June 5, 2012

Welcome to My World!

Whether you’ve come here for advice about how to get a job in sports, how to write a book or just to read my ramblings, I’m glad you’re here! Since the topics here can run the gamut, I’ve put some links below to help you get where you want to be – or feel free to just browse around!

If you want to work in sports and need general advice, try these categories:

If you’re applying for a job in sports, try these categories:

If you want to write a book, try these categories:

If you’re just really curious about who I am and how I got to ESPN, read here.

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May 20, 2013

Saturday Millionaires Available for Pre-Order

My book, Saturday Millionaires: How Winning Football Builds Winning Colleges is now available for pre-order! You can find out all about the book and pre-order on the Saturday Millionaires website.

I wanted to share with you the original Preface I wrote, which has since been cut from the book. It explains how this book came to be…

 

Proposals for improving college football are like assholes: everyone has one. That’s how we describe an excess of anything in the South. That’s not what this book is about.

This is the untold story of college football.

Once upon a time I was just a simple college football fan sporting my orange and blue in The Swamp every Saturday, trying to look cute while glistening (Southern women do not sweat) in the Central Florida heat. When the Gators only road to the National Championship in 2006 rested upon what I considered an improbable loss by USC to UCLA in the final week, I agreed with my friends that college football needed a playoff.

Back then, the only aspects about college football that made sense to me were why Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was called The Swamp (the air is thick and full of Gators!) and that something special would happen every time Tim Tebow stepped on the field.

As I reflect upon how I transitioned from there to playing devil’s advocate on topics including pay-for-play and whether the BCS could have survived an antitrust suit, I realize it’s the access I’ve had to athletic departments via my former positions with SportsMoney on Forbes.com, Comcast Sports Southeast, my founding of BusinessofCollegeSports.com and my current position as a sports business reporter at ESPN that have made all the difference.

I remember naively wondering why no AQ conference (that’s Automatic Qualifying, as in the big 6 conferences: SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, ACC and Big East) had snapped up Boise State after it began posting winning season after winning season. By the time the Pac-12 and Big East announced adding Utah and TCU, respectively, in the fall of 2010, I knew why they had ascended to the highest tier of college football: they brought top television markets. Winning teams come and go, but a top market you can count on long-term.

There was the time I thought athletic departments, particularly those in AQ conferences, were printing money. I’ll never forget the dose of reality I was served along with each school’s line item budget I received. If we’re talking about only football, yes, dozens of schools show net revenue, and some are healthier than others.

That football profit doesn’t simply sit in a vault marked “Property of State University Football”. It typically supports most of the other sports in the athletic department, nearly all of whom operate at a loss. At University of Florida, one of the healthiest athletic departments in the country, the average sport outside football and men’s basketball loses $1.4 million per season. Fortunately for the Gators, the profit from football covers all that and then some.

At schools where it doesn’t? That’s when you see those student fee and direct institutional support line items soar. Which brings me to another lesson learned: not all direct institutional support or government support reported on a school’s NCAA disclosure is what it seems. It could be state lottery funds designated for Title IX usage or waivers for out-of-state student-athletes so the athletic department only has to be in-state tuition for those students.

We’ll also take a look at how television changed the course of college football in a 1984 Supreme Court decision and the periods of conference realignment that followed. Lest you think television runs college football, we’ll also delve into conference television networks and the latest long-term television deals. You’ll see it’s the conferences who are the real power brokers in college football today.

Saturday Millionaires will take you inside the athletic departments at a variety of schools from one of the top departments in the country at Ohio State University to smaller departments like Western Kentucky University. I’ll show you their line item budgets, highlight where they excel and explain their struggles. You’ll see how an Athletic Director can change the course of an entire department, like Tom Jurich has at Louisville.

I will also show you how NCAA regulations and federal laws impact decisions made in and around college football. You’ll begin to understand why Title IX complicates pay-for-play plans whether the money comes in the form of an increased scholarship to cover cost-of-attendance or from the pocket of a donor. I’ll show you what would happen if athletic departments lost their tax-exempt status. I’ll even explain why the threat of an antitrust suit has perhaps done more for college football than an actual suit would have accomplished.

Lastly, we’ll talk about the intersection of athletics and academics. There are those who say athletics has destroyed academics at universities. What about the 200 percent increase TCU saw in applications from high school students in Oregon following its BCS bowl appearances? Or how TCU now receives more applications from California than nearby Houston?

Studies have shown athletics impact everything from application rates, to selectivity, academic ranking, donations, state appropriations, licensing and branding. In recent years, those correlations have only grown. The potential influence dwarfs the cost. For example, at University of Florida athletics accounts for just 2.7 percent of total university operating expenses. Meanwhile, Shands Hospital accounts for 33 percent.

