Star NFL Linebacker Jaylon Smith is a force on the football field. But there’s far more to him than just sporting prowess. Jaylon’s entrepreneurial spirit drove him to start the Minority Entrepreneurship Institute–which has awarded $1.2 million to 13 minority-owned companies since inception–and his own eyewear company – CEV Collection.

Episode Transcript

William Norvell: Can you walk us through that moment? We don't have many people on the show that have gotten a call from specifically, as you mentioned, the greatest franchise in one of the most well known owners, if not the most well known owner in the game as well. What was that moment like when Jerry called? I mean, did a face of him pop up on the caller ID and you were like, Oh my gosh, that's him.

Jaylon Smith: Well, I was actually Dr. Jerry yesterday, by the way, but I just walked in to my draft party and I was selected maybe like seven minutes after I walked in because I was the third pick in the draft on the second day. So it was like boom, boom. But when draft started, I sat down by my brother, Rod Smith, who was actually playing for the Cowboys at the time. As soon as I sat down, maybe a minute later I got a call and it's two one four two one four. No, that's the Dallas number. Mind you, I had surgery by the Cowboys physician four months prior, so they had a little more inside information on my healing process and the sting operation and things of that nature. But to see that it was a two or four, no understanding, it was me and my brothers dad's favorite team, you know, America's team, the Cowboys. And then the fact that he was on the team, it was like, Wow, I'm going to get a chance to play with my brother.

William Norvell: Welcome back to the Faith Driven Investor. We are so excited that you took the time to join us today to take the time out of your day to listen to what God's people are doing through investing throughout the world. And we are just so excited about our guest today. We're so excited about the conversation that we get to have. And we're pleased that you joined us. Grateful that you're here. Always grateful for our audience coming in. And today we get the incredible, incredible, exciting opportunity to welcome in Jalen Smith from the Dallas Cowboys. How are you, Jalen?

Jaylon Smith: Man, I am blessed, definitely blessed and highly favored. I'm thankful to be able to speak with you today, this wonderful man.

William Norvell: Well, we're grateful for you and we're grateful for what you do, and we're going to get into that a little bit. And as our audience knows, one of the first places we would love to start this program is shocking for our audience. I went to Alabama, so the fact that I'm not going to start with a football conversation is a big thing. But I'm going to save our audience that right now. Jalen was was a star at Notre Dame in a first round draft pick, and we're going to get into that, I'm sure, in a story. But we would love to start there. Jalen, tell us a little bit. Who are you? Where did you come from? How did you end up, where you are today and how is God walking alongside you?

Jaylon Smith: Yeah. Jalen Smith, linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys Amen There was brother from the Hoosier State, born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana. My whole dad's side of my family's from Uniontown, Alabama. So he's Alabama fan. So definitely some connections there. But I believe blue and gold, I'm going down Delmar. It just an incredible experience being from a basketball state. But and we played some football as well there and especially up there in South Bend, Indiana. There's just been a wonderful journey answering my six year in the National Football League. I've dealt with adversity, I've dealt with adversity and I've been able to to have a clearer view. I've been able to have a focus, this determined belief in our own dreams. That's really what's helped me get to where I am today and all the battles that I've kind of endured and persevered through all by the grace of God and then putting in work. So I'm just like I said, I'm happy to be here today to speak with you all and just to have a conversation, man, it's this is dope.

William Norvell: Cos it's fun and tell us a little bit. So obviously you've got the athletics, so we're going to jump into that. You know, where did faith and work come into your world? Where did God kind of push you down in your professional journey that, you know, obviously we're going to get into what you're doing on the side of being a professional football player, which takes a lot of time. Where did those intersections happen in your life to where you started seeing that there could be, you know, good holy work in the marketplace?

