The Transcript Is Auto-Generated and May Contain Spelling And Grammar Errors
Tyler Jorgenson (00:01.413)
Welcome out to Biz Ninja Entrepreneur Radio. I’m your host, Tyler Jorgensen. I’ve been doing this show for coming on 14 years. And one of my favorite things that I get to do is interview people who have transitioned or changed careers from one thing to another. And I feel like there’s no bigger shift from being a professional athlete, a paid superstar into a nine to five grind hustle, work it, figure it out type of entrepreneur. And so Brandon Barnes is
a friend of mine and somebody who I had the privilege of working with over the years on a previous business. And I’ve watched as he’s transitioned from athlete and chasing that dream into building other businesses and stepping into helping other people grow. And it’s just been such a cool thing to watch. So Brandon, welcome out to the show. Super glad you’re here.
BRANDON (00:52.03)
Nah man, I’m stoked to be here. Always glad to speak with you and you know, just have fun.
Tyler Jorgenson (00:59.097)
You know, in 14 years, you are the first person on the show that is hit for the cycle in Major League Baseball. So that’s something. My favorite though is you’re inside the Parker. I think that one’s my favorite of your highlight reel. Yeah. So Brandon, when, I mean, you’re, you know, you’ve, you were a Major League Baseball player.
BRANDON (01:06.221)
That’s pretty special feed. It’s pretty lucky.
BRANDON (01:15.213)
Yeah, that’s one of my tops as well. The one in San Francisco was unreal.
Tyler Jorgenson (01:25.445)
and had some really cool plays for some great teams. The only team that you played for that I would have the hat and would wear it is Colorado. I wouldn’t wear a Houston hat, but, and I wouldn’t wear the normal color way. I’ll wear all color ways for you. But man, when, so you, how, like walk us through a little bit of your story. You, you know, kind of your, how long you chased that dream, how long you got to play and experience that. And then what made you start moving into other things?
BRANDON (01:33.229)
Yep.
BRANDON (01:39.659)
Yeah.
BRANDON (01:55.019)
Yeah, I started playing baseball when I was four. In high school, I was more of a football player than I was a baseball player. I actually quit baseball my senior year in high school because I had a full ride scholarship to UCLA. That ended up following through. So I decided to quit football, walk on to the junior college to play baseball, led by faith and made the team. I was a freshman All -American, went into the hall of fame there and then got drafted.
the sixth round that year and then that’s when the true grind started right like I played seven and a half years in the minor leagues before I ever got an opportunity to play in the big leagues you know I wasn’t that good that’s why I didn’t get that opportunity you know I had some things to work on and it took a long time to figure it out but I’m just grateful for the opportunities that they gave me to keep working on it because a lot of guys don’t get those opportunities and I just wanted to to just live out my dream.
Tyler Jorgenson (02:34.437)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (02:49.431)
you
BRANDON (02:53.322)
when I got to the major leagues in, I think that was like 2012 in August. Dude, it was special, man. It was just an awesome moment to be able to spend with my wife and my daughter and my dad and my best friend. And then, you know, got to Houston, played there for a year and a half, got traded to Colorado, was there for three years, and then kind of just bounced around after that. But got to play in South Korea, Venezuela, Mexico, Australia.
You know, I got to live the dream.
Tyler Jorgenson (03:25.029)
Yeah. Yeah. And I think, um, baseball is one of those unique sports where, uh, with the minor league system, it’s such a developmental program that really what I, the part I love about it is that you have the ability to continue to get better. Um, you know, I think some people get lost in that. And I think that’s different in other sports where if you can’t make it right at the beginning, it’s unlikely you’re ever going to, right? There’s not a big minor league development football program. Um, and so what.
What did you carry, like learn during that era of like seven and a half years of just learning and growing? How do you apply that same mentality into what you’re working on now?
