Plenty of NFL players take low-key paths after retirement—some open restaurants, others start small businesses or move into completely different industries. But former New York Giants wide receiver Russell Shepard chose a route that definitely stands out. Shepard played in the NFL from 2013 to 2019, finishing his career with the New York Giants. These days, though, Shepard is in a completely different line of work. He runs a portable toilet business.

He recently spoke with Codie Sanchez, founder of Contrarian Thinking Capital, where he shared his journey and even gave a behind-the-scenes look at his company, Shep Boys Waste Management.

As he showed Sanchez one of the units, Shepard joked, “It smells like money,” before adding with a grin, “Don’t throw up.”

What really caught people off guard was how quickly it grew. Even though Shepard had no experience in this area, he was making $18,000 a month just four months in. By the end of his second year, his company was already bringing in about $1 million.

A lot of that success came from word-of-mouth publicity and online reviews. Shepard wasn’t starting from zero; he had some help along the way. His business is all about making portable toilets and either renting or selling them.

Well, even while retiring back then, he made a promise.

“I look forward to sharing my reasons and experiences as a student and professional athlete, but more importantly, I look forward to showing how we are all more than an athlete. Just watch,” Shepard wrote on Instagram.

And only eight weeks later, he did exactly what he said he was going to do.

By the end of his rookie season in 2013, Shepard was already laying the groundwork for life after football. He had launched his own trucking company, and by his third year in the league, the business had grown so much that football almost felt like his side job.

As for his current business, when he decided to do this, even his agent questioned it.

“On Saturday, I decided I didn’t want to play anymore and called my agent to tell him I was done,” Shepard revealed back then. “He asked me, ‘You’re really going to retire to drive a poop truck?’”

And just three weeks later, Shep Boys was officially launched. Shepard spent about a year driving routes himself to really understand the business from the ground up. But how did it really come to his mind?

Russell Shepard turned family roots into a million-dollar move

Russell Shepard has always had a talent for business. As a kid, he saw his grandfather and dad driving dump trucks, learning the value of hard work from them. So when he was playing in the NFL, he was thinking about it.

And after his first season, he launched his own trucking company, and by his third year, that side hustle was already earning him more than his NFL paycheck. Meanwhile, Shepard’s football journey was quite successful. And because of it, he kept his focus by letting his parents, Russell Sr. and Nikki, handle the daily trucking business.

Between 2013 and 2019, he played for different teams before wrapping up his career with the Giants for his last two years. He had 60 catches, gained 847 yards, and scored six touchdowns, with fewer of those during his time in New York. He made nearly $11 million in his NFL career.

When he retired in 2020, he was again thinking about a new business venture, and that’s when he found out about waste management. And created something impressive. His business now operates nearly 1,500 rental units, with portable toilets making up about 75% of the income.

His story serves as an inspiration to many, proving that with the right mindset, one can turn challenges into lucrative ventures. The future looks bright for Shepard, and we can only anticipate what he will accomplish next.

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