Shared copy of “Umpqua-OA-S03-EP06.FINAL.mp3”

 

[00:00:03] One of the things that I always think about is you can have a plan in the back of my mind that there's always this idea that I can wake up tomorrow and it could all be gone.

 

[00:00:12] Hey everyone. I'm Susan park and welcome to open account where we take an intimate and honest approach to conversations about money together with the folks at Umpqua Bank. We created this podcast to get people to open up about living with and sometimes without money. For Brian clay this was his reality in 2012. It was just four years after he won the gold medal in the decathlon at the Beijing Summer Olympics an achievement that earned him the title of greatest athlete in the world. He was flying high sponsorships from Nike BMW VSA and of course that iconic Wheaties box. This is what Olympic dreams look like. And in 2012 he was poised to make history by winning a third Olympic medal when the unexpected happened and he didn't just lose his spot on the U.S. team but he lost his livelihood and his dream. How do you recover from something like that especially when it's the only plan you've had for your life. How do you teach yourself to do something new. Not panic. Ask for help. And how do you manage your finances when the market for what once earns you money your identity has completely changed. This is the question we asked Brian.

 

[00:01:32] So Brian thank you so much for being here. And tell everybody what you do and who you are.

 

[00:01:40] So my name is Brian clay. I was a 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the decathlon but now I'm a dad of three. I'm a husband who had a pretty amazing wife and I've got my own companies that I'm running and that I've created and founded in. And so I'm learning about the entrepreneurial world and the business world and and trying to be the best dad and husband I can be.

 

[00:02:01] So you come from a sport where there's many different events and so you're wearing many different hats It seems only appropriate. Your life is as full as it is.

 

[00:02:12] You know it's fitting for a decathlete mean really 10 events over two days. And so I Love You know this this idea of having multiple irons in the fire all at once and I like the pressure of it. Believe it or not and even a little bit. I like the stress of it kind of but but it keeps me on my toes. I feel like it's a challenge and I love challenges and so I really enjoy it. But most people think I'm a little bit crazy.

 

[00:02:38] So I want to go back to the beginning but I almost feel like your beginning and your story begins even before you were born about how when your mother was pregnant with you she would walk the track you know.

 

[00:02:52] So my mom when I was I mean I wasn't there I was in her stomach so you know she would use to tell me the story but she would do this very weird thing.

 

[00:03:01] She would wake up and she would kind of get out of bed and she would go for a morning walk and so believe it or not nine months pregnant she would hop over a fence to the track that was across the street from this was in Austin Texas and she would walk the track with me in her stomach and as she would walk the track she would pray that there would be some calling on my life that would be special. And she used to tell me this believe it or not before I even had gone to the Olympics she would tell me this as I was a little kid and she'd always say you know something great is going to happen with you because I just know it. And I'd be like Mom you're crazy. Like there's no way. So my mom you know did what she could and said OK well I don't want them to do any team sports because he can't function with teams. And so she said you can run or swim. Those are the two things that I was pretty good at.

 

[00:03:51] And so I always say I didn't want to wear a speedo so I chose track and field what happens between that and becoming a professional athlete.

 

[00:04:00] There were a lot of kids growing up that thought they were going to go to the Olympics and all that stuff but they didn't know what the rest of the world had to offer because when you grow up in Hawaii it's very easy to think just about Hawaii like I didn't know geography. I didn't know where all the other states where I could care less who the president was didn't care about any of that stuff because that wasn't Hawaii. That was it never affected us you know but I entertained it enough to say well I probably will never make it because I can't. My grades aren't good enough and I don't remember who it was but somebody you know kind of challenge me and said listen you can get your grades up a little bit. And this could be a way for you to get off the island. So my junior year I really tried to focus in and get my grades up I think it brought my my my. That year my report card was like a 3.2 from like you know a 2.0 like almost 1.9 kind of GPA. And when that happened I got more letters and then my senior year it was like there was all this stuff and it was very evident that I could actually go to school and get school paid for and so I kind of buckle down on my grades. Long story short I ended up going to the Pacific University and that's where they decided that they wanted me to do the decathlon.

 

[00:05:10] And now for those of us who are not sports oriented I mean I know of course I've heard of the decathlon until I started to really research this interview.

