This is the full transcript for Episode #306 of the Wild Business Growth podcast featuring Cara Bognar – NIL Sports Lessons, Top Tier Lessons Founder. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Cara Bognar 0:00
So NIL basically just gave college student athletes the same rights than a normal college student would have
Max Branstetter 0:21
Class is in session. Welcome back to the Wild Physics Growth podcast. This is your place to hear from a new entrepreneur every single Wednesday morning who’s turning Wild ideas into Wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter, Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting and you can email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast. This is episode 306 and today’s guest is Cara Bogner. Cara was the captain of the University of Illinois Swim Team, and now she is the founder and CEO of Top Tier Lessons, a company which is top tier, if I might say myself, with matching college student athletes, with parents looking for sports lessons for their kids. It’s a brilliant company, and in this episode, we talk all things NAL, nice, name, image and likeness, how Kara and team have turned this from idea to reality, their plans for expansion to future cities, how they source their student athletes, as well as find customers and a little bit of the local scene in Illinois Without pronouncing the s it is, Cara, enjoy the shoe.
Alrighty, we’re here with Cara Bogner, Founder and CEO of Top Tier Lessons TTL, which is the new GTL gym, tannin, laundry. So sorry about that, but Cara, super, super, really, really cool business that might not have even been possible if we were talking 510, years ago. So really, really cool what you’re doing. But thank you. Thank you much so for joining Cara. How you doing today? Good,
Cara Bognar 2:16
good. How are you, Max? And thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I couldn’t be more excited. Yeah,
Max Branstetter 2:22
yeah, of course, my pleasure. I’m good after this, we’re gonna, we’re gonna do a swimming race, and you’re gonna kick my ass. So this will be perfect.
Cara Bognar 2:30
Yeah, I was about to say, I don’t know how I feel about your odds there, but, you know, we can all see. I
Max Branstetter 2:35
learned to swim at some point, but it didn’t progress to racing beyond that, except for gym class. But anyway, really excited to talk top tier lessons. But before that, you know, I joke with the acronym at the start, but another acronym that has, like totally changed everything in the past five years is NIL. So can you give a little just a quick rundown of, like, how big of a factor the name, image and likeness change has been for college athletes in recent years? Yeah,
Cara Bognar 3:02
of course. And so for those of you that don’t know, NIL was this new bill, essentially a new legislation that was introduced in 2021 that allowed college student athletes to monetize and profit off of who they are and all of their own likeness that they’re able to actually put out into the world. So nil is the reason why. Now you can go ahead and you can buy jerseys and T shirts that have the college athletes on it, and they can actually receive royalties from the sales of those items. And so pre nil, college athletes really weren’t able to do anything that had to do with either using their own branding, using the schools branding anything in that space, and then automatically, in 2021 all of that was opened up. So it represented a it breached almost a billion dollar market in just the first year. So it was a huge shift into college athletics. And, I mean, it’s been continuously evolving everything.
Max Branstetter 3:58
Yeah, it’s a game changer, like it’s, it’s something that I know is being talked about for a long, long, long time. And there was, like, always the debate growing up, and probably for decades before that, of just like, like, Should college athletes get paid? Like, are they students, student athletes, athletes? Like, what there’s, there’s a whole matzo ball to unravel there.
Cara Bognar 4:19
But there really is. And, I mean, it’s not going away anytime soon, right? Those conversations are all still happening, and just even at a higher level at this point, yeah,
Max Branstetter 4:28
yeah. And it’s like, now that, like, we’ve progressed to this point, it’s like a whole amount of other questions, so really crazy and fascinating stuff, but just from, from your experience as a d1 athlete, like, what was your experience, and maybe some of your friends or teammates experience, in terms of how nal kind of impacted the day to day for you,
Cara Bognar 4:48
so for us, it didn’t when it was first introduced, right? We turned around and we were like, wow, this is going to completely change everything about college athletic, about me, about our career, about our Sports. What’s it going to look like? And we quickly realized that it really wasn’t built for us, right? I am a swimmer, so I came from a non revenue sport. We don’t have an already existing fan base. There’s not people lining up to go buy a t shirt with Bogner on the back.
