Joshua Sanchez is the founder and CEO of Unlimited Management. Under his leadership the company has earned the respect of some of the top athletes in the NFL, MLB, NBA and more. Despite starting the company at such a young age, athletes from across sports have come to trust Josh with their finances and many of their life changing decisions. I had the opportunity to speak with Josh and learn from him how his dedication to quality work and honesty has allowed him to work with some of the most prominent athletes in the world. Here’s how it went:
Trust is KEY
Jay: You’ve built Unlimited Management in an amazing way and you have a prestigious roster of great players that you represent. How did this all start?
Josh: I was lucky to grow up in Long Beach California that had so many incredible athletes, primarily football players. Many of my friends played college ball and did very well, and many became prestigious clients of mine. We grew up together, went to school together and they noticed that while other guys were partying, I was studying and working on my craft. I was passionate about finance and worked with other financial advisers, tax financial groups and agents to make sure I had a solid grasp on financial literacy. As I got older, my friends began to take note of my work and approached me and said “Josh- the time has come. I’d like you to handle my business”. So, I was incredibly fortunate to be in that circumstance, but it was the result of a lot of hard and dedication that brought me here.
Jay: Developing trust with an athletes at the NFL caliber doesn’t happen by accident. What was it that made them so comfortable trusting you with their financial future?
Josh: I think the key was that our relationship was organic. We spent times at each other’s houses as kids. They knew my family and I knew theirs. I didn’t try to push the relationship it just grew over time because they saw that I was someone they could trust. I think that in whatever industry you’re in the most successful relationships are the ones that are built organically. With many of my clients the trust was always natural.
Jay: What are some of the key traits that has attracted so many other high-profile clients to work with you?
Josh: I think the biggest key is my sincerity. People trust me because they feel my spirit and they know I want to help them. I don’t tell players what to do, I help educate them. It could be financial literacy, tax planning, or anything else that comes up that I work with them on. I believe that if you educate people and give them what they need they’ll naturally trust you.
The other key is making sure you’re giving them the right information. Today people can Google and fact check anything so, if you make sure that when you educate people and the facts you give them match what they see the trust will naturally grow over time. Moreover, when you build personal trust, they’ll trust your brand and your business as well so, it has a domino effect that has far reaching benefits.
So many people in representational positions just want players to trust them blindly. They consider themselves more of a service. For me it’s about taking all the knowledge that I’ve gathered from all the rooms that I’ve been able to sit in, all the people I’ve been able to meet and everything that I’ve learned to pass it on to them and give them the tools they need to succeed. The more information you give them, the more they’ll be able to make the right decisions and if they make the right decisions, they’ll create wealth and if they create wealth, they’ll be a client for life.
Athlete Opportunity is on the Rise
Jay: Athletes today have more opportunities than ever before to build their own brands through the power of social media. Is that something you see your players taking advantage of?
Josh: Absolutely! I think LeBron James is a great example of this and other athletes are realizing that they have the ability to do that as well. Now more than ever, athletes realize that their careers are not going to last forever and while so many players like Magic, Brady and others have been doing this for years, social media has brought that to light to the point where almost all athletes are capitalizing on the opportunities they have and are building a plan for their future.
Jay: What are some of the unique talents that athletes have from playing sports that they can take into other areas beyond sports?
Josh: I think many people don’t realize how much athletes sacrifice to play at a professional level. The same is true in business, especially at the executive level. There may be special occasions that you’ll need to miss, family events and more. So, while athletes work at their craft and have crazy traveling schedules, they naturally develop that responsibility to sacrifice other things in order to fulfil their goals.
Additionally, there’s tremendous adversity that they face and there’s no question that in business you’ll have that as well. So, cultivating that mental toughness through their years in sports pays tremendous dividends in other areas.
Finally, athletes are fortunate to sit in so many different rooms during their careers. They could be team owners, brand executives, agencies and so many others. So, the network that they’ve developed while they play is extremely valuable. In business, you’ll need so many other people to open their doors for you and if athletes can take that valuable asset of building relationships and opening doors to other business leaders, they’ll have so much success.
Jay: If you could spend an hour with anyone in the world and ask them one question who would it be and what would you ask them?
Josh: There were so many people that I idolized as I grew up. Russell Simmons, Magic Johnson, Don Peebles, Kenneth Fearn, Jay Z, Oprah, and so many others who came from nothing and had the conviction to make something for themselves. To add to that list, as I grew up, I had the honor of getting to know the great Nipsy Hustle who unfortunately is no longer with us. We were working on some really special things together, talking about cultivating an opportunity for kids in the communities on a big scale. He gave me that passion to work hard and I looked up to him for that. His passing still hurts, and he continues to be a big inspiration for me.
If I had an hour to ask anyone anything it would be Barak Obama. I want to understand what it’s going to take to develop a real solution to help the inner-city kids. We need economic change in the inner-city community. It’s something that means so much to me and it’s something that I would do whatever I could to create the opportunity for them to succeed. That’s my wish, to finally make that happen!