The point being that universities are more than single-product academic institutions today. They’re mutli-product entities offering a wide range of products from traditional classroom education to study abroad to world-class medical centers and big-time collegiate athletics. It’s the job of each individual university to choose the right products to make up the entity to form a cohesive unit. Some schools are better at this than others, but that’s a free market economy for you.The most-used words in discussions on college football are “fair” and its antithesis, “unfair”. It’s unfair players aren’t paid when athletic departments are making millions off them. It’s not fair that schools in AQ conferences make more than schools in non-AQ conferences.

I hate the word “fair” and it’s ugly cousin “unfair”. I may begin a campaign to ban them from the English language. Who’s with me?

Maybe you will be after you read Saturday Millionaires.

I won’t tell you that college football, and college athletics in general, is without fault. Like any industry, there are business units and management within those units who bend the rules, sometimes until they break. This book isn’t about defending rule-breakers, it’s about giving you the information necessary to form your own opinions about the business of college football the next time you see a flashy headline.

I’ll give you all of the information I’ve had privy to as a journalist covering college athletics. Maybe by the end you’ll leave the young girl in orange and blue behind like I did and begin to look at college football in a new light. Of course, if you’re a man reading this, feel free to instead leave behind the over-enthusiastic fan with the “O” painted on his chest.

Read more about Saturday Millionaires and pre-order here.

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May 15, 2013

Workshop Wednesday – May 15, 2013

Please accept my apologies for my absence lately. The final edits on my book, Saturday Millionaires: How Winning Football Builds Winning Colleges, were due earlier this week. Needless to say, that’s kept me pretty busy the last few weeks. I’m back though, and now you have my full attention!

 

Each Wednesday I randomly select a cover letter sent in by sports job seekers and critique the letter.

If you want to know more about how Workshop Wednesday works or how to send in your cover letter, see this post.

I have left comments open, but I will only approve comments with respectful questions or comments.

Please note, names and companies have been changed to protect anonymity. The original letter is in italics and my comments are in plain type.

This person is applying to be the athletic director at a DIII institution.

 

Dear Members of the Search Committee, 

I am submitting my resume for the [X University] Athletic Director position at the recommendation of current Athletic Director [John Doe].  I sat down with [John Doe] a few weeks ago and expressed my desire to refocus my career back into Sports Management, specifically in college athletic administration, and sought his advice on how to approach this process.  During the course of that conversation, as he got to know more about me, my education and background, he gave me the strong recommendation that I submit myself as a candidate, and as such, I ask that you accept this letter, my accompanying resume, bio card and references for the position of Athletic Director at [X University].

 

The first question I have is whether the outgoing AD evaluated your credentials and told you that you meet the criteria the search committee has in mind, or if perhaps he was just being nice and encouraging you to follow your dreams. I raise the question because despite the fact that you don’t really outline your credentials (and I’ll cover why that’s a problem later in the letter), I found you on LinkedIn, and I now know that you don’t meet the credentials. I found the job description on the school’s website and it says experience as an athletics administrator at the DIII level is required and coaching experience is preferred. You have neither. I’m going to get more into this later in the letter, but right off the bat I’m seeing red flags. As someone who has served on the Board of Trustees at a DIII institution, I can tell you if I was on this search committee I’m already suspicious of you because you’re throwing around the outgoing ADs recommendation right off the bat in this letter.

Now, if he genuinely thought there were compelling reasons for you to apply (which he hopefully would have shared with you, and you should have included below) and he was willing to put in a personal recommendation for you, that’s another thing. Then I think it’s worth spending time in your cover letter talking about the outgoing ADs recommendation. Otherwise, ditch any reference to it. It feels like you’re trying to claim you have something you don’t – a recommendation from the AD. Unless he’s said he’ll go to the committee on your behalf, you don’t have it.

I am an extremely creative and energetic sport and business management professional.  I offer twelve years experience working in fast-paced, fluid environments where a high level of professionalism is required to handle staff, clients/customers, contractors, budgeting and various other aspects of client projects, tournaments, special events and other charity/community service events.
I have strong core competencies including:  

(1) Extensive knowledge of sports and collegiate athletics

(2) Excellent time management and organizational skills

(3) Enthusiastic and self-motivated 

(4) Excellent communication and people management skills 

(5) Excellent problem solving skills 

 

Don’t tell me you have problem-solving skills, prove it to me. Give me examples of your communications skills. Most importantly, at least for this job, tell me how you have “extensive knowledge of sports and collegiate athletics.” Telling instead of showing is the number one cardinal sin in cover letters (here’s a post on how to avoid it). Ok, maybe number two behind the overuse of the word “passion” (which, thank goodness you avoided). Throwing around a bunch of adjectives tells me nothing. Everyone says these things in cover letters. So, essentially it means nothing. Check out this list from LinkedIn of the 10 most overused words in profiles – you’ve hit on quite a few of them.

