Grand Slam Journey

67. Lee Zohlman: Chief Commercial Officer Juncos Hollinger Racing︱Speeding Towards Success

• Klara Jagosova • Season 2

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Unlock the secrets of mental toughness as Lee Zohlman, Chief Commercial Officer for Juncos Hollinger Racing, joins me on a riveting exploration of endurance sports and high-stakes motorsports. In our chat, we unearth the fascinating parallels between the resilience of athletes and the strategic savvy needed in the fast-paced world of racing. Discover how the relentless pursuit of incremental gains and unwavering attention to detail are shared traits that transcend the track and trail, offering valuable lessons for triumph in any endeavor.

Prepare to be captivated by the fusion of raw human potential and cutting-edge technology in the realm of motorsports. Lee provides a behind-the-scenes glance at how AI and data analytics are revolutionizing car racing, pushing competitors to new heights of performance. Furthermore, we discuss the immersive world of AR/VR and its transformative effects on the spectator experience. Meanwhile, our conversation also celebrates the personal aspects of the sport: the imperative of physical fitness, the courage to tackle fresh challenges, and the deep insights garnered from steadfastly chasing one's dreams.

As we wrap up this episode, Lee and I reflect on the synergy between precision, balance, and the art of relationship-building. You'll get an insider's perspective on the dynamic teamwork that's essential to an IndyCar crew's success. Whether you're someone who thrives on competition, seeks continuous self-improvement, or simply enjoys learning from life's trials, this episode is your ticket to inspiration. Share this wisdom with a friend, drop us a review, and join the Grand Slam Journey community for more exhilarating discussions. Thank you for tuning in, and here's to thriving on and off the track.

Connect with Lee: website  LinkedIn

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Lee:

He just loved racing, loves getting in the car and racing, and they're all very process oriented, I would say versus outcome oriented. They care about the outcome, but they're very technical and very passionate about the process and the technical aspects on how do I take a 10th off here, how do I take a 10th off there and what is this going to do for my reflexes. So I think like there's a very similar mentality to both, because when I was full on, focused on triathlon, I know I took to the nth degree and that also was negative, but by and large they're very detail and process oriented. You know, here's today's training session. Today's training session leads to this week's training block. This week's training block leads to this month's training block and then that's going to lead to the race. And so I'm here and I know I need to be here.

Lee:

And now everything is so quantifiable. There's so many metrics for everything across tri, cycling, racing, running we can say, hey, if you're consistent on this training program on the bike, you're going to improve 1 to 1.2% in power per week. So you can forecast out okay, if my Ironman is 20 weeks out, I get 20% improvement in power If I don't get injured and I stay on the training program, so mentality is really similar for both and I think both of them cater to that I hate to use word, but almost that extreme personality that they want to do something that really few others are doing and try to get as good as they can.

Klara:

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Grand Slam Journey podcast, where we discuss various topics related to Grand Slam Journey of our lives, from areas of sports, business and technology, and how we transitioned from the pursuit of our athletic goals and dreams to the next chapter of our lives and careers. My today's conversation is with Lee Zohlman. Lee is currently the chief commercial officer for Juncos Hollinger Racing. Lee helps create strategic partnerships which drive revenue growth between companies, agencies and sports properties, with an emphasis on IndyCar and Formula One. He has successfully negotiated and activated contracts with some of the biggest brands in the world, including Coke, pepsi, gatorade, audi, samsung, sap, the NFL, morgan Stanley and more.

Klara:

Lee is a former endurance athlete with a love for triathlon, mountain climbing, ice climbing, marathons, jiu-jitsu and cycling. He has coached and mentored some of the world's top Olympians and Ironman champions. Through his background in endurance sports, he's developed the core principles of discipline, strategic planning and follow-through. He recognizes the value of hard work and intense dedication and believes that paying attention to the marginal details will lead to incredible success. In today's conversation, we talk about setting clear goals and taking calculated risks to achieve success, the mindset of athletes and achievers and importance of focusing on continuous improvement and pushing boundaries. We discuss the role of technology in motor sports, from enhancing performance to improving marketing initiatives. Arvr and its potential to revolutionize the fan experience and provide immersive interactions. And racing maintaining physical fitness. That requires well-organized, routine and efficient use of time, finding joy and passion in a new activity, and some of the key lessons learned that can shape future actions and decision-making. Last but not least, we talk about the importance of teamwork and collaboration, which is essential not only in the IndyCar racing industry, but also beyond.

Klara:

I also have a quick announcement to share. This episode is also available on my Grinslam Journey YouTube channel. I've recently decided to explore adding video production to my podcast. This is the first video podcast I have produced. If you enjoy following video, please feel free to check out my YouTube channel You'll find it in the episode notes and subscribe. This conversation has been produced in a slightly different way than some of my previous episodes, and so I appreciate any insights or feedback you're willing and wanting to share with me in order to provide a pleasant listening experience. As always, if you enjoyed this conversation, please share it with someone who you believe may enjoy it as well. Consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss the next episode.

Lee:

Thanks for having me, clara, excited to be here. I always love talking to athletes, especially about business, so this is perfect.

Klara:

Yes, I love our serendipitous connection and during our first conversation there was totally nothing podcast related.

Klara:

It's fun how we uncovered our passion for athletics and I'm very curious about your transition to actually carrying your passion in sports, but being on the marketing and sponsorship side and helping athletes and teams bring revenue through strategic sponsorships, which I think has a lot in common even with partnerships, Obviously, that's a big piece of it. So I am excited to dive into many of these topics. Let's see where the journey takes us. But before we go any further, I want to give you first an opportunity to introduce yourself to our listeners. Sure.

Lee:

I'm happy to do that and thanks again. I mean talking about sponsorship and athletics. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment and I like torturous things when it comes down to life. So I ended up going into one of the world's most grueling endurance sports, trathalon, for almost 20 years and then translating into the world of sponsorship and sports marketing. But sponsorship is almost as torturous as doing an Ironman, so we could talk all about that kind of stuff. Right now, as it stands, I'm Chief Commercial Officer for the Hunkos Hollinger IndyCar team. That's fairly new. Just in the last couple of months they were a client of mine for my own firm that I had and then a role opened up with them. So I decided to jump on the team side, which I love because I love my motorsports. So working with them full stop and still advising a couple of companies and on the board of some non-profit. So try to stay busy.