BRANDON (04:04.328)
Yeah, man, failure. The fear failure was huge, right? I was always so scared to fail because I thought if I failed, I get cut, I get released. But you learn that. I mean, baseball is a game of failure. You’re going to fail. You know, the best players in the game fail seven out of 10 times and become hall of famers over a 10 year period. So, you know, learning to fail and learn from those failures was a big one. The discipline.
that you have to stay on your routine every single day and do the things that a lot of people don’t want to do. I didn’t get to see my family for months at a time. That was a sacrifice I made. Waking up early to hit the gym, train, get everything done before I even head to the field. So, fear of failure, discipline, sacrifice, and just put it all together.
has really helped me transition into life after sport, business, entrepreneurship. I think I started in entrepreneurship when I was still playing, so I never wanted to work for anybody. A nine to five was never my style. I’m a baseball player.
Tyler Jorgenson (05:17.349)
Yeah. Yeah. And so I love, I love your attitude towards failure and discipline. I think that’s super powerful. And so what is it, what is it that you’re working on now? I know you’ve got, um, you’ve got a couple of different irons in the fire. So talk us through those.
BRANDON (05:28.774)
Yeah, man. So when we moved out to Idaho, I got into real estate. I love it. I love the aspect of like building generational wealth, helping people get into their first home or their forever home, maybe their dream home. It’s a special moment when you get to hand the keys off to people. And then about six months ago, we got into a new venture. It’s a new platform for athletes called Athlete Narrative.
It’s pretty much a PR company in the palm of these athletes hands. We take care of their social media. We give them pretty much the captions and the SEO optimized hashtags. And all they have to do is correlate it to a picture or video or real, however they want to do it. And we have technology that builds this around them and who they are. So that’s a big thing we’re working on right now. It’s a big push for us. I do some stuff, you know,
through Instagram where I like to give back, I like to help. Obviously my faith is really big to me. So, helping men, young men become stronger, mentally better, that discipline aspect, I think it goes a long way in a lot of people’s lives.
Tyler Jorgenson (06:49.701)
Yeah. And I think what’s neat, what you guys are doing with athlete narrative, there’s such a shift in the overall marketplace right now with all the NIL things happening, all the changes where college athletes can actually make money. And, and really the importance of becoming your own brand is stronger than ever. So, um, and it sounds like that’s a lot, what you guys help them do is make sure that they’re staying visible, building their brand. Um, what are some of the common challenges that athletes face?
when it comes to this kind of stuff like their social media and that sort of thing.
BRANDON (07:22.495)
Yeah, but a lot of us just want to be athletes. I mean, that’s what we do. We’re athletes. We’re not, you know, social media gurus. Obviously, I’ve been in social media for a long time, so I understand it. But a lot of guys, they just want to play the game. And so they have social media accounts, but they’re on and off of it. So they can’t really build a brand. They’ll post once a week. One will be like them playing and then one will be their dog. Like, that’s not a brand, right? So…
Tyler Jorgenson (07:32.279)
Right.
Tyler Jorgenson (07:36.357)
Yeah. Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (07:47.437)
Yeah.
BRANDON (07:49.979)
Me, when I built my brand over my career, it really helped me get deals and offers from companies that I still haven’t in contact with today that send me stuff. So it’s a lot of these guys, it’s they don’t want to put in the work, right? And so that’s what we do. We put in the work for them. All they do is post it and it’s done. We’ve got some targeting and stuff like that behind our technology. But a lot of it is guys just, it’s extra work.
Tyler Jorgenson (08:00.195)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (08:13.001)
Mm
BRANDON (08:18.914)
they don’t want to do. It’s just like any business. You’ve got to put in the work if you want to build the brand.
Tyler Jorgenson (08:20.813)
Yep.
Tyler Jorgenson (08:24.421)
Absolutely. And I think more than ever right now, having a brand and being a celebrity within your own sphere of influence is or in your own niche, right? Is man, more powerful than it ever has been. The ability to launch brands, launch things when you already have a platform of and an audience is pretty significant. What, yeah, what’s your take on, you know, kind of how…
the all of this change has happened. You you were only in college sports for about a year. So that wasn’t a huge play for you, but a lot of these guys that go all four years and it’s a big thing.
BRANDON (08:58.506)
Yeah.
BRANDON (09:04.097)
Yeah, I love it, man. I think there needs to be some type of guideline on how much these guys can make and then maybe cut it at a certain number where maybe the rest of it goes into an investment where they can get it later in life. I don’t think Shadour Sanders needs $4 million in college. Great, he’s making it. I love it because I’d rather the athlete make it than the NCAA because the NCAA has been making it.
