This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello, hello, what's up? Welcome to Sada School. Thank you for tuning in from wherever you are in the world, whatever you're up to, whatever's going on, if life is easy, if life is difficult, whatever the case may be, I am cheering you on. I'm wishing you every success in your attempt to diversify your income, increase your income in fact, not just diversify, but increase it, so that you have more options, more security for yourself, more choice for what you wanna do. That is what our mission is here on Sada School.
And today's episode is part of a new feature we've been doing called your first $1,000. And as you might guess, or as you might know, it's all about how someone made their first $1,000. Something that I have learned and noticed over the years, once you begin to earn real money, the steps required to go to the next level, whether it's 1,000 to $2,000 or to 10,000 or beyond there, those steps are often easier than that first real paycheck, which is why I wanna help you and our other listeners earn that first real paycheck, or maybe another one if you've already got one, which is good. So with that in mind, today's feature comes from Adam Bradley. I believe he's in the Baltimore, Washington DC area.
We first featured him back on episode 1319. His sports leadership coaching program is now used by more than 3,000 teams across the country, which is amazing. But what about the first team? What about the first $1,000? How did he make it happen?
What did it feel like? Let's hear more from Adam. [Music]
Hey everyone, this is Adam Bradley from Lead 'Em Up, and I'm excited to share with you how we made our first $1,000 within the Lead 'Em Up program. See, for me, this side hustle didn't start out with the intent to make money. In fact, I really stumbled upon it.
It came unexpectedly and randomly. See, back in 2014, my old high school, the football team specifically, reached out to me randomly one day and said, "Would you be willing to be our leadership coach?" You may wonder, how does that even come about? Well, I had some relationships and friendships with the coaches, and I've always been passionate about being positive and mentoring young people just through daily interactions and relationships. In my old high school, the kids there needed it. They were great kids, but many of them from difficult upbringings or challenging home environments, and the coaches said, "We need more individuals pouring into them.
"Would you be willing to help?" So every Tuesday, they cut practice an hour early and handed over the kids for me to pour into them, however I saw fit. And during that football year, I went all in with the kids, getting to know them, building relationships with them, just trying my best to reach them in ways and teach them in ways to drive change within them. Had a blast. The kids enjoyed the process and we got better as a team. And as we went through that year all in, we were documenting it like most people do on social.
We would talk about our leadership sessions. We would talk about the fact that we were setting aside an hour a week every week to grow as a team from a leadership and character standpoint. We were having success in the field that we hadn't had in a significantly long time. Things were clicking. The boys were getting better.
The team was growing. And all of a sudden, people began inquiring. They wanted to know more. What is it you're doing with the team? Would you be willing to share more?
Is there a way I could get access to some of the concepts or activities or drills you're doing? And it was during that process that it clicked. There could be something here. So we began to build it out, formalize it, begin laying out the concepts and the activities. Over the next 14 months, we built the entire framework and foundation of lead 'em up, this sports leadership and character program that's now used by over 3,000 teams around the country.
We began adding to it. We signed a partnering agreement with another curriculum-building leadership company in Florida called Game On Nation, just to make our content and the activities and exercises we were teaching that much more stronger and more robust. But it was 14 months after that we were introduced to a basketball coach in Montgomery County, gentleman by the name of Chris Lunn, head coach at Whitman High School. He'd been the head coach at Whitman Boys Varsity Basketball for a handful of years and they've had great success. So although most products are usually presented with the idea of solving one's pain, that wasn't the case with Coach Lunn.
His program was great, but it allowed us to go in at a different angle. Since he was so passionate about his team, here was something that we believe could be added to his program to strengthen it, to enhance it, and to help him build even more of a special program that he already has. So we laid out to him one day, never forget, went and met him right at the end of a school day in his classroom and presented our program. Told him about what we've done with the football team we once worked with, told him about all the drills and exercises, had a little presentation printed on 8 1/2 by 11 copy paper, stapled, the different things we would do with his team week in and week out, and that it was gonna cost $1,200. And we believed if his team focused on leadership and character as intentionally as they do some of the other aspects, it would add to what they're doing in an incredible way.
And he saw the vision. He liked what we were presenting. He liked the energy that we were coming with. He said, "Let's do it." And man, that was a special year. And we've been with Coach Lunn for years since.
But that day when he said, "Hey, let's do it," we made our first $1,200 crossing over that $1,000 threshold in the rest of his history. - Thanks so much, Adam, for telling us about your first $1,000 from one team to what was it? More than 3,000 teams. Pretty incredible. And listeners, I hope you found it encouraging.
Check out Adam's website, leademup.com. leademup.com, just like it sounds. He's also got some social media, some videos, lots of stuff. If you have a question or an update for us about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions. And lastly, today's notes, sidehustleschool.com/2060, 2060.
We've been going for approximately 2,060 days. Thanks for tuning in for this one. Hope you'll come back again tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
