Episode 20: Overcoming Obstacles with Nicole Lynn

having difficulties. This is my issue. My doctor says, go to Montana. Don't be stressed out, be chill. And I'm fucking stressed out. And you want to know what doesn't help this situation? Bed sheets? I need to talk to you. How do you do this crap for a living? I'm I'm angry, I'm rattled. It ruined my day to day. Let's break it all down. First of all, your chandelier looks fantastic. So that's the good news. Okay, so we know that's working even if the WiFi comes in and out.

You have WiFi issues in Montana and I have WiFi issues in Los Angeles where it should be the easiest place ever to get WiFi. So just we'll take a breather there, grab some olive jews. Why I answer some questions for you? What's the conundrum with the sheets? The thread count? So no, it's not the thread count. My girlfriends who did our house and made a lovely job on the interior design Ashley Phipps design you heard. Normally I would be offended, but we love Ashley and Sam,

so it's totally fine. They're not competition. We love them, and this would have been a master pain in the ask for you. Honestly, it's better for somebody who works and deals with this club to like understand. So we'll get into that part later. So any who, they give me a list, like a master list of all the things I need to buy, right, like the betting all that kind of stuff, Chris, I buy it. I don't know what comes in a set a missing Duva's. I

order eight shams. I don't know what a fuck a sham is like what they tell me to get a standard? A standard? What a standard sham? A standard? Pillow? I sat? I have nothing here that works out. It's a mess, and I get it, it's bougie, stupid ass problems. But what was a problem was the fact I had so much fucking anxiety doing this today. I looked at you and I said, you know what the doctor said, go to Montana and relax. You know what I'm not doing relaxing.

You know what I can do. Figure out a football field. I can figure out anything about it. I know what's going on. I may not always know what the call is going to be from the official, but I can fucking figure it out. The shams, the betting, the due cover, the betting set, the dream set. I got no idea. I don't know how you do this for a living. I'm worked out. Okay, I'm here to help all your problems. Okay,

are you ready for this? Just like when we started covering hockey, we got hockey for dummies and then we figured it out. Here's interior design for dummies. A standard pillow case is just your regular pillow case. A king pillow case is bigger, makes sense. A euro am is the square. It's all you need to know. Next time you have an issue like this, please call me. I'm here to lower your anxiety. In any capacity, whether it's WiFi, sheets,

all of the above. Speaking of Bougie, my issue is that I sat for an hour in the nail chair, which is hard for me to sit anywhere and do anything for an hour, and I chipped my nail. Chip Kelly on the right thumb thumbs down. Now I gotta go back. So that's my high class problem over here. You know what else you can appreciate this? Hi, everybody, welcome to the Calm Down Podcast. We have an amazing

podcast for you. Welcome. Um. You know what, We have a wonderful guest on the show who is probably going to like laugh at all of our nonsense to start this podcast because she deals with real life problems. Nicole Lin, president of football Operations at Clutch Sports. She is a badass in every facet, just as like woman to woman, like what her daily issues are, whether it's bedsheets or

WiFi or nails chipping. Because guess what, ladies and gentlemen, you can have issues like this and still be good at your job. Are we on? Is this live? We're on? And and the other thing I feel I'm not I'm feeling bad for myself. I'm not gonna lie I'm gonna go meditate after this because this is not good. But I'm frustrated because I literally said, you know, the only thing I'm good at now is football. That's the only thing I'm good at. I can't put a bed together.

I don't know how to order bed sheets. You know. I asked these people if I can have good WiFi. They don't give me good WiFi. Like, I don't know what else to do. You Okay, I'm gonna want to interrupt you. You're actually great at a lot of things, including storytelling. Something I've learned from you on this podcast is you're an exceptional storyteller. Like you and sound bites

is unbelievable. Like I always told you, like how funny you are, but when I just whenever this podcast happens, and like Scott, who is our wonderful guy, who was all our socials together, Like take snippets that snippet of Jarrett last week where you're like, I'm not going to be sensitive and then you're like, that's fucking lie. I was seeing my parents. For those of you guys don't know what I'm talking about. You guys need to go

back and listen to last week's episode. It was all the travel stories, which, by the way, thank you to our loyal listeners who gave us a lot of feedback about their own travel stories, which were very un all right, girlfriends, since we're going to lower your blood pressure because you're supposed to be relaxing, you're in your happy place that is Montana. Give me your high because we'll just count your WiFi issue as a low. What's your high this week?

