What Name, Image, and Likeness Can Teach Small Business Owners
Entrepreneurship · From Student of the Game
What Name, Image, and Likeness Can Teach Small Business Owners
In this solo Huddle, Brad Noll looks back on his Student of the Game conversation with Chauntiel Smith-Jones, the founder and CEO of Capture Sports Agency. He calls it an episode he will go back and listen to multiple times because he learned so much.
Brad starts with Chauntiel's journey. She wanted to be a hooper and dreamed of the WNBA, then realized that dream would not take her where she wanted to go. She became a national champion and Hall of Famer in track and field instead. "She chose basketball," Brad says. "But track and field chose her." If you are in a place you did not plan for, he asks, how are you embracing the new journey?
More Than a Contract
Chauntiel described the fundamentals of being a sports agent as communicating at a high level and staying flexible. Brad notes that her role is part counselor, part coach, and part advisor. It is not about one contract. It is about setting an athlete up for the rest of their life and building on their talent.
That leads to the topic Brad wants to spend this Huddle on: name, image, and likeness, or NIL. College athletes can now be paid for theirs. When Brad played, he could work someone else's basketball camp but could not host his own back home or build anything marketable around years of hard work. A mentor could not even take a player to lunch. Today, with the coaching staff's permission, Brad can take an athlete to lunch, talk business, and come alongside them. He calls that one of NIL's real benefits.
Like it or not, Brad says, these athletes are getting "a master's degree in business" in how to build and promote a brand. Then he turns the question to business owners: what if you treated your business like an athlete?
“Don't ever brag about your outcomes. If you want to brag, brag about what your clients are experiencing.”
Brad Noll
Your Name
The first brand that comes to Brad's mind is Jordan. It is not just the shoes. If Michael Jordan were not arguably the greatest of all time, his name would not be worth what it is today. Very few average players have a shoe that keeps selling after they retire.
So Brad asks business owners: is your name so strong that customers are lining up at your door? If not, he says, it may be because you have not yet achieved at the highest level, and that is something you can work on.
Your Image
Next, what image does your brand portray? At Noll Team Real Estate, Brad says, the goal is to create confident homeowners. The team wants its buyers and sellers to be more educated than average, because educated clients become confident, confident clients make great decisions, and great decisions lead to better outcomes. That is part of the team's identity.
Your Likeness
The last piece is likability. Brad points to a recent Noll Team business mixer where he estimates about 125 businesses were represented. The question asked at the door was who each person wanted to meet. Brad believes people come because they know the team cares about them and connects them.
"If somebody wants to help me out, there's a high probability I'm going to like them," he says. That is why serving others is the team's number one core value. Brad's personal mission statement follows the same idea. When people ask how he got where he is, he answers with an acronym: HOW, help others win. Help his kids, his wife, his team, his clients, strangers, and listeners win. That mission is never complete.
Make It About Others
Brad encourages every business owner to rate their name, image, and likability on a scale of 1 to 10. Are you asking for another deal and begging for referrals, or are you taking care of people? Either way, you have a name, an image, and a likability factor. He sees NIL thinking showing up across a business:
- Standing out from others in your market.
- Customer engagement and retention.
- Social media influence, measured by how engaging you are.
- Strategic partnerships, like event sponsorships that give partners a front row seat with loyal clients.
- Collaborations, which Brad first understood watching hip-hop artists share access to each other's fans.
- Trust, credibility, and a business that is worth more over time.
Investing in your name, image, and likeness, Brad says, is not just about logos and marketing materials. It is about crafting an identity that reflects your values and your mission and resonates with the people you serve.
Should a Business Be the Hero or the Guide?
Brad's answer is clear: be the guide. "Don't ever brag about your outcomes. If you want to brag, brag about what your clients are experiencing." Brag about guiding someone to what they want.
He closes by asking listeners to help Chauntiel. If you know coaches, players, or parents of athletes looking for NIL guidance, she would love an introduction. NIL may have started in college athletics, Brad says, but the lesson does not have to end there.
▶ Listen to the full episode
The Huddle with Brad Noll: Name, Image, & Likeness, on Student of the Game.
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