Digital Social Hour
How I Turned Basketball Into a 6-Figure Business | Hezi Almighty DSH #1040
Tue, 31 Dec 2024
From playing college basketball to turning his passion into a 6-figure business, The Hezi Guy shares his incredible journey from amateur courts to the Big3 league! 🏀 Watch as he reveals how he transformed his basketball skills into a thriving social media empire, including behind-the-scenes stories of training with NBA stars like Kyrie Irving. Get an inside look at how he built his following, created viral content, and turned basketball into a successful career. Learn about his unique playing style, training philosophy, and how he handles both praise and criticism in the social media age. Whether you're a basketball player looking to grow your platform or a fan of the game, this interview is packed with real talk about making it in today's digital basketball world. The Hezi Guy opens up about his college days playing both basketball and football, his journey to the Big3, and how he maintains his edge in the competitive world of basketball content creation. He even shares exclusive stories about working with NBA superstars and building his brand from the ground up. Don't miss this raw and honest conversation about turning basketball skills into business success! 💪 #basketballtrainermarketing #howtomakemoneycoachingsports #sportsbusinesstips #basketballbusinessideas #basketballtrainingbusiness CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - Playing in the Big 3 Basketball 02:40 - 1v1 Basketball Debate 05:40 - How JClark Gained Fame 08:00 - Indoor vs Outdoor Courts 12:45 - Aspiring to Go Pro 15:28 - Favorite Players Growing Up 18:18 - Working Out with Kyrie Irving 20:30 - Lessons Learned from Kyrie 22:13 - NBA Rules Manipulation 26:01 - Favorite Players Discussion 27:58 - Building Confidence in Basketball 30:48 - Thoughts on Load Management 33:34 - Best Basketball Cities to Play 35:07 - Trash Talking in Basketball 36:30 - 1 on 1 Basketball World 38:40 - Mikey Williams & Bronny James 40:18 - Playing Basketball in China 41:42 - What's Next for Hezi APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: Hezi Almighty https://www.instagram.com/thehezigod/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/
Chapter 1: What inspired Hezi Almighty to turn basketball into a business?
As much as we spend time working out, we spend more time talking about life and books. Dang, that's why he's so intelligent. That's why he moves the way he move on the basketball court. I do want to apologize to him because I think he's upset that I posted me having some good moves on him when we play one-on-one. Because, you know, you post it on social media and the world goes crazy.
Chapter 2: What is the experience of playing in the Big3 basketball league?
All right, guys. Hezzy Goddard in the building. Thanks for coming on, man. Man, appreciate you for having me. Absolutely. I've balled with you a few times. I don't know if you remember me.
Yeah, not for sure. From the ball dog celebrity game. Yes, sir.
I had to guard you a couple times.
Chapter 3: How did Hezi Almighty gain fame through social media?
You got me good once. Yeah.
I think it was the Miami one. I think I got you. Yeah, you got me good, man. Don't post that one, please. Yeah, nah.
But you put a lot of people on the radio.
Yeah, not for sure. I just play a lot of basketball, so it's... It comes with the opportunity. Yeah.
Chapter 4: What are the differences between indoor and outdoor basketball?
What was the highest level you played? What did you get to?
Big three is probably my highest level as far as professional goes. And that's probably as close as, you know, somebody like I'll get to the NBA. Yeah.
Well, those guys can still play, man.
Yeah, not for sure. Like guys like Gerald Green and Jason Richardson still got 40 inch verticals. Oh, yeah. Easy. Like.
Jay Rich was playing in the Lifetime League in Vegas right before he moved. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he could still get you 30. For sure. For sure. Yeah, because just because they're in their 30s and 40s now don't mean they could still hoop.
Nah, and then when you've been doing something for so long, it's like second nature. They don't really know how to do anything else when you've been training for something your whole life. You don't know what else to do but to continue to practice that craft. So even though you're getting older and certain things slow down, you're going to get better in certain areas because you work on it.
You got to develop a shot as you get older, right? Yeah, for sure. Did you have to add that to your game as you got older?
I've always kind of been blessed with the ability to score. I guess my hindrance was my height and like the way I look. I kind of look like a running back. And so, you know, you don't really look for that. But then when you see me score, it's like, hmm, I wonder if he can do it against this guy, this guy and this guy. I mean, I guess you don't know until it actually happens.
So I guess the big three gave me that opportunity to like, I guess show that I could do it on a higher level with top tier guys.
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Chapter 5: What was it like working out with NBA star Kyrie Irving?
I mean, there's not many content creators that could do that, honestly, I don't think.