The alta Ji is just the altitude. Your hair always looks good here. Jared's hair is on fire, like he looks great. Um no, just seeing we have so many great friends out here, and we have such a good group and we were all together the other night at a barbecue and we were just saying, like, you know, none of us can get together because of our busy schedules in the fall, but this is such a cool time because we can all come together in the summer

and it's great. It's just the time, and you know, everybody comes from different places in different backgrounds and it's really fun. A couple of comments on my podcast from the crew up fans out there, they were like, listening to it, sounds like we're just listening to you right here, and I was like, where those people are or or is it? Um? Did we signed n d as out in Montana? A Kellerman. We have a couple of n d A s. I'd never, I'd never. You know what

am I looking for? What's the word violate? Um? Cindy Wagner, big Fan, Cindy Wagner lover, Ashley Phipps Ashley Fips designed a couple others um My low besides the bed sheets, and I mean, that's just stupid. The flies are insane out here. I got bit by a horse fly. I've been putting it on the old Calm Down podcast Instagram. You gotta follow it. It's not getting any better. And I had this woman right us on the podcast. I got bit on the horse actually like a horse fly,

like big old monster fly that sits on horse. They're huge, okay, and right now it's like a bird. They're birds like buzzing everywhere. These are add the horse flights are bad. So we took how we out to the football field out here, and uh, I was working on my my quarterback skills and how he was going after the ball, and all of a sudden I just felt some on my top of my foot and I was like oh, and I was like, oh, that sucks mosquito. Three hours later,

this puppy had blown up. And then this is so disgusting. I went to shave my legs. Yellow pus was coming out of the pores, like the hair follicles, and it's like getting hard and crusty. It's really really nice. Where's Dr p a little better? Um? This is this is worse. But then people started writing into me on the Calm Down podcast. I g saying if it gets any worse, I would go get a doctor to look at this is what killed people in the eight hundreds. You can't again.

Dr Mars told me, I'm supposed to be relaxing. So when you you've been in Montana for less than a week, okay, and we have WiFi issues, the betting, you've gotten bit by a horse fly, you have malayrea in small pox. This is not going well for you. But at least you're I'm gonna see Darius record tomorrow Night Sexy. So this will end up airing on Thursday. Um, but before that we have had the fourth of July. So it's Monday right now. I just flew back from Iowa, went

and saw Kyle's family for his dad's seventieth birthday. You celebrated the America's birthday in Montana. Where their fireworks? What were we doing to celebrate? No fireworks? We had a place all to ourselves and our friends were there. Great time, great compos or was a band right next door that was super fun. We're all kind of dancing around. And the great thing about our group here is there's a ton of little kids and it was just so funny to see them, like running around, being in the mosh

pit and stuff like that. It was a time. Um when I was at the airport, I'm hurting a little bit today. Are you good for you? I didn't drink at all. I've really been on this like sober kick, which is very weird for me, I know, and I feel really good. I feel like I want to keep it going for a little while. I don't know a little while, I mean like twenty four hours more, maybe like two days. I don't know. I just feel good.

But it was really nice getting on a plane with a connection this morning through Salt Lake, Omahaw drive from South Dakota through Iowa through Nebraska, fly out of Omaha into Salt Lake City to l a X, got off the plane, went for a run. Now I'm here. Look I'm not saying I'm a hero. Okay, I'm not. I'm just letting you know what my morning was like. So that's what I've been up to. But this is today's Monday. So the match between Tom Brady for those of you

that don't know, and Aaron Rodgers. They compete in a gulf or do do not? They do nine or eighteen holes? I'd ask Jarrett, but he's sleeping. I think they do eighteens because he's been practicing. Um, he actually went and practiced with um Tom and yeah, it's just like forty minutes away from where we stay out here. And yeah, he said the course is absolutely gorgeous. They're expecting when the match airs on Tuesday for the site of the

golf course to actually, um what am I thinking? Uh fail, Like it's going to crash because so many people are going to say, this is so beautiful. Where is this place? So yeah, I'm excited. I'm not going to go. I guess they're being really really strict about like you can't follow the guys around. You have to stay in the hospitality area. I'm fine with that. I mean, sorry, I'm following them around, you know, that's what I do for

So I'm not staying in the hospitality. Yeah no, So I'm just gonna stay here with my girlfriends and watch it. Ryan are wonderful producer just told us that it's eighteen holes. Yeah, it's gorgeous, absolutely beautiful. So it's so much fun. And then so TNT puts on the production. Um so Charles, your good buddy Barkeley will also be there. What a dream. So that'll be fun. So that's on Thursday, right, Thursday, No, it's tomorrow. Wow, Wow, Tuesday. Let's start over. Let's pick

any day, but the day it's actually happening. Okay, so it's happening on Tuesday. Can I wager on this? Because you know I'll be more into it if I can do know, if that's an option, Fox, bet you have to be able to wager on this. Okay, I'm gonna do that. Um, all right, so that's what you're gonna go with. Who are you gonna go with? I'm gonna do a scouting report. I'm gonna see what the players look like right up until tea time. Um, that's what I do with the masters. Okay, in any major during

because guess what, one could pull a hamstring? No knocking on the table, but something could happen prior to game time, so it's a game time decision. Um okay, well that's exciting. So are we gonna be able to turn that frown upside down? Are we going to be able to swim? Get on the treadmill after I talk to you. I'm upset about my WiFi. You know what it is. I've found this out about myself. Well, I know this about myself.

I don't like when ship doesn't work. I don't have time for it, like, just get it done, figure it out, like I don't like the WiFi problems. Also, as I told Jared, there's another problem with our house. I have to discuss with you offline. I'm not good with home things and fixing them. Again, it's not my forte Like, I don't excel with that. If you need me to talk to you about New Orleans and what is going to be wrong with their offense this year, I got it.

