How An Elite Athlete Used His Work Ethic To Create An Entrepreneurial Empire

How an elite athlete used his work ethic to create an entrepreneurial empire

- Keith Gordon

If you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life, or so people claim. But for Dave Dawson, a former NFL wide receiver, it seems to be a matter of fact. In the years since his football career ended, the California native has poured his passion, intensity and drive towards entrepreneurship. Now, Dawson has his fingers in more pies than one can count, following his interests in film, music, fashion, medicine and more into an array of ventures, stretching from Hollywood movies to a Polynesian-inspired fashion line. But for all of the financial endeavors that take up his time, money is seemingly never his top priority. Perhaps that’s why the former athlete speaks of his work in terms of relationships, community and helping others, rather than in terms of revenue and profit.

“I always say there’s a warrior side of you that you’re just used to, that’s a little difficult to let go of. You have to find the fulfillment you’d get from competition,” Dawson explains about his transition from elite athlete to entrepreneur. “It is in the end very freeing to get to improve other people’s lives through business.”