April 5, 2012

Workshop Wednesday

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 it 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 position in marketing/promotions in intercollegiate athletics.

Dear Sir or Madam:

 

Only use “Dear Sir or Madam” if there’s no reasonable way of finding out who you should address it to.

 

As a developing professional in athletics administration, I am looking to utilize my passion for the fan experience to enhance the athletic marketing efforts of the [school name]. As such, please consider me for the Assistant Director position currently available. My experience working in athletic marketing, extensive planning skills, B.A. in Public Relations from the [school name] and current graduate work in Communication make me an ideal candidate.

 

My first impression when I read the word “developing” is that you have little experience. I know you’re looking for an entry-level job, but this made me stop in my tracks. I would probably start with something far shorter and combine the first two sentences into this: “Attached please find my resume in application for the Assistant Director [of what - Marketing? - put the full title] position you have advertised.” You can get into your passion (although as I’ve said before, be careful about that one!) later. The last sentence in this paragraph is great.

 

Currently, I am a full-time intern in the Athletic Marketing, Promotions and Trademark Licensing department at the [school name]. My responsibilities include planning and executing marketing plans for volleyball and women’s basketball in addition to assisting with football, men’s basketball, gymnastics and other Olympic sports. I take great pride in seeing a promotion through to fruition. From Girl Scout Day at a women’s basketball game (where 150 girl scouts earned their sports and fitness fun badge) to 11 for $11K in which eleven fans were given the opportunity to win $11,000 at a volleyball game on 11/11/11, I have had the privilege of planning and implementing some great promotions.

 

I like the previous paragraph. You gave concrete examples of what you’ve been doing – that’s great.

 

Additionally, I am responsible for multiple advertising efforts and provide oversight for several key programs. I write, schedule and place weekly radio ads on seven local and regional radio stations. I design billboards for upcoming games for multiple sports. I create, through both words and graphics, a weekly e-mail newsletter that goes out to over 170,000 [school] fans. I also supervise a staff of unpaid student interns who work in the office and at athletic events. I coordinate group sales for all ticketed sports and book birthdays through the Birthdays with the [school] program.

 

Again, great concrete examples of things you’ve done that give you experience directly related to the position for which you’re applying.

 

Previously, I served as the graduate assistant for the Athletic Compliance department at the [school name]. I respect the importance of knowing NCAA rules when employed in an intercollegiate athletics department. Additionally, I have worked in an office environment continuously for the past six years and understand the variety of tasks necessary for operations to run smoothly. I am familiar with all aspects of planning from budgeting to logistics to evaluation. I possess in-depth knowledge of both Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite programs. Furthermore, I thrive in the non-traditional environment that the field of athletics demands, working long hours and attending to every detail from creating promotions to coordinating advertising to seeing to other duties as necessary.

 

While I think this paragraph includes some good information, your letter is getting a little lengthy. The last two paragraphs had the meatier info that is more pertinent to the position and more likely to set you apart from others. I advise cover letters to stay under one page (without having to use a tiny font or decreased margins), so if you need to cut, this is a paragraph where you could condense a little. I like the info about previous athletic department experience, but the last two sentences could go if you need space.

 

While I currently reside in [state], I am extremely interested in relocating to [state] and willing to do so at my own expense. Attached for your review is my resume in which you will find further experience and qualifications. What it cannot illustrate, however, is the level of enthusiasm, dedication, and professionalism that I can offer [school name]. A personal conversation would enable me to greater express these ideas. Please reach me at [phone number] or [email address] at a time convenient for you. Thank you for your time and consideration.

 

This paragraph is another where you can start cutting down. I wouldn’t ever volunteer to pay your own moving expenses. If it’s customary, they’ll just expect it, and if it’s not you may get a paid move. I’d leave that out.

I’d also cut this paragraph way down. Your contact info should be in a header or footer, so no need to restate it here. If you’re going to be in the state anytime soon, I think that’s worth noting in case they’d like to meet you. Otherwise, I’d keep it simple.