In fact, I'll call Sean Payton. We can talk to him. But is finding baskets to put my shoes in? And like having them look cool and the dimensions and the way. I don't know how to do it. Call me. I am here for you know, I am here for you. Lean on me. We What was I gonna say to you before that? Oh, I have to get this in before we welcome in our guests. Who's awesome? Full disclosure, we actually interviewed her earlier this week. Um, and she's awesome, So I'd love to try to pretend that like, oh,

I'm teasing the interview. No, she's incredible and she's a badass, and we talked about a lot of stuff. So I know, I tried to pretend at the beginning of this podcast that we haven't talked to her, But you know what, I don't want to lie to the audience. I don't feel like that's creating a good relationship with our name by lying. Also, just got a miscall from Colin Coward and a text message that is hysterical. Anybody out there

listen to Colin Coward? I hope so, because this guy is the funniest text her, But we I want to get this in real quick. My A d D is kicking in. We have awesome, awesome listeners on our Calm Down Podcast. So thank you guys so much. I know that we go on tangents and sometimes we're annoying. Aaron tells incredible stories, so we're here for all of that. But we have an incredible listener. Her name is Maggie, and she reached out to us and sent us the kindest,

sweetest message. So that's my high of the week. I was messaging her yesterday and the day before and we were talking and I just she's going through stuff and she just is a bright light and I just want to give a shout out to her. And she's UM. Aaron, like, you know, we the message that she said, and we just want to let you know that we are thinking of you and we are here for you like a

girlfriend if you want us to be UM. But she's my high of the week, and I just it puts it all in perspective of WiFi and bed sheets and everything. So shout out to Maggie. We love you and appreciate your support, and we're here to give you that in return. This is the community community, and we're welcoming in Nicolelin into our cool group after the break. She is the president of football Operations over at clutch sports, which is badass, and she does a lot of stuff, so you will

enjoy listening to that. Aaron is gonna go get on the treadmill. It's gonna be amazing. And she's gonna listen to the Nicole interview. And I am just gonna be here when you're done doing that to help you with your pillows and baskets, Dorothy and your little dog too. Where it's lightning. Oh yes, Stanley Cup game tonight, girl. Lots of things to be happy about. Okay, scale of one to ten, are you one of the things. Are you in a better mood now? Not yet? Okay? Well,

be right. I have to go sweat. It's the only thing that's gonna help me. Well, I'll be here on the other end if your wife works too soon. Thank you, guys, you love you. As Aaron mentioned, if you don't follow the Calm Down podcast long on, log on and then follow Aaron's smallpox you know diagnosis that she has. I hope you gets better, so do all right? So ugly hilarious. We'll be back with more after this. Calm Down, Aaron, Calm Down. Well, I know Aaron and I share our

sentiment of enthusiasm for our next guest. We just talked all about how excited we were to talk to her, Nicole, and ladies and gentlemen, is with us senior agent and president of football operations at Clutched Sports, and so many other things. How are you? Thank you for being here with us. I'm doing well. Thank you for having me. How does it feel to have somebody ask you before you do a podcast interview or any sort of interview,

how do you want to be introduced? Because you wear like Chris likes to say, a lot of hats I do. I do? You know? You are a boss. And the reason why I asked how you wanted to be introduced is because there's a plethora of ways we can introduce. You became the first black woman in league history to represent a top three draft pick back in two thousand and nineteen. You have done so many things, Nicole. When I say back in two thousand nineteen, does that even seem like a long time ago now? I mean it

feels like yesterday. You know. I just feel like I can still remember recruiting that specific player and going through the draft, and yeah, I mean it's also still very surreal. I love this story. I read this story where you were looking for something to wear. You didn't, did Chris.

I don't know if you saw this. I was. I was looking up stuff today and first of all, I die for that, because what I'm doing right now is trying to find a tank top for the Hall of Fame game, and you're trying to find an appropriate one and what you chose was amazing and you looked hot. And by the way, we shouldn't even care about that. You know what I'm saying. Do you want me to

pound my chest right now? But I died that that's what you were trying to do in two thousand nineteen for your draft pick that went third overall, right, you did. It's just it's so funny. I told my husband, I'm like, one of the biggest challenges in my day to day as a sports agent is figure out figuring out what I'm gonna work. I'm that kidding. I mean it's everything from like are my jeans too tight? Red lipstick? Is that too sexy? My hair? I mean, this is a

daily struggle and the draft. You know, I liked my dress, but even in the moment when I sat down, I was like, never again. I'm wearing a suit next time. Like I regretted it immediately. I was like, this is not the freaking Grammy's nicole. Just for comfort level or why, I don't know. I mean, it's just you know, I didn't know what else. I googled, like NFL Agents green room, and there's not a lot of pictures. It's like, okay,

i'll do do address. It's like red carpet event. But even sitting there, I was like, oh my god, they're gonna think of a girlfriend, Like you know, your girls are too cute right now? You take it too far? Oh my god, I love you. A couple of things about that. That's bullshit that we even have to think to be honest, the fact that we think like, oh, I can't wear a dress and still might do my job,