Max Branstetter 5:17
I need to stop you right there, because I would, especially after I beat you later. But Fair
Cara Bognar 5:22
enough. Fair enough. But for us, it just really didn’t change a lot. So that’s actually a little bit why the company I founded, top tier lessons came about, because we weren’t happy with the way n i l was. It wasn’t equitable, it wasn’t accessible for all college athletes across the country. And so we turned around and we said, well, how can we bridge that gap? How can we turn nil into something that worked for all college athletes, allows them to monetize doing what they love on their own time, without putting them into an influencer, without having them be that top 1% of the court.
Max Branstetter 5:58
So that is an incredible little teaser to something that has to do with your business. So let’s get to top tier lessons. Awesome idea. Really excited to dive into it. Anything that combines sports and business is awesome. And then when you you infuse the combination of, like kids learning sports, while also like, kind of like finding new heroes and mentors and college athletes, and there’s money into it as well as really, really, really cool. So that was a very poor way of describing what your business is. But before we get into like, the thick of it, what was the the first moment that you went from kind of this, like, oh, Nao is a little different than we thought, to like, hey, there’s an opportunity to start a business here. Honestly,
Cara Bognar 6:44
it was really a slow ramp. It was starting from the very beginning where I was like, Hey, this is cool, but like, what are we actually going to do with it? To the point where I started getting introduced to this entire concept of entrepreneurship. I didn’t know what that was before then, I was a sophomore. I was just turned 19 years old. I was in college, so I was learning and discovering everything going on. And I actually had a tradition where two of my teammates, one of them was a year older, and the other one two years older. We would have weekly dinner on Thursday where we had a goal and we were going to try the most craziest, random campus restaurants we could potentially find around town. And it was at those dinners that I started diving into nil, and we started talking about it, and what could this be? How do you collectively utilize not just an individual athlete branding, but capitalize on the branding of the university and the brand that’s already been created for them in a way that allows them to actually use it. And so it was really, honestly, at those Thursday night dinner where we probably should have gotten kicked out of the restaurant. We were so loud and we were jumping back and forth and really just having a great time, but that’s what we talked about. And so that’s really where the business started to gain traction, get on its peak with what could this be from just this idea of a problem that we have at the start and to turning it into something that is more solution oriented once we find a way to promote that problem and move the needle for it? And so yeah, I wouldn’t say there’s specifically one instance. There’s been hundreds of instances along the entire lifecycle, from ideation to the business to growth to scale, continuing that moment forwards that we’ve seen. And each one is kind of what keeps us going, to allow us to make it to the next step. And
Max Branstetter 8:38
most importantly, what is the one can’t miss meal in Illinois’ campus,
Cara Bognar 8:44
all right, the dandan noodles at Mid Summer Lounge. You ever go there? Oh, yes, very specific. And I can’t even bring myself order anything else from there, because it is just so good. And I it’s a very common dish, so I’ve had it in all over the country, because I always order it, and nothing has stopped midsummer lounges version of it. So what highly recommend, if you ever find yourself in Champaign, Illinois, Green Street, go to midsummer lounge. Shameless plug for them. Always. Would you say? What type of noodle is it called? Don dot noodles?
Max Branstetter 9:18
Oh, that’s new to me. What makes a Dandan noodle?
Cara Bognar 9:21
I don’t know, definitely chili oil, peanuts, beef noodles. So some pretty some green onions, scallions, chopped on top. I mean, it’s a pretty basic staple, but it’s like a very slight bit of sight, not a lot, but enough to kind of have some good flavor in it.
Max Branstetter 9:43
So the noodles were obviously very, actually, probably foundational to the forming of your business. But, oh, of course. So so as you started to put the the pieces together for top tier lessons, what side did you attack first? Like the getting. Having college athletes on board or like going to recruit customers,
Cara Bognar 10:05
believe it or not, neither. So what we attacked first was finding a location for the lessons to be held. So we also source it’s a popular lesson for an online platform that matches college student athletes with parents looking for sports lessons for their kids. So basically, you get to come on browse the collection of athletes in the area, and you’re able to book a lesson then and there with a college athlete near you. We handle the venue, payment, scheduling and safety of each lessons with streamlining the entire process. So we knew that we had a great supply of college athletes. We knew that there were parents who wanted lessons, but for us to be able to provide the best experience, the safest experience, for all involved. We sourced the venue first. The first thing that we tackled was actually going to it was the Urbana Park District and working with them to gain access to the pool so we’d be able to coach swim lessons. So it was venues first, and then we kicked off the very earliest days of business. We hosted a free swim clinic for kids the community, staffed by my teammates, who really came out. They volunteered their time to be able coach lessons on top tier. And so with that, we kicked that off, and that was kind of a joint effort of bringing athletes on platforms so we had a consistent supply, and then hosting the clinic in order to drum up some very early demand, run our very first test pilot, essentially validate that this company could be something there was demand. So we made our first dollar before writing a line of code. This was all done with Eventbrite and a spreadsheet, genuinely just proving that there is something that matters. There is something that people are willing to pay us at least $1 for, for the value that we’re going to bring. And
Max Branstetter 11:47
what’s your angle like? What are the perks of of someone’s children getting a lesson from a college athlete, as opposed to just anybody else, not to trash other people?