Klara:

Yes, you certainly are busy, as I've been browsing your website and all you have accomplished and trying to figure out your transitions through life, so I know which questions to ask. But maybe let's go back to the beginning. I'm always curious how my guests found their first passion in sports and how their upbringing shaped them on this path of athletics, because I have international guests. It's very interesting. Many find it just very serendipitously. So I'm curious about how your upbringing was and what led you to recognize your first sport was swimming, but since you ventured out to many different other sports, so tell us a bit about it.

Lee:

As I look back, as I'm maturing I should say not aging, but as I'm maturing and gone through life's ups and downs and taking a look back at things I've accomplished and positions I've been put in and the valleys, the bottoms of the bottom, where I've also been personally and professionally, because life is rarely linear. I went to university for broadcast journalism. All I wanted to do was be a TV broadcaster. I started working in the field. I had an agent in California and LA. I had an agent in Miami. I was doing different sports broadcasting and entertainment magazine shows and doing commercials and stuff on the side, anything in front of the camera, probably being hyperactive and always seeking attention. As a kid that's just where I went. But really my passion lied in TV broadcasting. That was my whole focus in university and then after. But then I did my first triathlon. I don't know what it was about that day or what it was about that sport in 1996. When I did my first triathlon I'm like I have to find a way to create a business around this. I just went headfirst into it. Then, within two years, I was one of the first ever 30 certified triathlon coaches in the US. I was also the youngest certified triathlon coach and started getting my personal training certifications and started my first business. My parents were like, what about all the money for university, for broadcast journalism? What about your agents? The night I told them I was starting a triathlon coaching company was the same night my agent in LA called me and told me they were dropping me. Wow, I was like, okay, I think this is telling me something. They were supportive. They gave me $200 for business cards.

Lee:

Then I started my triathlon coaching company, started building that. I had no business background. For a year and a half I was director of marketing for a small soccer clothing company. It was nice size, it was a multi-multi-million dollar revenue, but he needed someone to head up marketing. I was talking to him at the time. He gave me this position, which was actually quite cool and creative. That was the only business sense that I had. That was my first company. I started building that as I was also racing myself and trying to pursue as much of an achievement as I could personally in triathlon and started building this coaching company. It started growing exponentially every year. Within a few years we were one of the largest endurance sports coaching companies in the US hands down.

Klara:

It seems like your transition to coaching was in some ways out of necessity, because you had to make a living. In some ways it connected deeply to your passion. But how do you go from pretty much I don't want to say nothing, but that's the word that comes into my mind to trying to build up this business and coaching. What did it entail? I'm even curious how your starting point evolved to grow towards scaling that I did see you still have a website around it, so I'm curious even if you're still active in that venture.

Lee:

It was really just going by intuition. On the marketing side of the business I got very lucky in that triathlon was exploding. I started in 1998 coaching. The first year triathlon was in the Olympics was in 2000. There was a lot of media attention to that. Usa Triathlon our national governing body was going through tremendous growth at the time. The races were seeing tremendous growth. Now coaches were seeing tremendous growth.

Lee:

I was very lucky just to be at the right time. But then I was out marketing all the time. There weren't a lot of coaches at the time. Whatever coaches there were, I wasn't afraid to go walk around a parking lot every single weekend and put flyers on windows. This was before social media. That's what I did. I went to every bike shop and every Sporty Goods store in South Florida and put my flyers out and talking to people.

Lee:

I worked 24, 7, 3, 6, 5. People say that all the time. But I was always thinking, I was always working. I was always networking. That was my business. I loved it. It didn't even feel like work. I say it didn't feel like work until 13, 14 years in. That's when I felt like, because it had grown and there were so many different moving parts. That's when I felt like, wow, this feels like work. For a long time it was just wake up, go coach a bunch of people, train myself, go to the office, write training plans, do some business part, go coach in the evening, do another session myself, eat a lot, wake up, rinse and repeat and go race on the weekends and take on new clients, create processes. So it's efficient. I don't know that's what I started doing. The sports marketing side started taking off almost immediately. This is how the steps to transition led to what I'm doing now.

Klara:

What really stands out to me is the time management. Specifically, I was talking to Albert Mathini. He's now the COO and founder of Promix. He's also a former triathlete. He actually is from Florida. Obviously, triathlons are back in Florida. I'm guessing that's a little bit what also helped you gravitate towards the sport. He was also in the US national triathlon team. The training for this is grueling because you're training for these long distances and you have three disciplines running, biking and swimming. Just the training alone. You're so exhausted and so tired all the time. That's pretty much what Albert was reflecting on. I puzzled how you actually combined both. You were training yourself trying to become triathlete and at the time, trying to run your own business, which itself is a big endeavor, let alone people doing those two together. What was the mindset? Were you realizing it or how did you get the energy to balance both?

Lee:

I was just wired, growing up to be hyperactive and to be managing. I also was passionate about both parts. I was passionate about myself and racing and I was passionate about the business. And you make concessions in life and I didn't have much of a social life. Right, you're going to sleep at 9, 30, 10 o'clock.

Lee:

I tried to get a nap every day. I got a nap every day for probably like 15, 18 years, I don't even know. You know you try to nap and take care of your body and and I just, I just did, I just balanced it all. If you take people to the parts like, ok, swimming, I was on deck coaching. I never swam with my squad that I was coaching and I always actually looked down on coaches that swam with their squad and was trying to get in their own workout with their squad. Like no, you have to be on deck. You know you have to give feedback on technique, feedback on times like do that the bike? You can actually bike with your squad and get in a good session and then you just run on your own. You just balance it out and you know, somehow I managed to do that.

Klara:

Yeah. So if you look back on triathlon and even you mentioned, I did it once and it really pulled me in what was it that attracted you to the sport? Was there something that really stood out of what sparked this passion in you?

Lee:

Yeah, and it's. It's interesting you say that because I've thought a lot about that as I've been, like I said, evolving and maturing and you know an executive now in the business world. I think what it is just about me and probably a lot of other athletes, because they're super overachievers. If I'm going to do anything, I know it's going. I'm always going to try to achieve the highest level. You know, like mediocrity is just not in my blood and that goes across personal business.

