What Happens After the NFL? ft. Malik Jackson | Coffeez with Joe Shalaby

0:00What's up everybody? Welcome to another very special episode of Coffee's Proposers. Today we've got a really special guest in the studio, Malik Jackson, Super Bowl 50 champion, the founder and CEO now of The Care League, coming in to talk to you guys about his new venture that he started that's bringing luxury concierge services that only elite athletes like LeBron James get to you, the modern consumer. Please welcome the founder and CEO of the Care League, Malik Jackson. Welcome to another episode of Coffees. Let's go. Get the claps up. Let's go, baby. How are you doing, everybody? Rocking that ring.

0:40I love it, man. I love it. What camera am I looking at, by the way? Is that one? Yeah. Let's go. Yeah. Oh, man, you're so animated. You've got such a great vibe, and I'm so happy you're here with us today. Thank you for having me. So we're here. You know, the audience is here like checking out Malik Jackson's new venture. Yes. After Super Bowl 50 championship. But before we dive into all that, what's your morning routine? My morning routine. Well, got to say, too, right? I have a 10-year-old daughter. And if I'm with her, we wake up about 6. I'll say I wake up at 6. Of course, wash my face, brush my teeth, get her up, get her breakfast ready.

1:18And then my mom takes her to school or I'll take her to school. and then go work out and start answering emails and calls. But if I don't have her, she's with her mother, then what I'll do is wake up still about 6, go work out 7.30 to 8.30, go home, answer emails and calls. So that's it. Yeah, I mean, Super Bowl champ life. That's it. What was your morning routine when you rocked the Super Bowl? What's it like right before Super Bowl? Of the game? The morning of the Super Bowl. I mean, yeah, wake up, brush your teeth, wash your face, maybe throw up once or twice because you're just nervous that day and just sit around, hurry up and wait to the game.

1:57There's not much you can do. You go eat breakfast. You have your meetings, right? But for the most part, you're just in your head and just playing the game over and over and talking success in your mind and going out there ready to wait to go do it. Man, I can't imagine the pressure, like just to have the entire country just all eyes on you, unobstructed. It's beautiful, but as you know, we played Super Bowl 48 against the Seahawks in New York. Yeah. That was a terrible day. So that team, we had a lot of the same guys. So we were able to really harness that and understand what it means to get an opportunity like this to live forever and how far and few between they come.

2:33And so I think having that knowledge really helped us. And I think that's what really put us over the top to beat Carolina that day, as they were a really good team. I mean, that was an amazing game. Let me ask you, after the lights, after the fame, after all that notoriety, like what's life like in that transitional phase from being Super Bowl champion, elite athlete, to just like now you're back in the grind? Just a guy. You're just a guy. It's tough, right? I tell people, first people like Malik, what was retirement like? What'd you do first? And I say, I live like Peppelin Pew for like a year and a half, having a good time.

3:05You know, I'm single. So I did that. And then you sit down and realize, you know, the cheers are gone. There's nobody there to help you. My agent asked me to pay my last invoice. And I was like, yeah, I got you, man. I hate on people, right? Atlanta always pays his debt. So paid the debt and haven't heard from him in four years, right? And so you realize that you're really on your own. The team leaves you. That means there's no camaraderie. There's no training room for your access, for your health care. And there's no agent to really guide you in the next stage of life. And so we'll get on more essentially why I created what I created.

3:36But it's a lonely time, man. And, yeah, I don't think people really understand the hardships that an athlete goes to, right? Because when you're the guy, right? Joseph is the guy. He's the one that everybody loves him. And then you retire and I come in, everybody's like, oh, Malik's the guy. And they're like, oh, forget Joseph. It doesn't matter. You know what I mean? So it's one of those things that's tough to really – it's tough to handle sometimes. And especially – I tell people it's not – it doesn't matter if you decide to retire like myself or you got kicked out and nobody's picking up the phone to call you anymore.

4:04It's still tough. So, yeah. You know, you're – we were just talking. You're now the fourth Super Bowl champ we've had on this show. and there's a lot of and i was telling you and it's it's really really breaks my heart to see when you see a super bowl ring at like a pawn shop yeah or something you you hear those stories yeah and there's really only two ways that transition hits you yeah you either take it and you run with that same level of grit and mindset that you had when you played a game every single day and that's what marshall falk did really really well he's like listen super Super Bowl didn't end for me.

