How a Super Bowl champ went from the NFL to small business owner

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Ryan Diem played with one team for his entire 11-year career in the NFL as an offensive lineman: the Indianapolis Colts. He went to the Super Bowl twice, one win and one loss. After a storied career, he could have gone into coaching, worked as an announcer on ESPN or taken his millions and lived a comfortable life as an investor.

Instead, he started a small business in Indianapolis doing rather unglamorous work: cleaning garbage bins. Yep, you read that right. Two years ago, Diem launched Bin Scrub, a company whose trucks go through neighborhoods cleaning, sanitizing and deodorizing garbage cans.

It turned into a success. So how does one go from snapping a football to designing trucks, managing staff and figuring out billing? Diem writes about that and the main tent poles to starting a company in his #BusinessReimagined article.

What is your outside-the-box idea? What other tenets and advice would you add to his list?

Latest Developments

• Small business owners are increasing wages to lure in workers. According to the latest National Federation of Independent Business survey, 50% of owners surveyed have already raised wages and another 27% expect to in the next three months.
• Have office workers? It’s time to let go of the idea that they’ll be coming into work five days a week.
• The pandemic has forced companies to rethink their bereavement policies and who is considered close family.
• Prices are rising on everything, often from one night to the next, but the constant flux in pricing could impact customer loyalty.
• Want to be an entrepreneur? Head to the library for classes on everything from business licensing to bookkeeping.

Conversations For You

• Just because you can get someone for cheap doesn’t mean you should keep their pay low. Members sound off on what workers ask for versus what a company is willing to pay.
• This woman founded a doll company to create toys that look like her — something she lacked growing up. Other Black entrepreneurs are sharing their founder beginnings.

Something Good

• Father(s) of the year award goes to these two penguins, who are “exemplary in every aspect of egg care.”