Thirty Under 30 Awards
If you’re a rising star in the sports industry – or know someone who is – it’s time to make your nomination for the inaugural Thirty Under 30 Awards brought to you by SPORTS LAUNCH – The Magazine.
The Thirty Under 30 Awards have been established to recognize college students and young professionals under the age of thirty who epitomize one or more of the following attributes within the sports industry: hard work, innovation, creativity, leadership and entrepreneurship.
Winners of this special group will be featured in the next edition of SPORTS LAUNCH – The Magazine (March 2012), giving them the recognition they deserve.
To nominate your candidate, or apply for this award yourself, complete the application form found here: http://sportslaunch.net/30-under-thirty.
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Chris McKinney is the president of SPORTS LAUNCH™, a career services firm dedicated to helping college students and career-changers launch sports careers. Chris' new book, How to Land Your First Job in Sports: 7 Simple Steps can be found on www.SportsLaunch.net.
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Are you seeking a career in the sports industry or are you already steeped in it? No matter where you find yourself, I have highlighted seven helpful ways to use resourcefulness so you can gain an advantage in the sports field.
1. Preparation Is Everything. It’s always a good idea, whether in your career or in life, to be proactive instead of reactive. The more resources you have prepared ahead of time, the better equipped you’ll be when life gives you a present; expected or unexpected. If you’re seeking a sports career, be proactive by making sure your resume, cover letter, and reference list are polished and ready to go.
If you want to take your current sports career to the next level, prepare by taking relevant classes or workshops to increase your industry knowledge – your professional accomplishments will shine bright. Remember, prevention is better than cure. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Seneca [click to continue…]
Michelle Hill, the Strong Copy Quarterback for Winning Proof, is a sports and fitness copywriter. My mission is to help pro athletes, coaches, and sports agents increase their success score in their entrepreneurial endeavors with my writing expertise and creative turn of mind.I write website content, client letters, media pitch letters, sponsorship proposals, and brochures for sports-related companies. www.winningproof.com
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Our friends at Column Five Media has done it again with this NFL Lockout Infographic. Make sure to check out the previous NFL Lockout post but also learn more about how the NFL Lockout could impact businesses in this image above. Here is a line from the original post at the intuit blog.
Even though intervention from the judicial system has ordered a lift on the lockout, analysts anticipate the owner-player disputes will continue. If it does, here’s what the NFL lockout could mean to small businesses
What are your thoughts on the NFL Lockout situation?
Some teams are knee deep into playoff ticket sales, renewals for next season, and a rush of new season ticket sales to reserve their priority numbers for next season. That’s great! However, this may not be the case for the rest of the teams in the NBA, NHL, or NLL.
Great seasons have come to a close and the focus already is on next year. What are you doing in your front office in the off-season to continue to engage a greater fan base, those hard-core fans, and businesses that use season tickets for employee or client entertainment? [click to continue…]
Kristen Sonsma has spent most of her sports career in ticket sales with experience in the AFL, MLS, and NHL. Connect with her on LinkedIn or on Twitter
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Guest Post by Sam Caucci
It’s that time of year. From coast to coast trainers have just finished preparing NFL hopefuls for the most important race of their football career: the tests where millions of dollars are on the line. NFL Agents have turned over their newest investments to NFL Draft Prep facilities all over the country. As big as the NFL Scouting Combine is, only around 345 players get an invite, a highly competitive niche market for training programs.
Ten years ago NFL Combine training was offered in a few select facilities across the country. Today, it’s hard to find a facility without it. For the biggest facilities this is a $500,000 addition to their revenue stream; for others it is an opportunity to earn a name for themselves in the market.
A lot of action. And before that, a lot of selling.
So, how exactly do you sell a player on moving across the country and putting their trust in you? Just take a look at the principles that have guided me to bring nearly 300 NFL Draft prospects in the door. Here are the 3 principles that I live by in order to pack a facility full of NFL hopefuls: [click to continue…]
Sport, unlike other forms of entertainment, lends itself to short bursts of consumption and technology is increasingly becoming an enabler in that process. Technology is driving innovations in how we watch sport and even changing the reason why we watch it in the first place.
Passionate sports fans, especially avid armchair fans, have a scarce resource – our old friend Father Time. We simply don’t have enough hours in the day to watch all the games and action that, in a perfect world, we would like to watch.
Of course, television has historically assisted, in some ways, by offering condensed highlight shows. An example of this for soccer (football) fans in the UK is BBC Sport’s Match of the Day (MOTD), which airs on Saturday night and has held a permanent and iconic place in the weekly viewing schedule since 1964.
Leagues, broadcasters and technology companies can now provide content that only shows the exciting moments (touchdowns, goals, tries etc) or even allow viewers to concentrate on players or statistics which are integral to their fantasy teams. Today’s sports viewer is provided with an array of rich ways to experience this kind of bite-sized action, as well. For instance, MOTD can be watched for free on the BBC’s iPlayer. [click to continue…]
Chris is a strategic programs analyst at the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) focusing on, amongst other things, sponsorship research, analytics and acquisition. He holds a MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Business (AGSM). Chris took part in the school’s exchange program by completing a semester at Stern business school, NYU where he studied sports marketing and sports economics. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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“Attitude is everything. Without a good one, nothing else matters.”– Unknown
To reach your goals in life—especially landing your first job in sports—you have to start with the right attitude. (Read: a positive attitude.) Your attitude will affect everything you do moving forward. This might strike you as standard-issue pep-talk language, but I’ll show you how and why it can genuinely set you apart from your competitors.