Lee:

And if I look at it like, ok, I was a broadcaster, it wasn't enough to have an agent in Miami, I need to have the top broadcast agency in California. If I was going into a hobby, triathlon is great, right, there's tons of different length triathlons. I need to do Ironman's, I need to do them all and I need to figure out how I can be the best that there is. And I wasn't the best, but I always tried to achieve to be the best. At least I put it out there. But yeah, I did two Ironman's. I mean, there's one point. One percent of one percent of the world can say they've done multiple Ironman's in their life, right, and and then you know, if you look at when I did a career flip to to motorsports and the business of motorsports.

Lee:

It was like, ok, what's the best of the best in motorsports? It's Formula One, it's an indie car. And how do I get there? How do I become a top executive for for a top race car team? And you take the steps, make the plan and set goals. And I say all that, I write all that and I'm very passionate about about those steps.

Lee:

And you asked me about to reflect to that. And I looked back and when I wanted to switch careers and go into motorsports, you know what was the? The only name I kind of knew at the time was the best name was Andretti. Right, and within three months of making a decision to switch careers and into motorsports sponsorship, within three months I had a job on the Andretti team. There are dozens and dozens of different race car teams in the world and I could have been working at a small IMSA team or, you know, I could have been working on a small indie car team, but I made the steps and networked, made the right people and found myself. My first job in motorsports was working for the biggest name in racing in the US, hands down.

Klara:

So I'm seeing a little bit of this trend of you setting goals but then combining it with this execution, because even actually on the last podcast I just launched with Andrew, we talk about people who get these ideas. You know there's a lot of people who can come up with great ideas and say, oh, I had this idea. But there's these people that actually get ideas and then put in the effort to create that path. So I'm wondering if you could break it down even a little bit more of what that mindset is and seem like you've had that mindset early on, since childhood, or if you know some of your sports shape you in that and how do you eventually manifest? I'm also curious if you believe in this you know what you set your mind into visualization, kind of really believing that you get there and if that anyhow helps you in this process 100%. So the goal setting is a big part of it.

Lee:

I journal almost every day. I put in every what are my affirmations and goals for that day, and they're not always all going to come true. Just because you set a plan and you set a goal, it doesn't mean you're always going to achieve it. But I always think about what do you learn and what do you gain from the process of trying to achieve it Right? And so there's always you know a lot of people who are, and so there's always things that you're going to get from just going through the process. I mean, right now I have one. I have a top job that I've wanted for a long time, and I have one or two other roles for the rest of my career that I want just one or two others, you know, and they're they're taking the steps to make that happen. But right now I'm really excited about this. I mean the role that I am now with Munko's Hollinger IndyCar team.

Lee:

It's interesting because that we're talking about this, because I was in a low a while ago. I was in a really bad place and I hired an executive coach and this is kind of a cool story and the executive coach is a very formal process and I won't take too long. But there's a formal process. There's a part of their whole portals in their website that you go in and you fill out questionnaires and you meet with your coaches and you build on what feedback you're giving them and their whole executive coaching program.

Lee:

It was wonderful and one of the first questions kind of a basic question. They were all pretty. A lot of it was very deep critical thinking, but kind of one of the basic first questions what's your, what would be your dream job? And I put my dream job as a head of partnerships for a Formula One or motor or other motorsports team and within six months, eight months, I had that job and it was through that program, through learning from them and also taking steps myself, making the proper connections, taking big leaps, taking risks that that occurred. And so you talk about planning. Yeah, of course, 100% is the plan of manifesting and I think that a lot of executives, especially who were triathletes or are triathletes, are kind of similar in that I agree.

Klara:

And I think I sensed it from my guests who are athletes.

Klara:

I think because of the work that we put in, we realize how much effort anything really takes to be great. So we're typically able to roll up our sleeves and dive deep and get the work done, because the work ethic is related really to any other sport. I left the example you brought up, lee, so if you could break this down just a little bit more, on this journey, even you setting goal I want to be part of IndyCar race team you set it as a clear goal and within six months it seems like you've been able to achieve it. Where there are perhaps one, two or three instances that really move the needle for you, maybe other people listening may have their own goals and that could kind of help them guide on this journey of okay, if I set the goals, what are the three key differentiators that lead it? Really great that I could apply to my own personal goal and then try to see if I achieve it maybe not in six months, maybe nine or 12. But I'm curious what your reflection is on that.

Lee:

I think number one having confidence and I'm going to I'll talk about that in a second. Number two, taking risks. And I'll say number three might be networking, if I had to break it down. So if I take a step back, the team was a client of mine already I mentioned that and one of the drivers on the team was also a client of mine and my work with the team, I think, is a very important part of the team.

Lee:

I work with the team because I'm in Miami. There in Indianapolis, my work with the team was all remote and I never met the team owners in the months. We were just we were doing projects. But my driver's in Miami and he flies his own plane and I said, hey, if you're ever going up to Indy, let me know if I can grab a ride with you because I want to meet the team. So he's like oh, I'm going up, whatever this month, next month. And so I said okay. So he's like all right, come in the plane and you know we'll fly up. So we fly up and this. You know this was a risk because not because, not because of the type of pilot he is, but it was like I'm going to leave my work for a few days to go up. You know I'm going to spend money on hotels and food. You know I got to always look at, look at my budget.

Lee:

But one of the most important things in business is relationships across the board, building relationships, maintaining relationships, relationships and I said I need to build relationships here and I went up there to build relationships. I went up there to meet the pit crew. I'm on the commercial side to sell sponsorship. I'm going to want to meet the pit crew, I want to meet the account managers, I want to meet everyone in the team.

Lee:

And I went up there and it turns out that I'm talking to the team owner and they needed a chief commercial officer and through a couple of days of working there, I also identified all of their weaknesses, the systematic weaknesses, processes, things that have challenges that a lot of companies have. And I said to myself listen, I'd love to come in and do all of this. I'll have a scope of work to you in the next day. And I went back to the hotel. I started crafting the scope of work, perfected the next day, presented it to him, took a few extra days, put together a six-month go-to plan, presented that to him and I took a risk. I took a risk in putting myself out there. You have to also have the confidence to say I can do this, let me do this for you, and so talk about taking risks, having confidence, and then the networking is also really important as well, not necessarily in this situation, but networking overall.