Jaylon Smith: I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur, probably since I was about 11 years old and I fell in love with the business aspect and not having a lot of knowledge of it, but just understanding that that's a way that I could be able to shed light into smiles on people's faces. Through that education, it's all about freedom. Financial literacy. The financial freedom and develops the mentors along the way. My first mentor, Michael Ledo, became my mentor since I was 13 years old. Now he's my business manager, operating out of a family office that he owns called Sports Advisors, which helps athletes become entrepreneurs and run themselves like entities providing governance, expert partners, et cetera, et cetera for me. My cousin, Eugene Parker Rest in Peace was arguably the greatest NFL agent of all time. He represented D.R. Sanders. He represented in the Smith, Larry Fitzgerald, Curtis Martin, Ray Lewis, where I was in a bunch of guys Hall of Fame players, and he kind of taught me how to understand the value of cost and just through platforms being able to gain access to quality relationships, quality deal flow through going through an amazing high school sports high school where we won four state championships, by the way, and then Wow. Four, four four. Yeah, and then headed to Notre Dame to be a part of the Global Institute, you know, in then the transition to play for the Dallas Cowboys, America's team, which is the most valued franchise in all of sports, any sport. So all of these things I've learned from those of the most high. I'm a sponge and I saw everything in and it's all about minimizing the mistakes and growing there. So it's a everyday process for me. Like I said, I've always want to be an entrepreneur, and God has blessed me with the gift to be able to play the game. I love that I've been playing since I was seven years old. So it's a wonderful thing that.

William Norvell: That is and I'm curious, was there something specific that triggered, you know, wanting to be an entrepreneur at such a young age? I don't I don't think that's super common. You know, you mentioned, you know, just really 10, 11 years old, you know, did you start a business? Did somebody shed light on that journey? Is there something specific or was it just kind of in you? And you just felt that from the Lord?

Jaylon Smith: Yeah, something that was just in me, honestly and develop through time. My mom always preached to me on being observant, always seeing through a different lens and then through work with my mentors, just learning how to think or standing that it's OK to think. The concept, the value of that is so critical and crucial to our growth as humans. You know, I'm just blessed to know that I'm on the right path. No, I'm just constantly seeking peace.

William Norvell: Absolutely. Absolutely. And so I want to transition a little bit and hear how, you know, a setback really could have shaped, you know, your life a little bit in your senior year in college. I feel like I was watching this game. I just remember this. You know, you were projected top five draft pick. You know, everything in the world was going incredibly well. And then you had a season ending injury, which I remember, right? It wasn't even season ending. I mean, this was, you know, probably going to hold you out of your first year of the NFL as well. Yes, it was a devastating injury. How did that change you? How did that change your view of life? Could you walk us through that season of life,

Jaylon Smith: really just understanding that, you know, injury is a threat, you know, when you're playing last gladiator sport that I play in football is something that I was definitely aware of, but I didn't think that I would get hurt in my final collegiate game Fiesta Bowl as a bowl game, Notre Dame versus Ohio State had no intentions of understanding that that would be when I would get hurt, but it was a career threatening injury. ACL LCL. But the severity of it was I had a rodeo nerve damage, which gave me drop foot so I couldn't lift my foot up for about a year while still I stepped out on faith. I still entered the NFL draft. I was going to be a top three pick. And, you know, because of the injury, I got worried that I would fall out of the first round and probably be drafted the next day. I didn't know when or where I was going to be drafted, but I just needed one team to take a chance on me and I would make sure that they got their return on their investment. And that's what the Cowboys did. The Cowboys took a chance on me and I'm just happy to continue to be delivering in their moment. It was all about my career. I knew it was all about my clear view, which is my core values. It's how I live my life, how I walk through life and is broken down into three pillars focused vision and determined belief in our own dreams. And my focus vision is just about having a laser beam focus, really being able to see clearly what you want to accomplish where you're trying to go. What's the next step being in the present? The determined belief is the second pillar, and that's about a belief. Obviously, it's about a belief in God that he has you back, a belief in yourself, a belief in others, you know, understanding that there are people out there who do believe in you and who are writing for you. And then finally, that third pillar is about our own dreams. It's about sweat equity. It's about how bad do you want it? It's about, you know, what work are you willing to put in, you know, to accomplish that. So I think everyone should have a clear view in all aspects of life. Whether you're a firefighter, whether you're a stay at home mom, whether you're a janitor doesn't matter the profession. Everyone should have a clear view that'll help you persevere. It'll help grounds you, for sure. So that's how I live my life. That's really what's helped me by the grace of God. I'm just thankful that.