I mean on Sunday or red lipsticks. Like I sit there sometimes with like a tankless dress or whatever, like a sleeveless dress on Sundays, and it's like you should act more professional. But then if I wear a suit, then I'm manly. So it's like, well, which one is it? So it's a bunch of bullshit. But you just said something and you're like It's like, a, U, you were the girlfriend. Weren't you also accused of being a player's girlfriend when you were in the hotel? No? Yes, kicked

out of a hotel. Yeah, I mean just crazy. Like early on in my agent I went to visit a player before the game, like you can see them on Saturday. And I will not name the team, but the security guard kicked me out because he thought I was a girlfriend trying to sneak in hand. I could not believe it, and I'm like, no, I promise that. At this point, I didn't have any big name clients. I'm a nobody, and so he's like, I don't know, I've never heard of you. Oh my god, I'm an agent. It's incredible,

so many stories clearly that you can tell. Um. But bringing it back for a second of call, you're not only represent athletes but entertainment. Can you take us back to the beginning. How did this all start for you? Did you always want to be an agent? Um? You've got an incredible upbringing, specifically your childhood in but right now, UM, focusing on when you knew you wanted to do this as a profession. You know, it's funny because one thing I don't think a lot of people know about me

is that I'm not a big football fan. I did not grow up watching football. I didn't. I'm not a huge sports fan. I like sports. It's fine, not like die Hard, you know. I don't know if I watched football ever growing up. So it was never about the game. It was never about the game. I got to college at eighteen years old, and I met football players that grew up kind of in my hometown. I grew up in what we called the hood and you know, under

the poverty line, really tough circumstances. So these were guys that I knew really well, but they made it out. They made it out through sports. And then some of those same guys but go to the league and then you know, stay to three years, which is like the average, and then end up being broke again. And it was just this weird cycle that I couldn't understand. I'm like, wow, you made it out, how are you back? And so it was a goal of how can I help the

human It was not It was never about sports. And you'll see that every person I represent, whether it's you know, a rapper or an influencer or whatever, it's it's the same kind of person. It's someone that maybe had circumstances that they couldn't control, or they have this story they're they're trying to get out, or they need direction or mentorship. It's the same person over and over and over. It's not it's not the sport, it's it's the human. Wow,

I have eight thousand questions. Okay, so how can I help the humans? So? Or how what was your eight thousand questions in my head? Right now? Come on here and do your job. What was your first big step? What was this step that it was like, Okay, this is how I'm going to help the human What wasn't well, I mean, obviously I had to become an agent, So before doing so, I took a lot of time in learning the game because I didn't grow up loving football.

And so my husband's a college coach. We've been married together for like eleven years, but so he helped a lot. You know, we're like getting kids twenty one. Watching film, breaking down film, I knew that I had to be

great and I could not get caught slipping. So step one for me before even recruiting, before doing anything, was can I be the best at this because when I'm in meetings, even now after I've been an agent and been in the business for a while, I still get questioned by clearers and dads, do you know the game? Do you know this defense? And so I just made it my mission to never be in a situation where I didn't know something. So I worked on that before I even get certified. How like, how do you work

on being great? Like what do you do? Because I know me, like, I feel like I have to read every little thing that comes my way about the game, and I'm like crazy about it, But what do you do? I mean similar? So my first thing was learning the game. But I think there's two parts. There's the game and there's the business. So for me, it wasn't it was like I need to learn the game, and so I would break it down, Like for a year, I just

focused on defense. And my husband was a football player who played corner, and so we would just talk about defense and it's like, okay, let's talk about dbs for four months and breaking down a dB, understanding what players fit in that position and why they're good, not just the game that the player, and then like you said, reading books, watching videos, and then I had agents, and I had a couple agents I had met along the way, and so I asked him questions, just really, any of

my free time football all in football. Once I learned the game, that I moved to the business. And it's it's funny because I don't think you have to know the game to be agent. Like really, well, I don't think you have to understand the difference between a four three and three four detents. So when you're a black woman and you're twenty six, I'm told I wasn't I signed my first client, you better know everything. Unfortunately, you better know everything I didn't have. I didn't get that.

You know, FREEB card? Yeah, I think Aaron and I can understand that. Where I I still to this day, thirteen years into this gig, I get asked, do you even like football? Do you write your own stuff? Come on? Man? Like, I'm like, okay, all right, here we go amateur hour for them, um, but whatever. So we can all share that same sentiment of having to prove ourselves. But like I say, I don't know how you feel. But when people say, like, oh, what's it like being a woman

in this industry? I feel like being a woman got me through the door because there are less of us that want to do this job or your job, Nicole. But you stay there if you know what you're talking about, and that door closes a lot quicker if you don't know what you're talking about. So for you, you know, your story is incredible, from childhood poverty to a Wall