Here’s how I’d rewrite the final paragraph:

“While I currently reside in [state], I’m very interested in relocating to [state]. If you wish to discuss my qualifications any further, I’d welcome the chance to speak with you. Thank you for your time and consideration”

Since I would have mentioned the attached resume in the first paragraph, I wouldn’t mention it again here.

 

Sincerely,

[name]

 

This is a pretty good cover letter. It’s a little lengthy, but it could easily be cut down with the edits in the first and last paragraphs. She does a great job highlighting things she’d done in her current position that will translate to the position for which she’s applying.

 

You can find more cover letter advice under the category Application Advice.

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March 29, 2012

How to show and not tell in your cover letter

I’ve talked a lot recently about showing and not telling in your cover letter. I addressed it after reviewing intern applications and in yesterday’s Workshop Wednesday.

You can’t just say you’re passionate about sports or that you’d make a great addition. Well, you can, but I don’t think it puts your best foot forward, and it certainly doesn’t set you apart from the pack.

You need to SHOW it.

Here are some examples from cover letters of interns I hired (excerpted with their permission):

After viewing the posting for the Legal Intern on sportsbizmiss.com, I feel that my professional and educational experiences would make me the ideal candidate for the Legal Internship.  As a law student, I have gained extensive experience working within the sports industry through researching and writing legal memoranda, working and communicating with clients and staff, and developing excel-based salary databases and depth charts.  As a Legal Intern with [company name], I was tasked with creating a player salary database for each NHL franchise, as well as maintaining team depth charts for each NHL team and its affiliates.  Furthermore, through my legal studies and work with the [company name], I have had the opportunity to understand the complexities within the NCAA Bylaws and different Collective Bargaining Agreements.  I am currently writing an essay for my Sports Law course comparing and contrasting the CBA of Major League Baseball with the CBA of the National Hockey League, with a narrowed focus upon free agency and salary arbitration. 

This cover letter gave me concrete examples of projects this person had worked on that would fit in well with my work. Instead of saying he had excellent research and writing capabilities he gave me specific examples of projects he’s worked on – ones that are very much aligned with projects I have right now. That’s why he was hired. I needed someone to help me with some NHL CBA research. If he’d just told me he had experience researching and writing and using Excel, I might never have known he had specific experience with the NHL CBA. He was hired almost exclusively because he told me this.

 

Here’s another excerpt from a cover letter of an intern I hired. One of the things I emphasized in my job posting was the need for my interns to have Excel experience. Most simply stated they had experience, or maybe even that they’d taken a class on it, but this person took it one step further:

I have had a long history with using Microsoft Excel, most recently using if for two honors independent studies, including recalculating MLB player salaries using sabermetric statistics and tracking the numbers and percentages of women in positions with various professional and collegiate sports leagues. I also heavily used Excel while doing research for my senior capstone paper which involved logging and tracking the careers of every offensive player ever drafted in the MLB First Year Player draft from 2001-2006.

This person gave me specific examples of ways they’d used Excel to research MLB. As I’m currently writing a book on MLB, this caught my eye. What if he’d only mentioned he had experience with Excel and nothing more in his cover letter? This isn’t the type of information I would have gleaned from his resume. How would I have ever known? This paragraph was the biggest factor in my hiring him.

 

One last example:

In my time at [Univ.], I focused many of my final projects and presentations on sports. One of my favorite projects was for my Quantitative Methods class in which I did research on MLB attendance. The excel spreadsheet I uploaded to demonstrate my excel skill was a multiple regression analysis for this project to determine which, if any, of my  researched variables had a major effect on yearly attendance. Spending time researching mascots, census reports on city population, city male to female ratios, and stadium longevity was a dream and I’d love to get to research baseball again. 

In addition to excelling in academics in my Masters program I have been recognized by my fellow students as a leader and excellent communicator. In the Spring of 2011, I was elected to the Vice President of Communications position in our school’s student government. I was responsible for helping clubs on campus advertise and sell their events to students and the community at large. I also helped to create the [Univ.] Student Newsletter and supply student interest stories once a week.