Lee:

So whether it's in your city. Business events, social events always have a business card on you thinking strategically where you can connect the dots with your own business. I think that those would be the three areas. Does that answer the question?

Klara:

Yeah, I think that's a beautiful example and really also what stood out to me is you going there with almost this problem-solving mindset, that open mind, and trying to kind of observe everything that's going on, and then really putting in the work and reflecting on what have I observed, where could they improve?

Klara:

And then crafting pretty much your end scope, which takes guts and, as you mentioned, even confidence and obviously belief. But at the same time there was nothing you would lose, because if you didn't do it you would be at the same or maybe worse spot, because this way you at least gave it a try and were bringing to them some sort of observations that perhaps aren't always natural or easy to see when you were on the inside. So I really love this fresh perspective and I love it even in business and big companies, whether I work at Ericsson or Apple. I actually really believe that there is something really valuable for a person from outside and perspective that you get this fresh observation to asking these questions like well, is this really how things should be done? Versus, if you live in an environment for a long time, sometimes you take these things, whether you want to or not and whether you're doing consciously or not as kind of oh, this is how things are done and you don't always realize that it could be different.

Lee:

Complacency kills, too, in business and sports and sports. So I talk to four to six companies every day in what I do and one of the questions I always ask is what are your challenges? Every company has challenges, every division has some challenges. Hey, sometimes we're a solution for those challenges, sometimes we're not. But you'd be surprised how many of these really confident CMOs I talk to CEOs, presidents, svps, super confident about what they're doing and on the phone, and then you ask them hey, where are the challenges and what you do? And you ask them sincerely. It's amazing how many of them will go hmm, good question. Like rarely does anyone sincerely ask them that question and they pause because I need to find out about their business. I need to find out where can we be a solution for their business. So I think that's one of the best questions for people to ask.

Klara:

Mm-hmm, I love that. I do want to dive a little bit more into the mentality of the athletes and I'm curious how you would compare even the mindsets of triathletes versus car racers, because to me there's definitely a risk in triathlon, especially on the bike, which I'm actually probably the most afraid of. I thought about once doing an Ironman, but my feet are way too worn out. I actually had to stop running altogether about three, four years ago. I just got a lot of wear from too much tennis running. But perceived sports, especially the car motor sports, motor cycle sports, I think you have to have almost a different level of perseverance. If you have an accident, you're literally risking your life, and so, because you're close to these athletes and have been part of both groups, do you see any differences when it comes to risk aversion or lack of thereof? When it comes to your own life and mortality, it's interesting.

Lee:

There's a lot of race car drivers that are avid cyclists and avid triathletes. There's definitely a lot of crossover there and there's definitely a similar mentality. And the race car drivers that I've represented and dealt with not that it's talked about often, but I would venture to say they're not really thinking about the risk part of it the triathletes and the racing drivers are both passionate. They are passionate about racing the cars. I had one driver who really didn't even care about doing the sponsorship thing. He just loved racing, loves getting in the car and racing, and they're all very process-oriented, I would say, versus outcome-oriented. They care about the outcome but they're very technical and very passionate about the process and the technical aspects on how do I take a tenth off here, how do I take a tenth off there and what is this going to do for my reflexes. So I think there is a very similar mentality to both, because when I was full-on focused on triathlon, I took it to the nth degree and that also was negative.

Lee:

But by and large they're very detail and process-oriented. Here's today's training session. Today's training session leads to this week's training block, this week's training block leads to this month's training block and then that's going to lead to the race. And so I'm here and I know I need to be here. And now. Everything is so quantifiable, there's so many metrics for everything across tri, cycling, racing, running we can say, hey, if you're consistent on this training program and try on the bike, you're going to improve 1 to 1.2% in power per week. So you can forecast out okay, if my Ironman is 20 weeks out, I can go 20% improvement in power If I don't get injured and I stay on the training program. So the mentality is really similar for both and I think both of them cater to that I hate to use the word, but almost that extreme personality that they want to do something that really few others are doing and try to get really as good as they can.

Klara:

It makes sense because if you think about an accident or the risks, you can never really put your full heart and effort into something, so you always have to focus on the process. What still comes to mind? I'm curious to ask have you seen the movie Ferrari, that you watched it yet? Yeah, and I know racing there was way different than it was back then. You have very different structure of the cars and safety features and everything. But that's why this question also came up Back then. It literally was people who just didn't care and often you could just die doing whatever stupid race, and so that's one of the things. What did you think about the movie?

Lee:

It was a good movie. I'm an easy customer, though. I'm easily entertained, so I just knowing what I do for a living, I'm not going into it and analyzing it, but I thought it was a really great story. There were things in there I didn't know, and so, from a cinema point of view, I enjoyed it.

Klara:

So curious about your current role. Anybody who's maybe listening or watching and thinking about how would I become Lee? What does it entail to be?

Lee:

They don't want to do that. They definitely don't want to do that.

Klara:

This is pretty right. That's dangerous. Well, some people like to work from the gold backward, right? So we talked about the gold setting and they said, oh my gosh, how awesome it would be to be the chief commercial officer of some of these race cars or motorbikes, whatever you name it. I think there's probably some similarities in that. How do I put this as a goal and work from that backward? And it seems like you've had a vast career, obviously through even understanding sports and living the passion, through building your skills of sponsorship, marketing, even your own business, which requires entrepreneurial mindset. But what would you advise and I don't know if there's even a linear path to that, because I don't believe there's any linear path to- a goal, but any kind of key skills and kind of what your job actually entails for anyone who may want to get inspired.

Lee:

I think there's also a bit of the business progression and achievements that's not able to be planned and that just you have to take advantage of. Circumstances or opportunities are just going to come to you, but can you take advantage of them? Can you connect the dots? My day to day is really interesting. Anything revenue generating for the team comes from my area that is sponsorship. So race car teams we really live and die by our sponsorship. So we need to identify companies that number one can afford the sponsorship, could use the sponsorship, and how can they use the sponsorship. And then we need to find the right people there. We need to get meetings with them. Getting the meeting is always a difficult part. We need to do a lot of exploratory questioning because not every brand is going to be a fit or need us Going back to the solution, selling and finding out the challenges of their company.