 

[00:05:20] I'm like who in their right mind if there are options on the table you know fix this insane sport you know it sets you up.

 

[00:05:31] Time and time again to fail. Yeah it really is a sport a failure of winning. It's trying to break you and your life.

 

[00:05:38] Yes that's what I'm going to base my life on you know to be honest so I thought I was going to be in high school and I'd say right around my junior my junior year up until that point I thought that my contribution to the world was going to be I was going to work at 7 11 and I was going to surf in the mornings and surf in the evenings and kind of work you know in the middle of the day. I mean that's what I thought my contribution would be and that's not to knock anybody that works at 7-Eleven or anything like that. But that was just that was all I could see for my. And you were OK with that. And I was OK with that. That's what it was going to be.

 

[00:06:13] But this is a sport for you and you're really good at this. So 2004 comes along. Talk about that moment because that was that was sort of world stage in a way that is hard to imagine for someone.

 

[00:06:27] Yeah. You know it was it was so crazy how 2004 came along because I've always been thinking about going to the Olympics but you never really let yourself again there's this protection mechanism that doesn't allow you to fully believe that it's going to happen because you don't want that heartache if it doesn't you know and I get to the Olympic Games in 2004 in Athens and I start the first event and I do very very well.

 

[00:06:52] And I'm like wow this is crazy. This is in Athens in Athens. I'm like oh my gosh this is the most amazing moment I've ever had in my life. You know we're in the Olympic Stadium in Athens the birthplace of the Olympics it's my first Olympics. The Greeks are beating this drum and they're chanting you know.

 

[00:07:10] And it hits me like this is what I have been dreaming about my entire life and so I start crying you know and I went on to after that jump a personal best in long jump of course come home and win the silver medal in the decathlon first medal I never won never in a million years and I expect that to happen at that Olympics. But it did. It was such a special special time for me.

 

[00:07:31] And then at that point you're looking straight ahead to the next Olympics or what. What is your mindset there.

 

[00:07:38] Yeah I mean you know of course so you win the silver and you know you kind of give yourself some time off. And then the sponsorships start to roll in right because now it's like everybody wants to attach themselves to you and so over the next couple you know the next few months you're trying to capitalize on on your success. But very quickly after that you start to think OK what am I going to do next year.

 

[00:08:00] And financially at this point I would imagine has to be like the peak or at least climbing that way.

 

[00:08:07] How does that work. I would say it wasn't the peak year starting to sign new deals. I would say over the next few years you start to sign new deals. I did really well because the way it usually works with contracts you sign a contract and when you're not real good they'll send you to a very small contract. My first contract I think it was like $10000 or something like that maybe Actually it might have even been $5000 a year. It was very very small. But what they do is they give you bonuses right because they want to incentivize you to do well. And so a lot of times it's just this game right it's like let's get them for a least amount of money possible so that nobody else can get him because we think there is some potential there. But let's bonus. Let's give them huge bonuses so that if he if he you know he has all the reason to try to do well and so I was making great money very very overnight. It was like oh great I've got all these bonuses coming in. And so there were some things that we had to learn like taxes I and I didn't know anything about taxes I didn't save for taxes so of course you know you go and spend your money and I had just gotten married just before that 2004 we had bought our first house right after that because we got all this money we're like we're doing great you know 24 years old.

 

[00:09:16] Own your own home married got a dog found out that we were pregnant that my wife was pregnant and we were going to be having our first kid. I mean it was a crazy crazy year but I got to do a little bit of trouble at the end of the year when when taxes rolled around and I realized oh crap I spent that year. You're supposed to save money for like what are these why do we have to even pay these. You know I'm not old enough to pay taxes. And then of course it goes on to 2005 and 2006 and 2007 and really when things start to really ramp up is the year before the Olympics. So. So you train and you're focused on 2008 and you never you don't actually know if you're going to make the Olympics. There's no guarantee that you're going to be on that next Olympic team.

 

[00:10:02] And so even even though you've won a medal it doesn't matter it doesn't why are all the best athletes in the world and it wouldn't matter.

