As the new year rolls in...

It is not only important to set goals for yourself in life, but more importantly to do everything in your power to achieve them. Whatever your goals might be make sure to have them however small they may be. My new year's goal is to keep this blog going. I have been going strong for a week now and it challenges me to keep moving forward in my dream to become a successful sports agent.

As I walked thru Walmart this weekend with my wife I was looking for some lent brushes couldn't find any so I asked the first employee I saw. My mistake, here I thought someone who stocked shelves at walmart might know where something is. The first person's response was "that's not my area, try back in housewares". We proceeded to housewares and found the first employee I could. "Mam, could you please point us in the direction of the lent brushes?" I would love to give you a quote from her but it was more like a grunt and a nod. She clearly didn't know what I was asking. At this time I realized asking an employee there was a waste of time. I turned around and not more than 5 feet from where this second lady was stocking items was a lent brush. It never ceases to amaze me at how ignorant our society is becoming. Even people who lack the ability to put together a sentence are given jobs in a people oriented service industry. These people did not challenge themselves. They did not push themselves to conform to society norms, Instead they take the lazy easy way out, make minimum wage and are prepared to blame their own misfortune on the world.

You are what you make of yourself. If you have a dream don't lose sight. At some point in life we all fall down. I have had my falls believe me, at 28 I have experienced many highs and lows in my life. Stallone put it best in rocky 90 that came out this week "its how hard of a hit can you take and still keep moving forward." This new year's stick to your resolution, if you fail you can always blame the world like the rest of the unsuccessful. As for me I will keep getting back up and moving forward, whatever life throws at me.

If you choose education...

Like I have, then you would be ignorant to not do a dual degree program. The JD/MBA programs are offered at all the schools that have a business and a law school. This option gives you much more flexibility both in your studies and in your fall back job options should you not have what it takes to become an agent. A dual degree is not something that will be easy. It may even require more time devoted to school but the length of time it takes to attend school won't be extended. You can finish a dual MBA/JD in 2-3 years the same amount of time it would take to do just one.
Even though I am starting my sports agent plan 3 years before school is over I am also starting my backup plan. Currently I work for a Hospital consulting firm. With 3 years experience at this firm while attending school I will be all but assured a top executive job at a hospital when I graduate. The hospital industry use to exclusively only hire graduates with a masters in health care administration. That approach proved to be extremely flawed. As I see on a daily basis the majority of the health care industry is so screwed up management wise that the turnover on top positions is 25% a year. Hospitals are now looking for management with more of a business background. A CFO or CEO at a hospital starts at about 150k for smaller hospitals and scales up to 1.5mil for the larger institutions.
It is very important that you don't go into the sports agent business without a backup plan, as is the case with any job. Just because you have a backup plan doesn't mean your giving up on your dream. I just means you have the mental capacity to understand that some people aren't made for certain jobs/industries.
I have made a list of the top 50 law schools and Business schools in the country. http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pqEK1iAf88wqyAsjfp-fsOQ

Education or experience

I don't think its any secret the sports agent world is dog eat dog. With the number of agents growing every day the question remains; Is it better to spend an extra 3 years in school, or spend that time learning the ropes and getting your foot in the door with just a 4 year degree?

An argument can be made for either side. Most agents who are in the business are not super successful. Some take a shot because they are former athletes, some have all the credentials to be a successful agent but no personality, and others have all the personality but no education to back it. Now days It seems that athletes are looking for more one stop shops. They like the ability the bigger firms have to handle all the sections of their life and career. They would rather not be bothered with life's menial nuances. This mentality tends to favor the individuals who have more scholastic experience. One of the biggest draw backs to completing ones education before becoming a sports agent is the education loans that follow.

Most successful agents won't make meaningful money for the first few years. It takes time to build a reputation and network. With the added cost of law/business schools this makes the first few years even tougher on the newbie agent. This is where someone with just a 4 year degree has an advantage. Their loans are not as steep, their earning potential in corporate America is not as high, so the income they might be sacrificing by becoming an agent may be pennies compared to the fancy law/MBA grad.

Most of the problems the extremely educated agents have is they lose their passion for the job while finishing the education. They see the disparaging compensation difference between what is guaranteed earnings in corporate America to what they could potentially earn as a sports agent.
According to Business Week's guide to the best business schools the median total pay package for an MBA graduate from one of the top 15 business schools ranges from 135-165k a year. That type of money is tough to turn down your first year out of business school to take a chance in a dog eat dog industry. A lot of peoples priorities change while in school and they don't graduate with the same reckless mentality they had going in. They are ready to settle down, ready for security. That security is not provided in the sports agent business.

The upside for the educated charismatic individuals who stick to the game plan is they have a huge advantage over other prospective agents. Would you rather have your contract in the hands of someone who is an extremely smooth talker, or someone who is an extremely smooth talker and has an MBA/law degree?

Do you have what it takes to become an agent?

Ongoing Revisions...

I added a few of my favorite links today and I will continue to add useful links on a daily basis. I just finished reading "How to be a Sports Agent" by Mel Stein. While a lot of the book isn't useful to American sports agents, I still found ton of useful information in it pertaining to client relations and marketing. Overall I would say it was worth the 18$. It is a quick 1 sitting read as you will probably skip past alot of the chapters pertaining to European sports contracts.

Today was my third day into my revised sleeping schedule and all seems well. With the extra 1.5 hours I have gained in my day it makes it easy to keep up with all the material and research I want to be doing. It looks now like I need to order some more reading material. I will do some research tonight and get back to you on my next reading material choices.

