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- NIL is not 4 years, it's 40 years
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NIL is 40 not 4 graphic (Photo Credit: MyNILBrand)
As college athletes spend a short amount of time in college (some longer than others, given the recent rulings of athletes being granted seventh and eighth years of collegiate eligibility), many of them think they are done with NIL once they graduate.
Fortunately, that is not the case.
While they can leverage their school’s brand and assistance for a short amount of time, what they do with that time to build their brand will be crucial for the rest of their lives.
While sports may end sooner than later, an athlete’s personal brand does not.
P.S. I did not come up with ‘NIL is 40 years, not 4 years’ or any iteration of it; rather, just leveraging the phrase for context.
What does this mean?
Long term > short term
This allows athletes to think about how to build their personal brand, and how it will benefit them, long after their playing days are done.
Shifting into this mindset will help athletes put together a strategy of how to market themselves over the length of their life, not just while they are a college athlete.
While an athlete’s personal brand may shift over the course of their college career and post-playing days, there are still fundamental roots that are in place that will never change.
A little work now goes a long ways later
Young athletes (even high school level) should begin building their brand now - all without taking too much time from their day.
Spending 15-20 minutes crafting a personal statement of who they are (and are not), and what’s important to them can be used as their proverbial North Star to help guide their brand and subsequent NIL partnerships.
Additionally, capturing content doesn’t need to be time consuming. 15 minutes per day, when done consistently, will create a large volume of content over the course of months and years.
Never too late to start
Some college athletes did not leverage NIL for various reasons; however, that doesn’t mean they can’t capitalize.
No matter the age, athletes (former or current) can begin today on building their personal brand, creating content, and forming an identity for the world to see.
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