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When Scott Donnell blew his ACL playing tennis, he thought it was all over.
As an All-American at Willamette University, tennis was Scott’s ticket to a potential career with a sustainable cash flow.
After finding the Acton School of Business and many 100-hour weeks, Scott launched a business in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis aimed at helping schools fundraise more than ever before while teaching students leadership skills.
Listen now to hear more.
Show Notes
When Scott Donnell blew his ACL playing tennis, he thought it was all over.
As an All-American at Willamette University, tennis was Scott’s ticket to a potential career with a sustainable cash flow.
After finding the Acton School of Business and many 100-hour weeks, Scott launched a business in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis aimed at helping schools fundraise more than ever before while teaching students leadership skills.
Fast-forward to today, Scott’s company – Apex Leadership Co. – has helped raise more than $50 million for 2300 schools in 26 states, ultimately, serving over 2 million students. In 2017, Apex was awarded the #1 Ranked Franchise in their category by Entrepreneur.
A couple things to listen for in this episode:
- Why common fundraising methods for non-profits are faulty (and a better approach with more upside)
- Why event-based fundraising has exploded and helped Scott create a multi-million dollar business
- How a $1 million lawsuit (that happened a week after launching) almost put Apex under (and the 73 year old lawyer who saved the day)
- Scott’s advice for navigating business deals when you’re just getting started
- What bad traits in business relationships to look for so that you don’t lose your investment capital
- How Scott creates a win-win with his franchise business model that results in long-term royalties and lucrative investment opportunities
- Why even the most popular names might not carry the weight of a franchise investment
- Where to start with business and investments (whether you’re an athlete or just curious about building your wealth)
- The tried and true piece of wisdom that makes or breaks your long-term wealth
- The controversial (but best) piece of advice Scott ever received about building wealth
- Why you have to eat, sleep, and breath your business when you’re first getting started
- The million dollar question: what’s the most important piece to growing a successful business?
- The mindset you must have if you’re looking to bring on people in your business
- The core steps to creating a self-managing company
- The boring and unsexy book that’s been a huge part of Scott’s business success
- Scott’s ambitious goals in business
- The advice Scott would give to a smart, driven athlete, who’s transition from closing out their career to jumping into the business world
- “Our society takes money away from those who need it the most and puts it in the pockets of those who might not be not adding much good to society.”
- “In business you have to have grit and perseverance to never give up.”
- “The best people are always one step ahead and going the extra mile. Finding the things they can do to serve.”
- “The key to wealth is just spending less than you make.”
- “Don’t ever be afraid to have money burning a hole in your pocket for awhile.”
- “Bringing on people is an investment, not an expense.”
- “My goal by bringing someone on is that they’re going to set me free by doing something better than me.”
- “There’s a lot of things I can do that somebody else can easily do just as good, if not better than me.”
- Apex Leadership Co.
- DISC Personality Assessment
- Tim Ferriss
- Acton School Of Business
- How I Built This
Watch now:
Creators and Guests
What is Athlete CEO?
Each week on Athlete CEO features select excerpts from interviews with trailblazers, the elite, those at the top of their field and the best at their craft with the goal to curate the best practices that you can leverage to unlock your human capital