Street executive to this incredible sports agent. Can you take us back to the very beginning of how you grew up, as you like to say, in the hood and what was it about that experience that now gives you that perspective on the other side to help your current clients. Yeah, I think it's just the way that I grew up. I'm able to relate on a different level than many agents,

you know. I'm I have a lot of stories and circumstances from my childhood that most people wouldn't believe if I told them, And funny enough, many of my clients have the same ones, and so I can recognize some of the challenges that a lot of my clients have, whether it's you know, a family dynamic or you know, you know, having to send money back to extended family

or whatever that may look like. I also, personally, I like to represent players that love the game right, really love the game, that will give a hundred and in anything they do, because that's similar to me. Right, when you grow up with nothing, you have a different level of grit. It's like you can't fail. There's no plan B for me, and I love representing guys that still the exact same way. There's no plan B. I've got to make it. I'm going to give every single thing

that I can. I love that because I We've said this many times. There was no plan B for me. I just this is what I was going to do, and everybody always said, well, what were you going to do if this didn't work out? I was like, no, no, this was going to work out. Like I just I had no other you know choice, so and not not that it was I didn't have any other mindset. So we talked about the hurdles in terms of what am

I wearing? People think you're a girlfriend, the red lipstick debate, which, by the way, guys side note, why the fund do we care? Like? But who is telling us this stuff? Why do we care so much? Give us some of your biggest hurdles besides obviously what we can relate to UM along the way that you look back maybe now and go give me a break, you know, I wish I could look back on some of them. Some of

them are still hurtles now, like one. In order to be a good agent, you've got to have relationships with general managers. That's who we do deals with. And typically the way you do that is you take them out to drinks at the combine, take them out to dinner, you're up late at night at the bar, a very specific bar that all the agents go to. I can't do a lot of that, right, and so I had to create my own rules, and so I have my own little rules as an agent. It's like I do coffee.

It's always a coffee. It's always at a Starbucks. It's always at certain tables. Because perception is everything. My pure agents that are men, they don't have to think about even my text messages, like phone calls. It's all got

to be really careful, and it sucks. I mean it's getting a bit easier as I now have a reputation and I tell women, I'm like, your reputation, build it, make sure it's strong, because you want it to procede, you right, You want people to know before you walk in the room who you are and what you're about, and so I think I have finally built that up.

But early on it was tough who helped you, Nicole along the way, because you had this amazing quote on your Instagram, like how just a couple of days ago about look back and help the people that are looking up to you, because at one point that was you, and make sure that we don't forget those individuals that want to walk, especially for you, as being whenever you're the first to do something, there's a responsibility that comes with that. There is who helped you. I had a mentor.

It was actually a man, So it wasn't you know, it wasn't a woman because there's not It's not because there wasn't one that wanted to help me. But there's not a lot of options, and the few women can't mentor everybody. That's what I say. Now that I'm in this role, it's like, oh, there's such a it feels like a requirement that you have to mentor every woman under you. And that's tough, right, that's a big burden to carry. But it was a man named Ken Sarnov,

who's actually still an agent. Really phenomenal agent was a mentor for me before I got certified up until you know, even now, if I already anything, I still reach out to him. And you know, I talk about mentorship and sponsors and my new book. The big thing is adding value. So I still added value to him, right, I had connections to players, and so it was an equal exchange, you know. And so a lot of times people feel like mentors to do it out of the kindness of

their hearts. We wish that that's how the world worked, but it's not. It's not always like that. And so I made sure to always think how can I add value to his life so that you know, and we're way past that now he'd do anything for me, but early on he doesn't know me, So what can I do for him? What was the first moment, I mean everybody kind of we were talking to our dads about this for Father's Day. What was the moment that I was like, ship, this is happening. I mean, we we

knew what was going to happen. I think all three of us knew what was going to happen, But like the moment that you're like, it's happenings, What was the moment that you're like, it's happening. You know, it's funny. This is a very weird moment. It was like the first time I flew first class. I'm gonna keep it Realiyah in first class right now, Like there was so much impostor syndrome because I kind of felt like people were looking like, does she get upgraded? You know, I

didn't get upgraded. So I've had big moments being at the NFL draft, being on the red carpet of sps, but something about flying first class, it's just really I'm obsessed with the fact that you just said that because two things. The first ever time my Rockies job, I worked to the Colorado Rockies and I got an itinerary from the station and they sent it to me in my email and I was like, oh my god, I've got a flight itinerary. Like I was so I mean this when I was still in thirty four B but

I was so happy to have a slide itinerary. And the other one was when I didn't have to put my credit card down but for incidentals, I was like, it's on the company and I didn't have to pay for them. I was so excited, so it's it's funny how like those little things stand out. But um, you mentioned your book first of all, huge congratulations I made. Oh my god. I mean buys a picture book, yours is a real book called Agent. You show up, do

the work, and succeed on your own terms. I I try to live by all of those rules every single day. I love this title. Where did it come from? And how does it encapsulate who you are and what you're doing for your clients? You know, agent? You being your

own agent? You know. I talked about this in the book, and I tell the reader, imagine if you had someone like me, someone that is trained to negotiate deals, to advocate for my players, someone doing that for you in your day to day life, and then envisioned now that that person is you. And so I tried to instill, you know, that level of grid and just confidence into the reader. And you look at the subtitle and that

last part, you know, succeed on your own terms. For me, it was so important when I got into this business that I did not blend in right, that I was able to be successful and comfortable in my own skin, be my authentic self. There's so many different ways to be successful, and I didn't want to follow kind of the normal trajectory. And so it's important, you know, it's important to finding your own definition of success and then

achieving and what makes sense for you. It's so interesting because I Chris and knows I write it all down, but I don't blend in. And I think the three of us obviously for certain reasons, we don't blend in. But yet if we want to have an open moment,

