A quarterback came to me last spring. I’ll call him Matt. Matt had just signed his first NIL deal. $900,000. He was 18 years old. Enrolled early. Hadn’t played a single college snap yet. His phone was blowing up. His family was excited. His teammates were asking questions. Nobody was talking about taxes. When we finally sat down, I asked him one question. “Matt, what did you set aside for the IRS?” He got quiet. “I didn’t think I had to do anything until April.” April came. His tax bill was deep into six figures. He had set aside nothing. The IRS classifies NIL income as self-employment income. You are not an employee. You are a business. And the IRS expects quarterly payments throughout the year. Not one lump sum in April. Here is what we built together: → A cash, tax and savings plan with accurate projections so we knew exactly what he would owe from day one → An LLC with S-Corp status so he could be paid as an employee of his own company → A real business with tracked expenses that reduced his taxable income → A quarterly tax payment schedule based on our projections, eliminating penalties and interest $900,000 is life-changing money. Only if you keep it. I work exclusively with athletes navigating exactly this. If that is you, or someone you know, my DMs are open. ♻️ Repost this. There is a NIL athlete somewhere who needs to read it today. Trust me.