Billionaire Success Lessons: Why Tiger Deserves To Be A Billionaire Athlete!

Many are mediocre, but Woods epitomizes excellence. His constant struggle is to be the best he can be. Thus, he continually pushes himself to the very limits of his own capabilities. Time after time, his determination to excel have allowed him to surpass insurmountable odds and emerge a champion. I guess the perfect characterization of how good Woods is comes from golf pro Jack Nicklaus, when he stated “Tiger Woods plays a game that I am not familiar with.” At just thirty two, he already has decades of experience and has even impressed other golf professionals with his level of excellence.

Perhaps, we can all learn from Tiger regardless of our professions. As Dr. King stated, “if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music…” Excellence is rewarded tremendously. Unfortunately, it is easily a forgotten ingredient in our over-scheduled, fun-obsessed society.

Brand Equity

What do you get when Woods endorses your product? Well, you get an athlete who is at the very top of his game who is free of drama.

I am convinced that endorsement deals are a driving factor behind many celebrities cleaning up their acts. Although the bad apples may get tons of attention, it is the clean ones that are endorsement gold. One example of this is Omarosa, of The Apprentice fame. Although she may still be the most recognizable reality TV villain, she has continually been unable to properly capitalize on her celebrity because her bad girl image draws disdain. The same is true for a slew of celebrity starlets.

Woods on the other hand has created an incredible brand, and the lucrative endorsement deals continue to chase him. For example, the eye care facility where Woods received his Lasik procedure still shells out millions every year just for using him in ads. Additionally, he has very lucrative deals with Buick, Nike, Accenture, American Express, and numerous others. In fact, he ranked number 1 for Fortune’s 2007 list of endorsement earnings for receiving an estimated $100 million. The main reason why his brand is so strong is because he knows how to balance having an extremely high profile with tons of attention without any scandal, which is not an easy feat in today’s digital age.

Arguably, his brand is his most valuable asset. The numbers do not lie: his endorsement earnings far outpace his direct golf earnings.

High Income

Although there have been several accounts of individuals with modest incomes becoming multi-millionaires, no such examples exist for billionaires. For several years, Tiger Woods has been amongst the highest earning celebrities, period. Just check out Forbes Celebrity 100 (2006, 2007, and 2008). As alluded to earlier, the primary driving factor behind Woods wealth is ability to secure lucrative endorsement deals. In fact, out of the nearly $850 million he has earned so far, his golf earnings account for about 1/9th of his wealth according to a recent post by the Wall Street Journal.

Net Worth

Perhaps the most extraordinary part about Tiger Woods wealth is his ability to build his net worth. Although with respect to sports, Tiger is in a financial league of his own, several others have had fantastic incomes and yet failed to achieve the elusive billionaire status. It is always a lot easier to achieve a high income (not that it is easy to achieve a 9-figure income) than to obtain a high net worth, which typically requires at least some financial planning and discipline. It is not “how much you make” but rather “how much you keep” that is the true mark of financial intelligence. In financial arena, Woods is a “pro” as well.

It is no wonder why Tiger is about to cross the billionaire threshold, after all, he has earned it!