Jake Miller
Happy Wednesday,
Jake Miller has been writing scripts for athletes and sports media personalities since before most people knew that was a job.
He started at VaynerSports, spent years helping athletes transition from press conferences to content creators, and now helps run Arvelo Media, a company that helps athletes in sports figure out what to make, how to make it, and whether they should make it at all.
This week, Jake and I went deep on the questions I think about the most as a creator.
If you're not 110% committed to competing on that field, there is somebody who is — and they're gonna take your viewers."
How They Got Here
Grad school: Saw a gap (Nebraska football players couldn't monetize while in school), but the second they graduated, brand deals were available. Built a pitch, got a lot of blank stares, and the business failed. But Blake Lawrence of Opendorse told him it was a good idea anyway and that relationship was worth the whole thing.
VaynerSports internship: Cold-emailed his way in. Watched his team close a six-figure coffee deal for an Iowa cornerback. Saw it work for the first time.
First solo client: AJ Vaynerchuk called him about a Jets linebacker who wanted to create content. The offer was $24,000. He turned down a job offer from the Colorado Rapids three weeks before his start date to take it.
Today: Helps run Arvelo Media, writing scripts and building content strategies for athletes, broadcasters, and sports personalities.
The Big Idea: The "It Factor" Can't Be Taught, But It Can Be Identified
This is the thing I've been trying to articulate for years, and Jake helped me get closer to it.
There are hard skills you can teach someone:
Editing
Hooks
Thumbnails
Cadence
Strategies and tactics exist, but there's a gap between the 75th and 100th percentile of creators that no amount of coaching can close. Jake and I landed on a word for it: motion. The willingness to just keep making things, through uncertainty, through low views, through the phases where it makes no rational sense to keep going.
"I don't think it's an accident that Will Compton is one of the greatest, like one of the best athlete creators out there.” - Jake Miller on Will Compton (above)
The people Jake has the most success with are the ones who've already been throwing things at the wall. They already understand how hard it is to write, edit, and publish something. His value becomes immediately clear to them. The people who are hardest to work with are those who want the content without the identity of a creator.
The athletes who tend to win in digital media, Jake pointed out, are almost never the ones at the absolute top. It's the fringe guys. The ones who never got to assume anyone knew who they were. Will Compton is one of the best athlete creators alive, and he's spent his entire career establishing his own credibility from scratch, video after video. That context-setting is a muscle. And the athletes who had it handed to them their whole lives often don't have it.
5 Tactical Takeaways
1. Establish your credibility early — not to brag, but to earn the click. When a viewer first encounters your content, they have zero context about who you are. The most valuable thing you can do in the first 5 seconds is answer: "Why should I keep watching?” For one of Jake's clients, that was "I spent 12 years in the NFL"—repeated over and over. Not ego for ego, but for permission.
2. YouTube is a coliseum. Don't enter unless you're ready to compete. Jake scares most clients away from (longform) YouTube first. The reason: in 2026, you're not competing with other athlete creators, you're competing with the best media companies in the world. If you're not 110% committed, someone who is will take your viewers. Entry without commitment is worse than not entering at all.
3. The two archetypes, and which one is easier to help.
The passionate but lost creator: Already posting, already grinding, just pointed in the wrong direction. Easiest to help because they already get it.
The reluctant creator: Knows they should be posting, but doesn't want to. Often, athletes transitioning to broadcasting need social media for network optics. They’re the hardest to help and usually produce the most friction.
4. Commit to the bit: mystique or access, not both. The half-measure is the worst outcome. Either be Michael Jordan (nowhere to be found until The Last Dance drops and the world loses its mind), or be fully accessible and own it. The faux-access version (manicured podcasts, all-ad Instagram, celebrity appearances where nothing real gets said) erodes trust without building anything. Pick a lane and go all the way.
5. If you don't have a POV yet, don't post. The worst outcome isn't low views, it's audience capture. You start making content you think the algorithm wants, it works, and now you're locked into making stuff you never wanted to make. Jake's advice and mine align here: go live more life first. Be an interested person before you try to be an interesting one. The content will follow.
Why It Matters
The line I keep coming back to from this conversation is something Jake said almost offhand: it's a miracle sometimes what we can make given the lack of resources and lack of buy-in.
I think that's exactly right. There are so many things that can prevent a piece of content from getting out: a bad thumbnail, a late file, a client who won't press publish, a platform that buries it. The creators who last aren't the ones with the best setups. They're the ones who make it happen anyway, through every wall that Jake and I spent an hour describing.
AI isn't going to close that gap; it’s only going to widen it. People who already know what they're doing will become more productive; meanwhile, those who are unclear about what they're competing on will get buried under an even larger pile of content that was cheaper and faster to make than theirs. Still, the answer isn't to fear; it’s to get clearer on what you're actually good at and go after it relentlessly.
That's the whole conversation in one line, honestly.
📩 And don’t forget: Bottom of the Ninth is back this Friday with the top three stories in sports and business from the week.
See you then,
Tyler & Jake