still live a happy life? Because this career that I have, it's short and I can't make money throughout the whole life, my whole lifetime that I'm going to make plane. So once you figure that out, and I figured that out right around 23, 24.

16:01You were drafted at what age? 21. okay so you had two years where you were just like just having fun yeah just having fun and then i figured it out and i was like okay cool there's a different game the game is how much can i save it's not how much you make it's how much can you save i mean and that and that that takes years of wisdom i mean it took you a couple slaps from uncle sam and then boom some some some people never figure it out how many seasons total were you in the nfc 13 i mean that's a long career marshall average position i played it's it's it's 13 years of i mean that's the that's the hardest position to play one of them yeah what do you think's the hardest other than i mean linebackers linebackers it's a pretty tough one too you know you're like i at least at least i get paid to make people miss as a linebacker you're doing the same thing i'm doing but you get paid to hit people you're right you're right you only got hit half the time not even that probably.

17:03Listen, I'm trying to not get hit at all. Now, what sort of challenges do you think you face when you started your entrepreneurial journey? Well, the first one was, you know, humility, being humble and telling people what you don't know. You know, it's like we're supposed to know, but if I literally tell you, I don't know, Joe, then you're going to start me off from the ABCs. If not, you're going to assume that I do. And I'm, I'm, I'm going to miss a bunch of stuff. And, and for us, you know, we're, we're revered. People look up to us, they cheer for us. And they think that we have the business acroman to take things on at times that we're not ready.

17:50And I am one of the, you know, I'm going to say one of the few people, and I'm going to look you in your face. You're talking about me. I'm like, I don't know what the hell you talking about like we gotta i i like i'll tell you what i don't know because i want to be in the know that's the only way i can learn if you know that i don't know then guess what then you're going to teach me if you assume that i know you're just having a conversation with me and you know for you because you know you you walk through here everyone has such great reverence for you and it's like for you to tell people you don't know it's like you don't know more like i'm just you know i love telling people i don't know me and you're like you're the ceo you're like no i'm just like the glorified sales guy here i don't know hey the reality is if i tell you i don't know i'll spend less time in the unknown like if i tell you i don't know you're going to then make sure that i know it's the fastest way to learn yeah and and i think that's a great lesson for people to hear now because uh you know to hear a hall of famer you know when he says that and then just humble yourself like that's the fastest hey man listen hall of famer or not if you want to learn something tell people you don't know and hopefully they'll teach you the right way if you trust that person love that great advice now one thing i like to talk about on this show is is grit now you got insane grit i mean one of the hardest working people to ever play the game you finish now here you are you know started started a company and you're crushing the business world um so your grit is just incredible how did you instill or how do you instill that same level of grit in your children um that now that's a tough task you know it's uh i um it's it's one of the struggles in life and in in raising them still and you know you you're always trying to give your kids more than what you had.

19:51And in giving them more than what you had, you start to realize that part of what you had made you who you are. That adversity, my kids, they don't have adversity. They've never not eaten a meal that they wanted. They've never gone without. There's very few things in life that they want. But grit isn't just adversity. You know, grit, as I said, you know, greatness reached in teamwork. Grit is learning how to work with people regardless if you like them or not. Grit is learning how to get things done regardless if you want to do it or not. You know, grit is putting forth the effort, not just when you want to do it, but when you don't want to do it.

20:44they don't need adversity to do those things. They just need to do them when they come about in their lives. Dad, I don't feel like doing it. That's why you need to do it. Literally. Like the minute that they don't feel like doing it, I'm like, that's why we're doing it today. I'm hoping my son just heard that in the washroom next door because that's what life's about. It's so important, man. You have to push your kids out of their comfort zone when you come from, like I'm raising a, my kid is growing up and he's in, and they're inheriting, they're growing up in wealth. It's the first generation of my family growing up with wealth.