William Norvell: Amen, yeah, it had to be an amazing time. I remember watching the draft to I love the draft and I remember, you know, when they said you were going to go early second round and just, you know, it was a big story. There's a big story that they took a chance on you there and you have earned their return, made a Pro Bowl. I mean, I'm curious, though, can you walk us through that moment? We don't have many people in the show that have gotten a call from specifically, as you mentioned, the greatest franchise in one of the most well-known owners, if not the most well known owner in the game as well. What was that moment like when Jerry called? I mean, the face of him pop up on the caller ID? And you were like, Oh my gosh, that's him.

Jaylon Smith: Well, I was actually Dr. Jerry yesterday, by the way, but I just walked in to my draft party and I was selected maybe like seven minutes after I walked in because I was the third pick in the draft on the second day. Right. So it was like boom, boom. But when draft started, I sat down by my brother, Rod Smith, who was actually playing for the Cowboys at the time. As soon as I sat down, maybe a minute later I got a call and it was two one four two one four. No, that's in Dallas. No. Mind you, I had surgery by the Cowboys physician four months prior, so they had a little more inside information on my healing process and the operation and things of that nature. But to see that it was a two or four and no understanding them, it was me and my brothers dad's favorite team, you know, America's team, the Cowboys. And then the fact that he was on the team, it was like, Wow, I'm going to get a chance to play with my brother, you know? So that was just the first thing that was going through my mind. The answer the phone is Jerry Jones, and it's like everybody who is Jerry Jones, but you know, you get a chance to really talk to him. It's like, OK, it's extra confirmations.

William Norvell: Wow, that's amazing. That's like dreams coming true on top of dreams coming true not only to the NFL, but with your brother to the cowboys. What an amazing story that God was weaving there. And, you know, especially through crisis. And you know, unfortunately, I found in my life that God speaks the loudest during crisis sometimes and during struggles. Is there one or two things maybe as you reflect back on that season that you could share with our audience that maybe God was teaching? You might have been in your points earlier, so apologies if I'm asking you to repeat things. But I just wonder if there's a couple of things that God taught you during that time that you might want to share.

Jaylon Smith: God saw me say he taught me resilience. He taught me patience, the most patience, he taught me awareness. He taught me presents how to be present because I had no choice. And I had to face I. There was this. That was the first time the first love of my life football was taken away from me. Honestly, I have never been hurt. You know, I've been playing since I was seven years old. That's when I made the decision that I was going to play in the National Football League, so. I've been laser beam focused on this drink, so really I learned a lot and I'm still learning and said his day because constantly healing constantly work in this world, there's so many things that has happened in this world that past year, year and a half that you just got to make sure your your faith is right. You got to make sure your belief capacity is right. Like I said, what helps me is my clarity.

William Norvell: Amen. Amen. Well, I'm going to move over to investing a little bit. You know, I would love to hear just, you know, investing is sort of taking the world by storm. I feel like it's happening in a lot of different spheres. I feel like every day, you know, even this morning, I saw, you know, Kevin Durant invested in this and Tom Brady invested in a crypto exchange with Giselle. I'm curious in investing in the NFL. I mean, you can give us some insight here. Is this something people are talking about a lot or is it still a niche industry? Tell us more.

Jaylon Smith: It's definitely a niche industry, but the conversation is being brought up more. A lot of players are understanding that our careers are short and there's life after football and there's power and having more than one revenue stream of income. It's OK to be more than an employee when it requires work and requires education. It requires trust in a team because you can't do it alone. We don't have the time to do it all on our own, you know, due to our main thing, which is employees, you know, playing our profession. But there's so much room for growth out here that I think it's just a matter of time before, you know, everybody's on board with it. So we're learning. We're learning. Access matters in equity matters. Equity creates freedom. So I'm happy with where we're headed. We just got to keep growing and got to keep digging.

William Norvell: Absolutely. And I want to switch now to the Minority Entrepreneurs Institute. I know we get connected through a good friend, Jay Hein at Sagamore. Well, I know he's been working with you a little bit on this. Could you tell us a little bit? Tell our audience, where did the idea for Minority Entrepreneurs Institute come from? How did it get started?