we are worried about it as well, you know. I mean I I go downstairs when we go to a game fifteen minutes early before we're supposed to be down there to beat Joe and Troy, so I'm not late, and they don't say, oh, she's probably doing her hair, which they would never say, by the way, but I

just ingrained in my head. I don't want to. I don't let the boys carry my suitcase because you know what, it is heavy, because I have ten outfits in there, because I don't know what the weather is going to be or if my BRA's gonna look right with the top, so you know what, there's a lot in there. But I don't want to hear, oh, she's got a lot of outfits. But it's so funny. Don't blend in. But a lot of times we want to blend in because

we don't want to make a rock kiss. But like, let's make a second book Nicole, and fine, well we'll contribute to why do we want to blend in? But we don't go, oh my gosh, I mean that is so good. I mean, I'm fighting with myself right now. It's a daily exactly who I am. You're not going to tell me what to do, and the next thing, you know, I'm like, not the red lipstick, right, So

you're right, You're totally right. I don't know. I mean, it's the hard part I think with our industry is there's not a lot of people that look like us, and so you're less comfortable because you only want they're with the heels on at the red lipstick. The more people that look like us, the more women that are in the room, it becomes natural, you know, we can

become more comfortable because we're not in the minority. Or there are times that we just say, you know what, I don't care what you write about me in a newspaper, Like you're just angry with your life right now, Like so what this is just the way it is. Um, Constance Marini Schwartz, Hello, Um always kind of says with her and straight hand, let's be disruptors. And I kind of love that to go along with your book. My dad and I were talking today about agents. UM, don't

be afraid if you wrot me. We were just talking. My dad was saying, no one is as worried about your career as you are in terms of like you've got to look out for yourself. And I can't wait to read your book because I feel like you'll probably you know, representing yourself. Are there some cliff notes that you could give about the things that you talk about about representing yourself or maybe some keys for people? Absolutely?

I mean one of the big things I talked about in the book is how to build out your own brand. You know, I think people attribute brands to influencers or big companies, but I believe every single human as a brand, a lawyer, a doctorate agent, whatever that may look like. And how to do that, what does that look like? It's deciding the pillars of your brand and making sure that every single thing you do aligns with those pillars. You know. I also talk about in the book getting

Comfortable with losing. I lose so much in my agent career. You know, I may every year recruit thirty players and get to and I had to very early on get comfortable with losing, knowing it's going to happen, and learning how to deal with it, like preparing my mind it's happening. It's going to happen every year, every time, and so how am I gonna bounce back from that? And then you know, just kind of lastly, and there's a bunch of other topics in the book, but the impostor syndrome,

I mean, it is just so tough. I deal with it every single day still to this day. No matter the level of success that I have, there's still this little voice in the back of my head that's like, are you really good enough? You know? Are they are they going to respect you? I mean, it's sad and so just how to be overcome that imposter syndrome. Maybe that's good though, that you still have that, because it

keeps making you want to work harder. I know that I feel a little bit of that, and I'm like, no, that's that's the part of you that's still that Brady mentality like, hey, I got two more fingers without rings on them. I'm gonna go ahead and get those because I want every You know I I I think that there's some motivation in that. But Nicole, I know that Aaron and I get asked this question. You want a

completely different level, in a completely different position. How does someone get started if they want to be the next Nicole Lyn? How do they start? I think choose a sport number one. So if you're going to be an agent, you want to specialize in the sport, at least at the beginning. You don't see a lot of agents that are doing multiple sports, so get all in with one sport. If you want to be an NFL agent, you've got to have a postgraduate degree. Figure out what that's going

to be. You have to have that, so it's a master's or it's a law degree. Make that decision early on. Then you have to sit for the agent exam. It's only offered once a year. Don't miss the deadline. I think the deadlines like in January, but the test isn't until July. Don't miss the deadline. Find players right, Find players that you believe in that other agents don't see D three players, D two players, somebody that can make a team that maybe a big time agent has missed

out on. And build your your clientele that way. Slow build. I mean, I had so many undrafted guys in the beginning of my career, and that's okay. You know, every guy you represent a first rounder, so that's kind of the first steps. And then build out your brand. Make connections if you're a junior agent, make connections with scouts. Don't worry about gams. Those scouts eventually will be general managers. Make authentic connections with people that are at your level

in the s work, and then grow together. Now I'm at the point where I've got people they're becoming directors and general managers that they were low level scouts. When I started, I was just thinking of I mean, this is probably horrible because this is the industry working. But I was like, if I'm a mom right now and

I'm sitting with you, I'm not. I'm obsessed with Nick Saban, even though I went to the University of Florida and I'm looking at a note he wrote me, fine, humble brag you know, uh, daddy wrote me, and I was thinking about when he goes into living rooms and charming mamas and daddy's and all that and being like, come raise my kid even though I'm gonna give him my firstborn whenever that may happen. If I'm a mom and you're sitting in our living room, I'm like, take my child.