Tyler Jorgenson (09:19.165)
Right.
BRANDON (09:33.216)
money off athletes for gosh, 100 years now. I love it, man. I think it’s awesome because now these kids can truly live in college. College is tough. I only went for a year, but eating top ramen, mac and cheese, how are you supposed to be a top notch athlete eating top ramen and mac and cheese? These guys have cars that they could drive now because dealerships are giving them the opportunity to have that.
Tyler Jorgenson (09:36.495)
Yep.
Tyler Jorgenson (09:44.029)
Yeah. Oh yeah.
BRANDON (10:02.176)
So that’s what we want to do for our athletes on our platform is be able to monetize them, help them grow and get them local deals and big deals.
Tyler Jorgenson (10:11.261)
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the thing is, is that there’s no promise of tomorrow, especially for an athlete, right? That, that season or career ending injury can happen at any minute. So I love the, that they can make money. And I think the importance of building the brand that can potentially transcend, uh, there’s, you sporting career is so important and carry those people along. Have you seen, and this is actually something I’m super curious on.
BRANDON (10:30.889)
Okay.
Tyler Jorgenson (10:36.057)
Let’s say that a team is considering signing somebody and they’re considering between player A and player B and all their stats are the same. All their like baseball stats, like they are the same, but one guy has 2 million followers on Instagram and the other guy has 150. Is that a deciding factor at this point?
BRANDON (10:55.455)
100%. I was just having a conversation because I talked to a lot of scouts and college coaches, program leaders, and I was talking to one of our ambassadors. He runs this huge basketball camp out in Northern California, and they had this camp with 300 of the top high school basketball players. And the top recruited basketball player in that camp,
Tyler Jorgenson (11:19.133)
you
BRANDON (11:24.798)
He said wasn’t the best basketball player. This guy is going to SC making, I think anywhere between 300 ,000 to a million dollars a year coming in as a freshman, which is insane. And he said this kid wasn’t the best player. He’s like, don’t get me wrong. He’s an awesome player. He should be going to USC. He’s like, but a million dollars. And the deciding factor was he had, I believe between all his platforms, like close to a million followers. And I think,
Tyler Jorgenson (11:36.873)
Yep.
BRANDON (11:54.717)
colleges are seeing that and be like, okay, how do we get more fans in the seats? Right? So it’s picked a guy that has a big following. They’re going to follow him to SC. Right now the college has found a way to make more money. So you’re definitely seeing it. You’re seeing college coaches find guys through social media now. And it’s also a way that guys are going to get marked off of the list because they have stupid posts. They’re posting stuff that aren’t on brand. They’re
Maybe they’re partying or hanging out with girls. As soon as the college coach sees that, you’re off the list.
Tyler Jorgenson (12:30.493)
Right. Yeah, it’s too high risk. Um, everything’s visible now, right? And so it’s not, not worth it. And I think what’s really interesting right now with, with a shift is that I feel like fans now more than ever are becoming fans of athletes more than fans of teams. And there’s a, there’s a shift where it’s like, Oh, I’m a fan of that athlete. And so even if he moves to a different team or if he, you know, I’m still going to support them, I’m going to buy the new Jersey. I’m going to buy those new things where,
BRANDON (12:49.116)
Uh huh.
Tyler Jorgenson (13:00.029)
Man, for a long time, it was more, the name on the front’s more important than the name on the back, right? And I feel like the young, this generation is shifting. Um, and that just highlights the importance of personal brand so much.
BRANDON (13:11.483)
out, man. It’s crazy because I still have fans and followers through social media from when I was in Colorado, when I was Houston, and that’s eight to 10 years ago. Still following my journey, still staying up with me, still contact me. And that’s the beauty of social media and doing it the right way. People get to see who I am on a daily basis now away from the game. And a lot of people…
Tyler Jorgenson (13:21.233)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (13:29.467)
Mm -hmm.
Tyler Jorgenson (13:35.813)
Yep.