21:25So there's some things in life that they need to understand. And I need to make sure that they have to understand how to take on the challenges in life, even if they're growing up without them. Let's create some, let's make up some. I mean they're seeing dad grinding every day probably 5-6 in the morning that's all they know from me like this is what they see from me is just my life like oh that's dad that's all they see that's all they know you know but now you know my kids are a little older and they're in the work world and I'm like I'm like figure it out like don't don't don't no don't call I want you to figure it out try to figure it out first I'm teaching them how to problem solve I don't want to be their problem solver and like with with kids like who grew up in like you know with a celebrity parent like how was that what sort of challenges did they face having the fall name so I don't know I have no idea and And I feel for them at times because when we go places, they have to deal with people wanting the piece of their dad.

22:46You know, and you were like just stormed here. This is a workplace. You know, I can't imagine in public. Like, just getting people to understand, you know, if I'm doing a date night with my daughter and it's just about her and I don't want to be bothered, hoping that someone don't take it personal that I asked him, hey, I don't want to be bothered. I want to spend time with my daughter for whatever the reason is. It's a birthday. It's a special day. Yeah. It's just her and I. And she's like, nothing's pulling my dad away. And a bunch of people coming up to you. Can I get a photo? Right, right, right.

23:30Sometimes you got to be the bad guy to make sure that you can give that one on one time and be the person that you that you want to be and need to be to your loved ones. And that's good you've been able to define. And I wonder, like, if I were to ask your kids, like, what bothered you about celebrityhood for, you know, growing up with a celebrity? share me they would tell you share me um in in becoming who who i became the sacrifice of time and all of that stuff you know what one of the things that i heard um you know the the big thing of you know lebron and bronnie playing with each other lebron said something he was like man you know this this moment is so special for me because this game has taken so much of my time And I've missed so much of my kids' important days.

24:18And then now we got 87 games. I get to spend with Bronny and be with him playing this game for him to see, you know, what goes into it. He's like, I mean, the man upstairs could not have put it any better for me. I'm so blessed. Think about that. Yeah. I mean, I was at, and it's so amazing. Bronny and LeBron playing together. And I think about that. And I'm in a basketball league and there was a dad and son playing last week. And I'm like, that is so cool that you're playing with your dad. You know, that was just like a men's league, you know, professional game. But a professional, that's just unbelievable to play.

24:57And this game that now, this game in the past that took him away from his family is now giving him an opportunity to play with his son. We've had a bunch of father son duels. first time we've we and we got the witnesses the two of them play together yeah first time in history yeah it might be one of the last i mean something like that is like i doubt it'll ever it'll never happen in football it'll never happen in football no but i don't know how it happened in basketball he just happened to have kids really young like blessed man 18 years old his body that but but also you know took care of his body and and and and then and then did some things right to where his kid excelled enough in his shadows to be good enough to make it to the nba and be one of the 450 players that's amazing a lot there man there is it is a lot there and he did it you know he's he's a small guy he's not a big guy he's not like dad he's a little he's 6 '2 you know he's just a you know an average sized guy um and he's really good and i'm i'm impressed with what what he's doing so far yeah i mean he's not lebron but you know but he's doing great um now let me ask you this is there a specific like mindset that you have to have one to succeed in the nfl and two to succeed as an entrepreneur?

26:32So first, in the NFL, there's several mindsets. There's the, I made it to the NFL mindset. I'm good in the NFL mindset. I want to be great in the NFL mindset, or I want to be one of the greatest to have a play in the NFL mindset. And I think in business, there's the same thing. you know and and people along the way accomplish things and in those things that they accomplish they either settle or they continue to want more um lebron continues to want more michael jordan continued to want more you know tom brady continued to want more uh i was a continue to want more guy it was like whatever i did that was just scratching the surface is it's It's what more can I do?

27:25As you said it, I should have rolled off into the sunset. But instead, I was like, hold on, wait, there's business. Let me take this on. There's television. Let me take that on. And that mindset is the mindset that builds not just winners, but help winners build winners as well. you know i never heard it compartmentalized as a mindset like that you know and and that is just the the greatness mindset is that just never enough mindset never enough never enough and that that explains you in a nutshell that explains jordan nutshell explains never enough explain and even you know it's never enough with our company people are like your company's already so big like like biggest got like we're just starting like we're really just what are they comparing it to yeah i just exactly what's it everybody else exactly like so who who does that yeah yeah and and uh and when i tell people like we're really just getting the party started like you know when you start looking at is it is it let's say is it as big as amazon yeah right exactly he's like that well shit that's how big i want it to be yeah you start finding you you start finding things to chase yeah and it's just fun you know we love what we do but i love the win too i love you know the the entrepreneur game is this it's the same like sports that's why we have such great sports leaders as the biggest entrepreneurs now like i'll give you an example the guy who bought the phoenix suns mentor of mine and you know he was also on the show here as well um and he he owns united wholesale mortgage owns the phoenix suns and he's a never enough guy Everything he talks about is just dominating.

