“Ryan and I can tell stories for hours about being seen as a transaction and being seen primarily as a dollar sign, being seen as the big dumb football player and being seen only as the guy who plays on Sunday, who then just gets a big check on Monday. That’s never been who we are. That’s not what we are. That’s not our identity,” Gilkey said.

“We are super committed to communicating the vulnerabilities and opportunities of our industry in a way that is more broadly received and accepted in our industry,” he continued. “We want to see the vulnerable people who are doing projects walk through this experience in ways that really affirm who they are, and their needs, and their issues and their concerns. And we want to see people at the blue-collar level in the trades be empowered and not be used and not be transacted against… We want to see the gap bridged of clients who are used to being burned and trades who are used to also being burnt.”

EX-N.F.L. STAR AT U.B.S. KEEPS PLAYERS FROM GOING BROKE

The average length of a player’s career in the NFL lasts around 3.3 years, according to data from Statista. The minimum salary for NFL players in the 2023 season amounted to $750,000, per the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. The highest-paid sport in America, however, is the NBA, where, on average, each player takes home a little more than $8 million each year. The Gilk guys noted the biggest challenge when transitioning away from a rich-and-famous lifestyle is the mental one.

“That’s something we try to preach, whether it’s with our clientele or with people that we interact with every day that are in a position of high net worth at a young age, is just making sure you stay grounded from a mental health standpoint,” Jensen said.

“When you’re a Navy SEAL, when you’re a Special Forces guy, when you’re a veteran, when you’re a professional athlete or an entertainer, you aren’t given the opportunity to be weak. You’re not given the opportunity to be vulnerable,” Gilkey said. “There’s strength in expressing the weaknesses that we wrestle with… so we create spaces for that to be true for our clients when that’s something that’s desired and appropriate, or with our employees.”

“We’re extremely vulnerable with our clients. We want to live in [the] relationship and shepherd projects with clients who are equally willing to be vulnerable with the journey that they’re on and the desires they have for their home.”

– Garrett Gilkey

“It’s in that freedom,” the former lineman added, “that we start to find our true identities and we start to find and experience true purpose, and then moving forward out of these worlds of being super successful athletes or entertainers.”

Despite working in a market with steadily high-interest rates and decades-low new home builds, Gilk projects reportedly continue to churn. The former NFL players claim their commitment and competitiveness have helped as a catalyst to becoming real estate victors.

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“I’m called to a bigger purpose than just playing football for 11 years and then retiring and not moving forward,” Jensen said. “This kind of fell in my lap and I fell in love with it. I would have attacked anything new with a passion that I attacked football with. And for me, coming into a highly competitive, high-tempo trade such as construction and design-build has been something that has really motivated me to keep pushing forward and keep climbing that next mountain of life.”

“At this point, it’s about living out what we’re doing with the greatest amount of purpose. And so that’s why I think the biggest thing we want people to know is that we’re really, really committed to disrupting our industry by bringing a greater degree of purpose,” Gilkey said, “and pursuit of relationship and restoration of relationship to the consumer, into the trades.”

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