4:39Yeah. Football didn't end. Like, I grind. He grinds every single day. Same with Chris Heather. Same with Sativa Ghali. These guys are ultra grinders. And I feel like I attract those entrepreneur grinding Super Bowl champs to this show because it kind of like we're all kind of in the same network at this point. Yep. Or you go the opposite direction, which is you get into your head. You fall into depression. Then you fall into drugs. Then you fall into like, then boom. Now you're suicidal. And it's something that breaks my heart. We just had a Viking star yesterday. He shoot himself, right? Another one?

5:15Yeah, from the Vikings. I forget his name. The receiver? Not the Arizona guy. Another one? The wide receiver, yeah. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yeah, same guy. And same guy. Was that yesterday or was that? It was the same time frame. This week. Yeah, this week. Yesterday. It was Monday. You're right. Yeah. And it breaks my heart that they get into their head. And he's still in the NFL. Yeah, no. I don't think people really understand the hard, like, the way, the type of pressure we put on ourselves. And it's not only us, right? Imagine your family's depending on you to go out there, make the money, do the thing, bring it back home, take care of everybody.

5:45And, you know, as a lot of people see on Sundays, you know, some guys just don't translate or they just don't get the opportunities or their body just breaks down. It's very, those are really the three options that really happen. Or you succeed and you thrive. But a lot of guys, it goes to a point where, like, you put so much pressure on yourself and you put so much value in football to where you can't see the end of the tunnel. You can't put yourself to say, I'm more than a football player. Now, granted, for me, I just believed I was a football player when I played. And then I retired, and I was like, dang, you know what, like, I can be more.

6:16Well, I had to have somebody tell me, Malik, you can be more. I didn't go through a huge state of depression, but you still go through depression. It wasn't suicide or anything, but it was still tough, you know, because your identity is wrapped up in what you do, what you've been doing for the last since I was eight years old. You know, and now I'm like, okay, who am I? But what I was able to have was in my corner of my financial team, Aaron Stevens. Shout out to Aaron. And he was like, you know, Malik, I think you should go back to school. I was like, man, I already got the paper that matters.

6:41I'm rich. You know what I mean? He was like, nah, like you got to go learn and educate yourself. And I was like, especially if you're going to get in the business, you got to understand what an LTV is and all these other things are. And I was like, okay, cool. And so I did the six-week Stanford program. And, you know, I was like, wow, I can read more than a few pages in the book. I can understand and retain this stuff. I can write a paper. And so it really took those small steps to really build me up to say, okay, I do believe in myself now. And I think the sad part is a lot of guys don't have that.

7:09Like we were talking earlier, you know, my agent left me. So if a lot of guys don't have a good financial guy or an agent that actually cares about them, then they're lost and they're by themselves and there's nobody there to help them. So there's a huge void in that aspect. And I hope the league steps up and pays for that young man's funeral. And, you know, I hope parents really talk to their kids about be more, go to school, right? Like really focus on things. get people in your corner that are going to help you thrive, not just take from you. So it's a tough sight when you see things like that, especially from a young man that had his whole life in front of him.

7:42Yeah, I mean, you know, we're starting to see that a lot. And I just, for me, these are elite athletes, and they're groomed to be just superstar humans in general. And I always struggle with the fact that finding that balance, like you're an elite athlete, now you're going through this major depression, but they've been groomed for so much since they're you've been groomed as a kid to be a superstar athlete but being a superstar athlete translates into normal life you're usually a hard worker you're usually you know a steward a good steward in general and it just breaks me when i see these guys going in through that kind of depression what do you think is the catalyst for some of this stuff well you said it right you said they're hard workers and they're good stewards but you know how does that necessarily translate when you didn't get a college degree like i did put me in for example, I didn't finish college, right?

8:30And so what opportunities do I really have at my fingertips to go out there? One, to make as much money as I did previously, as fast as I did, and put myself in a position where, I guess in the NFL, if you're a starter, you can be considered a C-suite executive. Let's just compare it to that. To put myself in a C-suite executive role right away, it's not realistic. I mean, I can't pawn, you can pawn this, but I can't, everybody's like, why don't you wear it so much? It's like, well, because I can't go to Vons and buy food with it right I damn sure can't go to Erwan so like there's not there's not much there's translation outside of it you are taught you are taken care of but you have to really understand the educational aspect of it because people have been doing it for a long time before you and the opportunities for it and so that's why that's why I think it's so tough and that's why I think what I'm doing is needed because at the end of the day you need people behind you you need people to push you you need people to put you in positions educate you show you the way right And so it's interesting.

