TONY:
Hey, everyone, this is Tony. Before we start today's conversation, I want to give you a quick heads up. At the very end of this episode, I'm going to share a piece of music that's very close to my heart — my newest hit song.
If you've ever seen those four words on every coin and every dollar in the US, hearing them in a song gives them a whole new weight. So stick around to the very end. I can't wait for you to hear it.
Welcome back to the podcast.
Now, every great entrepreneur knows partnerships build empires. But what if the smartest lessons about brand deals, positioning, and value creation aren’t coming from boardrooms, but from the world of action sports?
My guest today, Aaron Fraser, is rewriting the sponsorship playbook. He's the founder of The Action Sports Club, where he teaches athletes how to think like CEOs — structuring their passion as a business, building brands that attract opportunity, and turning influence into recurring revenue.
Now here’s why this conversation matters for you: Aaron’s framework applies far beyond sports. Whether you're running a company, leading a team, or scaling your own brand, the same principles drive growth: clarity of message, consistency of value, and the ability to position yourself as a partner, not a commodity.
We're going to explore how to build partnerships that last, leverage social capital into business capital, and create systems that make you sponsor-worthy in any industry.
So if you're ready to think bigger about your brand, your reach, and your strategy for long-term success, this one's for you. Let's begin.
Hi, Aaron, welcome to The Tony DUrso Show.
AARON:
Thanks, man. I'm happy to be here.
TONY:
Oh, it’s a pleasure to have you on. I'm so looking forward to learning about brand leverage. I mean, we’ve been in this for so long as entrepreneurs and business people, we think we know a lot, or we hire people that know a lot, but there's still so much more to learn.
And your focus here, your accent is on turning influence into income and partnerships into power. I mean, those are some big words here. So let's find out more about you.
Aaron, can we start at how it all started? How did Action Sports come to life, where you're helping athletes with sponsorships to grow their business? It’s a very interesting point of view — how did all that happen?

INTERVIEW – PART 1 (BACKSTORY & ORIGIN)
AARON:
Yeah, it all started when I was about five years old and my parents got me and my brother our first snowmobile. And it was pretty quick after that that they realized we were going to be pretty expensive children. Motorsports are not cheap.
So they were like, “Okay, well, these kids really like this. They found something they're passionate about. How are we going to support it moving forward?” And so the first thing that they thought was, “Well, let's actually buy a dealership that sells snowmobiles and dirt bikes, and maybe we can build something around that.”
And so they scraped up business loans and did whatever they could and purchased a dealership that was about an hour away from where we lived. And it wasn't long after that we got into racing. We got into competing at a high level. We made it to a professional level.
Through that, we gained lots of discount-based sponsorships or soft-based sponsorships. We were able to leverage it through the company as well as through our race performance. And we got stuck on this one deal that we were trying to get, which was a factory sponsorship from an OEM — from Polaris Industries, the guys that actually created the snowmobiles.
We were trying to crack this code. Our performance was there, we were winning all the races, we had all the championships, but we still couldn't get that factory sponsorship. And it wasn't until our representative with Polaris was like, “Well, why don't you just come down and race in the United States?” Because we're based out of Canada — a lot smaller population up here, right? In other words, low attention.
So we went down, raced in the US, performed really well, and next thing you know — boom, we got a factory sponsorship. And it started to get the wheels turning: it’s not always been about your performance. It's actually more about how many eyeballs are on you and if that company can actually sell more products or services.
So that kind of sparked it, and it was in the back of my head. And then throughout the years, I ended up having a couple really serious accidents. I nearly backed off a mountain at one point, was resuscitated in the hospital at one point — a couple really scary ones. My brother also had a really bad one where he did his leg in really bad. He broke his femur, and thank God he’s still got it — they almost amputated his leg because of it.
So we had a pretty crazy year and a half, needless to say. And my parents kind of made a decision there. They were like, “You know what? We love that you're racing, we love the racing, but we’d rather have you alive than continue racing.”
So they made a big decision. At that point they said, “We're going to sell the business, we're going to look at retirement. And you guys kind of figure it out on your own. We don't really encourage the racing anymore.”
I went through a period of like twelve years of being a professional athlete, being paid for what I do — to then just off a cliff and nothing left. So I spent that twelve years thinking, “Okay, all I’ve got to do is find a really good-paying career so I can afford to get back into racing,” because I believed that the only way that I could race full time and do what I love was to be a professional, to be factory sponsored like I was. That was the only path.
So I spent years going through different careers, from oil and gas to then getting my electrical trade, and kept running into those catch-22s of now I was needed at work. When I wanted to go snowmobiling or go to a race or anything like that, I couldn't because they needed me at work.
It was in 2016. I'm in this basement suite in this small town where I was working the best job I'd ever had up to that point, the most income I'd ever been making. But I just fully hit rock bottom. I'm laying on this dusty old couch in my work gear and I'm like, I'm telling everybody and telling myself that I'm still a professional athlete and that I'm going to race — and it's been twelve years and I'm still not doing it.