Lee:

I've got a great team. We've got really great creative people, great CMO, great CEO and we're really flexible. We work well together and then we can put together a compelling proposal, if necessary, for that company. I try to identify very quickly if they're a fit for us, if we're a fit for them, if we're going to solve a problem for them and I try to qualify or disqualify very quickly. So that's kind of the day to day. It's a lot. I'm fortunate my daughter is older so I don't have little kids running around, not married. So besides doing some training in the day, I'm working from 5am on the phones, on the WhatsApps, emails. Obviously We've got people all over the world. It's all encompassing, I should say, but I love it. I love every part, but that's what it takes. You've got to kiss a lot of frogs to find the prince in sponsorship.

Klara:

I like that analogy. I want to touch base and you mentioned I tried to quickly qualify or disqualify. I think that's important in any business because the faster you say perhaps no to it creates time and opportunity to speak to someone else. Is there a specific process or things that you look for, how you judge this as a fit and isn't a fit, and maybe even add how much you look at the company culture or values and alignment of that with your race team?

Lee:

So we do a lot of background research on the companies before we even have a meeting with them. So we've tried to find out how many employees there are, how much revenue they're doing if they're a product where they distributed, what do their channels look like? And then when I'm on the phone with them, I ask them how much revenue are you doing? Or I ask them what are your objectives? We're a race car team. This is what we do. This is where we are. This is how many eyeballs are on us every year. What would your objectives be in using us?

Lee:

And then one of the key statements I tell them is hey, we have a threshold to enter with us. It's X dollars and that ranges to Y dollars. Just want to let you know, like motor racing, we're an expensive sport. We're on NBC. We've got this many social media followers. We have more social media followers on our team than any other IndyCar team there is. And we're a mid-sized team. It just so happens we have some really great drivers and we've got a great following. So that's always a big part of it. And I tell them this is the threshold to enter. Is that comfortable for you, yes or no? Then I straight up ask them is that comfortable for you? Is that something you would entertain, yes or no? That's not it. Okay, great. If anything should change, please reach out. It's not that curt, but that's kind of the scenario I put forth for the qualification.

Klara:

Personally curious also if you have a view into the race car drivers and the team overall and thinking about technology and maybe it's two-fold. To the question One how has the development on technology developed over time? Because I think specifically triathlon has been really big. I always joke I wish I had my Apple Watch 15 years ago. I could have been a better athlete of understanding how much training and effort I actually put in and perhaps be smarter with recovering. And so I'm curious, even from your own perspective, or observing how the readiness because you need to be 100% focused when you drive a car in such a way that they do. And then maybe the second part is even this AR VR and there's a lot of things now popping up with how technology may mod with this real-time racing and giving people an experience of what it's actually like to be in the car and driving, perhaps from the rooms and living rooms of their home with this AR VR or mixed reality. What do you look at that? The technology and sports overall.

Lee:

Technology has been massive in motorsports for many, many years and there's a lot of technology companies that are partners in a lot of race car teams. And a lot of them are trade partnerships, where they're just coming in and putting in their tech to help the cars go faster, help the team become more efficient. And there's also a lot of traditional sponsorship, where tech companies are going to come in and do branding on the car, also provide products they're rarely ever like okay, it's $100,000 and sticker goes on the car. There's so many more ways to measure it these days on the brand side, so there's a lot more detailed.

Lee:

But technology for us is really important. Like any race car team I was with the team two days ago at the track the driver is doing his testing and then from testing he goes into a transporter and he's sitting in a large semi truck at a desk and there's eight to 10 other people at computers crunching data and he's giving feedback. So and you know we have we're about to take on a big AI partner right now to help us become more efficient. I can't say anything more than that, but but it's really important. Technology companies from communication to data, obviously for anything to make the race cars go faster. Is is, yeah, super important, and we have a lot of technology companies now that we're in the midst of discussions with to help us do all of that.

Klara:

Yeah, I can imagine now what you mentioned made me think about. Obviously, I come from telecom, but all the data and technology there must be so much data coming in then from these cars, because you're literally racing split of seconds sometimes, right that make a difference whether you win or lose. So I'm wondering even have this generative AI large language model that you could perhaps customize for your team and cars, could help you make sense of pretty much 1000s and hundreds of 1000s perhaps of data points to catch and improve by a small percentage, right? Because the better you we all know from athletes, you and I, it's easy to go from not working out at all to like working out and be an average human but then the better you get. That chasing of this 0.1% sometimes even, is just so much harder. Once you become the top of the top right, improving, you got to focus on these little tiny things that make a difference whether you win or lose.

Lee:

You get it. You got it 100%. You don't see those huge chunks come off later on as you get more experience. And you know, when I was racing I was so ecstatic wow, I improved 0.2 watts per kilogram on the bike in the last month. I was always measuring that and I always like to say number one we need to hire you, clara, because you know, obviously you have the tech side and the athlete side, so maybe we need to hire you, but I'm a business guy, I'm not the tech guy, so I don't know so much on the technical side. That's why we have great engineers. But but it is true, it's, it's tense and hundreds, 1000s of a second, and that that is our sport for sure. So I talked to a technology company right before you and they're like hey, you know, we can improve this part of the car, we think we can take this much off, and you know it's like, okay, that's interesting to know, because the faster the cars go the more benefit we can get from certain aspects aerodynamically and when we're on the super speedways.

Lee:

We're on the big ovals like the Indy 500, and they're doing 220 to 240, those gains can be really important.

Klara:

I can imagine it's impressive.

Klara:

I mean, I sometimes get an idea that I would like to be in the car of you know the driver, and then I would probably freak out because I get a lot of motion sickness too, so maybe I'll just stay on the observing side.