Again, she didn’t just tell me she had experience with Excel. She gave me a specific example related to MLB. She didn’t just say she enjoyed researching sports, she gave me an example of things she has researched in the past and enjoyed. She didn’t just tell me she was an excellent leader and communicator, she gave examples.

 

Look at yesterday’s Workshop Wednesday entry (which is not unlike dozens of cover letters I received or my internship positions) and then look at these examples. Do you see the difference?

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March 28, 2012

Workshop Wednesday

Welcome to the first edition of Workshop Wednesday!

Each Wednesday I will randomly select a cover letter sent in by sports job seekers and critique the letter. If you want to know more about how it 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.

 

Dear Malory Smith, 

 

As a side note, I think Ms. Smith works here as well.

 

This letter is to express my interest in bringing my years of experience as a performer to your organization. As a performer with excellent qualifications and a strong desire to excel in this profession, I am seeking to align myself with an organization positioned for strong growth. The scope of my experience includes involvement throughout the community, organizing and executing community outreach events, performing in character in front of large crowds, and operating social media outlets. 

 

If this cover letter was sent in response to an advertised position, you need to indicate the position for which you’re applying. I would address that in the first sentence. Companies will often have multiple positions open, so be clear about your interest. I would say something like this:

This letter is to express my interest in the position advertised on your website for a mascot.

I think you can substitute that for the current first sentence, as the paragraph gets a little redundant about your performance background.

If you’re qualified for or interested in more than one job listing, check to see if you should send separate applications for each. If you’re sending your materials in unsolicited (there were no posted jobs), your opening sentence would vary based on what you know about the organization or how well you know the person to whom the letter is addressed.

 

Capitalizing on my employment with several organizations, I am seeking a professional opportunity where my organizational, creative, and management skills can benefit your organization. With this goal in mind, I have attached a résumé outlining my qualifications. 

 

In the second paragraph I always advise people to discuss past job or educational experiences that directly relate to the position for which you’re applying. This paragraph is extremely generic and tells me nothing about your experience or what makes you unique from other candidates. At this point I’m starting to tune out. Your resume will give me your job and educational experiences, but this is your big chance to tie those to the position – tell me exactly what you’ve done that will benefit me and my organization. Give concrete examples.

 

Here are a few of my significant capabilities: 

  • Outstanding management and problem solving skills with the ability to handle rapidly changing schedules and shifting work priorities.
  • Excellent organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills with the flexibility and experience required to remain highly focused and self-possessed in fast-paced, demanding environments.
  • Strong experience of character performing in a variety of venues and adapting to unique circumstances.
  • Superior ability to manage several projects while meeting rigorous performance standards and demanding schedules.
  • A hands-on team member and critical thinker who can quickly learn new systems, develop useful expertise, and produce significant contributions 
First, be sure you’re consistent. Either use a period at the end of each bullet or use it at the end of none.
Second, I personally don’t like bullet points in a cover letter. They’re fine for a resume, but a cover letter is the chance to tell me a story – about you. Bullet points are not the most effective way to do that.
Again, this is pretty generic. Anyone could claim to have these traits. Show me, don’t tell me. Give me an example of a time when you had to “handle rapidly changing schedules.” Find concrete examples of things you’ve done that translate to the job for which you’re applying.

Given my organizational skills, professional training, and creative skills, I believe I have the qualifications and enthusiasm that you are looking for. I thrive on challenges and will spend the time and effort it takes to succeed. Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to meeting with you.

 

This is a fine ending. As a side note, if you’re applying for something out of town and will be there anytime soon, be sure to note that.

 

Sincerely,

John Stephenson

Enclosure

 

This wasn’t a bad cover letter, it just wasn’t a great one. It is a good illustration of something I tried to explain when I detailed how I made internship decisions. I didn’t receive any cover letters that were filled with typos or blatantly bad, but what I did receive was a lot of generic cover letters that told me nothing unique about the person. In contrast, some cover letters I received were so good I didn’t even feel the need to look at the person’s resume.

Check back tomorrow for an excerpt of a cover letter from an intern I did hire, which I hope will illustrate how you can show instead of simply tell.