Because there are so many slimy agents. I'll just say it. I mean, why am I thinking of Jerry McGuire, But like, if I'm a mom, I'm giving you my kid, I'm like, no, that's how you're signing, Like I'm dying to what the moms are saying when you're in there. I mean, moms are very I just I think moms. I think women generally like mom's sisters on so many of them have given me a seat at the table on behalf of their son or their brother that where maybe I wouldn't have.

And so moms are amazing. But it's more than them just connecting with me but giving me a shot, you know, I tell aunt. At the time, I'm like, oh, thank you for even thinking of me. And so yeah, I connect great with moms. I'm amazing with moms. If you're listening to your mom, so I probably like I want you to take care my son. And I say this lovingly because my husband is an agent, so I can

say this. Sometimes you don't want to send your young child off with a grown man because who knows what they're gonna get, So they want your supervision as a strong woman. Again, I say this because my husband's an agent. It takes a strong individual to be on the other side of us. Jared Aaron's husbands a very strong man. Your husband has to be a strong man because I know that phone has some phone numbers in there that any other man would be very intimidated of. How does

that dynamic work in your household? And how do you make it work? Yeah? Tell us what is the secret? So my husband's in sports. He's a college coach, college football coach, and so we've done sports together forever. You know, people always say, like, what's the biggest piece of advice you can give me? If I could pick one piece of advice, it's marry the right person. I would not be where I am at all without my husband. And it's not just about you know, support, but it's understanding

the industry that you talk about phone numbers. Forget that dinner with multimillionaire yeah, or and so it's just like someone that's confident, but someone that gets it. Maybe I'm not a successful one if I married the engineer or the accountant and so I got lucky and we've got married very early on, before I ever had a client. You know, he taught me everything I know about football, so I owe him my life's critical, Like, don't let

me get anything wrong, chill. I didn't play like I can know what the best piece of advice maybe he's given you, not only as your husband, but obviously somebody with a sports background. Um. I mean, one thing he'll always tell me is like not to talk about things I don't know. So sometimes early on I would try to like throw out certain terms because it sounded like I knew football more before I really knew. And he's like, stop doing that. You're gonna get Don't throw out terms

you don't know. Say the normal. You know, if you're talking about cornerbacks, say corner. You don't have to say lump and run corners to try to sound cool. If you don't know what bump and run is, I don't say it. So he would always get on to me, and I remember early on, I'd be like what can I text this guy to like show him my note, give me some like one liners. And he's like no, because if you get caught in the meeting me, you

don't know what you're talking about. Now I know, but early on I didn't, and I'd be reading Okay, got it, got it, Okay, that's amazing. I actually remember when girlfriends used to be on dates and they're like, text me some fun facts about like sports so I can sound cooler, and I'm like, okay, the Big Three And at the time I was talking about the Celtics Big Three, and then she said Lebron. I'm like, no, that's a different big that was two sets. Anyways, I grew up in

you know, the sports household. There's a lot of women men that had the family that watched every Sunday and you knew it your whole life. That was not me. So I was learning from scratch. If you could go back and tell Nicole the you know you're you're getting your law degree the the younger mid twenties, Nicole, I mean, you signed your first clime when you were red twenties, So let's go back even further, because you're the exception

to the rule. Let's say twenty one year old Nicole, what are you telling yourself that there's a difference between hard work and overworking yourself? Like working hard and overwork. And I've so many years conflated that. You know, I appreciate that I'm a hard worker, but I think that there were boundaries that I really I should have been better at. Yeah, you know, just self care generally. I know that that's like the hot topic, but for me, it was completely non existent. You know, I worked two

jobs for six years. I was a full time civil litigator at UM the number three sized law firm in the world up until six weeks ago, while also being an NFL agent. Those jobs never they were they were never the same thing. They did, had nothing to do with each other. Ones like securities for out litigation and the NFL agent. And I did that forever, you know, and it was terrible. It took a toll on my health,

my mental health. Like I just I remember literally almost having like a nervous breakdown and being like I am not, like why am I doing this? And so I wish I could have early on been like I'm going to protect my peace, I'm going to protect myself. You know, I just give, give, give, and never thought about me, and I'm like, I'm about to have a breakdown and then no one's gonna have agent Nicolin. Are you listening Aaron Andrews down there? Well, I was just gonna say

I am because I literally needed to hear that. I just had like pretty much a breakdown last month, and I've been very vocal about it and I but you know what, I it's because not only that I I have overworked myself, but I'm grateful for my life, my job, but I never handled my feelings about things the way I should have. I refused to cry. I've been on a trial stand and broke out in a heat rash

because I refused to show it on my face. But yeah, now I'm learning you have to take care of yourself because if you don't, it's just you are going to have a nervous breakdown. I'm so glad you realized it at this age that you are, because I know I'm a lot older, but that's amazing. So what are you reading? What are you doing? Who are you meditating? To tell

me everything? I want? The skin care? Yeah, it's so weird because like I've only been six weeks not practicing law, and it's I'm like, what do I do with my free time right now? I guess I could watch new shows. And I'm reading Michelle William's book Checking in which happens to do. She's from Bessie's Child, talks about depression and anxiety, and so that's been great. I'm listening to Beyonce because clearly, why wouldn't I just moved into a new house, so

packing and live in that life. But I'm trying to figure out what does a system look like, like a morning routine, Like that's my goals, Like what does my routine look like? What is what is something I'm gonna do every single day? And I'm not a morning person, but I'm trying to become one. I'll let you know how that goes. Can I tell you guys something before coffee? What I'm doing now besides a little shot of olive oil because that's a whole part of my healer that