Klara:

But curious kind of the second part of the question, your perspective on this AR VR and, because it's been talked about for a long time, even have 5g will change this. I've worked very closely with Verizon and I've been part of actually Verizon setting up the networks even for some of these IndyCar races. I know they've been a big sponsor as well and so thinking about even just that user experience and by user I mean consumers, sure, and giving them a chance to kind of experience with these spatial computing kind of devices that we can now purchase, how do you see that trend going on and perhaps changing the industry or opening even more doors for you and the team to give a peek specifically into the car, into the driver, into the team, into all the preparation, all that goes into it from somebody's living room in kind of real 3D?

Lee:

I think the sky's the limit in what they want to and what they want to create. We're doing some campaigns I can't even say, but some of what you mentioned is some of the marketing initiatives we're doing this year. From a consumer side, it's really exciting what we can do marketing-wise. I did an augmented reality campaign with a race car driver in his car three seasons ago his whiskey sponsor and then they could be taken through their phone or tablet. They could be taken in augmented reality into the car. We had a guy put the car on a balcony in France the race was in the US and then he videoed himself looking around and getting in the car and augmented reality and it was really cool. So that is being used.

Lee:

From a driver's side, they all use SIM gears in their offices. They'll train on the SIM, but nothing is like getting in the race car. It's just the G-forces. You cannot mimic the G-forces. You can't mimic the physical load on the body. So from the driver's side, I think that's not going to be too applicable. But from the consumer side, from the marketing side, arvr is really cool. It's just what you want to create. That's going to be up to whatever company or team is going to want to do? Do they want to take them through the shop? Can you fly through the shop and check out different parts of the cars in different parts of development? So sky's the limit on that.

Klara:

Moving a little bit towards even your end routine. I'm curious you mentioned that you still actively work out being an athlete and kind of balancing this more than a full-time job. What is your routine now? Any tips or tricks of how do you stay in shape?

Lee:

I'm very passionate about my routine. I'm always looking for ways that I can improve my mental process for work. Physically, I wake up between 4.35 every morning. I have the same bulletproof coffee. I'm on that kick right Because I was a sugar addict for so long. I was so carb dependent for so long. We could do a whole podcast just on sports nutrition, which I won't get into, but obviously I had to teach that.

Klara:

I'm curious Do you do keto now? Bulletproof coffee.

Lee:

You mentioned it, just for my morning workout. I'll run or cycle every morning. I never swim anymore. I swam for so long. I barely like to shower and get wet, so I'm definitely not going to swim. I have that in a journal in the morning. Then some mornings I meditate and then I do a workout whatever workout. That could be 30-minute run, it could be a run in the lift, it could be cycling I still love my cycling. Then get back.

Lee:

I typically have some recovery smoothie, making sure I have amino acids, making sure I have proteins in there, a little sugar. I do that and then I start getting to work. I'm typically answering text messages and stuff while I'm working out in the morning, which I know is really bad because it used to be my time, but now it's just the way it is. Right now I can't stop thinking, so that happens. Then getting to work and then making sure that I have good nutrition during the day. I typically will have an afternoon coffee. I love coffee. It's a great ergogenic aid. It's also great for awareness.

Lee:

I have long days, so for me it's really helpful. Everyone has their own feelings on that, which is fine, but my days are long because I'm giving so much energy During Zoom meetings and presentations. You have to be on, you have to be thinking strategically. It's a lot of energy. I'll get off this call right now and I'll just walk around my apartment for four or five minutes. I'll just decompress. I'll drink water A lot of times that really helps just to reset and then back to the desk. Then the evenings it's been really interesting, claire.

Lee:

I'll tell you, the last year and a half I got into something new and that's been Jiu Jitsu. A year and a half ago I started down the journey of Jiu Jitsu, which I'm passionate about, but I also know myself enough. I've been very moderate with my attention to it, whereas Traflon, I went ahead first. If I started Jiu Jitsu 20 years ago, I would have had already had two businesses surrounding it and everything. But it's wonderful because it's such a great discipline.

Lee:

I love the part about going into something I know nothing. I know nothing. I am an infant. I know my business. Traflon was the thing I knew best in this world. I know something about motorsports and business, but I know nothing in Jiu Jitsu. To go into an environment where there's other experts of all different shapes, sizes and ages, women that turn me into pretzels in 15 seconds guys way younger than me that are black belts and just being in an environment to learn. I also love my school and I love their philosophy and methods. Some nights I'll do one or two classes. I do that about five days a week. The days are long. That's why I also believe, you know, obviously in good nutrition during the day. Then on the weekends I try to get in a nap and catch up on some sleep.

Klara:

I like your structure. It seems like you have the morning routine that's very well organized and it's working for you. Are you doing two workouts a day? Is Jiu Jitsu every day? That's impressive if you do still two workouts a day.

Lee:

There's a lot of days it's two, three or four, for instance, monday through Friday, maybe four days a week, at least three, if not four. I'm doing two workouts, if not three, a day, so like a runner ride in the morning and then one or two classes at night. Saturdays I do four workouts in a row. I do a run, a lift and then two classes and then I collapse. But in my defense, coming from the world of Travlon, you are doing three to four workouts a day. I'm not coming so close to the amount of hours I was training in Travlon. So my defense, I feel like I'm not doing as much, but my friends laugh at me because I really am.

Klara:

No, I get it, just the amount of hours you have to put into training Travlon. But it seems like you're still driven towards the volume, and volume is relative to what I'm hearing for you. The volume you're doing now is still.

Lee:

I will say this I stopped racing in 2013. So from 2013 to 2022, I did not have Jiu Jitsu and I only did one or one workout a day. It's only been a year and a half where I'm enjoying my morning sessions because I love my running and cycling, but, just so happens, I also love my evening Jiu Jitsu. So now I've had a tweak recovery. I had to go back. I got an aura ring to track, like sleep and other metrics. So I'm feeling a little bit like I'm back on the athlete bandwagon. But the Jiu Jitsu classes are not. They're not as physically strenuous as you would think all the time especially me as a beginner Because there's a lot of technique and you're going very slow and you're trying to learn more moves. So if you will look at the load on the body for those sessions, it's actually not too much, it seems like.

