NFL Player Jaylon Smith Had ‘Zero Knowledge’ About Money Management Early On But Is Now A Business Pro With Manager Michael Ledo As His Guide
NFL player Jaylon Smith admits that he didn’t have any idea how to manage his earnings once he entered the league, but as his career has continued to grow, he is ready to conquer the business world.
Smith has been playing football since he was 7 years old. His talent on the field led to the Dallas Cowboys drafting him at 20 years old in 2016, ESPN reported. He signed a four-year contract valued at $6.5 million, according to Spotrac. However, managing those earnings came with its challenges.
“Now I acquire some money at 20 years old with zero knowledge on how to manage, grow and preserve it. I didn’t grow [up] in my household with a budget. So that’s another layer of dynamic that we have to think about as well on why my peers are going broke,” Smith explained on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast, hosted by AFROTECH™ Brand Manager Will Lucas.
Smith has come a long way from draft day. The Las Vegas Raiders linebacker, who played college football at Notre Dame, is a serial investor with a portfolio that includes companies such as the lending platform Zirtue, the apparel brand The Cycle, and the operating system EOS Worldwide, as noted on his Instagram.
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Smith’s entrepreneurial goals include becoming a restaurateur, inspired by the late Junior Bridgeman, a billionaire who held stake in Wendy’s, Chili’s, and Fazoli’s Italian restaurants. Smith took a step toward that goal when he partnered with Jinya Ramen Bar to open a restaurant on Notre Dame’s campus in 2023 with franchises later in 2024.
He also invests in real estate, launching a life insurance agency, The Cycle Management Group, and has nearly two dozen distinct investment vehicles. His business acumen is guided by his business manager, Michael Ledo.
“Twenty-four hours in a day, and currently I’m in 21 different alternative deals, but how can I allocate these 24 hours in a day to best maximize my core focuses,” Smith said on “Black Tech Green Money.”
He adds that his team prioritizes ensuring the strategy is logical, that they can contribute value, and evaluates the return profile in terms of cash flow.
Ledo is the founder and CEO of RISE Sports Advisors, which had an estimated $150 million in assets under advisement in 2024, according to D Magazine. The company launches strategies to transform professional athletes into top-of-the-line entrepreneurs, its LinkedIn notes.
“One of the companies that Jalen invested in early on in his career was a company EOS Worldwide, based out of Detroit, Michigan. That is the largest entrepreneurial operating system in the United States right now, I think to upper midsize companies,” Ledo detailed on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast.
Ledo is also a general partner of the Minority Entrepreneurship Institute, a seed-stage impact investing fund he co-founded with Smith in 2019, with $1.2 million invested in minority-owned enterprises, according to its website.
Watch Full Episode
You can check out the full interview with Smith and Ledo here.