9:23But, yeah, I think it just – it's tough because a lot of guys just don't see themselves as much sometimes, and it sucks, but we're also not – I'll say this. We're also babied to the – and I say babied for lack of better phrasing. We're babied, we're coddled, we're taken care of. All I had to worry about was X's and O's. My bills were paid. My family wanted to come out and do something. They needed something. Everything was taken care of, right? And so to have all that taken care of and then expect the guy to just get out of the league and answer emails or I still type like this when I first left the league or open your own mail.

9:55It's not really realistic, especially when they're going through so many things in their head, financial issues, merit issues, identity issues, personal issues. So it's a lot on that retired athlete to try to act like he's going to get out there right away. Not, you know, we have a lot of good examples. You spoke about the four, the three other Super Bowl champions you've had come through here. And there's plenty of other good examples. But, you know, unfortunately, a bad one speaks just as loudly as the good ones. And they're not necessarily bad. And I don't know what the NFL is doing to kind of like derail this.

10:27I think that there's some preventative measures that the NFL can certainly do to make sure that these things don't happen. And coddling someone hurts them more than helps them. It does. It does. But, you know, it's like take you, for example, right? I mean, you have a thousand things on your plate, right? And if you have somebody that can come take some things off, allow you to focus, okay, but then that means you're taken away from understanding and learning that, say, pay a bill or something, right? Understand hospital networks and co-pays or whatever. Once you try to – once you find that person and try to get back in that life, you're already a step behind, right?

10:59And so it's everybody, you know what I'm saying? And so I think just education or just creating something that has that same access and connections they can pull from when they're out the league or if they are a professional or an executive that they can still have to not make that cliff so hard or so sharp, I should say, or so short. So, yeah. Well, now stepping out of being a superstar athlete, now you're in our world. Now you're an entrepreneur. What do you think was harder, becoming a superstar athlete or now becoming a CEO? That's a good question. I'm not going to give you political. I'll choose one.

11:34I think being a – that's a hard one. I'll give you two answers. I think being a superstar athlete is very hard. Obviously, a lot of things have to go right. You have to have the coaching. You have to have the body type, right? You have to have the mindset. But I also think being a CEO is equally as hard. Maybe I would say that's harder because now you're not just fighting against a small group of guys. You're just fighting against everybody in the world that wants to do something, and let alone if you chose a niche space or you chose something in finance like you, that there's hundreds, thousands of people doing it all around the world, right?

12:08And so to separate yourself is hard, and to really come up with a new innovative idea is tough. So I would have to say between those two options, becoming a CEO, business owner, is definitely tough. Because I'll say this, in sports, you don't quit. You're like, oh, I'm never going to quit. And business is like fail fast and move on, you know? And, like, that's such a hard concept for me to understand, playing sports. You're like, no, that doesn't make any sense as the money's dwindling. You know what I mean? You know, kind of piggybacking on that, now you're a CEO and now you're in this space.

12:39It's kind of niche. I haven't heard about something like this service offer before. But also the demographic that you're chasing is kind of niche as well because you're looking for pretty much affluent people that can afford these concierge lifestyle services. So two questions. One, how are you getting their attention and making sure that the Care League is the company that you want to go to for these services? And, you know, how are you, what's your go-to-market strategy? So, yeah, first let me go back, right? I think that you said the league has to be doing something. So, Zamir Cobb at the Trust is doing a hell of a job in really putting things out there for the guys that they can utilize.

13:20And so I commend him on what he's been able to do. um and so yeah um you asked about the budget or the finance part the uh our subscription model right the way I tried to price it is because I understand that there's athletes um and there's business people that got to worry about everything else right so if I'm like hey Joseph like I want you to be a part of us I'm like well we're 20 ,000 a year you can like okay cool if that if that fits your pocket but if you still have to pay for everything which I'm very conscious about the providers we bring to you then to me that's that's not fair and so where we are we're starting about $250,$399 is where we start, depending on what you want to ask for a month.