29:13We're just getting started. It takes what it takes to win. It just doesn't matter. That sort of mindset that he's instilled in me, instilled in so many people in the broker community, but it's a sports mindset. A little 5 '9 guy won an NCAA championship with Michigan State around the same time you did. I know we like to call it a sports mentality, but I have to give due to where it comes from. It's actually military. It's our arms services. Their mindset is the mindset that we all try to adapt in sports. All of their analogies and what they do and how they perform because we're just playing sports.

30:01They're dealing in life and death, protecting and serving. And that's the everything, most of the cliches and the things that we do when we're talking about team, bonding, building, success, winning. It comes from our armed services, our military. Yeah, you're absolutely right. You really start to break it down. When people started to use it in sports, you know, the metaphors, it means something like when I'm a soldier, I'm a warrior. well we're playing games now let's just these boys they're doing this is real life over here like we're playing like tonight when the clock strikes zeros somebody's going home a winner and loser the real people like somebody's dying yeah some people might not make it home so i i i always want to acknowledge the truth and where all of the stuff comes from that we use.

31:04When you hear a lot of the teams that win and what they talk about when players are talking, that comes from our armed forces and what they use, a lot of their decree and a lot of the things that they stand by and a lot of their mantras. I was just going to literally ask you right now, Is there a mantra that you live by? Not one in particular, but, you know, my high school coach told this to me, and I was like, wow. And it sticks in my head. If you travel down the road with no speed bumps, you're headed for a dead end. and like that just reminds me that life is it's there's things that's going to be coming at you follow it up with my next question what's your favorite quote oh there's so many quotes man i'm i'm like i just beat bump one's a good one i don't i don't really have a favorite quote like I love quotes in general.

32:13And when I hear them, I just try to put myself in the position. Is there a famous Marshall Falkman?

32:29Probably. I always tell people, don't be afraid of success. So many people get in the way. They start changing things and doing things as they become successful to create roadblocks for themselves. Like you're on the path to being successful and you, you, you, you mess it up because you're afraid, you're, you're afraid of a lot of people don't want to be great because there's a lot of expectations that come with being great. what uh i mean when you achieved greatness like i mean that you're argued the and i've this has been this could be argued but you know you're you're documented as one of the best running backs to play the game that comes with a lot of pressure comes with a lot of like you know societal expectations how has that like impacted you at a personal level so here's here's the funny part at the time I was doing it there wasn't any pressure and now looking back on it there's no pressure because there's nothing I could do about my resume um the pressure was getting drafted being given a lot of money and being asked to do something and the questions were can he do it and the question I never had was can I do it I knew I could do it like that part like that those words i knew i could do it um that confidence is something that you gotta have like you're you you don't walk into that locker room without that confidence so there's no pressure pressure pressure is hey can you lead other men that's pressure but can i get it done that's easy i i know i'm confident in my ability the pressure is can i get other people to believe in themselves can i lead other men am i the leader of men that's the that's the pressure now circling back now looking back at your 21 year old self knowing that you can't do nothing about anything now right what advice would you give your 21 year yourself?

34:44Probably the number one thing was, um, I just, I wasn't patient with myself. Like I wanted to be, I wanted to be who I was five years later then. And you can't without the experience. I don't care how many people you ask. I don't care how much tape you watch. I don't care all the things that you do. Um, going through it on a, on a professional and personal level on and off the field you just you you you can't speed up time you know um five years even for a running back that's maybe past their whole career could be could be but you can't speed up the time man that's all you could do is is be in the moments and some of the moments um you know i great moments I weren't in them.