I graduated from [X University] with a Bachelors Degree in Exercise Science & Sports Administration, and went on to the [University of Y] where I obtained my Masters Degree in Exercise Science & Sport Management.  As you can see from the attached bio card and resume, I am prepared both academically and professionally for the challenges of running the athletic department on a day-to-day basis and for being a strong role model for [X University] and our student-athletes.  Not only do I have the advantage of already knowing and understanding the mission of [X University], I have lived and executed this mission over the last twelve years of my professional career.  I believe this makes me uniquely qualified to support the student-athletes in accomplishing their goals both athletically and academically. I will be able to convey to them how to take their academic and athletic success beyond the gates of [X University] and into the business world.  I am passionate about sports and have been an ongoing supporter of [X University] athletics since graduating, and have many established relationships with current coaches, faculty and staff at [X University] that will put me ahead of the game when starting out as Athletic Director. 

 

This last paragraph would be great if you were applying to be a mentor in the Career Services department, but it tells me nothing about your ability to run an athletics department.

My path to this Athletic Director position would definitely be characterized as non-traditional, however, I believe that the variety of experiences that I have encountered since leaving [X University] have prepared me as well as or better than traditional candidates.  I appreciate the Committee accepting my resume and giving me thoughtful consideration for this position. I am confident that I am an excellent candidate for this position and I welcome the opportunity to meet in person and speak with you in the near future. 

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Best Regards, 

[Applicant]

A major problem here is that you haven’t addressed how you meet the job description – and why they should overlook the fact that you don’t meet all of the requirements. You can’t just ignore that you don’t meet one of the requirements (a major one, at that), you have to take it on head-on and explain to the committee why they should consider you regardless. I didn’t get any feel for what you can bring to the table that any other candidate cannot. You don’t think other candidates would say they’re creative or have time management skills? You don’t think any of them have good people skills and have coordinated staffs? Tell me what you have that they don’t.

I saw your LinkedIn profile – you do have an interesting background that perhaps they might find interesting. And sure, they’ll see your resume, but you need to connect the dots for them. Detail some of your job responsibilities in the past and how they translate to running an athletic department. Tell them why you can do the job even though you have no experience in administration in a DIII athletic department – although, I think that’s a tough hurdle to overcome. Tell me why you being an alum can help you in fundraising efforts, because that’s where being an alum might give you an advantage over other candidates.

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April 28, 2013

Career Coaching

I want to try out a service I’m considering offering for students, and I’m looking for two students who would like to be my guinea pigs this summer. I will choose two lucky students (undergrad, grad, or law) who will receive my services for FREE this summer.

Here’s what you’ll get:

Introductory phone call: We’ll chat about you career goal, the experience you’ve had so far, etc. so that I can help personalize a plan for you.

Twitter: I’ll work with you on following the right people, creating the right profile, tweeting things that will help you develop professionally, participating in the right chats, etc.

LinkedIn: I’ll help you work on your profile, request recommendations, and join and participate in appropriate groups.

Networking: We’ll talk about events you can attend, how to follow up with people, who you should be reaching out to, etc.

Resume and Cover Letter: I’ll review both and help you edit as necessary.

Depending on your career goal, there will likely be other things I can assist with as well.

Basically, I’ll guide you through all the advice I give on this website, but personalize it for you and your goals. You’ll get my help free, all summer. I think you’ll get as much out of it as you’re willing to put in. Do not apply if you’re not going to put in the work. I’ll give advice, but you’ll have to take the action.

If you’re interested, simply fill out the form below. I’ll accept submissions through May 17th and notify the two winners by May 31st. The winners will be chosen solely at my discretion, so be sure you tell my why I should pick you! If you have questions, please ask them in the comments to this post. I’ll answer in the comments in case anyone else has the same question.

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Filed under Career Advice

April 22, 2013

Students: How to Use Twitter as a Professional Development Tool

 

(logo used with permission of Twitter)

If you read this site on a regular basis, you know I’m a huge proponent of Twitter. After all, I met both my fiancé and my first agent through Twitter (but those are stories for another day). The more I interact with students, however, the more I hear that you don’t know how to use Twitter to further your professional endeavors. I recently asked a group of around 30 students I was giving a speech to last week how many of them felt like they knew how to use Twitter for professional development. Not one raised a hand.

I’ve already given you a post on how NOT to use Twitter, so I wanted to follow up with some advice on how you should use Twitter. If I were giving you advice individually, it would vary according to what you want to do with your career. However, I do think I can give you some generic advice that any of you can apply to your situation.

Approach Twitter as a professional development tool

If you want to use Twitter to further your career, then approach it like you would approach LinkedIn, not Facebook. Don’t focus on following and conversing with your friends. That’s not to say you can’t follow your friends or have a tweet with them here and there, but it shouldn’t be your primary focus.

