Shaquille O'Neal had quite a successful career in the NBA, but like all professional athletes, his career eventually came to an end. When he retired from the game in 2011, everyone wondered what would be next for the Hall of Fame big man.
O'Neal transitioned into sports media while also enjoying great success as a businessman. Regarding the latter, a small piece of advice from his dad may have helped Shaq out quite a bit in his business endeavors.
Shaquille reveals his dad's key piece of advice
O'Neal entered the NBA right when players were developing their own personal brands, which became increasingly common thanks to Michael Jordan's rise. So, unsurprisingly, Shaq decided to create his own Dunkman brand.
Doing so at this time was pretty competitive, and at the time, O'Neal wasn't necessarily the biggest name in the league. That led to him wavering on competing against these other big-name brands, but thankfully, he ended up receiving some great advice from his father.
"Dunkman was created in 89-90…and I was talking to my dad about it, I was like, 'This s*** might not work. I'm going up against these powerhouses,'" Shaquille said on The Draymond Green Show.
"And he said, 'There's more poor people than there are rich people.' I was like, 'S***.' I think it only worked because I was a household name. Of course, you had Jordan and all those guys, but I was saying, 'I'm Shaq.' And the only thing that took me a while to get is even though they're $30, you can't make them look like they're $30," Shaq added.
Related: David Robinson on taking a backseat when Tim Duncan arrived in San Antonio: "It's not tough when you want to win"
O'Neal's dad helped him go on the offensive in the business world
Shaq's fears were well-vested, as it's not exactly easy to follow a Jordan-esque path and deliver on your potential on the court while creating even more hype for yourself off the court. O'Neal was uniquely positioned to create a successful brand around himself, though, and he did.
With his dad's advice helping him realize that many other folks shy away from trying to compete with these big brands, Shaquille ended up going on the offensive. O'Neal leaned into his brand and learned how to market himself to fans everywhere.
As we all know, it worked out pretty well for the legendary big man. He learned the ropes of the business world pretty quickly, and as he starred on the court on a nightly basis, more and more people wanted to represent his brand, which led to its success.
Over the years, Shaq has leaned into his business prowess more and more, but you can trace it all back to this one comment from his father. And without this key piece of motivation, it's fair to wonder whether O'Neal would have become as successful of a businessman as he is today.
Related: "You MF got these MF sneakers" - Shaq on how a kid's mom made him realize the need to make his brand affordable
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