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Key Takeaways
- Woods believes effective ownership begins with understanding the day-to-day.
- Completing required franchise training at Smoothie King gave him firsthand insight into operations and the realities his team faces each shift.
- From trucking to Smoothie King, Woods focuses on putting the right people and processes in place early.
Xavier Woods has spent nine seasons in the NFL as one of the league’s most reliable safeties and now lines up with the Tennessee Titans.
He plays a position built on trust, preparation and discipline. So why did he spend two weeks of the off-season working the line at a Smoothie King?
Woods was there by design after acquiring a Smoothie King location in Georgia. As part of becoming a franchise owner, his required training meant making smoothies, cleaning bathrooms, taking orders, running inventory and learning the cadence of a store one shift at a time.
“I had to go in two weeks and be a worker,” Woods says. “Make smoothies, learn the daily operations, then learn the managerial stuff, and then learn the ownership side. I was just a team member at Smoothie King. Cleaning up, cleaning bathrooms. I had a great time.”
That hands-on approach reflects how Woods approaches entrepreneurship. His first investment was in real estate, a family-connected property in Atlanta that needed work. Instead of flipping it during a hot market, he and his wife chose to hold it. “My wife said she wanted to keep it,” Woods says, “and it’s been good to us.”
From there came trucking, a business he describes bluntly as high-risk. “Insurance tells you how risky something is,” he says. “And trucking insurance is very, very high.”
The eventual hands-off nature of operating a trucking business appealed to Woods. “Once you get the people in place, you can multiply,” Woods explains. “If you try to do everything yourself, you can only go so far.”
That same thinking carried into franchising. Smoothie King offered familiarity, focus and an operation that fit alongside his other ventures while allowing room to scale.
Building beyond football
For Woods, money came before mastery. That order mattered.
When he entered the league, the financial education was there, but the urgency was not. “I heard it,” Woods admits. “But I wasn’t really listening.” Like many young players, saving felt obvious, investing felt abstract, and risk sounded unnecessary.
Time changed that. So did experience.
Now, Woods’ advice to younger players is simple: Save early and move slowly. “The first couple years, just save your money,” he says. “Don’t jump into anything unless it’s a home run.” Real investing, in his view, comes later, after your income stabilizes and you can survive mistakes.
That philosophy carries into how he grows businesses. Woods prefers systems that reward patience. Stocks before speculation. Real estate before leverage. Franchising only after understanding the operation at the ground level. He favors acquisition over building from scratch, prioritizing cash flow over speed. “If you build new, your money just sits there,” he explains. “If you acquire, day one, you’re making money.”
Marketing, too, is treated as infrastructure rather than performance. His name on a storefront or a construction fence is not about celebrity — it’s about accountability and letting people know who stands behind the work.
Family shapes every decision. Woods names businesses after his children. They visit job sites and walk through stores. “Everything is for them,” he says. The long-term goal is not just income, but continuity and something that lasts beyond contracts and seasons.
He handles giving back the same way, from hosting football camps in his hometown to running holiday food drives and partnering with organizations that support children with special needs, inspired by his daughter. None of it feels transactional — it feels personal.
When asked about the future, Woods is clear. He plans to double down on Smoothie King, expand deliberately and add new ventures only when he’s ready.
Through all of it, one principle stays constant. “Just be humble,” he says. “No matter where you’re at.”
This episode was recorded on October 17, 2025.
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Key Takeaways
- Woods believes effective ownership begins with understanding the day-to-day.
- Completing required franchise training at Smoothie King gave him firsthand insight into operations and the realities his team faces each shift.
- From trucking to Smoothie King, Woods focuses on putting the right people and processes in place early.
Xavier Woods has spent nine seasons in the NFL as one of the league’s most reliable safeties and now lines up with the Tennessee Titans.
He plays a position built on trust, preparation and discipline. So why did he spend two weeks of the off-season working the line at a Smoothie King?