I also found out recently one of the lawyers I work with is neighbors with Ken Kremer. If you don't know Ken Kremer is long time partner of Tom Condon both are pretty big names in the sports agency world. He said he would give Ken a call and get a sit down scheduled. I am pretty excited about this, but I don't want to schedule it until I am completely secure in the directions I want the conversation to go. I know that he and Tom recently signed on to C.A.A. out in LA for a reported 30 million. I also know that C.A.A. has a pretty active internship program and even recruit some lower level agents from those interns. Right now I would kill for a good internship...

Misdirection...

When I woke up this morning I was fully prepared to start my networking frenzy. I wanted to call all my friends/family and get ideas on anyone they might know in the sporting world. Instead I spent time submitting my blog to all the search engines. After 3 days of blogging with no search engine support I had 49 visitors so far today. I have signed up for a couple of free trial search engine optimizations and submission programs. I really like the setup they have at engineseeker.com. I have used them in the past for our website at work, they are very helpful when talking to you on the phone and actually listen to what your vision and budget are. I received a couple of freebies from them and for that I am grateful.

The reason I am going to spend a few days on getting the blog setup submitted and optimized is so I can get some financial support thru the Google advertising. I know it sounds corny and miserly but between the cost of school, living, and supporting my sports agent development things get tight and every little bit helps. Tomorrow I am going to link a few of the good sports agent related sites I have found, and finalize website submissions. I would really like to bolster the visitors so that we can all get some good ideas / advice from other aspiring agents.

Today I started reading "How to be Sports Agent" by Mel Stein. At first glance I wasn't sure that I was going to impressed by it because It is written by a sports agent who is native to Europe. I will have a better report on this book by tomorrow. Lately I have been cutting back on the unproductive TV/Internet time and concentrating more on accomplishing my visions and goals in school and the Sports Agent world.

It is my second day on the revised sleeping schedule and things seemed rather normal today. I got about 5 hours of sleep last night because I had to wake up early for a meeting at work. As of late my energy levels haven't been up to par, but I am completely prepared to blame that on my slacking at the gym. Tomorrow I am going to make it a point to start the gym routine back up again. I paid for the full year might as well use it.

Happy Holidays...

I had trouble falling asleep last night/this morning so I decided to buck up and finish reading "The Business of Sports Agents". Unlike Drew's book which I read all 250ish pages in one sitting, this short 160 page overview reads like a dictionary thru most of it. I did find a lot of the examples listed as interesting, but there was no depth in the stories. Just when you start to get excited about an example you change gears and have to read thru another 30 acronyms to get onto the next topic.

I must admit the book has a lot of great topics, points, and suggestions to solve current issues. What it lacks is the ability to hold one's attention. It is a fantastic resource to find a lot of information about the legal issues as they pertain to sports agents today, but if your looking for something that will help you define your job description and how to go about it, stay clear. The best way I can relate the book to you is similar to this Monday night game on ESPN. The last half of the book reads like the first 2 quarters offense. The book starts off slow but heats up near the end of the first half.

Today is the end of the first day of cutting back my sleep schedule to 6 hours from 7.5. Everything went pretty well today, even when faced with a lack of things to do I wasn't tempted to doze off. I figure the first day or two should be on par and I just hope I can stave off struggles by the end of the week.

I have been thinking of things to further my progress tomorrow and I think I am going to spend a few hours and reach out to my current contacts to see if they know anyone in the sports agent business I can call on for advice. Make sure you stop by my profile and listen to the audio sound byte. I listen to that at least 3 times a day to help me stay motivated.

For the sharks that need sleep...

Last Thursday night I started and finished the book by Drew Rosenhaus "A Shark Never Sleeps". It is definitely a must read for any aspiring agent. Whether or not it is entirely true really doesn't matter. It will hold your attention rather easily. The only thing in Drew's book that I don't think I can accomplish myself is operating on only 4 hours a sleep a night. I decided today to take a few hours and do some research to see if its possible to train your body to need less sleep.

On an average night I usually get about 7-8 hours of sleep. I can operate on 3-4 hours of sleep but not sustained. I was hard pressed finding any clinically proven ways of training your body to need less sleep. There are a lot of people claiming they have done it. Most of the clinical sites use the same line. That your body knows how much sleep it needs and to deprive that is unhealthy. Most of the regenerative properties of your body excel while you sleep, everything from hormonal balance to skin repair. I even read that sleeping more helps you stay thin. I don't know how much stock I put into that last find, but overall the tone was its unhealthy to try and sleep less. Most of the successful executives I know do so on about 6 hours of sleep a night. This week I am going to try cut back from 7 hours a night to 6.

The big plan...

Before heading back to school there were three things I wanted to do with my life.

1. Be a fighter pilot
2. Become a professional poker player
3. Become a sports agent

Of those three options the latter seemed the most reasonable and easiest to achieve. I am very good at persuasion and was given a gift for the gab. My IQ is 138, I took a practice LSAT just out of curiosity and scored a 169 with no preparation. That is high enough to attend any law school in the country.

The plan now is to finish my major in communications, get a minor in accounting and follow those up with a JD/MBA degree. It is going to be a long road and the only way I am going to be successful in the business, is to start networking now and never lose focus on the end goal. To do that I have started this blog. I am committed to daily progression toward the end goal of becoming a sports agent. Every day I am going to do some form of research, networking, or marketing of myself. I will keep you abreast of my progress on a daily basis via this blog. Any encouragement and helpful tips you can provide me with would be much obliged.