Where are they now? Jason Nightingale

Long before Jason Nightingale called time on his decorated 266-game career, he had taken steps to set himself up for life after footy.

The Dragons premiership winner completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Wollongong in 2012 before starting his own education business, Elite Athlete Business School, in 2014.

Now 38 and six years into NRL retirement, Nightingale has found a happy balance in his professional and personal life, working as the Director of Partnerships at CNG Property Group and an Ambassador for the Dragons, as well as training regularly and spending quality time with his three children.

“I started an education business 10 years ago, well before I finished playing, and that set the foundations for the entrepreneurial experience,” Nightingale told pan66.com as part of Hostplus’ ‘Where Are They Now’ series.

“I was at uni studying business and learning about a lot of big business and it didn’t really float my boat the way the smaller, more agile businesses did, so I asked my career coach in NRL Welfare what I should do and they said the best way to learn is to start one yourself so we did that.

“Ten years on and I have a business partner who is a CEO who runs all that and seven staff who do a great job in the delivery of education across all sport in Australia which we are really proud of.

“I learned so much out of starting a business while I was playing and the only way I was able to deliver on that was working with people who knew what they were talking about and I think I learned so much in that space.

“You need to focus on your strengths and know what you’re good at and surround yourself with people who can help fill in the gaps of experience that you are inevitably going to have if you spend 12-13 years playing rugby league.”

It was through his role at the Dragons that Nightingale met CNG Property Group executive chairman Michael Vumbaca, who was keen to have the 33-Test Kiwi join his team.

After doing his due diligence on the company, Nightingale decided it was the right fit for the next step on his professional journey and he hasn’t looked back.

“Picking a business to work with is the same as picking a football club,” Nightingale said.

“Look at their goals and their values and culture and say, ‘how do I align with that?’

“Understanding who you are and what makes you tick will allow you to add value to those on a similar trajectory or to be able to say ‘no’, this is not what I believe in, this is not who I am, because you can’t fake it forever.

“Michael got me in two years ago and it has been awesome - the industry [strata management sector] is growing and this business is growing.

“Our headquarters is in Surry Hills and we have 13 branches across NSW including Wollongong, Caringbah, Hornsby, Byron Bay, Brookvale and Ryde.”

Despite the fact his education business was already well established when he retired, Nightingale admits the transition from footy to work wasn’t all smooth sailing.

“I did all that preparation and had started a business four years earlier but the reality on the other side is a lot different and you need good mentors,” he said.

“You have this freedom when you retire but it’s also scary so being able to build out the right schedule and plan for yourself is the biggest challenge.

“I built out the fundamentals of the week and continued doing the things that made me feel grounded, like exercise and spending time with the family.

“Then you build that out and build out the business growth and make sure you stay disciplined to that.

“I learned a lot about myself through the process of doing things outside sport and I was lucky enough to play all my career at one club so I had friends and family and a support network around me.

“In terms of your identity, it’s about understanding who you are without a Dragons jersey on.

“I spent a lot of time investing in who I might have been and what are my strengths and weaknesses and then being able to understand who you are without that.

“Beyond that you need to figure out what are your skills and values and foundations of your own beliefs and that’s a really good parameter for how to make your next decision.”

The man who scored 110 tries across his NRL career, including a double in the 2010 grand final win over the Roosters, said the best thing about life after footy is having the ability to control his own schedule and build in time for professional and personal pursuits.

“The best thing about it is being able to control my own time, you don’t have that as a professional athlete,” he said.

“Being able to build your own week, your own year – it’s daunting at the start but once you get the hang of it you understand that you can prioritise and you are managing your own time for the success of whoever you are working for.

“My strength is keeping the energy up, keeping my own energy up, and prioritising. When things are too full, I choose the right thing to let go of, or say no to, or reschedule.

“Be as energetic and positive version of myself as I can and when it becomes too much I choose the right thing to get rid of.

“One of the big keys is understanding what I already had learned and how to apply that - performance under pressure, communication, leadership, how to treat people.

“The biggest tip for those people playing is take note of those high-performance environments you’re around and figure it how to apply those elements to your outside of sport life.”