Many of you have asked if it’s acceptable for you to have both a personal and professional Twitter account. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with that. If I were looking to hire you, I wouldn’t care if you had separate accounts. That being said, you should still expect employers to view your personal account (if they come across it) and should keep it clean. The question I think you should ask yourself is if you have enough time to devote to two accounts. If not, I’d ditch the personal account. Use Facebook to keep in touch with your friends and set your privacy settings high. (And, at the risk of overemphasizing it, still keep it clean!)

If you do choose to go with one account, I like the 90/10 rule. Your tweets should be 90% geared towards your professional goals and 10% can be used for personal observations and comments. (Although, again, those personal tweets should follow the guidelines.) I think it’s important to have those personal tweets to make you more relateable to others and show your personality. However, the majority of your tweets should be focused on professional development.

Post relevant tweets

So, what do you tweet about if you’re still a student with not much experience (if any) in the industry you’re pursuing? Anything related to what you want to do. If you’re a female student who wants to work in sports marketing and you read an article about the growing number of female sports marketing professionals, tweet out a link to the article with an interesting fact you learned. Maybe you want to cover sports business. When you see that Nebraska has signed a new deal with Adidas, tweet it out.

One thing I think students get caught up in is they don’t see any value in tweeting out facts/news already out there. Your goal at this stage is not to break news. It doesn’t matter that a sports business reporter (like me) has already tweeted out Nebraska’s Adidas deal. Instead, your goal is to prove your interest in sports business. If an employer is looking at your Twitter feed they’re not looking for you to be the first to report something – they’re looking to see do you keep your Twitter feed clean and appropriate and do you have a real interest in the position for which you’re applying. If I (as an employer) look at your feed and it’s full of links to the latest sports business news, I’m going to feel confident this is something you have a real interest in doing professionally. In fact, I find so few students using Twitter this way I’d be downright impressed.

Follow the right people

Who the right people are to follow will depend upon what you want to do with your career. An easy place to start is to follow people who do what you want to do. For example, let’s say you want to be in public relations for an MLB team. Every single MLB team lists their front office staff on the team website. Pull up that list and then Google those folks to see if they’re on Twitter. Start following them. Add them to a list where you can easily look in one place on Twitter and see what these people are tweeting about on a day-to-day basis.

Wait, you’re thinking, I have to go to 30 team websites and then Google the five or so people in each PR department to find their Twitter handles? Yes. As Jimmy Dugan would say, if this were easy everyone would do it. If you’re already grumbling about this little bit of legwork, then you’re probably not going to make it in sports. Sorry.

Great example from a speech I gave last week at University of Wisconsin. An undergrad told me he has his first internship with a minor league baseball team this summer in their sponsorship/promotions department. He asked me if I had any ideas for something he could do to really impress them. I suggested he follow every minor league team in his team’s division – more outside the division if he really wanted to go all out. I told him this might give him the opportunity to see tweets about sponsorship activations or promotions other teams are doing. Maybe it leads to a new idea he can share with his team. Perhaps his team will be discussing possible promotions one day and he can speak up and share a success story or failure he saw another team have with the same promotion. I know if I were his boss and he was able to contribute because he’s spending some of his free time following other teams, I’d be impressed. That’s someone who wants to succeed and is serious about doing the job.

This young man I advised at Wisconsin tweeted me just hours later with a screenshot of the teams he was following on Twitter. He doesn’t have to throw around the word passion. He’s proving it.

Put your goal right in your profile

Imagine if your profile says something along the lines of, “Aspiring MLB public relations professional.” Plenty of people look through the profiles of those who start following them. Your profile shows up right in the email alerting them to a new follower. For me, I sometimes click on profiles when my Twitter feed shows a new follower. If you tell me right up front what your goal is, I might be intrigued. If it says “Aspiring sports business professional,” I might check the last few tweets in your feed (which is why the advice above about what to tweet how much of your feed should be professional comes in handy) or even click on your website link, if you have one. I think it’s pretty cool when someone wants to do what I do. I’m probably not the only professional who feels this way.

I think the ideal profile for a student would say where you go to school, your degree program, your year in school and your ultimate goal. Saying, “I love the Braves, my dog and afternoons on the beach (in that order),” doesn’t perk my interest. You’re just another follower. Instead, tell me who you are and why you’re really on Twitter – which, after reading this post, should be for professional development.

For more advice on how to use Twitter, check out the Twitter Advice section on the website and stay tuned for more!

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April 18, 2013

Mailbag: How do I transition from attorney to sports?

Here’s an example of an email I receive quite often from a professional who wants to break into sports. As I tell him in my response, if I had a dollar for every attorney, accountant or other professional who emailed me looking to break into sports, I could probably afford to retire.