13:57And so depending on what you ask for and how frequently you ask for it and the things you want us to do for you. And so I really want to price it in that frame so that we can sit here and be for everybody, right? I just don't want to be for the ultra rich. I don't want to just be for the uber poor because we still have to have a successful business. I want to be right there in the middle that people can sit there, pay the monthly subscription fee, but also understand if they have a doctor, they need to go see if they can pay that and not hurt their pockets too much right i mean it's hard times right now so um so yeah that's that's where we are so uh i got two things one uh this is a her mosey says you can't have a successful business if you're for the poor you're either for the poor people or you're for the rich people and the middle is a hard ground to dig your uh i hear you to dig into but i guess for your model i guess you can't charge 10 grand it's because they still got to pay for the service they still got to pay for the service.

14:49I mean, we could, and who knows, one day we might get there, right? But at today's date, for me, it's about what's our core audience, right? Professionals and executives, right? And so that's a core audience. And the second core audience, or the first, 1A, is the athletes, right? And so understanding where the athletes come from, where a lot of guys are going bankrupt, selling their Super Bowl rings, like what's the price point that we can get to them so that they can see the value. And once we show them the value and everything else, we add more to their plate, we add more services, then we can have a talk, right?

15:15I mean, hell, everybody pays for Netflix and it's going up every month and they don't care, right? And so for me, it's to show the value first, prove the model, show the wealth of network we have, and then as we go, get to a point where we can be competitive price or just stay there because I believe in quantity, right, as well as quality. So let's get that straight, yeah. So the Care League has every kind of service from, we're going to add financial now. Yeah, we're going to add financial. But every sort of doctor, specialized doctor, health, longevity. Yes. And it's very niched in, right? Yes, it's very built in.

15:50So what we like to do, so we're a care coordination concierge company. And one of the things I'm pulling from, from my experience in the NFL, is being able to walk into a training room and have everything at your fingertips. I need a massage. I need EKG. I need an MRI, right? It's done like that. I need to see a doctor for this rash. You're in there like that in the NFL. And then you retire. I'm realizing people are walking around with torn ACLs, torn Achilles seats for weeks, years. And I'm like, that doesn't make any sense. So we have that health and wellness network where we can pull from. And also lifestyle and hospitality, right?

16:19Because if you want to travel, you want to do something for your lady, your kids need something. We do it all in every space. And I think I pride myself on not just being specific health and wellness or specific lifestyle and hospitality. It's both combined to do whole life care. So with that said, like, what was the overarching objective when you wanted to start the Care League? Like, cause you said to me, you're like, well shoot, right after I got out of the league, like I didn't have any resources. Yeah. I didn't know what the hell to do. Yeah. Yeah. And that, that hits, you know, and that hits.

16:52And it dawned on me like right now, just saying that it's like your target avatars are athletes. Yeah. Retired athletes. Yeah. Cause they don't know what the hell to do. Exactly. They have nothing. After they get out, they're like, where'd I go? You go to the care league. You come to the care league. We got your back. So for me, I'll preface it by saying, you know, I did very well for myself. 10 years in the NFL, over$100 million in contracts before taxes. After taxes is another story, as you know. But still did very well for myself. And so for me, sitting there, I'll tell you this story. I had a McLaren.

17:22I tried to be cool. Hydro-planned it, crashed it, sold it, got a Rolls Royce. I was like, I need to slow down. But as I got the Rolls Royce, I'm driving the Ghost. I'm like, I feel so pretentious. Like, you're getting almost the wrong attention. And I'm like, I'm still, what, 33 at the time. I'm like, this is like a 60-year-old, 80-year-old's car. You know, somebody that's lived enough life and nobody's going to think he's ominous or anything. And so I was sitting there and as I'm looking at stories of guys dying, guys going bankrupt, guys not being able to take care of themselves, it really hit me because I'm like, how do I go from caring about these guys when we're playing ball, blood, sweat, tears with these guys really fighting every day to now I'm retired and act like I'm not supposed to care about them when I see people struggling, living check to check after playing six, seven, eight years.

18:01It doesn't make any sense to me. So I sold the Rolls Royce. I was like, I'm going to start a business to help guys. And so as I did this, you know, I'm understanding the league has great resources, but there's still a gap from what guys understand and the utilization of the benefits we earn. You can understand when we sit here and we have benefits from the last CBA, the 2020 CBA, if we're not utilizing our benefits, we're not maximizing them, truly getting our money's worth out of them, then we can't go back in 2030 and ask for more. The owners are going to be like, yo, what are you talking about?

