From Shedeur Sanders to Solopreneurs: The Power of Equity
- Kimberly Bradley
- Aug 20
- 3 min read
Shedeur Isn’t Just Playing Football—He’s Playing Ownership
When Shedeur Sanders entered the NFL draft, people expected him to follow the same path as other athletes: take the paycheck, run the plays, and keep quiet. Instead, he added what he calls a “Prime Equity Clause” to his deal.
That clause means when jerseys with his number sell, he earns royalties. He’s not limited to a flat salary; he tied his income to his brand and impact. His jerseys moved an estimated $250 million in pre-season sales, a record-breaking figure.
Some argue this is why he dropped to the sixth round of the draft, but that misses the point. What Sanders did is a blueprint for how to move in every industry: don’t just accept a wage—negotiate equity.
What Prime Equity Really Means
Prime Equity is simple: your money follows your name, image, or creation—not just your hours.
Shedeur Sanders → royalties on jersey sales.
Musicians → royalties every time a track streams.
Writers → licensing fees for reprints.
Solopreneurs → tokenized royalties every time a journal, course, or audio track is resold.
Equity = Time × Ownership ÷ Exploitation.Cash pays once. Equity pays repeatedly.
Black America and the Equity Blind Spot
Historically, Black creators, athletes, and innovators have built cultural goldmines but rarely owned them.
Music: From blues to hip-hop, most catalogs were sold off or stolen.
Inventions: Black inventors filed patents only to watch others profit.
Athletics: Multi-billion-dollar leagues exist on the backs of Black players, with few equity stakes offered.
Michael Jordan: The most iconic sneaker line in history generates billions annually, yet Jordan reportedly holds limited stake in the business built on his own name.
Here’s the Pareto truth: 20% of decisions (choosing equity instead of flat pay) could have delivered 80% of the generational wealth Black America lost.
Where Equity Is Headed in 3–5 Years
Tokenization and blockchain are transforming equity into something accessible:
Market forecast: By 2030, 10–15% of global assets could be tokenized. That’s trillions of dollars in real estate, art, music, and IP moving on-chain.
Best case scenario (70% probability): Early solopreneurs who tokenize now lock in royalties and multi-channel revenue streams.
Worst case scenario (30% probability): Regulation slows mass adoption, but tokenized IP still outpaces traditional licensing.
The opportunity is clear: the “equity class” of the next decade won’t only be hedge funds and billionaires—it will be creators who learned to tokenize their work.
Ranking the Equity Plays for Everyday People
Not all equity is equal. Here’s a weighted breakdown for solopreneurs: (GET 50% OFF 1 ITEM USE CODE: SANDERS12)
Royalties on IP (35%) – Tokenized journals, courses, music. Immediate, repeatable, scalable.
Licensing agreements (25%) – Deals with platforms or schools. Lower volume but high leverage.
Equity-for-service (20%) – Trade work for small stakes in others’ businesses. Long-term upside.
Revenue share deals (10%) – Affiliate and platform splits. Good cashflow, weaker long-term hold.
Crypto holdings & fractional assets (10%) – Buy tokenized real estate or equity slices. Slow build but compounding.
Focus on the top 20%—royalties and licensing. That’s where 80% of results come from.
Blind Spots and Risks
Equity ignorance: Less than 10% of Black entrepreneurs in the U.S. negotiate equity into deals.
Token hype vs. utility: Over 80% of NFTs sold in 2021–22 lost value because they were speculative art, not tied to usable IP.
Job structures: Fewer than 25% of corporate jobs offer equity or stock options to employees below management.
If you don’t ask for equity, you almost certainly won’t get it.
Seven Ways to Bank Yourself with Equity Today
Tokenize one journal, checklist, or course module. Bake in 5–10% resale royalties.
Register music or affirmations with ASCAP/BMI, then tokenize them for dual royalties.
Draft a one-page licensing agreement for your IP.
Negotiate rev-share instead of flat fees with printers or platforms.
Trade services for micro-equity (0.5–3%) in clients’ businesses.
Allocate 10% of monthly profits into fractional crypto assets or tokenized real estate.
Teach your kids to release their art or ideas as tokenized products so equity becomes second nature.
The Quantified Takeaway
If you release 30 tokenized products in 6 months, averaging $2,000 upfront sales and $100 in resale royalties per product, that’s:
$60,000 in upfront revenue.
$3,000 in annual royalties.
$15,000 in licensing income.
Total: $78,000 in 6 months—and royalties that last beyond the year.
Cash dies fast. Equity compounds.
Closing Call
Shedeur Sanders is showing America something bigger than football. He’s proving that even in a system designed to exploit talent, you can demand ownership of your likeness and your legacy.
The same principle applies to every one of us. Stop selling once and losing forever. Start owning in perpetuity. Whether through tokenization, licensing, or royalties, equity is the only game that pays beyond the field, the stage, or the cubicle.
Bank Yourself—or be banked by someone else.
Ms. Kimberly, you never seek to amaze me. Knowledge, knowledge.
FACTS! This article is so timely and what i need; thank you.
This article is very informative!