Hands on a new venture for former Bronco Rod Smith

Mon, Jul 5, 2010

Ganoderma, Health Care, Information, Leadership, Products, Training

Rod Smith - Broncos' all-time leading receiver

Hands on a new venture for former Bronco Rod Smith

FRANK SCHWAB
The Gazette

JULY 4, 2010

DENVER • Rod Smith picks up the phone, offers a quick greeting, and then has a question. “You a coffee drinker?” Smith asks.

These days that’s the most important question for Smith, the Broncos’ all-time leading receiver. Smith kept busy off the field during his NFL career, and since retiring after the 2007 season his obsession has been coffee.

Ask him about the coffee business and he will tell you everything you’d ever want to know.

Here’s the condensed version: He never drank coffee before, but was approached a couple of years ago by a friend about a company, Organo Gold, that marketed “healthy coffee.” Smith didn’t have much interest at first but gathered information.
He found out the coffee featured the herb ganoderma lucidum, touted in ASIA for its healthy effects. Smith said he has turned down three or four six-figure jobs in retirement, but this made sense to him. He convinced his longtime adviser, who made Smith promise he wouldn’t start a new business venture for three years, to break that agreement after 18 months.

He invested about $1,300 and became an independent representative, and started recruiting other representatives to work with him. He has a little more than 100 representatives on his team. When fellow rep Jesse Esquibel told Smith at a recent meeting he needs a few boxes of the instant coffee packets to sell, Smith handed him his Car keys.

“I always have coffee on me,” Smith said.

Still, this recent scene at a Denver office building is a bit startling: Smith, one of the most recognizable athletes in Colorado history, standing before a group of about 35 representatives and guests, firing them up about healthy coffee. It’s not much different than a meeting for a direct marketing company that sells cosmetics, but the product here is coffee, an industry that annually generates well into the billions worldwide.

“It didn’t take off because I’m Rod Smith,” Smith said of Organo Gold, which is about two years old. “It took off because it’s coffee and it makes sense.”

Smith said he doesn’t need the money (although, in Smith’s inimitable way he laughs and says he is making a six-figure income: “They pay a lot of money, I’d be dumb not to take it,” he jokes), but does it because it helps people, especially those affected by the economic downturn. Smith recently invested $60,000 to acquire office space in the Denver area and turn it into a regular meeting place for company representatives.

“He has the money, he can see everyone else’s dreams and wants to try to see them get there,” said longtime friend and adviser James Holdman who is also selling coffee.

When Smith preaches to the representatives in attendance on a recent Tuesday night about the virtues of selling and drinking the coffee, he is one of the group. He remembers everyone’s name and their stories, and involves them when he speaks. The people there don’t see Smith as a former football star but a business leader and a friend.

Smith, who guarded his privacy when he was a player, has opened up his home for coffee mixers. He had about 130 people there for his first meeting.

Smith didn’t take well to reporters calling his home in the offseason when he played, but reps can call or text him whenever there’s a question.

“He is one of the guys,” said Ken Jackson who works in construction but sells coffee part time. “He has an open door.”

People at the meeting stand up and tell their tales, which are a mixture of financial success stories and how the coffee has helped their health. The testimonials touch Smith.

As the meeting is breaking up Smith turns and randomly points out four people having a conversation near the door. He points to a woman whose husband passed away last year and needed support — financially and emotionally. Another woman dealt with domestic abuse issues and selling coffee helped her find independence. A third woman is a single parent who was fired from her job and was in the dumps from going through a divorce. A man talking to the three women is an engineer who helped build start-up companies, but wanted regular income. He also had cholesterol problems, and Smith said the coffee helped him.

Four different dynamics, and Smith talks about them like a proud parent.
“I love hearing those stories,” Smith said. “I’m addicted to these stories.”

Those around Smith say he has changed. He admits he has. He said the NFL is in many ways a “short-term, superficial lifestyle,” and now sees many hard-working blue-collar people struggling in a tough economy.

“That’s why I really like this deal: I can put people on a pedestal higher than me, and people will look at them different,” Smith said.

Esquibel was one of those people. He contracted West Nile Virus a few years ago, which led to seizures and brain surgery. He had known Smith for years and they been involved in other business ventures. Joining Smith in the coffee business allowed him to work from home — and he said the coffee helped him get off seizure medication.

He has seen a change since Smith’s playing career ended.

“He can help people get a little more out of life,” Esquibel said. “I’ve seen him grow personally.

“The first thing people don’t know is he is very intelligent. He has three college degrees. The second thing is he has a heart of gold.”

Smith says this is his primary job now; his passion.
“It honestly changed my life,” Smith said.

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