Cara Bognar 11:59
No, not at all. But on the improvement side, you’re gaining access to truly the forefront of what training is like. There, on top of that, it’s cool, right? These kids, they’re gaining more than just a coach. They’re getting role models. They’re gaining mentors. They’re gaining people who really inspire confidence and excitement and love for the sport, because you don’t become a college athlete without loving your sport. You don’t sign up for grueling 5am wake ups and doubles outside of school and everything else. If you don’t love the sport, it doesn’t matter any of the external factors, but that is the underlying piece. So we have a supply of phenomenal coaches who are at the peak and at the forefront of everything new that’s happening in the sport, who love what they do, and they’re young enough that they really do remember, you know what it was like to be 789, 12 years old, and what it means to be coached by someone who you look up to, and we’re able to create that experience and turn it into something that is able to be essentially purchased on our platform. It’s more than just a lesson, right? You’re you’re buying an experience, an opportunity, and you’re really putting in an injection of confidence into the kid who’s taken that lesson.
Max Branstetter 13:19
Confidence is so key in everything. But also that should be your slogan about, it’s really cool. Like, it is cool, like it’s kind of like to get exposure to college athletes like that and learn from somebody who’s like in the thick of it. And you know how competitive college sports are. And you know people always say, like, every college athletics team is like the all star team from high school athletes and then professional. It’s almost like the all star team of college at like it’s the degree of competition increase and how serious and discipline you have to be is just literally on another level. So it’s unbelievable to get access to that and learn from mentors, as you said, not that far removed from being in your shoes as a kid looking to learn this. So So you mentioned that first, like the early days of the swim lessons, like your team is coming to help out. You know you’re in one location. How did you start to expand to multiple locations, which I know you’re at a few now and have big, bold visions for expanding greatly over the next couple years.
Cara Bognar 14:25
So for us, we we built the entire business in a consistent, iterative process, right? We would go out, we would build something, no matter what it was, whether it was spreadsheet or an MVP version or our first official launch was a product. We would go build it, we put it in the market, we test it, we’d measure the results, we’d reiterate on it, and move that forward. So the first thing that’s what we talked about with this one clinic that was Eventbrite in a spreadsheet. Then that April, we expanded it to more sports, right? So we did basketball, we added in soccer, we brought in football. Different sports in the Champaign community, and we switched everything fully online, so now it looked a little bit more like the platform that you see today. We were able to test it with something other than just the sport that I knew so well. So from there, we actually then pushed out, just for February, into Chicago. Was our next market. We were operating in Champaign. It’s a smaller city, a little bit more of a rural area. And so we said, All right, let’s go up to Evanston. Let’s go to Northwestern let’s go to Lake Forest College. Let’s hit the North suburbs of Chicago. Let’s see the differences there. So for us, we follow the same kind of rinse and repeat process we went in. We found venues. We work with, Park District, cities, YMCA, 44 different locations across three cities right now, and so we work with them. First, we set up community programming, free and low cost events to improve accessibility to these opportunities and experiences for kids around the community. And with that, we reach out to the athletes. We can convert 40% of our roster in about a week from bringing them on platform. And then we just go ahead and we launch our market. So with that way, it helps us. Right now, we’re in a process where we’re in three markets, so Champaign, Chicago and Cincinnati, and we’re on the way to launching. It’s a staggered launch over the next five months of 20 of the largest cities across the country. And so for us, we’re there, and we’re testing, and we’re trying still in each market we push out, we see what the differences are. We see that this event worked really, really well. What about this opportunity that we put up yard signs right on street corners? We have done it all into moving into new markets. So it really is an iterative process, and it’s just venues, come on. Then we kick off supply and demand at relatively similar times, with supply to stagger slightly before the demand kickoff.
