Building a $12K NIL Business as a College Athlete ft. Jayln Evans

In today's episode of The Business Behind The Game, I sat down with Jayln Evans, a Division I football player, entrepreneur, and founder who built a real revenue-generating business while balancing college athletics and a full course load. As a preferred walk-on at Fordham University with no scholarship and no guarantees, Jayln earned his way onto the field, became a team leader by his senior year, and graduated with a degree in Business Administration with minors in Sports Business and Entrepreneurship. Off the field he founded 4Q NIL, an athlete marketplace connecting college athletes with brands, which he scaled to 350,000 Instagram reach, 100 plus athletes, 35 universities, and $12,000 in revenue in just three months from his dorm room. In this episode we cover Jayln's journey from preferred walk-on to team captain and what it actually took to earn everything without a scholarship. We get into how he built 4Q NIL from scratch while still playing football, what the pitch to brands actually looks like, and why a small school athlete with the right audience can outperform a Power Four player with more followers but less engagement. We also talk about the financial mistakes athletes make with NIL money, where the NIL landscape is headed, and his advice for anyone trying to build something while the odds are stacked against them.