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March 22, 2012

Announcing: Workshop Wednesday

As an aspiring fiction writer (in my abundant free time), I follow the blogs of several literary agents. Since my own agent (Laura Bradford) doesn’t have a blog, I don’t mind telling you the BookEnds blog is one of my favorites.

Hopefully the ladies over at BookEnds will take my “borrowing” their Workshop Wednesday concept as the sincerest form of flattery, because I think it’s a great service they provide for aspiring authors. Each Wednesday they critique a query (which is the letter you send to agents to pitch your book)  sent in by an aspiring author.

After reviewing intern applications the last couple of weeks and receiving many emails on the subject, I realized many of you are not comfortable writing cover letters. Half of the applications I received provided no cover letter. While optional, I explained why a cover letter gave many applicants a leg up over the competition. Of the half that sent a cover letter, about half of those were poorly written in the sense that they focused on the wrong things.

I do not profess to be an expert in this area, and I have limited experience hiring, but I have talked to many professionals in sports and they see the same issues in their applicants’ cover letters as I saw in the cover letters submitted to me.

So, this is all a long-winded way of telling you that I am now going to offer some cover letter critiquing.

Here’s how it will work:

  • If you’re interested, you’ll submit your cover letter to me here.
  • I’ll randomly select one cover letter per week to critique.
  • I’ll post the letter and the critique on the blog for everyone to see, but I will remove your name and the name of your school, previous jobs, etc. I’ll remove all information I think might identify you to keep it as anonymous as possible.
  • I’ll do this every Wednesday until I run out of cover letters.

Any questions, just ask below in the comments. We’ll start next Wednesday!

*I should add: I don’t believe you should have one form cover letter you’re using for every job you apply to – I think it should be tailored based on the skills required for that particular job. So, when you send your cover letter please tell me the type of job you would apply to with that particular letter.

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March 14, 2012

How I Made Internship Hiring Decisions

So, it turns out hiring interns can give you heartburn. I had no idea the quality of the applicants would all be so high! I had to make some incredibly hard choices – and, in fact, I’m still not done. That means if you haven’t heard from me yet, you’re still in the running.
Since I’m largely done making decisions, however, I thought it might be helpful to give you a glimpse at what reviewing intern applications was like for me.
Here are some things I noted as I went through applications:
  • The first time I scanned through the names of applicants, I recognized a young woman who had emailed me recently. I decided to read through her application first, and I hired her on the spot. She was the very first graduate intern applicant I reviewed, and I hired her without reading the rest. Why? A number of reasons. First, she had emailed me a link to her blog recently, and I took a quick look and thought it was nicely done. Next, she had a passion for baseball, which showed both through her cover letter and in her job experience. I knew I wanted at least one graduate intern who could start immediately and help me finish up my baseball book, so I emailed her within minutes.
  • Several of the applicants I’ve met in person. One came and found me at MLB Winter Meetings and two spoke to me after I gave presentations to their classes. I found it incredibly difficult to pass on these people, especially when they had an otherwise impressive application.
  • I received recommendations for a few applicants from their professors or other people they know in the industry who know me. I also found it incredibly difficult to pass on these people. In fact, I hired one whose professor I know well and who sang his praises.
  • Cover letters were key! I made uploading a cover letter optional, and I was amazed that many applicants chose not to provide a cover letter. Never miss out on an opportunity to sell yourself! Your resume tells me about your experience, but your cover letter lets your personality come through. Several people whose resumes were average really sold themselves through their cover letter.
  • The majority of those who did write cover letters talked about their “passion” for sports. This is something I did when I was a student applying for sports internships. The one thing every person in a hiring position in sports has told me is that this isn’t enough – virtually everyone applying for a job in sports says they’re passionate about sports. Don’t just tell me you’re passionate about sports – show me. Complete this sentence, “My passion for sports has led me to _________.” For example, if I was writing this last year, I would have said: My passion for sports has  resulted in my getting up two hours earlier every day so I can write a post a day on BusinessofCollegesports.com. See the difference between that and “I’m the ideal candidate for this position because I’m passionate about sports”?
  • Other people in hiring positions might hate me for telling you this next one, but I can’t resist. If you’re not quite qualified for a position – but you’re close – apply anyway. It’s worth a shot. I had a high school senior apply for my undergraduate internship. As soon as I read in her cover letter she was a high school senior, I almost dismissed her application. However, her cover letter was pretty impressive (Hello! Weren’t we just discussing the value of a cover letter?), including her description of her Excel skills. I was intrigued enough to open her spreadsheet…and, wow! It was one of the best Excel samples I was sent (and she only listed herself as having “Intermediate” skills). I liked her so much, I created a position for her. This happens more often than you think.
  • You gained brownie points if your cover letter (yes, here I go again about the value of a cover letter) made it obvious you follow my work and know what I’m doing. For example, one said, “As you’ve stated you’ve done, I’m willing to start at the bottom, work for free, and work harder than everyone else if given the opportunity.” I say that on here all the time, and in person at my presentations, so I know this person has been following along. Take a look back at Jim Saccomano’s tweets about interviewing interns; he values people who come in and know who he is and what he does.
  • There were a few resumes from women with pink font incorporated. While I don’t have a problem with this (and no brownie points were lost), I’m not sure it’s the most professional look. I’d lose it.
  • I always tell people that employers are looking for a reason to trash your resume. I found this to be true. I had so many applicants – so many FANTASTIC applicants – by the end, I was looking for any reason to say no. Many times it came down to something small, because I was hunting for a reason. There are simple things you can do to avoid this – provide all the optional materials, triple-check your spelling, and be sure you didn’t refer to the person or organization by the wrong name (had this twice).
  • You should always be willing to do anything – but telling me what you really wanted to do or had experience in was helpful. One of the questions I asked on the application was what sport the applicant would most want to research. I only asked, because I thought it would help me when it came time to divvy up assignments. While it did accomplish that, some people took it one step further and told me in their cover letter (yes, again – the value of a cover letter!) about their interest in a specific sport. For a couple of people who discussed baseball, that helped me decide they were the perfect person to work on my baseball book. An applicant stating their interest never caused me to say no (I assumed unless the applicant said otherwise they were willing to research any sport), but it did cause me to say yes a few times.