Max Branstetter 16:51
Well, I noticed that your first few cities all start with C
Cara Bognar 16:54
they do. I’m from Cleveland,
Max Branstetter 16:56
Ohio originally, so I’ll recommend Cleveland, you know, throw my name in that for Cleveland as well. It is crazy, the amount of cities, big cities, that start with C in Ohio and and Midwest in general, I’ll say. But that’s so exciting. It’s almost like you’re launching a new business. Like, every time you launch a new city like that, like, what, what has been the, the biggest learning curve, like, each time you launch a new location, if you will. It’s
Cara Bognar 17:21
honestly been so far the differences with like parents, scheduled student athletes are relatively consistent. Across the country. They have set seasons, they have school we know what those stressors are. We know how that works. The biggest thing that we’ve really learned and figured out is that there’s differences in scheduling. There’s differences in how early parents want to sign up for lessons. There’s differences in is this something that they’re looking to make a staple as a recurring lesson, or are they looking to, you know, fit for over the summer in between seasons. And so that’s been one of the things that we’ve been like, Oh, this is really cool. And watching that transform Market to Market. We really only have three data points for that right now, so we’re excited to see how we can take those data points and really push that out. But you know, we can’t give enough props to we brought on campus directors. So we have 20 campus directors now. They’re exceptional student athletes who are leading the charge for top tier lessons in their home markets, in their home school, and they’re on the ground for us, and they’re doing amazing work. So far, that’s been a really pleasant opportunity, one to be able to build a cohort of leaders across the country in different sports, different areas, doing different things with different experiences. We have everything in terms of majors, backgrounds, opportunities, need to bring on together, and so that’s been just amazing to watch and see and grow. And we’re only about a month into that, so we can’t wait to continue and watch that just blossom and grow.
Max Branstetter 18:57
It’s it’s hot off the press. It is. You mentioned so many. Mean, there’s a campus directors, and then there’s just like, everybody who does lessons like, there’s so many amazing college athletes involved. What do you look for in college athletes who are, who are considering becoming part of the top tier lessons, family
Cara Bognar 19:17
initiative? Truly, We don’t look at resumes. We don’t look at past experiences in terms of, have you published four academic papers, or, you know, won a hackathon, or done anything like that. We look first and foremost for initiative. We look for people who are going to be able to take an instruction and actually go forward and do something with it. We find that those are the most valuable people for honestly, any facet of the company, they have to be willing one to learn, will be there, will help teach, will help grow. But they also have to be willing to teach themselves. We look for problem solvers, not problem finders. So that’s a big thing in our company. We if there’s. A problem. If there’s something that someone’s trying to figure out, we don’t want them to draw a big circle around it, go waving a red flag, and say, help, help. There’s a problem. What do I do? We expect that these people will come to us and they’ll say, Hey, this is a problem. I’ve identified the problem. There are two or three solutions that I have to the problem. I think we should go with Solution B, because it’s X, Y and Z. And then we can say, awesome, let’s do it. And then they’ll turn around, they’ll actually be able to go out and solve the problem. Of course, that changes depending on, like, week one versus six months in. There’s different levels of autonomy and just independence that come with that. But that is first and foremost, the biggest thing we look for in top gear, because, you know, we’re too small of a team to be able to solve 100 problems off of 20 different markets and push that forward. So there is a high degree of independence economy, confidence in themselves, the ability to learn, grow and push forward. And we’ve found that that comes from any major any background, any person that has the initiative to be able to take something and grow it, and has the excitement to care about what we’re doing, to want to bring it to their space. I mean, that’s true across all roles. You know, whether it’s our youngest intern to bringing in a senior role,
Max Branstetter 21:16
part of the job application is not to my surprise, like 40 yard dash, 40 meter sprint to the pool.