I just had this moment of big low. And I thought, “You know what?” First thing I did is I opened up my phone and I started scrolling on Facebook to try to distract myself. And I see this advertisement come across my feed. It resonated with me because he was an electrician as well. He was traveling in Costa Rica — which I’d just got back from, because my brother actually lives there. So these things just clicked right away and it caught my attention.
He’s talking about laptop lifestyle — I’m sure you've seen those advertisements that were all over the place for years there — and he’s like, “Laptop lifestyle. You can travel and do what you want, when you want. You just need to learn marketing, affiliate marketing,” and everything else.
And I was like, “I don't really care about the travel stuff, but what if I could find a way to build it around my passion of snowmobiling?” And so that's where the rabbit hole started.
I started digging in from there. I ended up working with this crew where I became an affiliate marketer, and I was promoting educational products through social media. I became one of their top affiliates within the first year. I did really well for myself.
At that point, about a year in, the owners of the company looked at me and they said, “Hey, you're obviously doing something really well, and we know you went through our training and you've added your own spin to it. Would you be open to creating a program that we could sell — that we could teach our clients?” And I was like, “Sure.”
So I just kind of fell into this course creation and consulting space. Over the years, I started building out curriculums for educational companies, where they were selling those for 12K to 20K for a twelve-week experience. And then I just had this moment again where I hit this low. I’m like, “Okay, I’ve figured this out, I'm doing good here, I’ve figured out this marketing thing,” which was a huge dark hole of what you can learn there.
And I thought, “These people that I'm working with and teaching — they’re great people — but they're just not my people. I'd love to work with people that are into the motorsports world and kind of build that community again.”
It was in that time I had all these downloads and epiphanies, and I realized sponsorship has always just been marketing for a company. Now I understand marketing in detail, and I knew how to do it before social media was a thing when I was racing professionally. How can I now translate this to this whole online world?
And then that's where it just started to snowball from there. In August 2020, we launched The Action Sports Club and it’s been growing ever since.
TONY:
That is quite a history. It's very interesting. And while you're saying this, I'm replaying and thinking of people that I know in sports — very, very good — and all in the same industry.
One well-known, no problem getting sponsorships. Another, hardly known but with a very active Facebook community, got sponsorships — not quite from day one, but for years, constant sponsorships. And another one in the same sports category — really good audience — hasn't landed a sponsorship, I don't think, for years and years, and yet has won more titles than the others, has won more awards.
So it's not just how good you are, it's not just how many awards you win. There's more to it. Some struggle. And that's why I'm bringing this up, because they’re very talented. I know someone who's so talented, so amazing, yet it seems like he's struggling. He may not be, but he definitely doesn't have any sponsors.
So why does this happen? You know, it's a digital world. You just put it out: “Hey, I won this award. Hey, I'm here.” You're in the media or the social media, the newsfeeds or whatever for your sport that you're winning, yet the sponsors don't just come and knock on your door.

INTERVIEW – PART 2 (TALENT VS ATTENTION, MISCONCEPTIONS)
AARON:
Right. And this was that big wake-up call that I had when I was younger too — those download moments. Sponsorship has actually never been directly based on talent. I know that sounds super counterintuitive, because we think, “Well, the talented ones are the ones that get these big brand deals.”
But the number one factor is actually the audience — the attention. Who’s looking at them, how many people are looking. Talent comes secondary.
There’s a reason that you see now — social media has blown the ceiling wide open — you can have just an average everyday racer, rider, hobbyist who is an amateur at best, but they've built a community and an audience, and they've understood how to leverage that attention. They’re getting bigger brand deals than some of the factory race teams out there.
There are a lot of different factors that come into that. Another part of it is they’re now more relatable to the majority of their target market. Not everybody is a top 0.01% talent athlete, right?
Yes, performance is a great thing. A good saying that we had before social media when we raced was: “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” Right? But that's not really the case anymore.
Now, because of social media, it’s measurable, it’s trackable. It’s this new résumé. You can't lie through a piece of paper — not that I'm saying people would — but you could over-embellish certain things on a piece of paper when you mailed in a résumé before social media.
Now it's like, “Here's my résumé — take a look at my Facebook, my Instagram, my YouTube. Take a look at the channels. Take a look at our following size. Take a look at our engagement.” It's all front-facing.
So I think that's a big factor. First off, realizing that it’s never actually been, number one, directly based on talent. It's always been about the eyeballs that are on you and who those eyeballs are. That’s really what equates to sponsorship, because the reason they sponsor you is for marketing and advertising to produce an ROI.
TONY:
I have questions on that. We're going to dive into that.

