It was back to school for long
snapper Greg Warren who took part in the NFL Business Management and
Entrepreneurial Program, a program offered by the NFL-NFLPA initiative to help
players prepare for life after football.
Warren attended the program at the
WhartonSchool of the
University of Pennsylvania along with other current and former
NFL players. The Wharton program covered a range of business topics, including
financial analysis, entrepreneurship, real estate development, stock marketing
investing and more.
"In this league every year you can't
take the next for granted," said Warren. "You always want to have something
else to fall back on when it's all said and done, whether it's the following
year or 10 years or however many years it is from now. I feel like when I get
done with football, whenever it is, I want to do something business oriented,
but I have never had any business classes. To have the opportunity to go to one
of the best business schools in the country, it's a no-brainer.
"I am still young in the league, but
it's to help me get started and not make mistakes. Looking back people say I
wish I wouldn't have done this deal or that deal. For me it's kind of
surrounding myself by the right people to start with to minimize the mistakes
I'll make."
The sessions are conducted by
professors at Wharton, who are also some of the top businessmen in the country.
There were two four-day sessions, both of them with a hectic pace that began at
eight in the morning, and ended at eight at night.
"It's pretty intense. They throw a
lot at you," said Warren. "Everybody is on different levels,
but at the same time if somebody doesn't understand something, like me who
didn't know a lot, they take time to explain it. If some of the other players
understand more they help you out. We all help each other
out."
Warren majored in biology at the
University of North
Carolina, but he knows that when football is
all said and done for him, he wants to do something business oriented and real
estate has definitely sparked his interest. Like many, he watches home
improvement shoes like Flip That House, and has gotten a crash course on the
business side of that type if venture.
"I was watching those shows before
this and that's what made me decide I want to do something business oriented,"
said Warren. "It's something that excites me
and I can enjoy. They brought in guys who told us their stories about flipping
real estate, residential and commercial real estate. They taught us how to start
up, if you want to take a warehouse and flip it into condos. They gave a lot of
general ideas of how to do each business deal."
The program also offers practical
examples, including a "field trip" to a business run by a current NFL player in
the area.
"I enjoy seeing the examples," said
Warren. "There is no one way everyone has
made all of their money, including flipping houses. It's interesting to see how
other people do it and how I am going to do it myself."
The sessions were strictly for NFL
players, which made it somewhat easier on those who are novices in the business
world.
"It's not intimidating, but you do
realize who knows a little bit more," said Warren. "f you had some of those other
business guys in there you would feel like you were on The Apprentice or
something and would have to keep your mouth
shut."