Cara Bognar 21:24
Physical test. This could be fun, because we have a few track athletes. They’d wipe the floor with the rest of us. But then you put us in a boat, we have rowers. They’d kill the rest of us, or, you know, and then you put us on a court, and we’re all screwed by everyone else. They’re on a field or something like that. So, I mean, it will be fun. Maybe we’ll do like a big combine for the campus directors, bring them all together. We’ll have different different points, like Boy Scout camp or something like that, for everyone, maybe, but for now, it is really more just the initiative piece that we look forward with. We’re lucky enough that a lot of those skills are things that college athletes have been doing and learning and, you know, practicing day after day after day, but things like hard work, things like time management, those soft skills we don’t have to teach, because, for the most part, people are coming in. Those are ingrained in who they are. At this point,
Max Branstetter 22:27
you’re building, in addition to just a killer team of employees, like you’re building a killer Olympic team as well. And probably really, that is true. That is true beyond college, whether they go professional or become incredible at intramural and rec league and all that as well. Maybe one of the most athletic companies in the world. So pretty cool corporate
Cara Bognar 22:48
pickleball team will absolutely smack
Max Branstetter 22:52
exactly smacking pickleballs. But actually, with your your current team, how much of the team is like, technically, full time versus, I don’t know if you consider them freelancers or interns.
Cara Bognar 23:05
Yeah. So we have three core team members. So that’s the core team members that are really working internally for top tier either are full time or will be full time in the near future. Out of that, two of us are officially full time. We actually both graduated together this spring. So back. Congrats. Thank you. Thank you.
Max Branstetter 23:26
This is like, you know, most people, it’s like, the get smacked in the face with the real world and, like, find a job somewhere, and you’re like, you know what? I’m gonna make the job and create jobs for other people too.
Cara Bognar 23:37
No, it was definitely we were lucky enough to be able to take the company full time post grad. So really excited to have that opportunity to expand and grow it as well.
Max Branstetter 23:48
What’s sort of the qualifications for athletes that are going to become trainers and mentors? Like, do you have, like, a hey, you got to be with us for a semester or a year, or anything like that. Or, like, how does it work in terms of their time commitment?
Cara Bognar 24:03
So we have a very flexible time commitment. They’re able to go on site, click join as a coach, type out a quick bio. We have some safety verification, third party background check services that we have to go through for them. But they actually lift their own time availability week to week, the same way you fill out a calendar one week. So because of that, we’re able to offer flexible lesson scheduling for almost seven days of the week on the parent side. And for the athlete, they’re able to say, Hey, I’m in season right now. I don’t want to coach more than two three hours a week. And so they can simply say, Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday, one hour, one hour, one hour, and that’s the availability that shows up on the parent side. So it’s something that they actively manage. They continue to push forward because it works for their flexible schedule. It’s hard as a college athlete who hold a typical nine to five job where you’re walking in and you’re expected to be here at nine and leave. Or five, and sorry if you practice, figure it out. But for us, we did create this dynamic scheduling system in a way that allowed good college student athletes to be able to do what they love on their own time in a way that doesn’t interfere with their season and, you know, help them pay rent each month where there’s that supplemental stream of income for them.
Max Branstetter 25:21
That’s flexibility. That’s spot on. Like, that’s so key. I feel like you need, like, when anybody thinks of, you know, serious athletes, or college athletes, you think about the crazy time demands that comes with it, that’s brilliant, that, like you’re you’re providing that for that. You’re giving them the option, you know, fellow athletes, to pick their own hours with that. But in addition, like, the other side of that is like, you know, it’s a way for them to make money as well. Like, how does it work? At least currently, I know it’s probably Nils changing, like, every day. But how does it work, in terms of, like, the ins and outs of, like, Hey, you’re, you know, you’re allowed to make money as a college athlete doing something like this these days.
Cara Bognar 26:00
Yeah, so I mean, each lesson essentially counts as one nil deal, and really, they’re allowed to do it the same way that you would be able to do it. So n i l basically just gave college student athletes the same rights than a normal college student would have, which is, like crazy when you there’s nothing special or fancy exactly, there’s nothing crazy special about it. When you look at it from that perspective, you know, there’s a lot of big words, a lot of jargon, but most fundamentally, it gave college student athletes the right make money like a normal person off of who they are. The same way that if you, you know your podcast starts to take off, you’re going to be able to make money off of your podcast. Now, a student athlete could make their podcast and make money off of that the exact same way. So there is some reporting stuff that has to be done where you basically just tell the school, hey, I made this much money doing this deal, doing this and that’s more for just reporting purposes for the school to make sure that there’s nothing shady, underhanded going on, you know, I’m not going to give you $200,000 for a wave, right? So, like, there’s like, little things like, but look, there are stuff because, you know, for like, an appearance, you could make that much by your value add, right? So, when Caitlin Clark was still in school back in Iowa, if she was going to do an appearance, it would not be unwarranted for that be worth $100,000 right? So it does need to be kind of realistic, but at the same time, not, not necessarily so for most college athletes, life goes on as normal,
Max Branstetter 27:34
perfect. And when you and you stumbled into that, because we pay every podcast guest $200,000 per wave, so thank you. That was a good thing. You waved. But
Cara Bognar 27:43
one day, maybe I’ll expect the wire soon.