 

[00:10:10] So it was tough. I remember sitting down with my wife and I remember saying you know listen if I don't do well like you may have to go out and start working because we've been blessed enough that she's been at a stand with our kids. You know I may have to go out and get like a real job you know which was terrifying for me. I was thinking about like what are you going to do if it all goes away like maybe we move to Seattle and move in with your parents you know and until we can get back on our feet and maybe I have to go get a coaching job or you know something we just didn't know. And so all of that is weighing on you as you enter into the Olympic trials in 2008.

 

[00:10:46] And you've got sponsors you know that are that are expecting you to when they're expecting you to win you've got a country that expects you to win you've got a state like Hawaii who is a very proud state and it all hinges on whether or not you're going to do well for it to be successful.

 

[00:11:03] So you win the gold.

 

[00:11:05] Yeah yeah. It all worked out. It all worked out. 2008 you're standing up there.

 

[00:11:10] I know that it has to be a bizarre mind numbing out-of-body experience.

 

[00:11:18] It is it's it's just a weird I explain it to people but I was just laying on the track and it's like oh my gosh it almost didn't feel real you know but as I was laying on the track the slide show of my life started to go through my head and I would see all these different time you we're talking about how my life wasn't perfect growing up but I'd see all these times in my life and in these different slides. And I remember thinking it was worth it like everything I've been through leading up to this point was absolutely worth it. And what was so satisfying for me is that I was able to accomplish my wildest dream and I didn't feel like I lost who I was. I still maintained and hung on to the things that were most important in life. And so that was a really proud moment for me. After meeting him in Beijing.

 

[00:12:06] OK. Seven were fast forwarding through another four years. And you've won. You've won the silver and the gold.

 

[00:12:14] Obviously you know you're thinking OK well you know at the time you're really contemplating. Do I hang it up right because you got to reach the top. It's like you know two medals.

 

[00:12:25] Not a whole lot of people have won two decathlon medals in the Olympics so that was already a big feet. And then you know you're thinking OK I'm getting older the next time the next Olympics I may be 32 years old. Very few people have won medals after 30 years in terms of the decathlon and of course now I've got all kinds of sponsorships I mean I had you know BP and vse and all these sponsors. You know that we're all kind of as a part of my team now. I was making you know great money. I think I think I was making just under a million dollars a year. I mean three quarters of a million dollars a year or something like that. I mean it was great. There was no need. I had money and save you know savings that I had been putting away like I was paying my taxes. You know I mean all that stuff was happening it was going great. But anyways you kind of go through that and we get to 2012 and I'm looking at being the first decathlete to ever win three Olympic medals. No decathlete in history has ever won three Olympic medals. And so I'm thinking you know we just got to just get a bronze. Like I mean worst case scenario let's just try to get a bronze and it's a big deal and a lot of the marketing that we're doing is all geared around that a lot of my sponsors. I mean that's what it was all year around.

 

[00:13:38] And I get to the Olympic trials in Oregon at the University of Oregon and and we start the competition and it was a rough competition. Things didn't go well for me and I ended up second day hitting a hurdle and falling in the race.

 

[00:13:53] And at that point I think you even felt like you were disqualified.

 

[00:13:56] When I was falling my hands had hit one of the hurdles even though I was in the act of falling and so they actually did disqualified me. They told me I was disqualified. And so then I was like oh there's no chance there's no way I make the Olympic team with nine events. Oh my God. What's thinking at this point. It just sucked. I mean I didn't want to be there.

 

[00:14:13] Now I want to find out what Zaidee I get off on the track.

 

[00:14:17] I mean not only do you see your dreams all come crashing down but I'm thinking of all my sponsors my kids are there. My wife's there my family has all flown out to all watch. Like what is everybody thinking you know. And you must. Yeah. So you're emotional. You know you're trying not to cry or try not to be angry or trying not to feel embarrassed. So I you know I was I finished it I pull vaulted. I ran the hundred and finished the race. But that was my last. My last track meet and that's that's when my career was over and I decided after that that like listen I was tired of fighting. I had woken up and I thought to myself you know my entire life has been a fight.

 

[00:15:00] What I realized is that it didn't matter how many medals I had won it didn't matter what I had accomplished up to that point. What I realized is that it was always going to be what have you done for me today. You know just win another one. In fact I remember having a conversation with my rep my running rep at Nike and I said you know what's it going to take for me to like feel like I'm not just some number at Nike for Nike to have like notice me. And I remember him saying very very bluntly Don't worry about that. Just go out and win just gone win. And it was like wow I've won a silver medal.