BRANDON (13:38.107)
They’re just normal people like me, right? Like we’re just normal people. And so they like to see that inside scoop
Tyler Jorgenson (13:44.029)
Yeah. Well, and I see them comment on your posts sometimes and they’ll call out, oh man, we really miss your energy in the park. And so I think it’s so fascinating to me now how we can, like the ripples that we make are so much more like trackable where, you 20 years ago, if you impacted someone’s life, you’d never hear them or see them again, even though you might’ve made an impact, but now you, because of the ability to stay in touch.
BRANDON (13:56.091)
for watching.
BRANDON (14:07.704)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (14:12.349)
So what about, you know, we’ve talked a little bit about failure and discipline. As you got into real estate, what were some of the business lessons you learned from baseball that you’re applying into real estate?
BRANDON (14:24.122)
Oh man, I was always big with interacting with my fans, right? Like signing autographs and talking to people, having those conversations and you know, real estate’s an industry where you have to be a people person, right? You have to have relationships with your clients and other agents. And for me, it was just, I’m better in person than I am on the phone. So I like to get people, you know, in a meeting or talk to them in person because once I can talk to them, we can create this bond and have this relationship where…
They know I have their best interests at heart. So for me, that was a big part of my baseball journey was I was always so interactive with the fans. Whether they were fans yelling at me, I would talk some smack back, but I was just always having conversations. And that’s really helped me have conversations outside of the game.
Tyler Jorgenson (15:07.493)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (15:15.599)
Yeah, so getting to real estate, the importance of building that network. And you didn’t just decide to go into real estate and start in your local neighborhood or even start in one of the cities where you played ball. You moved to completely new area, no professional teams. I think minor league hockey, I think, is all you guys have, right? And so…
BRANDON (15:28.216)
Yeah.
BRANDON (15:36.024)
Yeah, we have we have minor league hockey and then we have independent baseball like probably yeah. No. Yes.
Tyler Jorgenson (15:40.197)
Okay. Yeah, yeah. The, what do they call those ones? What’s that low league, independent league, right? So, yeah, there’s at least something out there, but you know, you move to a very different area and started from scratch. How did you start building that network from zero?
BRANDON (15:55.991)
Yeah, I mean, the reason I got into it is, my whole thought when I was moving out here was like, okay, Idaho baseball is behind about five years from most of the big states. So my whole goal, I had this thought process of like, I’m gonna come out here, I’m gonna build baseball up, maybe have a facility and build baseball players out here. And then I decided pretty quickly that like the coaching lifestyle and…
being back in the game wasn’t for me. I wanted more freedom. I wanted more time freedom with my family. So I was sitting at the pool with my best friend and he was like, dude, you want to get into real estate? He’s been in real estate for I think five years now and has built this huge brand and business. And I was like, I’ve always been interested in it. And so I was like, yeah, he’s like, go get your license. I’ll bring you on. We’ll start a team. And so I, next day, signed up for a class.
Tyler Jorgenson (16:35.389)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (16:42.717)
Yeah.
you
Tyler Jorgenson (16:49.847)
Thank you.
BRANDON (16:51.232)
for it. It me about seven times to pass the test because I’m not a good test taker, but I got it done. And he was a rock star, man. I followed him everywhere. We sat down, we went over contracts. We’ve talked about numbers and all these different things. You’ve got to know that they don’t really teach you in real estate class. Like 90 % of the things you learn in real estate class, you can just throw out. You got to learn on the fly and you got to learn …
Tyler Jorgenson (17:12.495)
No.
Yep.
BRANDON (17:20.118)
in the industry. So being there day to day with him really helped me speed up the process.
Tyler Jorgenson (17:26.717)
Yeah, and I feel like that’s probably a parallel in a lot of things, like the importance of a mentor or a coach. You know, obviously growing up in sports, you’ve always had coaches. So first question on that is, what’s the difference between a mentor and a coach to you?
BRANDON (17:43.893)
Yeah, so for me, a mentor is someone that’s going to be there at any time, right? I actually mentor guys. I’ve been doing it for nine years now. I’ve got one of my top kids at Texas A &M. He’s killing it. He’s a freshman. He’s probably going to be a top draft pick here in the next couple of years. But for me, it’s like any time they need me, I’m out text. I’m a phone call away where a coach you see maybe once, twice a week.