Yeah. I mean, I feel like right situation. Right opportunity, some guys could succeed, but it's not as easy as guys try to make it out to be. It's not a thing where it's like, oh, I'm going to go try out for the big three next year and you just think you're going to make it because you've won a couple games on YouTube. Did you have to try out? I actually did. I went to the combine.
Chapter 6: What lessons did Hezi Almighty learn from Kyrie?
I didn't even make the draft or get picked up my first year. But the second year they didn't actually have a combine, but my name was still in the pool. And so a guy left to go play in China, Isaiah Briscoe left to go play in China. Dion Glover, who's like a ex Georgia Tech legend. His son watches me on YouTube. He's like over player personnel and stuff like that.
And so he just kind of like shot the idea at Steven Jackson. And because me and him had a interaction prior to that, He kind of knew who I was. Nice. Steven Jackson, that's Matt Barnes co-host, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's my, it's like my uncle now. Oh, yeah? I love that, dude. You're in good hands. Yeah, nah, for sure.
Even Matt Barnes shows me love just because of how Steven Jackson loves me. That's dope. Do you like the three-on-three format more than five-on-five? I'm a five-on-five guy just because that's always what I've played. So I've understood angles and it's a lot easier to get four other players involved because you don't always have to touch the ball. You can come set the screen.
So it's a lot more ways to get, you know, four other guys involved versus three on three. It's kind of like whoever has the mismatch take advantage of it because you're trying to win. Yeah, three on three, you're gassed. It's a lot more space. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're gassed in three on three. Yeah, no, for sure. When you see LeBron say one-on-one isn't real basketball, what do you think of that?
I agree because one-on-one, even if you playing it with three dribbles, you can go from the top of the key to the corner. in three dribbles, when in actuality in a real game, you wouldn't be able to dribble from the top of the key to the corner without someone else helping or stepping up. So it's like, it's not realistic, but it does showcase the ability to score the ball.
Like, if you're an extremely great scorer, one-on-one showcases your ability to score in a variety of ways.
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Chapter 7: How does one build confidence in basketball?
I feel that. There's guys that are nasty at one-on-one, but in a five-on-five setting, they just...
110%. A lot of your favorite YouTube players are really good one-on-one players, but then you see them in a five-on-five setting and it's like, where'd that guy go? You know what I'm saying? So I take pride in being good at decent or above average at one-on-one, three-on-three, five-on-five, because it just shows, I guess, your overall ability to play the game. Yeah.
And I saw you training with Devin a lot. Are you still working with him?
Chapter 8: What does Hezi Almighty think about load management in basketball?
We don't train as often, but Dev's like a brother to me. We spend so much time together, like traveling and training. He's just like one of those guys I could call, and it's like I talked to him yesterday. So Dev's my guy. I learned a lot of stuff from him. with how to maneuver in the, I guess, social media world as a basketball player, so. Right, because you started blowing up overnight, right?
Yeah, I wouldn't say overnight because, you know, I've been playing basketball my whole life, so it was like a,
um not an overnight success but in a sense to the social media world yeah like once i got on the scene it was kind of like rolling what was that first video that went viral uh i actually went viral a few times before i was actually the hezi guy so uh i used to make music or i still make music in my free time but uh my music name or rap name is camaro carter and so um
prior to becoming a Hezzy guy, you know, I moved out here and I played in the superstar league. Rest in peace to the owner who owned that league. But I bounced the ball and the defender kind of like ran under and I caught it and dunked it. And so I posted it. And that was when I had like 2000 followers over time, posted it. It like went crazy on Twitter and Snap.
And then it made its way to Instagram. And then maybe the next year, is when I was at Venice and kind of they coined the Hezzy God name for me. Wow. So you were dunking back in those days. Yeah, I can still dunk, but... I don't see it often.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's no need for it now. I'd rather save my knees for a time when I really have to dunk it. I mean, you're already using so much energy just getting by them.
Yeah, and even just playing so much, just playing every day and stuff. But I'm one of those people who like... feels the soreness when I don't work out versus just staying active every day. You don't really feel those little nicks and bruises. So you're hooping every day though? I pretty much do something every day. Like workout, whether it's like shoot for an hour, I do something every day. Wow.
That's respect, man. You're working on your craft still. Seven days a week. Holy crap. So no recovery time? You don't take any time?
I take time to recover, but I mean, recovering doesn't mean not doing anything. You know what I'm saying? Recovery means like... I guess being light on those muscles and stretching those muscles, hitting the sauna, doing things like that. I hit the sauna every day. I stretch every day in the sauna.
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