Paul J. Meyer, the No. 1-selling author of personal-development materials in the world (More than $2.5 billion, according to Success Magazine) says that success in life is not some magic formula. It’s about having the right attitude.
(Side note: I have to confess, I’ve never heard of Meyer until I read the article. It’s hard to believe any ‘one person’ can sell $2.5 billion worth of personal development materials. But I trust Darren Hardy @DarrenHardy and the editors at Success Magazine.)
Meyer says, “Don’t look to your weakness; look to your strength. Don’t look to your problems; look to your power.”
This is great advice for launching a sports career! However, the ability to ignore your weakness and your problems, while focusing on your strengths and your power, requires a concentrated focus with a positive attitude. [click to continue…]
Chris McKinney is the president of SPORTS LAUNCH™, a career services firm dedicated to helping college students and career-changers launch sports careers. Chris' new book, How to Land Your First Job in Sports: 7 Simple Steps can be found on www.SportsLaunch.net.
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According to their website, Human Performance Mentors works with individuals and organizations in the area of personal development and behavioral change. They work with clients to promote ongoing improvement in all aspects of life such as; relationships, health, wealth, social interactions, personal growth and career development.
My recent conversation with Founder and CEO, Michael Cooper, revealed HPM’s passion for helping others gain the competitive edge, no matter what the field of play. Their educated and highly skilled team works together to coach and empower individuals and teams to move beyond their comfort zone and achieve their greatest potential.
Michelle: How do you help your potential clientele realize how much they can benefit from your services?
Michael: We create awareness. We must first become aware of our strengths and weaknesses as individuals in order to get from where we are, to where we want to go. We do this through several mind exercises. One is called “Unpacking.” We also take our clients through an exercise called “PVG Clarifier.” When clients come to HPM’s mind gym, we help them discover their true purpose in life and gain clarity on what their purpose looks like. From this point moving forward, it becomes clear how to set, discover, and achieve goals they most truly desire.
Michelle: What type of mental obstacles do you encounter when your clients approach you for your service?
Michael: We always share with people coming to HPM, that going through HPM is going to be one of, if not the greatest, challenges of their life. The reason being, most people are operating from a level of awareness of limited thinking. Their current conditioning and habits are blocking them from breaking through to experiencing and living the life of their dreams. Athletes and coaches can’t deny that mental training really does work.
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Michelle Hill, the Strong Copy Quarterback for Winning Proof, is a sports and fitness copywriter. My mission is to help pro athletes, coaches, and sports agents increase their success score in their entrepreneurial endeavors with my writing expertise and creative turn of mind.I write website content, client letters, media pitch letters, sponsorship proposals, and brochures for sports-related companies. www.winningproof.com
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The number one reason people don’t get hired in the sports industry is “Likeability.”
In other words, if you’re not likeable, if you have a chip on your shoulder, if you’re a negative person, if you talk trash about other people, or if you’re just a miserable human being all the way around, nobody will hire you. (With the exception of your state’s DMV department, of course.)
On the other hand, the number one reason you WILL get hired in sports is also because of your “Likeability.” Employers, regardless of industry, will always hire the person they like the most, assuming each candidate has equal qualifications.
Fortunately, there are ways to become more likeable. Dale Carnegie, the best-selling author of the iconic book, How to Win Friends & Influence People, says there are Six Ways to Make People Like You. I’ve listed them below in bold letters. I’ve also included my own comments after each one. [click to continue…]
Chris McKinney is the president of SPORTS LAUNCH™, a career services firm dedicated to helping college students and career-changers launch sports careers. Chris' new book, How to Land Your First Job in Sports: 7 Simple Steps can be found on www.SportsLaunch.net.
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The sports world is like a secret society including a language similar to Morse code. Once you’ve entered through the doors of the stadium, you are adorned with a special robe in your designated team colors. As the next ‘chosen one,’ you receive a purple medal of honor for making it through the doors as you become one of the select few to start your career in sports.
Okay, okay so maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but sometimes I feel this is not too farfetched.
Since working in professional sports, this might still be one of the top questions I get asked as the answers seem elusive to most. A question from fans that bleed their favorite team colors. Also, from soon to be college graduates, who aren’t sure what they are looking for, but have that special sport twinkle in their eyes. This even includes seasoned professionals who are looking to make a career change. All of whom are looking to make their dream of working in sports comes true. Who am I to crush anyone’s dreams and goals? Here is my exclusive insight: [click to continue…]
Kristen Sonsma has spent most of her sports career in ticket sales with experience in the AFL, MLS, and NHL. Connect with her on LinkedIn or on Twitter
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