Klara:

Everything you do, though, is still driven by you enjoying it and having passion around it, including your sport, so that seems like the through line. You have a schedule and routine that seems to be working for you, and even the texting during workouts in the morning I'm sensing you actually do it because you love your job so much, so you don't mind getting your cycling or running session interrupted by a few text messages, which I think that's fine if we understand it. I think there are some people who do it because, oh, I just have to do it, but if you're driven and passionate and you really enjoy the thing you're driving progress towards, then I think that's totally fine to have a season where you are fully turned on and dedicated to what you do.

Lee:

And so a couple things on that I told the team when I started. I said listen, I might have even said these exact words. I said I'm not normal. I'll probably text you and email you at odd times and on the weekends, no expectation to get back to me. We all know what the vision is for the team. We all know what the goals are. But just because I text you at four o'clock on a Saturday, don't feel like you have to get back to me. It's just me getting my thoughts out, because my best thoughts and strategies come when I'm working out. So I'll send text messages. So I told the team at the front you know like this is how I operate, but don't feel an expectation to get back to me. And they've been really great.

Lee:

That's number one and number two my work has always been full on, put a lot into it and it's like I talked about. There's a lot of energy that's given out when you're in business development and sales. So at the end of the day, that jujitsu class and even the drive to jujitsu class, that's my recovery. Like that's a cool down, that's an escape when you're doing jujitsu and you're trying not to be choked to death. I'm not thinking about the deals that are pending, right? I'm not thinking about the contract negotiations, like you have to stay focused here. So it is a nice escape to have that, and I can't do that on biking and cycling or running, because I am thinking about work the majority of the time, or what kind of pancakes I'm going to make, one or the other. So it's just the way, the way I've found that I operate.

Klara:

And I like that and thanks for mentioning that, because I do see these through line that it's important for us to balance our activity with how our brain works.

Klara:

In fact, I have the exact same thing that you mentioned and that's why I don't generally love just going for a run or biking, because my head is still always working. It might be good for thinking things through or problem solving, but that's why I still love going to play tennis, although I can't do it very often either because my body is torn up from the sport. But when you do there's this action reaction sports or for the sports where you have to be 100% focused, it allows me to disconnect and get into a different state of relaxation. Because of that, if I'm able to actually do that. You know, some things I'm still processing and then I'm horrible when I'm not on the court 100%. But I do like this kind of mental space that you're actually creating, space for yourself to focus fully on just something else and seem like you're finding joy and passion and jujitsu right now and that's working well for you.

Lee:

I am finding a lot of joy in it. I know I'm on the journey to want to achieve the best I can. I think it's going to be a long term life journey. In jujitsu, you know, people talk about the black belt and it's not about getting the black belt, it's really about getting the knowledge to be able to achieve the black belt. And I know I have such limited tools and knowledge right now. And it's so fascinating because for anyone listening about jujitsu it's so not physical, it's so mental, it is mental chess.

Lee:

And I didn't realize that, you know, until I was a few months in and I know I want my black belt for sure, obviously. I mean I know the type of person I am, but I also know that I need to spend time enjoying the journey and not worry so much about the outcome and the finish line with that one. So you know, knowing what I went through in Trafflon, Madden, the Ugly, and all the mistakes that I made personally, professionally, whatever mistakes we're in, also all the, all the achievements, you know I'm able to take that with jujitsu and just be really moderate with it and just enjoy the process and enjoy that being part of sort of an escape and making new friends, making new communities. There's been so many wonderful positive things that I've gotten out of this practice so far. So you know we'll see where it goes.

Klara:

You mentioned the learnings that you have had from the sport. Now I'm actually curious if you have to summarize it to perhaps the top three that you've taken from your Trafflon journey and now applying every day or kind of checking yourself against. Let's not do this again, Lee, and it could be positive or negative. I want to continue doing this because that's what drove success. How would you summarize that?

Lee:

You know, definitely too much of anything is not a good thing, and you know you don't want to be on the side of too little and you don't want to be on the side of too much. You know, and my whole Trafflon from the business standpoint and my personal standpoint, I was so focused on it and it was just my priority over family, it was my priority over business, and so I really learned a lot from that, which is why I said, like I'm very moderate with Jiu Jitsu. Now, if it were 20 years ago, I would have already had two businesses surrounding it, probably. So, and also, I'm not there every day. I'm there, okay, fine, I'm there four to five days a week, but I'm not there every day, and they are closed on Sundays. So that's, you know, I could be there six days a week, but I'm not. I could be there morning, end night, but I'm not.

Lee:

So this being more moderate was, you know, a mistake that I had made and I've learned from and and I've taken that into all different parts of my life right now. One of the other things that's really interesting is I also wasn't very detail oriented for a long time, personally and professionally, and and I found to be more detail oriented lately. And then it was wonderful because my again my Jiu Jitsu professor, not to go back to that. He has a great saying which is precision and everything, and that just rings in my ear. So I really like that. You know, I think about that probably every day. I thought about that writing an email this morning. So precision and everything. And then I would say, you know, coming from the athlete mistakes I had made in the past to to come to here is Building relationships. Again coming back to relationships, building relationships. So I didn't properly do that in my business life when I did my trough on coaching company, but you know now relationships are so key.

Klara:

I love that I did this separate episode, even just support systems. Yeah, hearing athletes, and really the best athletes, I think a little bit of what I was missing to you and wasn't paying attention is you become who you associate yourself with, especially there's like the five people, right, and so how do you strategically choose especially the five people that are around you, and sometimes it can be actually less, so we're choosing the people that will have your back. It is so important but at least in your profession you have to have that close circle and even broader because, kind of the nature of what you do. But, touching on that, what really comes to mind when somebody says IndyCar or teams is the teamwork, and you did touch on it Several times during this conversations. How do you perceive the teamwork and the collaboration? Because I think for IndyCar racing team it needs to be really Thought through and probably very strategic that everybody is a piece of a puzzle and adds up to this collective wisdom and excellence. Any observations from that lead that you want to share?

Lee:

talking about the team. I cannot do my job without the team around me and I cannot have success, either personally or for the team, without them around me. So you entrust them. You asked them hey, how would you do this? Why don't you come up with the plan and then you work on that and then you can provide feedback to them. I had a colleague on the team Yesterday, the day before, congratulate me on on an achievement or something, and I said Thank you, but this is all our team. I said without you it wouldn't have happened, without Millie it would have happened. So you know, so much of it is on the team because I cannot be successful, the team cannot be successful unless we all work together, because we all bring in different parts to it. So that's why it's really important, like I said when I went up to, to meet them In the shop.