Hello Kristi,

I’m an attorney practicing corporate tax law in [City}. Sounds fun, right? Well, I am hoping to change positions and break into the sports business. After following you on Twitter and reading up on your career, I'm confident your advice would be helpful. 

I started off as a sports management major in college and then made the debatable plunge to attend law school. I took several corporate and tax law courses and now work for a major accounting firm. While the work is challenging, my true passion always has been sports. I'm a diehard [MLB team] fan and can remember when the bleacher seats were only $6. I’m also obsessive about [University of X] football and the [NHL Team]. 

I’m looking for a position with either a professional sports team or sports consulting. I know that my background would help teams with things such as contracts and business opportunities. I also know that my love for sports would make my end product high quality.  

I am impressed by the career you’ve had. You’re also a lawyer, and I was hoping you could give me some tips on breaking into the sports industry. A quick email with advice would be great, but if you’re available for a call I’d like to chat. Please let me know if this works for you. Thanks! 

- [John Doe]

 

And here’s my answer….

[John], 

Unfortunately, it’s incredibly rare for someone to break into sports anywhere other than in entry-level positions if they don’t have previous experience working in sports. If I had a dollar for every attorney, accountant or other professional who emailed me looking to break into sports, I could probably afford to retire. I know it seems like you’d have a unique skill set that maybe those working in sports from the bottom up don’t have…but it’s incredibly rare for sports teams/leagues/organizations to hire from the outside. The only exception is when they hire from firms they work with on a regular basis. It’s not as uncommon to see them hire an attorney or other professional from a firm or company they do business with, but I haven’t really met anyone who made it in at a high level any other way. Not to mention, these jobs generally pay less in sports than they pay in the rest of the professional world. 

The best thing you can do is to get some experience with a team and make connections. I can try to give more advice if you tell me the position you’re targeting within a team. 

I’m sorry I can’t give you a more optimistic outlook! 

Thanks,

Kristi

 

After receiving this email, I asked on Twitter if anyone who followed me entered into a mid-level or executive position in sports from a career outside of sports. No one replied. That’s not to say there aren’t a few people out there who have managed to do it, but I believe it’s incredibly rare, with the exception of people who do work for the team through an outside firm or company and are then asked to come in-house. Even that doesn’t happen every day.

If you entered sports in a mid-level or executive position, I’d love to hear from you!

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Filed under Career Advice, Law School, Mailbag

April 17, 2013

Workshop Wednesday – April 17, 2013

Each Wednesday I randomly select a cover letter sent in by sports job seekers and critique the letter.

If you want to know more about how Workshop Wednesday works or how to send in your cover letter, see this post.

I have left comments open, but I will only approve comments with respectful questions or comments.

Please note, names and companies have been changed to protect anonymity. The original letter is in italics and my comments are in plain type.

This person is applying for a full-time assistant sports information director position within a college athletic department.

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am applying for the assistant sports information director and social media coordinator position advertised on [careerwebsite].com. I believe my experience as a four-year [sport] student-athlete at [X University] makes me particularly well-suited for this position.

Unfortunately, due to the demands of my schedule as a student-athlete, I did not have the opportunity to complete any internships during undergrad. However, having been a student-athlete, I understand the athletic department as well as anyone. I understand the demands placed on coaches and athletes, and the importance of communicating the program’s message to outside media.

 

Do NOT apologize for being a student-athlete, which is essentially what you’ve done in the opening sentence. This paragraph gets better once you start focusing on why your experience as a student-athlete makes you a valuable addition to the athletic department. Focus more on that. More on this below.

 

My coursework for my communications degree give me the requisite writing experience required of this position. I have attached several writing samples, as required by the job listing. 

 

Since you don’t have any work experience to detail in your cover letter, I might spend more time on your writing experience. Did you take any courses that are directly applicable to SID work? Perhaps a course on public relations or media relations? Maybe you had a project or assignment you worked on that is worth mentioning here that would translate well to the tasks you’d have as an SID? It’s important to try and connect the dots here. Don’t make the potential employer wonder if you have the skills – show them you have those skills.

 

I welcome the opportunity to speak with you about this further.

Yours truly,

[Jane Doe]

 

This is the first time we’ve had a former student-athlete fresh out of school participate in Workshop Wednesday. I was happy to have the opportunity to address this situation specifically, as I have twice this school year guest lectured at events held by athletic conferences for student-athletes who want to work in sports.

I was recently at UNC and had the chance to tour their academic services facilities for student-athletes. I found a table with literature from career services and grabbed a few interesting looking documents. One was entitled, “25 Traits of an Athlete” and was produced by Career Athletes. You can find a full list of these traits on Career Athletes website, here.

