Joe Wells: Building a Business on Football Lessons Learned

Photo Courtesy of Fishman Public Relations

After athletes spend an entire career practicing, competing, and becoming masters of their sport, when it’s time to retire, a lot of them realize there’s going to be a huge paradigm shift for their career.  Former Los Angeles Raider Joe Wells took his experience as an athlete and launched a successful career  offering a high quality line of sports nutrition products and custom athletic apparel. Joe is the founder and CEO of Max Muscle, the nation’s premier franchise in sports nutrition, weight loss and fitness.

During his four-years in the NFL, Joe refused to let the achievement of his ultimate athletic dream blur his vision of the future. Like most professional football players, it didn’t take long for him to realize a career in professional sports was temporary to say the least.  So he started planning for his “retirement”. A lifelong athlete, he gathered a tremendous amount of knowledge about weight training and nutrition.  Joe learned how amino acids enhanced muscle recovery while playing for the LA Raiders, prompting him to formulate one of the first low-molecular amino acid supplements for athletes. It quickly became the top-selling sports nutrition amino acid in the country.

Joe recently took time out of his busy schedule to tell me more about his football career, his successful business, and how he manages it all.

On his most rewarding moment as a Football player:

“As a collegiate player I experienced many great moments. I was a linebacker and believe it or not a kicker. That’s a pretty rare crossover as a player, and it helped me create some great memories. In college I kicked several game winning field goals and I had many games with fumble recoveries, interceptions and a plenty of tackles.  I had a ton of awards, and a blast playing in college.”

“I was never a superstar player after college. It was a fight every step of the way to make it with a pro team. I signed several contracts in the NFL and USFL over a 5 year period. The Seahawks, Saints, Eagles, Raiders and a couple of USFL teams. It was hardly an illustrious pro career. At the time it was downright disappointing.  After 20 plus years of maturing, that entire experience is now one of my greatest memories. I met and played with so many legendary players, like Kenny Stabler, Marcus Allen, Archie Manning, Steve Young and many more. I travelled all over the US and played in some awesome stadiums. It was a great experience, and in fact was my gateway to Max Muscle.  All of this will lead right back to my greatest moment.  I was eating breakfast one morning with the late great player Lyle Alzado. It was training camp in 1984 with the Los Angeles Raiders. Lyle was taking a supplement called amino acids. I asked about them and he obliged with a plethora of information. I was all ears and later when the Raiders released me, I went to work on formulating one of the finest Amino Acid formulas on the market. Having breakfast with a football hero and having that set the pace for the next few decades of my life, that’s truly a great football memory for me!”

On his greatest business success so far:

“When I was in 7th grade I wrote an essay on what I wanted to accomplish in my life. In true seventh grade fashion I had my priorities in line.  Become a pro football player first and secondly own a chain of health stores. I am not really sure where that idea even came from, but for some reason I knew what I wanted.  Once Max Muscle exceeded the 100 store mark, I felt like I could legitimately call us a franchise chain. With that said, I feel that my greatest business achievement to date is actually living my dream of being the CEO of a large chain of stores! As I tell many of our new franchisees, ‘I am living my dream.’”

On traits that are both part of being a football player and business owner:

“I was recently at my 6th grade sons Jr. High Orientation. We were listening to his PE teacher who brought to our attention a poster titled: “I learned how to be successful in life from sports”. It then listed all the similarities like, Sportsmanship, Teamwork, Training, Positive Attitude, How to Win, How to Lose”. You get the picture, sports helps us all in life. But out of all that I can really say what worked for me in sports that I later applied to business was simply, “Work Harder than Your opponent”.  I was not a totally natural athlete; I had to work a little harder than others. I worked out longer to get stronger and I ran uphill to get faster than my opponents. That philosophy paid off in sports and later in business. In my younger days working 12-15 hours per day was just status quo; of course I hadn’t started a family yet!”

On advice for aspiring  entrepreneurs:

“I have 2 things to say as general guides for entrepreneurs. The first is “Believe in what you decide to do. Don’t just do something to make money, really believe in what you are doing. It brings the fire and passion out in you. Secondly “Don’t be afraid! Once you decide what to do don’t hesitate and don’t look back.  Jump in with both feet and be the best at what you do.”

Advice for balancing business and personal life:

“Well some may say that I tilt the scale a little too much for the kids and my family.  That is a luxury that time has afforded me. I have worked hard for my entire life. I have always had a job since I was 10 years old. I have great partners and a smooth running system. I also have 5 kids and if one of them has a baseball game or a concert at 3pm, I will be there. I may hit the computer again at 10pm, but I will never let myself look back and wish I had supported my kids more. It is possible to balance it all; you just need to get creative and flexible with your time.”

The one thing he has yet to do that he would like to do the most:

“I am pushing 50, and there are so many things that I want to do. I see our lives as having multi facets or dimensions.  In business I want to get to the magic number of 500 stores! In my philosophical life, I want to write a best selling book.  In my physical life, I want to win a Gold Medal or do something no other 50+ year old has done. In my family life, I want to see all my kids prosper and become great human beings!  Kind of corny huh, no skydiving or bungee jumping for me!”

Thanks Joe for some great advice and your inspiring story!