Max Branstetter 27:45
We do not pay per wave, but we do pay for YouTube subscriber, so go on over. No, we do not pay for that either. We don’t pay for anything. But if you are interested in checking out the video versions where you can see, damn it, I’m so sorry, Cara, I was on such a roll. If you want to check out the video versions where you can see Cara waving, make sure to go on over to YouTube @MaxBranstetter. That is where the video versions of the Wild Business Growth podcast are. Subscribe @MaxBranstetter on YouTube to get the latest and greatest YouTube videos of the Wild Business Growth podcast. Now, let’s keep on waving. Let’s wrap up with some rapid fire Q and A, and if, and if you’re just listening, Kara is waving left and right like crazy, and I’m just going rapid fire Q and A. You ready for it? Ready for it? All right, let’s get wild. What was the most grueling part of your swim routine, practice schedule as a college athlete, college swimmer,
Cara Bognar 29:06
5am wake up.
Max Branstetter 29:07
How often was that? Well, it
Cara Bognar 29:09
was 5:30 and every day of the week except for Sunday, Sundays were off.
Max Branstetter 29:12
Wow, that okay, I’m tired. I’m tired and sore. Thank you for that. All right, I heard that you were one of five siblings, correct? I am the oldest, the oldest of five. What did that teach you? Growing up in an environment like that and also being the oldest in that environment,
Cara Bognar 29:30
probably a little more independent that I would have been if I was an only child. There’s a lot of, I think, mentorship and just teaching. I love speech. I enjoy it. And I think a lot of that came from, you know, growing up being that person to my younger sibling. Oh yeah, that’s
Max Branstetter 29:49
really nice. It’s crazy. It’s funny, when you think about it, because you think about only child has the opportunity to be more independent, but actually the role that you had, it’s kind of, it’s swap. Really interesting. What. Is the hardest swimming stroke in the world.
Cara Bognar 30:05
Backstroke, without a doubt, most people will tell you, butterfly. I think butterfly is the easiest if you train it correctly.
Max Branstetter 30:11
And what makes backstroke the hardest? Then, oh, it
Cara Bognar 30:16
kills you. I think 200 backstroke, that’s eight laps. Backstroke is the most difficult event, and that’s coming from me. And I find the 400 I am the mile and the 200 fly, which stereotypically, those are not not fun events to have, but backstroke, you know, you can sprint even just one lap backstroke, and you’re exhausted by the end. And I think that’s that’s unique to that stroke
Max Branstetter 30:42
and your swimming career. I mean, not, not to give you too big of a head, but like, I know you’ve been even captain of the swim team, like, you’ve done really, really well. I’m curious, like, when you when you set, like, a new personal best, or, like, win a big meet, or something like that. Like, as you’re in the moment, as you’re swimming in the water right there. Like, can you tell you’re like, Wow, I’m at a really good pace here. Like, does something feel different when it’s works out like that? It
Cara Bognar 31:07
does. It definitely does. I don’t know if you’ve ever gone on, like, a long run or something like that, but when you’re working out, there’s a point where you just hit that rhythm, and you hit a pace and, I mean, you’re you’re exhausted, you feel like death, but you’re so excited because you have that adrenaline, and you’re looking around and the water’s smooth to the left and right of you, so you know that there aren’t people there, and you’re out ahead and you’re leading and you’re pushing. Or I like, I like to play catch cat and mouth a little bit, and I like to be back by the earliest bit, but then come back in the last you know, 50 or 100 and try and outpost people. So there’s, there’s a lot of spaces all over the place, but in the moment, you do normally know. You can tell that things are going really, really well. It doesn’t always end up that way, because you don’t know until you touch the wall and see the clock or figure out exactly what’s going on, and sometimes you feel great, and it was not a good swimmer. Sometimes you feel terrible, and all of a sudden, that was the best one of your entire life. But a lot of the times, there’s some good races where everything just clicks
Max Branstetter 32:13
in that moment, that inflection point of like, you know what this feels good? Do people call it a swimmer’s high? Because I know there’s a runner’s
Cara Bognar 32:23