The number one thing I hear from student-athletes is that they’re at a disadvantage because they haven’t interned during their college years. While interning in the athletic department is important and valuable experience, so is being an athlete.

I once dated someone who worked for a large medical device company. He was a former military officer, and the company told him they specifically recruit former military officers and student-athletes. Why? Because they knew those two groups of people had a number of desirable traits like discipline, work ethic, time management skills, mental toughness and competitiveness.

Don’t just list all those adjectives in your cover letter, however. Attempt to paint a picture of your schedule as a student-athlete. Talk about how many credits you took per semester, the number of hours per week you spent on your sport during the season, any required study hours, etc. Maybe you were team captain or involved with the student-athlete advisory committee. Perhaps you participated in fund raising activities for your team or coached during summer camps. All of that is valuable and should be mentioned.

It’s tough to give much more advice without knowing more about you, but hopefully this will get you started. If anyone out there who does hiring wants to chime in, please leave your thoughts in the comments.

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Filed under Application Advice, Workshop Wednesday

April 15, 2013

Tips for Successful Sports Blogging

If you’ve read my career story before, you know I started out as a blogger. My first sports blog was a Braves blog I wrote during my last year of law school (spring of 2007), which quickly turned into an opportunity to be a co-founder a larger Braves blog on a national blogging network. That blog actually still exists (although the national platform it was originally on does not), which is extremely gratifying…but not the point of this post.

After writing on the Braves blog for a couple of years, I started ItsaSwingandaMiss.com in early 2010, a blog where I could spend more time on legal and business issues in baseball and less on game recaps. From there, I began to write for SportsMoney on Forbes.com and Comcast Sports Southeast in May 2010. In April 2011, I decided the popularity of my business of college sports posts on Forbes.com might make for a nice new website for me, and BusinessofCollegeSports.com was born. Finally, in October 2011 I handed over the reigns of BusinessofCollegeSports.com, scaled back my job as an attorney and joined ESPN as a sports business reporter.

I tell you all that so you have a feel for my qualifications to write the following post on how to become a successful sports blogger. I’ve edited many writers on BusinessofCollegeSports.com, and few have lasted the test of time. I get frustrated emails all the time from writers who felt their career didn’t take off quickly enough. They all say they want to duplicate what I’ve been able to do, but I have yet to see anyone take the same approach. So, I’ve decided to give you the inside scoop on exactly what I did.

Find a niche.

You probably already have something you want to write about, but is it unique? Even if you’re blogging about a team or a topic that others cover, it’s important to find a unique angle that sets you apart from the crowd.

Perhaps you’re particularly well-suited to write about a topic because of your day job or educational background. My first niche was MLB’s collective bargaining agreement. I thought I was uniquely qualified because I was an attorney who’d been published in a legal journal for my work on breaking down revenue sharing and the competitive balance tax. I also had a publishing deal to turn that paper into a book. It was that pedigree, and an email to the editor of SportsMoney on Forbes.com, that elevated me from blogging on my own platform (with little audience) to writing for Forbes.com.

My time at Forbes led me to a new niche: the business of college sports. After seeing my posts on college athletics financials get more hits than anything else I’d ever written for Forbes, I decided to launch BusinessofCollegeSports.com. I quickly became the only person writing original content about the business side of college sports on a daily basis. It wasn’t long before I was getting linked to in articles on ESPN.com, CBSSports.com, FoxSports.com, etc. None of those people were linking to me when I was one of dozens of bloggers writing game recaps about the Braves.

Not convinced that narrowing your focus can expand your reach? Check out another post I did where several others chimed in on the value of having expertise in one area versus knowing a little about a lot.

Write frequently.

One major reason most bloggers don’t become full-time sportswriters is that they don’t put in the time. Most start-up bloggers are really excited about what they’re doing for a few weeks. They might post 2-3 times a week for those first few weeks…but then it drops off. Everyone wants instant gratification. If they aren’t getting linked to by major sites or retweeted by the truckload or offered a paid position, they give up.

I ran some numbers on my own work. I wrote 178 posts for Forbes and BusinessofCollegeSports.com in the 16 months before joining ESPN. That’s an average of 11.1 posts per month, or 2.8 posts per week (and that’s not counting a blog a week for Comcast Sports Southeast most weeks). I believe I truly began to set myself apart when I started BusinessofCollegeSports.com. When I founded that website, I vowed to write a post every single weekday. I wrote 133 posts on BusinessofCollegeSports.com from April 18, 2011 to October 10th, 2011. That’s 133 posts in 175 days (while practicing law full-time, I might add). How many of you are writing that frequently?

The odds of getting noticed in your first few posts are slim to none. Getting a paid position after a handful of posts is also unlikely. Writing a couple of times a month isn’t going to cut it. There’s no shortcut. If you want to turn you blogging into a full-time job, treat it like one. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying about how you should dress for the job you want, not the one you have. The same is true for writing: write as if you have the job you want.