Jaylon Smith: Really, like I said, becoming an entrepreneur and having this access to all quality deal flow, doing a lot of alternative investing, getting us some deals as an LP, as a GP, getting some returns, getting dividend payouts as I'm experiencing all of this. Now I was just thinking to myself, You know, how can I provide this access or this create a marketplace for people who look like me that don't have the Notre Dame background or connection or the Dallas cowboy affiliation and connection? A platform, a huge platform that I have. There's so many people that look like me that that have great and tremendous ideas that can add value to our world, that they don't have the access to financial funding, to mentorship to help with putting together their infrastructure or strategic execution plan. You know, I was just thinking about how can I help provide that I can to help fix this scandal? There's a educational and a wealth gap that exists in this world today, and that's why I created the minority entrepreneurship necessary to help close the economic and educational gap.

William Norvell: Wow, that's amazing. That's amazing. And can you tell us a little bit more? What are the initiatives? You know, what is the program like? And just take us down a layer deeper?

Jaylon Smith: Yes. So there's two parts. We have educational summits and we have venture pitches, venture pitches, this business targeting type of vibe and really investing in the black and brown, the Latin X community. We're opening up marketplaces each year. We've opened up Indiana. We've opened up Texas. And this year we'll be opening up to Florida marketplace, having our third annual venture pitch July 9th this year in Tampa, Florida. It's going to be an amazing event where last year we raised a total of $600000 invested in the five companies five vegetable companies. The Jaehyun has been amazing in helping me with the structure of we are helping me with doing the due diligence with him and his amazing group, Saginaw Institute. You know, so far, our goal is to find vegetable companies that impact investors can believe and invest. So it's a marketplace. We're growing myself. I've committed two and a half million dollars over the next 10 years towards this. So I'm I'm acting as a lead investor. I'm a believer and we're getting some great traction. So definitely anybody that wants to be involved to hear more, please reach out. Like I said, we're just trying to help close the economic and educational gap that exists in this world. So it is really a blessing.

William Norvell: And we'll link to everything here. So, you know, if you want to find more information, you know, that should be easy to find and always let us know if you can't and you want to learn more. Dig it in. So we've had a few guests, you know, coming at this from different angles. I'd love your view. What are the needs of minority entrepreneurs? You know that you're hoping to be able to give access to, you know, how are they different at some level or are they not? And they just need more notoriety? Just walk us through some of the people you've met and how you're trying to structure the program and what exactly you're trying to provide that maybe the world's not given right now.

Jaylon Smith: It's all creativity, these companies and people that we're investing in. They have vegetable companies. They've either started or they're beginning to start in and they have an amazing plan, a team behind them, a vision on where they want to go. And you just need some assistance. We all need help in some form or shape. There's just been a huge lack in the black and brown communities. I'm just trying to fill that void that scan. These are people with great ideas, great companies that are fixing to be successful. They just need help. So there's no real format other than that. There's all different companies that we invest in all creativity. There's no real shop. It just has to be what you don't want to. Your goals has to be able to really make an impact. So my team does a great job at helping really do due diligence on each deal and each company. So it's definitely a team effort for sure.

William Norvell: That's amazing and it's amazing. And so, you know, as we come to a closed jail and unfortunately, we have to come to a close with love, always. Our closing question is we'd love to hear, you know, kind of where you are right now in your life and what God might be teaching you. You know, is there anything specific that just sort of in this season that you're walking through?

Jaylon Smith: Yes, God has been teaching the truth through for me. It's. Important for me to operate off the truth when I'm truthful in every aspect, it brings peace to my life and that's really what I've been focused on, especially these first two quarters, is just peace, a peace of mind, a wholeness as a human being and just doing things the right way and being myself really exploring and tapping into my creativity and just being someone's who's doing right. So that's that's really where I'm at. I'm thankful God is using me and I love Amen.

William Norvell: Thank you so much for joining us. It's been a gift. We do encourage everyone to check out Imii and what's going on. Like I said, we'll have links there, but just please check out Jalen and his team are doing.

Jaylon Smith: Yes, you want to get involved.

William Norvell: Get involved. Don't stop. Push forward and make that call and get involved in what the great work they're doing.

Jaylon Smith: Thank you so much. I appreciate you. So.