They give you the tips and tricks, but they don’t really deep dive into your life and to those things like discipline and how to really put those into your day -to -day life to become the best version of yourself and the best version of a baseball player. So for me, it was just like that, that one -on -one that you really don’t get from a coach because coaches got, you know, 20, 30 guys that he’s got to take care of where your mentors, it’s one -on -one.
Tyler Jorgenson (18:20.475)
Thank you.
Tyler Jorgenson (18:38.941)
Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, and I’m sure you saw that on teams, right? Like you’d be playing on a team and there’s probably, there were probably some players who were better at being mentors on like kind of passing down wisdom. Um, there was probably players that were closed off, right. And not wanting to share or anything. What would you, what’s your take on that? Right. Like in the clubhouse sharing the secrets of the trade versus keeping everything close to your chest.
BRANDON (18:44.656)
Let’s see.
BRANDON (19:05.105)
Yeah, man, baseball is that we have a brotherhood. So it’s, you know, the guys on your team, if you want to ask a question, 99 % of them are going to tell you all about it. Right. Now, if you’re trying to take someone’s job, he’s probably not going to give you some tips, but.
Tyler Jorgenson (19:20.221)
Right, right. The same position. Ask someone other than the guy whose position you’re behind, right?
BRANDON (19:24.85)
Oh, absolutely. But I mean, I’ve played with like Hall of Famers. I played with the best of the best. And every single one of those guys, when I had a question, 100 % they would answer it or they would push me to someone that may know the answer. And so that’s how I like when I got to the big leagues, it was I kept my mouth shut and I just asked questions and just tried to learn.
Tyler Jorgenson (19:28.413)
Oh yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (19:45.717)
Yeah. And then, and so do you take that same kind of thing into, into what you’re doing with athlete narrative and what you’re doing in real estate? Do you still have that combination of looking for people you can seek wisdom from, but then also looking how you can pay it forward?
BRANDON (20:02.033)
Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me is being around people that are better than you. When it comes to business, right? So the people I surround myself with are all successful. They’re all millionaires or multimillionaires. And I just want to learn the business side of everything, right? So whether it’s real estate, it’s entrepreneurship. I’ve dabbled in that early on in my career and I knew nothing about business. So, you know.
Tyler Jorgenson (20:07.521)
Sure.
BRANDON (20:30.075)
It’s just constantly learning. You’re not going to grow and get better if you’re not learning, if you’re just staying the same. Growth is huge for me. It’s something that I’ve always loved because I feel like you can be better and then you can be better for other people. Once you learn to grow, then you can teach other people how to grow and show them the way.
Tyler Jorgenson (20:30.649)
Mm -hmm.
Tyler Jorgenson (20:52.465)
Absolutely. You talk about the importance of having a healthy relationship with failure, right? And the importance of discipline. Is there a story from your career that really highlights your healthy attitude towards failure? Maybe a time where you got knocked down, but you were able to bounce back up.
BRANDON (21:11.376)
I’ve probably got like 20 of those. But no, let’s say, yeah, I’ve been knocked out. I’ve been so close to getting released so many different times, but I’ve got one where I was, you know, my first three years of my career, I was an A ball, rookie ball, then A ball, and it’s all short season. So you go to spring training and then you go to extended spring training because you’re in a short season. You’re not breaking with the longer bigger clubs. So I did that.
three years in a row. And it’s like, dude, if you do that one more time, you’re going home. And so they called me in the off season and it’s like, look it, you’ve got one more chance. And so that year I went back to short season and finally broke out a little bit, had a good year. The following year they brought me into early camp. I got to go to mini camp and then spring training and I had an awesome spring training. I …
Tyler Jorgenson (21:57.627)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
BRANDON (22:07.151)
made the full season club. I was like, I’m getting out of spring training out of Kissimmee, Florida, and I get to go play 140 games this year. And so I was talking to the clubby. I was like, ah, I’m out of here. I’m never going to see you again. And he goes, don’t speak too soon. And so I go out. First month of the season, grinding. I was hitting like 063 with maybe 30 strikeouts and like
50 or 60 at Bath, let’s just struggling. And it was the day before my birthday, the minor league director had come into town. I actually got two hits. I hit a homer and a base hit. And then after the game, come in, I’m just chilling, eating some dinner. And they called me to the office and they’re like, look, Barnsie, we’re gonna send you back to extended spring training to get more work in. We think you need to work with the hitting coach that you worked with last year. And I was like,
What? Like, I gotta go back for the fourth time? So, I mean, I’m, at this point, I’m like 22 years old. And so I go back, and these kids, you know, they’re like 18, 19 years old, straight outta high school, 16 years old, out of the Dominican Republic. And I, you know what? I walked out of that office and I called my wife and I said, I’m done, I’m gonna quit. And she was like, no you’re not.