Promote your work – the right way.

The last mistake I see people making is with regards to how they promote their work. Social media is an amazing tool that allows you to be “discovered,” but it’s not as easy as sending out scatter-shot tweets to everyone in sports media hoping they notice you or your work. Nearly every day I receive a tweet from someone who wants me to read a post on their blog (or sometimes their whole blog). I click on very few of these. Between ESPN, my freelance work, keeping up this website, editing two books for publication this year, co-hosting a weekly radio show and spending time with my fiance, I simply don’t have the time.

That doesn’t mean I never click on blog links tweeted at me, however.

Which ones do I read? The ones that are relevant to me or seem really unique.

Let’s start with unique. I recently wrote about a high school freshman who emailed me. Before the email, she tweeted me a link to a sports business piece she wrote. In the tweet she told me she was a high school freshman. I’ve never had someone so young send me their work, so I was intrigued. That’s the kind of unique think I’ll click on to read.

Probably more useful to you is my advice on how to target the right people. The number one mistake I see being made is people tweeting me blogs that have nothing to do with what I cover. For example, if you write a blog where you do game recaps, I’m not going to click on it to read unless we already have an existing relationship. I cover sports business. It really doesn’t matter to me who won a AAA baseball game last night.

On the other hand, if you write a blog about a AAA baseball team and cover a successful promotion the team had or a consecutive game sell-out streak, then I’m more likely to read your work, because that’s something I might cover.

The only advice I know to give you is to share with you how I used social media to promote my work early on. I’ve given this advice to at least a dozen start-up bloggers, and most aren’t willing to do the legwork. All I can say is that I did it, and it worked for me.

Let’s say I wrote a piece about FSU football. I would look up the beat writers who cover FSU for the Tallahassee paper and probably other big papers in the state like the Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald, Florida Times-Union and Tampa Bay Times. Then I’d find the Twitter handles for those beat writers. (I recommend starting a spreadsheet so you don’t have to look all this up every time you write about FSU.) Then I’d find the sports radio station(s) in Tallahassee and any other major market that might cover FSU on the air. I’d look up the Twitter handles for the hosts and/or producers. I’d look for writers on the big FSU blogs or anyone who has an FSU podcast. Then I’d tweet a link to my article with a catchy hook to all those folks.

The key is to help these people do their job better. They’re going to click on your link and read it if they think they might get material that furthers their own work.

This isn’t a five minute project. It takes time. It’s easier if you’re only writing about one team, but if you’re like me and write about dozens of teams, it’s a process. I kept a detailed spreadsheet (that I unfortunately lost in a computer crash last year) where I added all these contacts as I wrote about each new team. When I wrote about an entire conference, I looked for the top beat writers and radio hosts for every school. I also added in the writers at ESPN.com on the conference blogs. It’s a lot of work, which is why most people aren’t willing to do it and never end up with the success they want.

My approach led to me being quoted and linked to by newspapers all over the country. It also led to radio interviews in dozens of markets. None of this would have happened if all I did was tweet out my links to the 100 followers I had before I joined Forbes or the 1,000 followers I had in my early days at Forbes.

Don’t make the mistake of sending links of all your work to national writers. Unless it’s a subject that’s the writer’s cause du jour, odds are they aren’t going to read it or retweet it. You’re wasting your time. Spend that valuable time sending it to more local or regional sports media. I can tell you that if I write about Memphis, I get more mileage out of a Chris Vernon (a Memphis radio host) tweet or radio appearance than if I go on Tim Brando’s national show. Why? Because a large percentage of Chris’ listeners care about what’s happening at Memphis. The same can’t be said of Brando’s listener base. The bottom line is that you get more out of something targeted.

 

Is this process easy? To quote Jimmy Dugan from A League of Their Own, “If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it.”

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Filed under Blogging, Career Advice, Twitter Advice

April 10, 2013

Workshop Wednesday – April 10, 2013

Each Wednesday I randomly select a cover letter sent in by sports job seekers and critique the letter.

If you want to know more about how Workshop Wednesday works or how to send in your cover letter, see this post.

I have left comments open, but I will only approve comments with respectful questions or comments.

Please note, names and companies have been changed to protect anonymity. The original letter is in italics and my comments are in plain type.

This person is applying for a full-time position in sports media and marketing. This is a form letter the person is (hopefully) modifying for each position.

 

Dear Potential Employer, 

I am an experienced, knowledgeable, and personable leader who is seeking a position in sports media and marketing. I have three years experience as a sports writer and editor and I have also worked in the Los Angeles film and music industries. 

 

Hopefully you’ll modify the first sentence depending upon whether you’re applying for sports media or marketing. I doubt there are many positions that combine both. Also, I think you need a comma before, “and I have also worked….”

