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Meet Tayo Adewon of AdvantageOneGroup in Long Beach

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Tayo Adewon.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Tayo. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
My dreams all started to become a reality when I made it out of High School and into the next level in playing Division I football at the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque NM. I was a DI college football player playing Safety and I was one step closer to the NFL. With dreams of playing in the NFL just like any other college athlete,It was starting to become more of a reality that making it to NFL would be a stretch for me the way my college career played out. By the end of Junior year in College my best friend Jay Ajayi got drafted to the Miami Dolphins.

That summer of 2014 as soon as Jay got drafted, I began thinking of how I could capitalize with him on the business side. As a kid coming from the inner city and being a first generation immigrant in the U.S Jay and I always dreamed about all our business ventures we would always talk about when we were kids, from starting clothing lines to other business ventures. Fast Forward a year later Dec 2015, I graduated with my BLA in Communications and finished my senior season as a Lobo. Following my graduation in Dec, I moved to Florida with Jay with no specific plan in place but to help him out in any way I could and just be of value on his management team. I worked for about 2 months at Dillard’s before getting a job with this company based in Europe Called Olive Media. The whole time I was working at Dillard’s I was working with this company called Olive Media on my idea of a Virtual Reality Playbook in Football. It took a couple months of back and fourth meetings with Olive Media as I lead the pack as the Subject matter expertise in creating a Beta version of the software of what was a Virtual Reality Playbook. Once I felt confident enough in what we created I took this virtual playbook concept to the Miami Dolphins. I have a great relationship with Kaleb Thornhill whom is the Director of Player Engagement for the Miami Dolphins and I immediately took this to him. Kaleb put me in contact with the right people within the organization and I pitched my concept to them and they loved it. After all the interest and positive feedback Olive Media hired me as the Vice President of Marketing and Sales and my very first company NBT “NEXTBESTING” was created. We sold the software around Europe and also worked with football programs around the country from High school’s to college teams. I ended up working with Olive Media for about a year and entire time I worked with Olive Media a key guy played a major role in my success. From negotiating my salary and contract terms with Olive Media to mentoring me and steering me in the right direction every step of the way. This guy is  Ajayi’s Business Manager/ Mentor and CEO of UnlimitedMGMT Joshua Sanchez. Josh saw the hunger and fire I had and really took me under his wing when he didn’t have too.

All at the time I was involved with Jays agency on the marketing side. From a day to day stand point I was working along side Jays agency doing everything from his marketing to different pr opportunities. Experience really is the best teacher, I was learning the game live and direct going to all Jays marketing opp’s and appearances, networking with the different brands and following up with people just enjoying the entire process. Before I knew it, I had an entire network of people that could really make some things shake. The rest was history from there as I completely took over handling all of Jays Marketing as his official Marketing Rep.

AdvantageOneGroup my company was born, with Jay Ajayi being my first official client. Everything just began to move like a snowball effect from representing guys like Jay Ajayi to Donte Deayon, to Kellyn Acosta, and DeSean Jackson. My hard work spoke for itself to my clients as I would always start by educating them how powerful marketing is from not only a financial side but as a platform and post-career.

In all what has got me to this point today is being able to communicate and relate with my guys as I was once in the same shoes as they were as a former college athlete.

Has it been a smooth road?
No, it has not been a smooth road, and if anyone tells you that they are lying. Some struggles on the way were doubt, experience, and just being new to the industry and seeing these older agents and reps discredit you simply because your young or haven’t been in the industry before or whatever the case may be.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the AdvantageOneGroup story. Tell us more about the business.
At AdvantageOneGroup we represent professional athletes, most notable NFL players. In a nutshell, I do all of the negotiations and contracts for my guys outside of their team contracts which the agent does. Specialize in marketing and PR getting my guys paid off the field and helping them build their platform for when football is done.

I am most proud of when I educate my guys and the light in their head turns on, followed by my largest deal I have done to date with my client Jay Ajayi and Courtyard Marriott. The ability to communicate with these guys at the level I communicate with them sets me apart from the rest.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see the industry really shifting in the next decade or so. Guys are starting to come into the league more prepared from a business standpoint and are having a better understanding of the NFL or any other league as a Business and not just a game.

This gives guys a better chance to set themselves up for success in the future and post career. In terms of trends, If I say it, then you guys would know and be ahead of the curve so I’ll keep that one a secret lol.

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Image Credit:
Spence Hartung
King Jones

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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