Mario West | NYC SS May

- Name and sport, what were you up to? How long did you play?

My name is Mario West, proud Georgia Tech alum. I played for the Atlanta Hawks and also for the New Jersey Nets. And then I played overseas for six years, so a total of 10 years.

- Amazing. How do you stay super disciplined, ultra-healthy, and consistently outpace others?

The ultra-healthy part is challenging for me. I have a five-year-old, so every time I pick him up from daycare, he wants a Chick-fil-A — go figure. But how you do anything is how you do everything. For me, it really comes from humble beginnings and just those daily habits. I’m a guy who’s all about routine, so that’s just who I am. Every single day, I get up and make my bed, and that was instilled in me since I was seven years old by my grandmother. It’s just who I am.

- What have you invested in now, and what are your business holdings? What are you focusing on?

Right now, I’m in the venture capital and private equity space, primarily focused on technology and consumer products. I’m also exploring other opportunities with companies like Zenwater.

- That’s awesome. Everybody needs water, right? Everyone needs water rights, or we’re going to buy water. Yeah, I love it. What visualization, affirmation, and goal-setting rituals have you used to become a top one percenter?

I was always a firm believer that I had this mindset: I might be delayed, but I won’t be denied. So I don’t care how long it took me—if it took me one year, six years, five years—whatever. I was going to get it done. I was going to figure out a way to get it done, and that’s just what I’ve adopted, and that’s just what I stick to to this day.

- What is a one-million-dollar lesson that you’ve learned from being a pro athlete that you can pass on to others?

Great question. I would say that if you want to be in the top one percent, you should have three tiers. You should have someone who looks up to you so you can be a mentor, someone that you mentor, and then someone on the same level as you so that you can be accountability partners. And you should also have someone above you — someone you look up to and aspire to be. It goes with the saying, “Iron sharpens iron.”

- If someone wants to be the top one percenter in their career, what piece of advice would you give them?

Great question as well. I would say that you need to have discipline, but also perseverance and consistency. Everyone gets this idea that they want to accomplish certain things in life, but it’s activity versus accomplishment. I would say, okay, if I’ve been in the gym for two hours, that’s activity. But what did I really, really accomplish out of that? Surround yourself with like-minded people — people who are going to push you, people who will tell you, “Hey, this is where you can be better,” and accept criticism as well.

- What’s one thing that you don’t have today, but if you had it, you could make more impact?

Good question as well. I would say just the network. I want to continue to expand my circle, to be surrounded by like-minded people — people who have been in business for 20-plus years. I’m new to this space again, the venture capital and private equity space. So, I want to continue connecting with as many people as I can to help build the platform that I’ve been given, and those resources I could then pass on to others.

- So we have a minute 16 left. Can you go more into your water business? What are you up to with it? Tell us more about the business and how you’re building it.

Well, actually, I’m just investing in Zenwater. But I also want to mention Epic Games. As far as technology, I’m sure a lot of people have heard of the AI company Anthropic. Anthropic has received substantial investments from Amazon and Google. When you see these trends and things like that, it’s like, wow, Amazon and Google, I think it was like four billion and two billion, respectively, that they put into it. Definitely something to pay attention to.

- 42 seconds left. I hear you have some kids. How do you raise your kids after being a pro athlete? What did you do right?

Oh, I’ve got to give that to my wife, if she’s watching this. I’m nothing without her. I give it all to her. Hey, I did my part, but one thing that I did — I get it from my wife too. I’m with you, I’m with you.

- I love it, I love it.

From an athletic standpoint, with my height, I’ve passed that along to my boys.

- Awesome, thanks so much.

- Is your wife anywhere close to being here? (all laughing)

- Give him a round of applause, you guys.

- So, I’d love to throw one thing out there. If you guys know a pro athlete who would love to speak, would love to be on a panel, and give more added value, this will be part of the Athlete Office Club video series that we put on the website. We want to build this so that we can impact more people's lives, give more people advice and ideas on how they can become the best in business and the best in their personal life.

If you guys have time, meet these amazing people! But we’d also love to get referrals. If you ever know anybody that would be really good, whether in New York, Florida, or any other states we’re doing things in, we’d love to hear about it.

Thank you guys very much. Have an amazing day. Appreciate you all. Sweet.