high. I don’t know if I’ve heard that term in swimming. We could coin it honestly, but it’s the same. I’d say it’s pretty similar to runner’s high, but it’s swimming is, I mean, compared to like, runner’s high, that normally hits like, you know, 5k, 10k, you’re going crazy distances. I feel like swimming is always a lot shorter than running. I mean, our longest event, if you don’t count open water, which is when you swim like 510, 20k, in a lake is, you know, at most you’re going like 16, 1718, minutes. That’s the mile. There’s not as much time. But you can even feel that in a 50 freestyle from the minute you five in. It just feels good. Last
Max Branstetter 33:03
one. This is very corny, but Illinois, you know, it’s got, yeah, Champaign is the town, or I guess one of the towns, at least. But when I was a freshman at IU and sophomore year, we had a basketball point guard named Verdell Jones, who actually was from Champaign, but he went to Indiana, which I know controversial, but also we’re really big on the song at the time, “The thrill” by Wiz Khalifa. And in that song, they say, addicted to champagne. So every time they announce for dill Jones, a third out of champagne Illinois, like my friend Alex and I would be, like, addicted to champagne, because it’s in the song. Anyway. All that, besides the point, do any like bars and restaurants like play up the whole champagne pun? Like, is there like a champagne bar in Champagne, or anything like that?
Cara Bognar 33:49
There is, not, believe it or not, there is just opportunity, no pun that really pops in with Urbana Champaign, well, really, with champagne, I as funny as it is when, I mean, I’m from South Carolina, right? So everyone was like, Illinois. What’s Illinois? Why
Max Branstetter 34:09
is there an S on the end?
Cara Bognar 34:11
You mean, Chicago is in Illinois? Illinois? Sorry, yes, I’m very funny. But that one and Yeah, whenever I was like, Yeah, going to school. It’s in the town called Champaign. Champaign, Urbana Urbana Champaign, however you choose to say it, they were like, oh, like, the drink. And no. And then I went to Champaign. And no, no mention, never, nothing to do with that. I mean it, maybe that’s an existing opportunity to anyone listening in the area. Time to start it up right
Max Branstetter 34:42
there, I think so maybe even a student athlete who’s a senior or grad student could start it. We’ll see awesome. Well, Cara, thank you so much. It’s been awesome. I just absolutely love what you’re doing super, super cool business, and excited to see it grow and continue to grow. Thanks again for coming on and. Where’s the best place? If somebody wants to connect, learn more about top tier lessons and follow along. Where’s the best place to do that? LinkedIn
Cara Bognar 35:05
will be great. I’m normally on there quite a bit. It’s just Cara Bognar, so pretty easy to find me. It should be probably one of the only people that pop up there. Not too many people have my name. So I’d love for you guys to reach out, shoot me a message, all the copy to connect. Perfect.
Max Branstetter 35:20
I actually have an interview right after this with Bara Cognar. So that’s No, I’m just kidding, really. You’re like, God, I can’t wait to hop off of here now. Perfect. Last thing, final thoughts, it could be a quote. It could be like, you know, locker room, words of wisdom, inspiration, whatever you want. Send us home here.
Cara Bognar 35:38
I’ll give you guys my favorite quote. Um, it’s Martin Luther King. If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But no matter what, keep moving forward. That’s how I try and live my life. That’s how I try and run the company. So that’s my favorite quote.
Max Branstetter 35:57
Keep it moving. Thank you so much. Cara for coming on the podcast, sharing your Wild story all things Top Tier Lessons. And thank you, Wild Listeners, for tuning into another episode. If you want to hear more Wild stories like this one, make sure to Follow or Subscribe to the Wild Business Growth podcast on your favorite podcast app and subscribe on YouTube. YouTube is @MaxBranstetter. That is where the videos live. I don’t know why I said it that way. You can also find us on Goodpods, and for any help with podcast production, you can learn more at MaxPodcasting.com and sign up for the Podcasting to the Max newsletter. That’s short and sweet every Thursday where podcasting meets entrepreneurship meets God awful puns. And you can sign up at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter Until next time, let your business Run Wild…Bring on the bongos!!