Tyler Jorgenson (23:09.021)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (23:23.549)
Mm -hmm. Right.
BRANDON (23:36.492)
Because if you come home, the doors will be locked. She’s like, I haven’t put up with you doing this for four years to just see you quit now. So she’s like, suck it up, go back down, and find your way back up. And so I got to fly down to extended spring training on my birthday, worst birthday of my life. And I was back down there for maybe three weeks. A guy got hurt. I got called back up. Ended up having a pretty good, strong finish to the year.
Tyler Jorgenson (23:49.253)
Mm -hmm.
BRANDON (24:05.844)
repeated that league, did it half the year, got called back up and it was just, I started moving. And then that’s when I finally like really. No, that was, so back then, now it’s a little bit more condensed, but it was, you know, you go to rookie ball and you go to short season A ball, then you go to full season A ball, then you go to high A, double A.
Tyler Jorgenson (24:11.549)
Yeah. And so that was moving up from A to what, to double A or moving up?
Tyler Jorgenson (24:22.045)
Yeah, sure.
Tyler Jorgenson (24:28.701)
Okay. Okay. Got it.
BRANDON (24:33.821)
AAA, and then you finally get to the big leagues. So I hit, I repeated every league but one. Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (24:35.965)
Yeah, yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (24:40.221)
Okay, man, and I think that’s huge. I think, unfortunately, so many people think that success is a linear experience, right? And that it’s one direction, right? But you were able to see, man, I’ve gotta take several steps forward, often take several back and like reassess, re -figure things out, and that’s actually more common in life, right? If you look at most people’s business and…
BRANDON (24:50.807)
Yeah.
Tyler Jorgenson (25:08.345)
entrepreneurial journey, all those things, it’s not just a straight rocket ship, right? And by the time we’re looking as outsiders at the rocket ship, we’ve missed all the early ups and downs. And so, you know, that mindset I think is so important and, you know, have there been experiences in this wave of life, like with real estate or with athlete narrative that that same kind of up and down has come back into it.
BRANDON (25:20.073)
Oh yeah.
BRANDON (25:36.018)
Yeah, man, real estate’s a lot like baseball. It’s up and downs. You’re going to have your good months, you’re going to have some bad months, you’re going to have a couple bad months that line yourself up and you’re like, hey, I really got to get a deal done. But it’s just like having faith. For me, it’s faith. I’m going to go grind, I’m going to go hustle, I’m going to go do my thing, but I can’t worry about it. For me, it’s just like I have the faith and…
he’s gonna take care of me and just go do it. And it’s doing the work every day. Like have an opportunity and in real estate, you could just sit back and chill and you don’t have to go chase it. But that’s not who I am. So I wanna go out and go get things and whether it’s two months without a deal and then I get a couple, it is what it is. But it’s that roller coaster that guys really, you learn in baseball that there’s so many ups and downs in this game that like.
Tyler Jorgenson (26:17.819)
Yeah.
BRANDON (26:32.553)
life throws you a curveball, you’re just like, cool, I’m gonna swing a miss or I’m gonna hit it out of the park.
Tyler Jorgenson (26:37.981)
Yep. Yep. It depends how you connect, I guess. Well, awesome, Brandon. It’s been great getting to chat with you a little bit. Hang tight. I’m going to wrap this up and we’ll come back for one more question. But I highly encourage everyone to check out Brandon Barnes on social media. Check out athletenarrative .com and we’ll even link into the show notes and things, his real estate details and that sort of stuff. So.
BRANDON (26:41.147)
Yup.
Tyler Jorgenson (27:03.101)
Appreciate you all tuning in and listening to this. And wherever you are watching, listening, streaming, my friends, my biz ninjas, it’s your turn to go out and do something.