 

With the ultimate desire to work in sports journalism and marketing, I believe I offer the knowledge, leadership, and experience that would benefit your company. I have enclosed my resume in consideration for an opening within your organization. A summary of the value I can bring to your team includes: 

  • Three years of experience as a sports writer and editor where I served a role of training student writers and interacted extensively in the professional world of college sports, primarily football.
  • High-level of adaptability and flexibility gained through critical deadlines, last minute changes, and high-stress management situations. 
I hate bullets in cover letters. Leave bullet points to your resume. This is the place to expand upon some experience you have that relates to the job, not give a brief summary. I think you’re better off spending a paragraph each on two positions you’ve held and detailing what you did in those positions that will enable you to do well in the potential position.
For example, here are some things I would have liked to see you expand upon: how often did you write? What types of pieces did you write? When you were editing, how many writers were you overseeing? When you say you “interacted extensively” what were you doing? Interviewing athletes and coaches? Team executives? I have no idea.

In particular, the strong relationships I built with other media professionals, athletes, and other team members helped to create a solid foundation in my knowledge of collegiate sports. I am certain that my passion for story telling, confidence, and motivation for producing exceptional work would be a welcome addition to your organization. 

My resume will provide additional details concerning my qualifications and accomplishments, and I would welcome the opportunity for an interview to discuss your organization’s top-priority needs and the performance you can expect from me.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Jane Doe 

 

You haven’t told me anything in this letter that sets you apart from a hundred other applicants an employer might get for a sports media position. What makes you or your experience unique?

Advertised jobs in sports receive an enormous number of applications because of the sheer number of people who want to work in any position having to do with sports. You absolutely must set yourself apart. The most important part of that is networking and building relationships, but absent that connection you need your cover letter and resume to make you stand out. Right now yours does not.

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Filed under Application Advice, Workshop Wednesday

April 9, 2013

What’s the Job Market Like for Law School Grads?

I’ve been writing more lately about whether you should go to law school and how to choose a law school. You can see all the posts by going to the Law School category.

Today I wanted to share a new American Bar Association database where you can search for employment data by school. If I were looking at going to law school, I’d definitely be checking this out. It gives very detailed information on how many grads from the 2012 are employed and whether they’re employed full-time or part-time, whether they’re employed in a job that requires a law degree and bar passage, what state they’re employed in, etc.

Law School Transparency has aggregated the data for all schools in this post.

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to do this research. Do not look at stats for a school and tell yourself that you’re different or that you’ll be in the small minority who get into whatever job it is you want. This is a situation where I think you should look at worst case scenario and decide if you still want to go to law school given that worst case scenario. I usually encourage you to take risks on yourself, but when we’re talking potentially 6-figures in student loan debt, I have to urge caution.

I am not saying you shouldn’t go to law school. I am saying you should spend a considerable amount of time doing your research before you decide to go and choose a school.

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April 9, 2013

More on the Power of a Letter

I recently shared with you the story of Pete Van Wieren, in which I highlighted the fact that he typed and sent one letter a day to a radio station in a city with a minor league baseball team in his quest to secure his dream job. I also have similar stories coming up involving former Braves GM John Schuerholz and current Chicago Cubs general manager Theo Epstein, and have previously shared Morgan Rainer’s story about getting her first internship in sports via unsolicited email.

Today I want to share with you the story of a new BusinessofCollegeSports.com intern/writer. What does she have in common with Van Wieren, Schuerholz and Epstein? She’s sending letters in pursuit of her future goal.

Here’s an email I received from Hunter a few weeks ago:

Ms. Dosh,

It amazes me that you responded to my tweet! My name is Hunter Mundy and I’m a freshman at South Granville High School in Creedmoor, North Carolina. I play  varsity softball, varsity basketball, and run varsity cross country. I’m looking to obtain a career in sports business. I have taken business classes to prepare for college, and I’m currently taking the first part of Sports Entertainment and Marketing. I’ve read your website and I would love to eventually have a career just like you! I was hoping that you could give me any pointers and advice to help me to fulfill my goals. Anything at all is appreciated! Thank you so much for your time!

Hunter Mundy

Class of 2016

South Granville High School

 

What first caught  my eye about Hunter’s email is that she’s a high school freshman! I’ve never received an email from a high school freshman asking for career advice.

Based on this email, I offered Hunter the opportunity to write for BusinessofCollegeSports.com to start building her portfolio. Her first post is up today. Her writing skills are better than probably half of the college students whose work I’ve edited. Only two small edits were made to her piece.

Hunter isn’t even old enough to drive yet, and she’s asking for career advice and building her portfolio.

It’s like I always say…if you’re not doing it, someone else is!

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Filed under Career Advice, Networking