 

[00:15:47] I won a gold medal. And I was at the time the second highest score for a decathlete ever in the U.S. I had multiple world championship medals. You know one of the most decorated decathletes in history. All those things.

 

[00:16:03] And it was like just go win one more concentrate on winning the next the next medal. And I just realized that if it wasn't good enough for them now it would never be good enough for them. And that was a very sobering thought for me and so it was at that point that I said you know I'm just done I don't want to do this. It's not fun anymore. It's not what I want my life to be about.

 

[00:16:27] And during this time you're dealing with all of this both from a financial mental psychological I mean it really is kind of such a big break in the path for them.

 

[00:16:41] Your agent you find out is it around this time that you find out or it was you that was soon after that so you deal with you know your career just ended. And I'm having to deal with everything from where is my next paycheck coming from. What is life going to look like. You're dealing with all this stuff. Are you able to keep your house what are you going to do for a job. What is your worth. What are you worth to other people now you know. And how do you how do you find that worth to other people. And then I find out as I'm trying to pick up and pull the other all the loose ends that that my agent that I was using had basically taken everything financially.

 

[00:17:28] And that was that was a tough tough thing because it's somebody that you trust somebody that you think is going to has your best interests in mind. I mean we was like family it was it was it hurt so much and you feel so violated. But basically all of our savings everything that we thought we were going to be OK with the next few years was all of a sudden gone and having to deal with that was a difficult difficult time in our life.

 

[00:18:03] I mean we basically took all of our savings that we had and we had to live off of that. There were taxes that were owed that that now you didn't have I didn't have the money to pay. And so I've got my tax attorney calling the IRS trying to work out deals to figure out payment plans and all kinds of stuff. I mean you know everything was great and overnight all of it comes crashing down. Plus the emotional side of things where you just were violated by someone that you trusted and that you loved and that you cared about. And so all that to say you have the 2012 stuff going on you're losing sponsorships left and right because it's after the Olympic year and that's just what happens. And I'm not competing anymore at this point.

 

[00:18:45] You've already decided you're not going yet again. Exactly.

 

[00:18:49] I shut it down so the money you were making is getting smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. Well all the savings that you had you're having to live off of and the money that was supposed to be coming in has been stolen. And so you're juggling all these pieces and you have all these bills that you have to pay in a lifestyle that you're trying to support. And so we start doing what you have to do when that happens which is you start cutting back you know. And so we were down to one car. We sold our house. That was our rental unit that we had that was kind of one of our investments we had to sell that the money that we made off of that we used to pay taxes. We started cutting back on groceries. I was riding a bike to and from work you know and around town to just try to get around without having to have another car. We were literally we're down to our last $3000. I had $3000 in my bank account before I was going to have to do it with no job no job. My wife was starting to go back and substitute teacher to try to make some money. But you know that's not everyday that's you know you have to take what you can. What comes. And it was a really really trying time for us.

 

[00:20:02] And you know one of the crazy things that happened just before all of this was I was in the shower when I was in the bathroom and we had a lot of friends that were going through some marriage. A lot of marriage issues and divorce and all those types of things and my wife and I were having a discussion.

 

[00:20:16] I said you know we're talking about all this and I said you know the thing that scares me as I said so many of our friends it seems like so many of their issues revolve around finances around money. And I said I just don't think this is true. But I said I just hope that the reason why our marriage is so great I hope it's not because we haven't had any financial trouble and it was the next day the very next day that I found out that my agent had taken everything.

 

[00:20:51] And so all that to say all of this stuff happens and I'm in a panic and depressed and not knowing what to do and thinking you know how is justice ever going to be served and this and I came in think about how starting that process because I'm just trying to survive at this point. And I remember as I'm going through this you know and I'm panicking. You know my wife says you know listen. Like as long as we're healthy and we're together we'll be fine. And I can't tell you how freeing that was to know that like listen my wife's not going to leave me just because I'm not providing to the standards that I that I feel like I need to provide because it wasn't expectations on her part it was just more the expectations that I put on myself. You know as as a as a husband and as the provider to to provide for my family like you is who you are.

 

[00:21:45] Let me talk about this striving for perfection. Yeah and that's that's not the personal but it was during Right.

 

[00:21:52] And so we started down this path and out of the desperation of trying to figure out like who am I and what is my value what do I what do I have to contribute to the world what are my skills. I had to figure out how I was going to to rebuild. And I there were a couple of things I did not want to to coach full time and I didn't want to just go and you know sell used cars or you know do something like that like I I that's not just not who I was. And so I was coaching a guy's daughter because that was how I could make a little bit of extra cash. And I was miserable because I didn't want to do it. And this person says you know hey I've been watching you do this and I'm just wondering if you ever thought about how you could take your skills and scale them into something bigger.

 

[00:22:44] And I thought I don't know what you mean. And

 

[00:22:48] so we started having discussions. And what that prompted in me was for me to sit back and actually try to figure out what are my skills what are the things that I had learned.

 

[00:22:59] Because that's a conversation about self-worth. Right. What it you had been searching for that. Yeah. And so when that conversation becomes clear. Right.

 

[00:23:08] So in your world. Whoa you know it's like light bulbs went off and and so then it was just a matter of taking those skills and say OK well what do I want to do. Who do I know and what are they doing. And so I started learning that I had to network and I started talking to people and sharing with people and all the ideas that I had because I was always an ideas guy and I'd write one pagers on all these ideas and there were a lot. I mean I I can't tell you how many one pages I still have at my house that are like just sitting there and I'm like I tossed this because like nobody's ever going to want to do it. But Kitty there. Yeah it's crazy you know. But eventually one of the guys was that I was talking to was this guy that I was training his daughter and he was the CTO for Dreamworks whose name is Ed Leonard. And so we started talking about ideas and out of that came a small tech company that we built and it was it's called P.K. fitness. It's an app that we've built. It's an effort app and it tells you how hard you're working out in real time while you're working out. So it was a really fun project and we're in the middle of doing that right now and so I kind of entered into this entrepreneurial realm of business. And I found out that I loved it.

 

[00:24:09] So you just made a very exciting announcement about a new business. So tell everybody about it. The frog fitness.

 

[00:24:15] Yes. ETF or the frog fitness is a group fitness franchise that we started and the reason why we named it ECF fitness or eat the frog fitness is because of a quote by Mark Twain and the quote was you know I'm going to paraphrase here but it was if your job is to eat a frog it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if your job is to eat two frogs then it's best to eat the biggest one first. And so it's all about you know not procrastinating and attacking. The hardest thing of your day and getting that done because the rest of your day will fail in comparison to that moment.

 

[00:24:49] Right now this this moment in your life this time capsule.

 

[00:24:56] Is it sort of like the light the breath that that is yeah because you feel that when you're talking about it your whole face lights up you know it's like listen it's the same thing that I had when I was when I won the gold in Beijing. And you know you're looking backward really and you see all these different times in your life. You know you sit back and you go you know that was worth it. Like my chances I remember googling. What are your chances of winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing and I think one of the stats and I have no idea if it's right or not but one of the stats it's something like 22 million to one. Like those are not good odds so it's like building a business to me. I'm like Shoot we can do that. You know like if my if I could make $22 to one odds happen I can do this. And so I've taken all the skills from from that I had to use it to beat those odds and I'm trying to bring them into the kind of this entrepreneur business world and and so far it's been great. It has been absolutely amazing. You know it was OK I get it now you know it was it's the same thing. No. And listen these businesses you know they could fail you know they could explode. I don't know.

 

[00:26:03] And I think that's what my experiences in life have taught me is not to make decisions out of fear not to run into a hole and hide when something happens but to embrace it because I think it's interesting you know as I would as I'm sitting here with you you know in my mind you sit with an Olympic athlete and everybody knows your story and that sort of thing.

 

[00:26:27] And you think that you know he's going to be one of those people that's going to give me an answer to a failure that's going to fit into a tiny little thing. It's going to be quickies and we like these are the tips on how to get over failure. When you pick yourself up you know and it's interesting because I sit here and it's so much more real and more connected than that because when you fail in that moment you're failing.

 

[00:26:51] Yeah there's no like well what do I got to learn. You know like OK I got $3000 in the bank and you know this.

 

[00:26:59] So it's interesting because I think it time is also the equalizer. Right. And as you look back and I love that you tell the story with such honesty because I think it could be very much glossed over. When you say like it is fine you know I thought about it. I mourned it. It was. And then I moved on. But as you're failing you're just failing.

 

[00:27:21] You just feel there's no there's no secrets.

 

[00:27:24] I mean you just honestly you know there's just kind of this term that I think is become very popular. And they talk about you know grit and grit.

 

[00:27:33] Yeah and it's interesting because you know you've lived such a contrast right between Gold Medal and the child you you had in 2012 in the last couple of years. And you know it's one thing it's funny because as a parent you start sounding like those like quote books.

 

[00:27:53] Yeah exactly. Well you can't give up and you're just like you hate yourself when you break up but you're like you've no idea how much you are like and no matter how many times you say it and you say it and you say it I think it is only when you fail.

 

[00:28:11] Right. And then on the other side of that that you're like damn it.

 

[00:28:15] So I would always because my parents got divorced I always and my dad wasn't really involved in my life and I had my step dad. But you know that was a tough relationship. Now our relationship was much better but growing up it was tough. I always longed for older wiser men in my life right. I loved the conversations and I mean it was sit down and really like say like I don't know what to do. Like what. You know and I was I'm always amazed at you know this this sort of wisdom that they have you know. But I'm also always frustrated at it because you go in you sit down with these guys and you know you'll talk to them and you'll say this is my life and this is what I'm going through and what do I do. And the answers always seem so simple.

 

[00:29:00] How are you financially today. Like what What's it look like for you in this moment.

 

[00:29:06] You know I think the challenges for me today kind of financially. One is just to rebuild right we're still rebuilding from everything that happened with my agent and all that was taken there. And so so that's been a little bit of a process and I think that's going to continue to be a process for a little bit. I think we're a good place and what I mean by the fact that we're in a good place is some of the lessons that we've learned one I've learned not to hang on to too many too tightly. Right. I think one of the things that I always think about is you can have a plan and you know we talked about all this planning and things and and I do that financially but in the back of my mind there's always this idea that I could wake up tomorrow and it could all be gone.

 

[00:29:50] It's not something that that is circumstantial. It's a choice. And so whether you have money or not you have to choose to be to be joyful and be happy and so. So that's been extremely helpful for us in terms of where we are you know in our personal life some of the other things I've learned is you know I will be involved in I have been involved in every deal that I do from here on out. Every contract that sign every check that comes in is something that that flows to me first because money has a funny way of bringing the worst out in people. You don't want to ever put yourself in a position where where you're having to trust someone with your money because why would you want to have that muddy that relationship. So there's that. And you know just understanding our finances better you know just like I planned with with my track career you have to have a plan for your money and so setting goals understanding how to focus it and hone in on those goals understanding how to get rid of some of the distractions. You know that you're spending your money on it and with all that down all of those things have allowed us to kind of build back up to a point where you know we can have some of those little luxuries in life but at the same time I'm always thinking like I said How do I make sure that again I still want to have my house paid off by the time I'm 40 I've got three years. Like how to get it done.

 

[00:31:12] I'm not exactly sure but I'm but I'm always trying to find ways and opportunities to create that dream and to make that dream happen.

 

[00:31:29] In our society and culture. We don't often tell stories about things not working out unless we can find the happy ending to that story. You know a story that says I failed. But in that experience I found the formula for my success. It's because we aspire to be a society of champions and we love the idea of a phoenix rising from the ashes. It's a metaphor that we find in almost every story we tell especially when we talk about athletes and sports. For Bryant we could tell that story the one that has that proverbial happy ending. But it's not how Brian tells his own story. He doesn't counterbalance losing sponsorships not making the Olympics with a rosy present day reality. He's still recovering rising up from those things. And for him the more important story is about understanding the failure what didn't work. What happened.

 

[00:32:22] And reminding himself to look at what he has not what he's lost.

 

[00:32:30] Thank you so much for listening. Be sure to subscribe catch up on past episodes and stay tuned for a lot more. And we want to know what you think you can be part of this conversation by giving us your feedback or telling us your story at slash open account or on social media. We're at Umpqua Bank on Facebook Instagram and Twitter.

 

[00:32:55] Open account is created by Umpqua Bank and produced in collaboration with Slate Group studios.