Lee:

I'm more on the, I'm on the commercial side, I'm on the business side, but I made it a point to go down to the, to go down to the shop and talk to the pit crew, as they were training and and, and ask them hey, how are things going on? Lee, this is what I do. What would make your lives better. What would make your work better? And they go wow, no one's ever asked us that. You know what we could really use.

Lee:

We could really use better nutrition at the track. You know it's hot. We're out there all day. We really can use better footwear. You know our footwear falls off. We're not provided for all of these things because I'm gonna be spending a lot of time at the track with these guys, you know. So. This develops cohesiveness and it also tells me what, what challenges I can help Find solutions for for our team. So I think about when you talk about building teamwork, it's it's building relationships and it's it's empowering those people to make decisions. And you know working, working with them. You know no ego in the game.

Klara:

Mm-hmm when you tennis.

Lee:

When you played tennis, you were on the court playing tennis. Would you have been able to see any of the success you had if you didn't have your team around you? I mean sure, yes, you need a sports psychologist, your nutritionist, you know all your strength and conditioning specialist. If you would not have seen that right 100%, including the competition right.

Klara:

It's actually also the people you compete against did make you better. So people always talk about the better players you play against, the better you become. So if you see excellence, it kind of inspires you to push your own performance. So I think it's kind of holistic teams from, obviously, coaches and people you rely on that will give you Candid feedback on how to improve and what you got to drill into to achieve the next level. To you, sometimes the losses is where you learn the most. Actually, I would argue is we learned the most from failure, because there's something about this deep, I guess, disappointment in some ways, or pain, that is associated with failure, and I love Ray Dalio saying this pain Plus reflection equal equals progress. I really think that our human brain even reflect on my own selves Like I rarely learn as much from wins. It's more of like I should have won anyways. But when you really lose in a bad way, that's when you take a deep Kind of view into yourself and try to figure out what do I need to change here?

Lee:

Agree 100% and any of the listeners. I think that's the biggest takeaway from this. You know, don't be afraid of failure. And I've had some wonderful achievements in my life and I've also been Down with nothing, been fired I was fired the same week that I was getting divorced and how to serve my life. It's like I've been at the bottom bottom, you know. But you have to believe in yourself, take leaps and work on all the things we talked about. Like we said, life isn't linear and you learned so much from failure.

Lee:

Had I not gone through that, I would not have taken a lot of the steps I took, and certainly I'm not a billionaire by any means. But you know what I am so happy doing what I'm doing. I'm so happy where I am now, and a while ago I was in a really, really dark place. So it's not like life is always roses and you know, like I say, in in in motorsports and in car race, you know it's not always yachts and parties. You know, enjoying the city ride, e-mails people ask me what I do. I. I tell them I write e-mails and make phone calls and they send me a check every other month. You know that's what I do. But.

Klara:

But so much of what you said is true, and and gosh learned so much from the mistakes one thing I want to ask you is there actually any sponsor that you believe Would be a great fit for your team, that you haven't had a chance to reach out yet, but why?

Lee:

there isn't one. No, I work a lot in in industry sectors. So the one industry sector I would love to tackle Would be entertainment, and I don't like competition too much kind of ammunition. But it's been done before, but I love the entertainment. Like I said, we're on NBC, we have the Indy 500. It's a huge spectacle, like I love it when the entertainment companies come in and they do a sponsorship of a team to help push a new Movie release or TV show release and there's some sort of tie-up on the entertainment side. That's one I would really love to have. But any billion dollar companies I want to sponsor an Indy car team, even half a billion dollar companies, call me excellent.

Klara:

All right, last two questions, lee. We've talked about a lot of tips and tricks, or perhaps more of learnings that you had through, had your journey of sports, business, sponsorships, related even to technology. What would you want to inspire people to be doing more? Offer less often. 2024, as you reflect kind of in the things you're tackling now and again, your own past experiences.

Lee:

You know what I've really been telling a lot of people and and what I found a lot of success in, and we talked about it earlier. But I think, in answering your question, out of everything we discussed, I would say journaling Angle setting. The journaling is great because you, you, you're able to get out in a non-judgmental Platform, your thoughts, your feelings, your goals. It's not going to talk back to you always. Keep it positive and to delve into it even more. I write down my goals. I write down at least three things I'm grateful for for that day and it sounds hokey, but it's so good. But every day I write my daughter's health. It's like that's always number one for some reason. It's like I have to put that. And then three affirmations, you know, keeping it positive, keeping it direct. Not I wish I was this, I am this, I will do this. And so I think the takeaway of journaling Angle setting is really it really important and it helps build confidence.

Lee:

It's been a game hate to use that word, but it's been a game changer for me. Love it.

Klara:

Love. It actually reminded me had a journaling practice for quite a while. I still do now I'm changing it kind of based on my seasons of life. But I do agree kind of the gratitude writing three things you grateful for in the morning. It gets you grounded and changes your perspective. So thank you for reminding me. I think I need to add it back to my list of my morning routine. It's been fantastic conversation. Anyone who's intrigued Want to get in touch with you, talk about all you've shared here or perhaps potential new sponsorships. What's the best way to reach you?

Lee:

That's way would be just through my website, zollmancom. It's just my last name, calm, and then LinkedIn. Linkedin are the best ways to get a hold of me and and thank you for having me when we talked earlier just being able to talk about, like sports, the athlete mindset Translating into business and technology, like it's so exciting, like I'm really excited to get my day going now.

Klara:

Well, thank you so much for all the wisdom and experiences you have shared with us, lee, and look forward to staying in touch. If you're in Austin, please let me know. Would be great to meet you in person for beer coffee any world, if you enjoyed this episode.

Klara:

I want to ask you to please do two things that would help me greatly. One please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting platform that you used to listen to this episode. To please share this podcast with a friend who you believe might enjoy it as well. It is a great way to remind someone you care about them by sharing a conversation they might be interested in. Thank you for listening.