Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Key Takeaways Woods believes effective ownership begins with understanding the day-to-day.
Completing required franchise training at Smoothie King gave him firsthand insight into operations and the realities his team faces each shift.
From trucking to Smoothie King, Woods focuses on putting the right people and processes in place early.
Xavier Woods has spent nine seasons in the NFL as one of the league’s most reliable safeties and now lines up with the Tennessee Titans.
He plays a position built on trust, preparation and discipline. So why did he spend two weeks of the off-season working the line at a Smoothie King?
Woods was there by design after acquiring a Smoothie King location in Georgia. As part of becoming a franchise owner, his required training meant making smoothies, cleaning bathrooms, taking orders, running inventory and learning the cadence of a store one shift at a time.
“I had to go in two weeks and be a worker,” Woods says. “Make smoothies, learn the daily operations, then learn the managerial stuff, and then learn the ownership side. I was just a team member at Smoothie King. Cleaning up, cleaning bathrooms. I had a great time.”
That hands-on approach reflects how Woods approaches entrepreneurship. His first investment was in real estate, a family-connected property in Atlanta that needed work. Instead of flipping it during a hot market, he and his wife chose to hold it. “My wife said she wanted to keep it,” Woods says, “and it’s been good to us.”
From there came trucking, a business he describes bluntly as high-risk. “Insurance tells you how risky something is,” he says. “And trucking insurance is very, very high.”
... continue reading