While most people remember Shaq for championships and highlights, his biggest long-term move may have happened off the court.

What athletes can learn from Shaquille O’Neal building one of the most recognizable franchise portfolios in sports.

Over the years, Shaq quietly built ownership positions across:

• Five Guys
• Auntie Anne’s
• Papa John’s
• Krispy Kreme
• Car washes
• Fitness centers
• Real estate
• Big Chicken

At one point, Shaq reportedly owned 155 Five Guys locations and 17 Auntie Anne’s franchises while continuing to expand into new ownership opportunities. (Yahoo Sports)

But the real lesson is NOT just celebrity investing. It’s understanding:

Influence alone is temporary. Ownership scales longer.

Shaq didn’t try to operate every location himself.
He partnered with operators, systems, and proven infrastructure.

A Strategy Built Around Ownership, Partnerships & Long-Term Growth

Most people spend their careers chasing opportunities, while the most successful people spend their careers building systems that create opportunities. There is a significant difference between the two. One approach requires constantly searching for the next client, the next deal, the next investment, or the next breakthrough. The other focuses on building relationships, assets, partnerships, and businesses that continue creating value long after the original opportunity has passed.

When you look at some of the most successful entrepreneurs, franchise owners, investors, athletes, and business leaders, you begin to notice a common pattern. Rarely does their success come from a single company or a single source of income. Instead, they build ecosystems where multiple opportunities work together, creating momentum that compounds over time. One business leads to another. One relationship creates the next opportunity. One investment opens the door to a larger partnership. Their focus is not simply on making money. Their focus is on creating ownership.

Too many business owners become dependent on one company, one service, or one source of revenue. While that may create short-term success, it often limits long-term growth. Real wealth is created when opportunities support one another. A business owner may leverage their expertise into consulting, use those relationships to create strategic partnerships, invest in additional ventures, acquire equity in growing companies, or expand through franchising. Each opportunity strengthens the larger ecosystem and reduces dependence on any single outcome.

Partnerships play an equally important role in that process. Some of the greatest opportunities in business are not created through individual effort but through collaboration. The right partnership can provide access to relationships, resources, expertise, distribution, credibility, and opportunities that would otherwise take years to develop independently. This is why athletes, entertainers, founders, investors, and operators are increasingly looking beyond traditional business models and toward opportunities that allow multiple parties to grow together.

The strongest businesses are built with a long-term perspective. Instead of focusing solely on the next transaction, successful leaders ask themselves how today’s opportunity can create opportunities five or ten years from now. They focus on building assets rather than simply generating income. They focus on creating systems rather than relying on effort alone. They understand that wealth is rarely built through a single event but rather through a series of strategic decisions that continue creating value over time.

At Carey & Co, this philosophy influences everything we do. Whether we are helping develop a franchise brand, building strategic partnerships, supporting athlete ventures, creating content platforms, or helping founders position their businesses for growth, our objective remains the same. We are not simply helping people market a business. We are helping them build an ecosystem that creates opportunities, relationships, visibility, ownership, and long-term value.

Because in the end, the goal is not to build a business that depends on a single win. The goal is to build a framework where relationships generate opportunities, opportunities create assets, assets create wealth, and wealth creates the freedom to continue building for generations to come.