SPONSOR BREAK – SHOPIFY
TONY:
We're speaking with Aaron Fraser. We're talking about Brand Leverage: how to turn your influence into income and how to turn your partnerships into power. And you can find him at TheActionSportsClub.com — that’s four words: The Action Sports Club dot com.
Aaron’s approach reminds us that success doesn't just happen because of talent or hard work. It happens when you build the system that supports it. Whether you're an athlete, an entrepreneur, or a business leader, real growth comes from creating the right structure around your vision.
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And now let's get back to this great conversation with Aaron.

INTERVIEW – PART 3 (MISCONCEPTIONS & AVATAR)
TONY:
Aaron, let's talk about misconceptions — myths. Some people, you know, you've mentioned a little bit, but let's dive into misconceptions that people believe about getting sponsored.
Again, it’s like, “Hey, if you win, they'll come.” You win, you place, you're in the top whatever — top three, top five at a sporting event — you would think the sponsors are just waiting to rush out to you. And maybe they are at the right sports events, to sign you on, but it doesn't quite happen for everybody.
So what are these misconceptions that are floating around out there?
AARON:
Yeah, it's kind of like that quote: “If you build it, they will come.” Right? “If I have the talent and the skill and I win the races, the sponsors will come.” That’s not the reality anymore. There's a lot more competition out there, just like I was saying earlier with the creator economy.
So that’s a big piece of it — thinking that talent is the number one factor is a big misconception.
Another one is the understanding of what sponsorship truly is. There are a lot of athletes out there who don’t really click on it fully. They think, “Well, sponsorship is more like a charity. I'm really good at what I do, so I should get paid to do it.”
But the reality is sponsorship is simply marketing for a company. They're looking for a return on their investment. Every dollar they invest into you, they want to see at least two dollars or more back — and that's how you continue that relationship. If there's no positive ROI, then why would they work with you?
So if they don't get that value and benefit, the relationship doesn't last. I think that's a big part of it too: having that realization that, “Hey, I'm here to represent a company. I'm here to advertise and market for them. I'm here to drive more revenue to their business.” And when they can flip that little switch, it really starts to open up the playing field, because there are so many unique and different ways that you can provide value to a company, rather than just running a logo on your race car or on your jersey.
TONY:
Okay, well, let's follow along this thread here. You have a small audience — let's call it small, because they're not millions of people following you. So let's just call it small, whatever size.
How do you become more irresistible to brands? How do you do it?
AARON:
Understand who your audience is. It's about matching that avatar — that target audience.
A great example would be: say you do have a million followers, but you're a big advocate for being vegan or vegetarian. And then you go to a chicken wing company and you look for a sponsorship. Well, the match-up with that… yeah, maybe you've got millions of followers, but the target audience doesn't match up with the product or service they have. So it's not a good connection — unless for some reason that chicken wing company’s big mission is to convert vegans. It just doesn't make sense.
So it's about understanding who your audience is. How would you define them? We have really good practices we take people through, because a lot of it is self-discovery. Who are you? Because like attracts like.
Getting clear on who that audience is, who that avatar is that you're building around and that you have following. Then making sure that audience matches up to the company’s target audience — who they sell to, or maybe a market they’re looking to expand into.
And it’s communicating audience first.
TONY:
Okay. And right before I go into the next question — your company is good at helping define that avatar, because it's not something you easily know. What you think is the avatar may not be who really follows or should be following you, if you know what I mean.
AARON:
Yeah, absolutely. That's something that we take people through in our coaching. We get into copywriting principles, psychology principles, understanding psychographics, demographics, behavior-graphics — defining these different things that really create an avatar.
And then helping define that. When we say avatar, it’s a fictitious person, but it’s defining a core group of that audience of people that you have. When you can clearly communicate that to a potential sponsor, that’s where the conversation starts to liven up, because they're like, “Okay, this audience matches up perfectly with who we sell to.”
So now, if you only have 5,000 or 10,000 followers, but the majority of those followers fit into that avatar, that audience is exponentially more valuable than the million-person following that doesn't match.
TONY:
So I'm thinking with this — it's really again getting to know who your audience is. If you don't know who your audience is, then it can also be who you target with your audience — who you're trying to get.
Because how do you know ten thousand people? I mean, you just don't. There are some ways to find out. How do I know all the people listening to my show? You do the best you can with whatever analytics or metrics are available, but you also know who you're talking to, who you're resonating with. You're not necessarily pitching — I don't pitch anything on my show — but who I am representing and trying to attract.
It's very important. And that alone is helpful for sponsors. They go, “Oh, let's take your vegan example. Tony, you're a vegan, and you talk the talk. Even though there are meat eaters in my audience, a vegan company with some great vegetable supplement or whatever would be inclined to work with me because I target vegans, even though my whole audience isn't vegan.”
So it's kind of like that.
AARON:
Yeah, similar. And when we get into what we offer with our coaching, we even teach media-buying strategies as well. So you can actually target interest-based audiences and get very clear on who it is you want to target and serve your content to.
On top of that, when you understand organic content, it’s: when we build the creative — the image that's involved, the video that's involved, the description we put in when we make these posts — this helps a ton with targeting and feeding the algorithm, if you will, to make sure it's serving it to the right audience.
With our students, we have a lot that start from scratch. They don't really have much of an online presence, or they had something but it's really mixed up. Maybe they've got a couple thousand followers and it's like, “Okay, let's get you building a solid foundation from the beginning so we can make sure we’re targeting really clearly from the start — that we’re really clear on who we're actually speaking to.”
Then of course, this dives deeper when we get into helping them tell their story — what’s their brand story, what’s their origin story? It breaks into: what’s their experience getting to where they are, what kind of values do they have? And that's naturally going to resonate with people that are similar. Like attracts like. So it's going to start to pull those people in.
We have some really cool strategies — not only from the paid-media side to scale it up and target the right people, but of course the organic side to make sure that you're communicating effectively through your content as well.

INTERVIEW – PART 4 (PASSION VS BUSINESS & SYSTEMS)
TONY:
I gotcha. Now I'm going to ask possibly an awkward or strange question, but it's not as strange as you may think. And the reason I say it's strange and awkward is because the athlete we're talking about — athletes getting sponsors — they're very passionate about what they do.
I've run into and met many athletes and they're very passionate. They say, “I do this and I do that.” Whether they boast or are humble, extrovert or introvert, they're very passionate. They love that sport. They love kickboxing, they love running, they love cycling. It's that passion.
To them, it's not a business.
Now, the reason it's an awkward question, Aaron, is because my audience that I target — we're business people, we're entrepreneurs, we're business people. So we would think, “Ah, Tony, that question doesn't apply to us. Why are we talking about this?”
But I still want to address it to see what we can learn from it. Because it's that mindset of: this really is a business. I love doing what I'm doing, I do it every day. In fact, when I first started my business, I did it without any money because I loved it. Every entrepreneur and business person in the world could say, “Yep, that was me,” because nobody knocks on the door — not too many knock on the door and say, “Hey, here's a million bucks. Go be a podcaster.” It just doesn't happen a lot.
So we start with that passion, but we turn it into a business. The athlete kind of doesn't, but needs to learn it’s a business.
So I know I've asked a lot here, but I'm trying to see what we can learn from you on the business mindset of it all.
AARON:
Yeah. I mean, for the athlete out there, something that my grandfather always told me: if you do something that you love, you never work a day in your life. But he didn't leave it there. He expanded on it. He said, “When I say that, I'm not saying you're not going to work hard. The reality is you're probably going to work twice as hard. You're going to put in more hours, you're going to be more invested, because it's something that you love. It's something that you enjoy. You're not waiting to punch the clock and get out.”
So it really stems from that level of passion. And like you said, anyone in the motorsports, power-sports, action-sports world — their life revolves around that sport.
I always ask this really fun question whenever we do enrollment calls to make sure people are a good fit for our community. I go, “Why is the racing so important to you? What is it that's got you so hooked?” And the common through-line we hear over and over again is, “Well, I don't know what it is. It's like therapy for me. It's something that brings me presence — I'm in the now. Nothing else matters. It puts me into flow state, and it's this sensation, this feeling that I'm addicted to. I just love it.”
I think for those who have never been involved in motorsports or extreme sports in that way, it’s very similar to the experience you get through meditation — taking time to be present.
So when we get into these conversations and realize, “Hey, this is something you're going to be doing for the rest of your life,” and they’re all saying, “Yes, of course, I love it, I'm going to be involved in the industry no matter what,” then I say: doesn't it make sense to build assets along the way — build assets around what you're doing along the way — and get paid for it?
So when it comes to what we do with an athlete, it’s starting to put on that entrepreneur hat. We know sponsorship is simply marketing. We know that social media — their main model is, “How can we make sure people stay on the platform so we can serve them ads?” Because that's their business.
So it's taking a page out of their book: how can we build a community, build an audience around something we're so passionate about that we're always going to be doing? You're not having to put on a fake face or act like somebody you aren't, because you're just simply creating content around what you're already doing — the racing, the riding, the driving, the working on your cars.
We’re focused on the media, the advertising, the marketing aspect. It creates multiple income streams. The beauty that comes from this is: when it comes to setting up an LLC or a business, the number one factor is it needs to have reasonable expectation of profit.
That's what social media has done — it’s turned the whole racing community on its head, because now when you build content and create that audience, not only can you get paid just for posting your content — because all these platforms have monetization available — you can get into sponsorship and cash endorsements, which is an income stream. And then our end goal for all our students is: now you’re building this asset, you're building this audience. As it grows, maybe you can come up with your own product, your own service, something that you go directly to your audience with, because you’re literally building an asset that’s only going up in value. It’s appreciating every single day.
The price of attention is not going down; it's going up. You look at the statistics from sponsorship-marketing: before social media, it used to take on average three to five impressions — three to five exposures of a brand to a consumer — for them to take a next-step consideration: buy the product, learn more, become a lead, whatever.
Because of the advent of social media, especially short-form content, that metric has gone up past 30. So now we’re sitting at a place where it takes on average 30 or more exposures or impressions from a brand to a consumer for them to take a next-step consideration.
So the opportunity is there. It's about meeting people where they're at. You look at the racing community now: if you're just sponsored and you don't have an online presence, it's really hard to drive that ROI because of that simple metric. Where now, if we can start pulling that audience into social media and getting them following these accounts and engaging with the content, technically we can get in front of them 24/7, 365 if we really wanted to.
So the opportunity is online. The opportunity is about building community, building audience. I truly believe the future of social media is going to be very interesting. I feel like it's starting to segment out — it's gotten so big now that it's going to be pocketed with these really tight different communities. Those who are leading those communities are going to be reaping much larger benefits than they already are just by having that audience they’ve built.

MY FACET MINUTE
TONY:
Now it's time for my Facet Minute. This is a quick story from one of the facets of my life.
You know, I've learned that passion alone doesn't build a business. It really helps a lot, but structure is what does it.
When I first started The Tony DUrso Show, I was doing everything myself — producing, editing, booking, marketing, etc. I was running on passion and caffeine, but passion without process can burn out fast.
The turning point came when I started building partnerships — people and systems that could scale the vision beyond what I could do alone. That's when things really took off.
And that's exactly what today's conversation with Aaron is all about: how to turn your talents, your energy, and your influence into something sustainable, with structure behind it.
Because the truth is, you can't scale chaos — but you can scale clarity.
And before we continue with this great conversation with Aaron, I want to take a quick moment to thank you for being here. Thank you. Your support means the world to me, and I truly appreciate you following and listening to The Tony DUrso Show.
If you're finding value in today's episode, please hit that follow button and share the show with someone who would benefit. It really does help us reach more entrepreneurs and leaders who need this kind of insight.
And if you haven't yet, make sure you're getting my Elite Entrepreneurs newsletter twice a month. I break down lessons from top guests, share book and podcast highlights, and give you tools to move forward in your Journey to Success. No cost, no fluff, just real value.
Join me at TonyDUrso.com. Let's grow together and keep rising — TonyDUrso.com.
And now let's get back to this great conversation with Aaron.

INTERVIEW – PART 5 (MANAGERS, SYSTEMS, STORY, SOCIAL MEDIA)
TONY:
You know, while you were saying this, I started thinking about the entertainment industry — whatever entertainment you do. Let's just take a band, a singer, a music group, what have you. At some point, you need a manager. You can't book everything and do all the logistics and do everything yourself.
Tell me one person who's become famous and did it all themselves, by themselves. I mean, really — aside from Evel Knievel, which back in the day, he ran his own advertisement. But he had a sneaky way of doing it. Even then, at some point you still need a manager to book and get sponsors and make the calls and do the work so that you can stay focused on your passion — your music, your athletic prowess, or what have you.
So having a manager at some point, I think, is critical to take the next step to grow. Meanwhile, you're still building your brand, you're still getting your trophies or your wins or placing high in whatever races you're doing. But it seems that is needed — to go along with why you're growing. It's an appreciating asset, and a manager or a company that can help with that really seems to be the key to growing that even further.
AARON:
Yeah, I agree. But I do believe that there are a lot of athletes out there who are trying to skip to that step too early. We see that a lot in the industry when it comes to agencies and these types of offers.
From a business perspective, I think your audience will appreciate this: I believe the principle that it's super important to understand how to do any little task or piece within your business first, so you can manage it and do it on your own. You don't have to be the best at it, but you need to understand how to get it done, get the outcomes, get the results. Once you can do that, then you can start to delegate or automate from there.
I feel like there are a lot of athletes out there who say, “I perform well, I just need a manager. I just need somebody to go find me sponsorship.” The biggest problem that comes with that is they have no idea how to hold accountability, they have no idea how to set expectations. And what can happen — not saying this happens to everybody — but what can happen is that agency starts to pull you along: “Oh, just one more month, one more month,” and they keep pushing it down the path to keep it flowing.
Our goal is: how do we empower the individual — the athlete, the enthusiast within the sport — so you understand how it all works, you can do it all on your own? When you get that dialed in, then you can start to delegate it out. Maybe it becomes getting a manager or getting somebody to source sponsorship, or getting somebody to help with your content, and the posting or editing.
But it's like: start at level one first before you try to skip to level six or seven.
TONY:
Okay, I got you. And you may have answered this — I really want to focus in on this. We are entrepreneurs and you very well could have given the answer, but I want to hear it again.
We want to grow in our brand. We want to grow that. How do you suggest we can grow and strengthen our brand identity today — especially with the explosion of AI and zillions of posts and zillions of social media? It's just a barrage for attention, tremendous distractions. You could have the best whatever going on, but there's so much more shooting at people. How do you strengthen your brand identity? What do you have to say to that?
AARON:
Yeah, honestly, it stems off literally the first question that you asked me when we started this podcast: what's the backstory? What's the origin story? What's that brand story within it?
I think that’s a big piece that a lot of people overlook or they don’t put out there enough, because this is the one thing that makes us unique from anybody else. We all have a unique story. We all have unique experiences that led us up to this point to make certain decisions. We all have these unique “line in the sand” moments that made us decide “never again,” or “I have to go this way.”
By defining that and getting super clear on that, I think, is one of the most valuable pieces we can do from a brand perspective. Now it's not about who has the best product or the cheapest product — it's who am I aligned with most?
That's something I’ve found to be super powerful as we built The Action Sports Club. I built this business to work with people that I'd invite over to my house party. We’ve all got a bit of a screw loose already for being involved in the sports we are, so it makes for really good company.
The reason we attract motorsports, power-sports, extreme-sports athletes is because that's what we’re super clear on with our messaging — everything that we do with our messaging, our targeting, our story that we bring in, the story that we take them through as they go through our sales process and our enrollment process. It's very story-focused. I'm bringing up that origin story and bringing up where it all started, why we're doing this, where we're going as far as the vision.
So I think that's probably one of the most impactful things that a lot of people look over: what do you believe in? What do you stand for? Why do you do this? What's the substance behind it? Where’s that origin story that ties it in? Because yours is going to be unique compared to everybody else’s. And when it's said well, it hits and it resonates.
This is the same thing I noticed when I was an affiliate marketer before I started this business. I was really good at explaining my “why” and that story behind it. Any sort of advertising I ran, it was built off that story.
Even a simple point — I wasn't super dialed in with it, but I was passionate about it. When I explained my story and I shared it, there were people who would connect and say, “I don't know what it is about that Aaron guy, but something felt right.”
I think that’s a big stem to this too, because when you start to tell your story, it's yours. I think it's important to give yourself the freedom to tell it with passion — explain it. Explain why you do this stuff, why you're so passionate about it, and share that and put it out there. That's probably my best answer I could give you.
TONY:
I like that. And I have my own answer to that too — I talk about it in different interviews when I'm interviewed. But I'm not going to let go of my thumb — my thumb is on this point, and I'm going to ask from a different way.
And you may think I've asked this before, but here we are: I'm an athlete, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a band — we've gotten some really popular music hits out there, gigs, we do some really great stuff, we do some big shows. People love us.
All right — good. Social media. We talked about it, we touched upon it. Let's dive into that.
How often should I post? Should I talk about why I'm an athlete, why I'm going to base camp for Mount Everest, why I'm doing a thousand-mile cycling journey? What do I post about? How do I post? How often should I post?
This kind of point of view would help for anybody and everybody who's in business or has anything that they want to brand or sell. Let's talk about posting. What should we say? Because there are people that read our posts whether they like it or not. There are a lot of people that don't post, but read. If we say what resonates with them…
So let's dive into social media. What do you think are some good practices?
AARON:
For sure. That’s a common question: how much should I be posting, what kind of frequency should I be working with?
I truly believe in the principle that the more you put in, the more you're going to get out. If you can stay consistent with high volume — great. If your consistency can only be once every week — great. If it's twice every week — amazing. Three times a week — even better. Three times a day — you're crushing it.
So it always comes down to the factor of: I believe the more that you put in, the more you're going to get out, and making sure that whatever you do, you’re staying consistent with. It's way better to post a post a day for seven days than it is seven posts on day one and nothing for the rest of the week.
So consistency. And then whatever volume you can put out — the more, the better.
Obviously there's always nuance. It's never black and white. If you're just posting a bunch of crap, that's not going to be valuable either. If it's not in alignment — if you're just posting what you ate for dinner and it's not in alignment with your business, your vision, the things you're doing — that’s an issue.
I like this story I heard from a mentor of mine that drives the point home. There was a pottery teacher who had two classes. For one class, he said, “Your entire goal this semester is to create the perfect pot.” For the other class, he said, “Your number one goal this semester is to create as many pots as you physically can.”
At the end of that semester, not only did the second class produce exponentially more pots, but their final pots were also way better than the first class, who had been told to create the best pot.
So there's something to be said in that about flexing that muscle and creating content and getting it out there — whether it's documenting, telling stories, getting things flowing. Repetition is the mother of all skill. Getting it flowing is going to make you better at your content, make it resonate better with your audience, help you get feedback. The more stuff you put out, the more feedback you get, and you can course-correct on how you create your content.
So it's a tough question to say, “You need to post X times per week.” I don't think there really is a true answer.
The other part of “What should we be posting?” — this goes off that old saying in the marketing world: “Facts tell; stories sell.” We can look at that idea of selling — we’re selling people to consume our content, selling them to engage with it, to like it, comment on it, share it.
So it's about that “why.” It's about telling a story through what you're doing. It’s not just making a post like, “First place in the race last weekend,” and it's an image and that’s all they've got.
Versus, what if they told a little story in that description? There's a character in a story, there's a set and setting, there's a conflict and a resolution. We can keep stories super simple and they can be told literally in one sentence.
If we just focus on, when we're creating content, “How can we tell a story within it?” — that's the emotional engagement. It’s what has people buy into it, read it, engage with it. Then if you have a product or service you’re offering, it allows you to give that call to action at the end.
So I think that's a big focus — remembering “facts tell, stories sell.” It’s about features versus benefits as well. If it comes to promoting or marketing a product, we want to talk about the benefits involved in it — the emotional side, not just the logical, factual features.
TONY:
That makes sense. It does, and it gave me an “aha” moment — looking at storytelling when you said it could even be one good sentence. Because you don't want to write this whole book: “The other day I was walking down the street and…” and on and on. But the fact that you could make it really, really short gave me an idea. I'm going to apply that on my posts and see what kind of reaction it gets.
I have a couple more questions. This is invigorating because I'm always learning. I'm asking you from the point of view of my own business as well as to help my audience learn for whatever they do.
I want to talk very quickly about business setup — understanding tax strategy for people that may not have that in place. I want to touch upon that. And then I want to talk about your community before we go.
So what would you say? What advice would you give us about setting up our business, making sure we have the right tax strategy and really making sure that's properly in place? Some of us think we can get it from just typing into AI what to do, but it may not necessarily be the best thing for us.
AARON:
For sure. I'll lead with this — I'm not a tax professional. This is not legal or tax advice. We actually have a team of business and tax-strategy experts that we get everybody connected with who goes through our coaching, just to make sure that they're in the best hands and they have something specific and custom to their needs.
With that being said, if we look at our common client that we bring in — the individual athlete that rides or races and works a nine-to-five currently — one of the big things we look at is, for example, if they're spending around ten thousand dollars or more per year into their sport, which is super common in the motorsports world — it’s usually anywhere from ten thousand upwards to half a million plus per year — then get a business structured and set up.
Before social media and before we cracked this code open on how to leverage social media, you couldn’t do this because then you're trying to set up a business around what they would consider a hobby. There’s no reasonable expectation of profit in the racing world unless you're that number one athlete, racing in the big leagues and winning purse money, which again is a small percentage of people.
When it comes to what we teach, now you're building this audience and community through social media. So it’s media marketing. Our entire intent is to build an audience so we can monetize that attention via sponsorship, content monetization and beyond.
So when it comes to structure, typically it’s an LLC structure, and making sure that you have high enough expenses that it makes sense. Then from there, just making sure that you're building your social media correctly so you can get it approved for monetization, and you actually have the skill set and understanding on how to engage a brand for sponsorship.
TONY:
Gotcha. Makes sense. It’s great that you addressed that — that you look at that and that you help your members, your community, go to the right experts to help give them better help, better address it, and better take care of that. That's very good.
And now let's go into your community. Tell us about your community. What is it? What's it like? What would we do if we joined? Give us the lowdown.
AARON:
Yeah, our community is a bunch of motorheads for the most part. Like I was saying earlier, we’ve all got a bit of a screw loose for what we do, but it's a really cool, supportive community.
There's something about the racing community that I've seen as a through-line through all sports. Obviously I grew up racing snowmobiles — snocross — professionally, and motocross as an amateur at best. We saw this when we raced — you'd go to the races and the camaraderie involved there… we would call it our “race family.” You could not see them for an entire season, then see them at the first race of the season, and it's like you picked up like nothing was missing.
So that's really what our community is like. It's that camaraderie, that family. It's people that have the same passion as you and they're looking at what they're creating in the industry — by building audience and creating content and sharing the stoke with each other. Really cool vibe on that side.
As far as getting involved in our community, we have a few ways that you can go through it. We launched our book in June. It became a number-one international bestseller in, I believe, 25 categories. I think it was top-five in 32, which is pretty cool. We had over three thousand copies delivered within the first month of launch.
By grabbing a copy of that — it's available on Amazon, “The Modern Playbook for Sponsorship and Cash Flow,” or you can come directly to us and all we ask is that you cover the shipping and handling costs, so you save a few bucks and get some different access there — which is at The Action Sports Club book.
Inside that book, we literally have a QR code you can scan that sets up a time with our team to get a complimentary game-plan call, get plugged into the community and get access there.
TONY:
Two big questions. One, if we go to your website, can we find that URL to get that free book and pay shipping? It’s connected?
AARON:
Yes, it's connected.
TONY:
Okay. Number two — is your community only for people that are in motorsports?
AARON:
Great question. We focus on — when we say action sports, that's our umbrella. So it's extreme sports, motorsports, power-sports. We have a very specific way of saying it: you should be wearing a helmet to perform the sport.
TONY:
And have a metaphorical set of balls to do it.
AARON:
Yeah — and have a metaphorical set of balls to do it. It’s the extreme stuff. So that's what we focus on in our community, just to keep it tight-knit in that way.
But of course, through our book and the things that we teach, the principles within there apply to all sports and all industries. The principles are all the same. We just choose to…
TONY:
If I'm in martial arts, I'm an archer, I'm a shooting enthusiast, I race — that’s foot race without a helmet — this still has a lot of information that I can use or think with to help improve the business side of my passion. This would be the business side.
AARON:
One hundred percent. Yeah, all the principles apply. What we do is we translate that through the motorsports world, but all the principles are there.
We just actually got a student enrolled before we jumped on with you today. All of our principles apply — he has a rental business for UTVs and ATVs out in the desert. He has a goal of getting into building his own race team as well, but we’re taking him through applying all these principles for his business, because it's within our niche, and then he's going to take those principles — as he increases his revenue with his business — and apply them to his personal brand as he gets into racing.
TONY:
There's a lot here that we've talked about that applies to just about any sport — and any non-sport.
Absolutely. Very good stuff. I really appreciate it.
Once again, this is Aaron Fraser. We've talked about Brand Leverage — how you can turn your influence, how you can grow your influence and turn that into income, and partnerships — how to turn your partnerships into a thriving base that helps support your business.
I love it. Go to TheActionSportsClub.com, check out his link there, get his book.
I really appreciate it, Aaron. I just want to thank you. I learned some things. I got my “aha” moment out of this — I scored.
AARON:
I want to thank you so much, and thank you so much for hosting this too. This was great.
TONY:
Wonderful. Wonderful. Great to have you on, I love it.

CLOSING MESSAGE
TONY:
All right, well there you go, guys. If you like this, do me a favor — do Aaron a favor, do all of us a favor. Share this with your friends. Tell them about Aaron. Tell them about The Action Sports Club and the playbook and kind of a little bit of how it goes.
If the person is in any kind of business — in any kind of business with passion of any kind, just about everybody on earth — tell them about Aaron, what he's been through, what he's accomplished. And perhaps this can help motivate, stimulate, or help take this person to another level, because that's what this show is all about — to take you up another level, another notch.
And wherever you're getting this, you know this: please follow the show. It helps to bring more amazing guests to you.
All right, let's use this and let's help you move on your Journey to Success. Thanks. Remember, just take action. Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds. I'll see you on the next episode.

SONG INTRO & LYRICS – “IN GOD WE TRUST”
TONY:
And before we close today's episode, I want to share something special with you — something I mentioned at the start of the show. This is my brand-new song, inspired by four powerful words printed on every US coin and every dollar. You've seen these words your entire life, but when you hear them as a song, they carry a whole new meaning.
It's called “In God We Trust.” Here it is.
[SONG – “IN GOD WE TRUST”]
Walking by a bus stop, not even a buck
Feeling everything is just plain old stuck
A dime on the ground, I held it to the light
What it said restored my sight
In God we trust, the words shine true
Guiding my steps and all I do
Through trials and storms I find my place
In God we trust, amazing grace
Yeah, I took the next bus though my pocket had no fare
I told the driver my life with a humble prayer
He gave a smile and said, “Go on, son”
I knew then that my hope had begun
In God we trust, the words shine through
Guiding my steps and all I do
Through trials and storms I find my place
In God we trust, amazing grace
I found a diner with a crowd at the door
And asked the kind lady if I could do more
She smiled and said, “You can stay if you try”
With a dime in my hand I whispered on high
When the road feels heavy and hope runs thin
That coin reminds me where faith begins
One small coin, yeah, the truth so wide
In God we trust forever, my guide
In God we trust, the words shine through
Guiding my steps and all I do
Through trials and storms I find my place
In God we trust, amazing grace
Forever we sing, in God we trust
Forever we sing, in God we trust

FINAL CLOSING
TONY:
And that is “In God We Trust,” the song that truly came to me as a gift from God. I hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to hear your feedback.
Thank you for listening, and thank you for spending this time with me today. I hope this episode and this song give you something meaningful to take with you.
And by the way, this song is part of my very first album, which is now out. If you want to hear more of the new music, visit TonyDUrso.com/trust. That's TonyDUrso.com/trust.
I appreciate you. Thanks.
So remember, just take action. Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds. And I'll see you on the next episode.
Your support means the world to me, and I truly appreciate you following and listening to The Tony DUrso Show. If you're finding value in today's episode, please hit that follow button and share the show with someone who would benefit. It really helps us reach more entrepreneurs and leaders who need this kind of insight.
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