18:31You guys don't even use this, right? And so for me to sit here and be an advocate for how God to give us more, to give our families more so we can deserve to get, if you play 10 years, let's say five years in the NFL, you get free health care like basketball. I mean, hell, that's a good tradeoff, especially when we're way more, we put our bodies on the line way more. And I'm not just trying to disrespect basketball players, but, you know, it's a different game. And so if we can sit here and start utilizing things and start maximizing things, then we can ask for more. And if we can get more, then we can feel better.

18:57And we can stop. Can we curse on this show? Go for it. We can stop bitching about what we don't have, but it comes from education and having guys come in and be a part of it. I went to go talk to the NFL one time when I first started, and I'm talking to the higher-ups, and she's like, man, you know, we do a good job. Guys got to open mail. We send emails. I said, lady, I get what you're saying, but you're asking a lot from guys that weren't taught this and don't have the business acumen or the time or just the brainpower to worry about that, right? We've got to hit them in a different way. And so that's why with the Care League, what I really – the first thing we implemented was giving people a concierge assistant.

19:35We're going to call you twice a week. We're going to ask you what you need. We also have a mentor, which is an older guy on our team named Billy, who played 12-year Super Bowl champion as well. Because I'm like, these guys need somebody that they can talk to, that they can relate to, to say, hey, I'm going through this, and we can understand each other. I mean, some guy's been rich, been broke, been divorced, got back on it. Like it's a whole – we have a whole ecosystem. And I tell people as the NFL, we have one of the biggest frats. It's almost like we just refuse to use each other, which is a problem.

20:02So I'm trying to bring all that together. Collaboration is key. And you said something like that really hits. And that is that you have a concierge to call them because people don't know what the hell they need until they're asked about it. And one of the biggest things in any business is execution. Right. And the way to get execution is to nudge. Yep. And now you're nudging these people going, listen, what the hell do you need? Like what's hurting today? What's going on? Exactly. And one of the things we do is since we understand the benefits, particularly speaking about NFL guys and athletes, we know there are benefit packages.

20:36Right. And so we can say, hey, what do you need? He's like, hey, man, I want to go back to school, but I don't really know how. OK, cool. That's a benefit. Let's use that. That's free. Hey, I want to start a business, but I need some help. OK, cool. That's a benefit. That's free. Let's use it. Right. And so we really push the NFL guys and all athletes to utilize the benefit packages that the teams or the three-letter league has given them to be able to make it as cheap as possible for free since they already paid into it. And if that's not in the Rolodex or the benefit packages, then we go to our Rolodex and make sure that our providers who we make deals and partnerships with can provide a great product for a discounted rate.

21:11So, yeah. I mean there's my mind is just going and I think like your network is going to expand you know I have my mentor is a team owner he owns the Phoenix Suns he's he bought he's now buying the socks and I feel like there's so much synergy here with what we're doing um and there's just a lack of education for athletes post profession 100 percent and if they just had some actual direction where they're not they're handheld yeah they just got to be handheld into it because they're gonna leave they're gonna go they're gonna immediately fall into depression yep but if there was like a hand-holding ecosystem yep that's partnered directly not just like where now you gotta like you gotta reach out to these people and then get them to adopt yep but there needs to be something greater than what you're doing to to to create a true hand-holding platform for athletes?

22:10I mean, we're building it. We have the platform, and I think that's why we have something great. It's niche, and there's nothing like it out there. And so I'm excited about what we have. I'm excited about building partnerships and people, the good feedback that we've had. We've been able to take a few good players, ex-players, through it, and they love it. And so it's like, hey, man, let's just keep going and really serve. You're coming from a place of humility. You're doing God's work for these guys, man. I mean, yeah. You're doing God's work. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. So just looking to build, you know, get with the three-letter leagues, the NBA, NHL, NFL, go across the season, soccer, and truly take care of the guys that truly built the sport to allow the owners to eat and be who they are.

22:50But you got to go from the owner all the way to the guy at the bottom, right? Those guys at the bottom are not really at the bottom. Walk me through, like, some of the success cases of some athletes that you've experienced that get out of the league, and they're like, I don't know what the hell to do with my life. So, yeah, so I appreciate you asking. So we had a guy that wants to be an actor, right? Didn't really have any connections. So through our Rolodex, we were able to get him partnered with an acting coach and also some people in the acting scene to be able to help him get an interview.