I saw. Yeah, it's it helps cut down like cholesterol. It's supposed to be great for your insides. Like obviously, blah blah blah. I'll send you a whole thing about it. But um, my other thing is whether it's nighttime when I'm trying to calm down or when I'm waking up in the morning, I am trying to do a ten minute meditation. Yes, I do find myself, you know, sitting there goings crisy back from Mexico. Yet crap, when am

I packing for Montana? There are But you have to say to yourself, Okay, that needs to leave my thought process now, because this is the time that I have to settle in. On the day. I did a happiness one yesterday, I'm going to do a piece one tonight because you guys, the way the three of us are wired, it's like, holy crap, who's playing today? I've got to catch up on that game last night? How did he do last week in the game? You know, I am

I supposed to meet him this week for coffee. You know, let's get John Lynch on the line to talk about a new deal. By the way, I hope he's a dream to work with because he's our former colleague and we amazing the best anyway, Just guys, meditations, I feel like it's the thing not to get all Aaron Rodgers on everyone. But I do think I think my even with like self care or meditation. It's like I almost have this guilt, so like if I'm getting a massage

or something, I have a guilt of wasting time. And so honestly, actually, in my book, I talk about a concept that I created of just this process of existing, teaching myself to be comfortable with existing, which is pretty much me being able to sit for five minutes. And I think Bernick Brown calls it white space, and some other people call it time. How great is she, by the way, like literally life changing? Her Ted Talk like changed my entire world. I'm gonna send it to Renee

Brown's Ted Talk. I mean I have yeah, back off, guys, I have. She was meditating while we were watching the Ted Talk. We'll switch places next time. Our vulnerability read that books so good. I could have saved so much money in therapy by that. This is the whole Ted Talk for six hours. It's phenomenal, it's life changing. So yeah, Renee Brown is everything, like your book is everything. Yeah, it's called agent. You show up, do the work, and succeed on your own terms. There's so much good stuff

that everyone can extrapolate from that. Nicole, thank you. I know Aaron has another question before I let you go, but just in some rate from my last question would be this. My father has this expression. Those who failed to reach their goals failed to set them. Do you

have goals of what you want to do next? And if they're personal, you don't have to share it, But do you have that wish list for yourself the same way that you would for your client to get to this level, to win m v P, to get this endorsement? Do you have your own wish list? My wish list is to be able to show women that you can have it all. I don't have kids, have been married for nine years. That's my choice. And it's like one of those things where I haven't seen any I don't

know a single woman agent with kids. That they're probably out there, but I don't know any. I don't see what it looks like, and I think I have built this vision in my head that it's not possible. You can't have the family, you can't be the amazing wife and the bomb supports agent and the lawyer. My goal is how can I have it all? What does that balance look like? And then I want to be able to show the world show women behind me. If that's what you want, you can do it. So that's my

next couple of years goal. My immediate goal is to start the Keto diet next week. I'm not mad at that. So that you can't have it all, Yes, you can, as long as it's keto. You can have it all. And I love the women that tell you that you can. Candice Nelson's told me that. I feel like I've read from Bobby Brown, you can have it all. The one thing I want to have from you, and it's our final thing before we let you go. We like to do a calm Down Award, or we make our guests

give out a calm Down Award. I think one of our best ones were Kevin Hart just telling everybody to chill out, not take things so serious. Brian bum Garner telling people on flights to sit the hell down and tell their row it was so good. Do you just in general have a calm Down Award to people or someone you want to give it to? Oh my gosh, I wish I would have thought about this in advance. The plain one is so good, so good, so good,

it's so true. I was on a flight from Mexico the other day and this woman, she like people are standing in the row. She took down like the compartment and took her suitcase out and had it on somebody's shoulder and she's like excuse me, and I'm like, wait till that person moves you, asshole. What are you thinking? Like, where are you going? Where? Where are you going? I think mine? I mean, it's stupid, but it's like, calm down. To the people that speed up to the red light,

it's like, you have to stop. So there's no point, including my husband, you don't need to hang up. There's a red light in front of us. Slow the heck down because you're not going to go any faster than anybody else. Okay, I actually love you just I was just thinking about that, that the people that like honk because you're not going fast enough, but like, there's nowhere to go. There's a red light. That's amazing. It's so good. There are no red lights for you now on a

full go until you say stop. You're in control of your life. You've done an incredible job and what an amazing path you have blazed for the women that will come after you. Like I said before, being the first at anything is a huge responsibility and you make it look easy. Thank you so much, Nicole, and make sure you guys get her book agent you. Thank you for your time. We appreciate it. And she's our new best friend. So there's that, like, this has been the best interview.

I have to come back, like, please do it again. Let's go on the road together. Let's bring us on the road and charge people going on. Use some updates. Next time you see me, I'm gonna be very fit. You already are topping. You look amazing. Thank you so much, thank you. Calm Down with Aaron and Carissa is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast