I came across Rich Paul’s memoir at a bookstore the other day, so I picked it up and I’m really enjoying it. Naturally, I also started digging into some of his appearances at YouTube. I really liked his panel with Junior Bridgeman and Earn Your Leisure. Junior has a great story too, but some notable excerpts from Rich for now:

No athlete can afford to fly private all the time. Yet, we see so many athletes on Instagram flying private. I fly Delta. I cannot afford to fly private, and that’s okay with me. I’ll sit in the Comfort Plus, because I’m just trying to get where I’m trying to go to make the money. I’m not trying to spend the money…. The times I do fly private, you will never see it on Instagram, because it’s not for show. [20:01]

(Herbert’s note: See also saving money, getting rich.)

The most money I ever made working for LeBron was $48,000 a year. That’s the most I ever made. I was only on his salary for two years…. It was important for me to get off of his payroll as fast as I possibly could. [24:20]

Don’t box me in. I’m not an agent. I’m an innovator that has agent capabilities. I never wanted to be boxed into just being an agent, although I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon, even though they want to push me out to be an owner of a team. I have no desire to own a team at all. I don’t have enough money to own a team and I don’t like to front. [46:05]

I don’t need you to average 25 points to get you 25 points-type money, because everybody’s situation is different. If your team doesn’t have any cap space, but your value to the team warrants them to keep you around then, we don’t need [you to average 25 points]… Tristan Thompson averages 6 points, 6 rebounds, he got $82 million fully guaranteed. Ultimately, I have to be in a position where I can show that you’re gradually getting better over the years. Don’t score 25 in year one, 12 in year two, and eight year three, now we’re going backwards. But if you score 8, 12, and then 15, and you have great character, great professionalism, great approach, then I put all that in the middle and now we make the deal. [53:38]