The bottom line is that decisions are made based on small nuances. Each application standing on its own was pretty impressive. Even for a small internship like mine, the competition is fierce. I can’t imagine what a higher profile organization goes through when they hire interns.

The easiest way to stand out is for the person to know you. That’s why I preach over and over again about networking. I can’t begin to tell you how hard it was to say no to people I met – people I knew were doing all the right things in their pursuit of a career in sports.

I’ll expand on some of the topics in this post more in the coming weeks, but until then read (or reread) the posts filed under the Conference Advice and Twitter Advice categories.

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Filed under Career Advice, What Not To Do

March 10, 2012

Internship Deadline

I will close to internship applications at 5 p.m. ET on Monday, March 12th.

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March 6, 2012

Now Accepting Internship Applications!

Before you apply, please read this post.

I will not accept any applications by email. To apply, click on the Jobs Listing tab at the top of the page. Select the internship you’d like to apply for and complete the form. You’ll have to upload a resume for any of the positions, and if you’re applying for the undergraduate internship you’ll have to upload an Excel spreadsheet. Uploading an Excel spreadsheet is also highly recommended if you’re applying for the graduate internship.

Please post any questions you have here or in the earlier post. I’d rather answer where everyone can see than by email or Twitter.

Thanks for your interest!

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March 6, 2012

Looking for Interns

I’m going to be hiring several (unpaid) interns for the summer. These interns will work with me on non-ESPN related matters, so you will not be an ESPN intern. If you’re still interested, keep reading….

The bulk of what I need assistance with is my two books, which are both due to my publishers this summer. The first is called Balancing Baseball: How Collective Bargaining Has Changed the Major Leagues, and is a history of collective bargaining in baseball. The second is Saturday Millionaires: Why College Athletes Will Never Be Paid and Other Untold Truths about the Business of College Football.

These internships are unpaid, but if you’re able to get school credit, I’m happy to do whatever I need to do so you can get that credit. I also give you a nice little shout-out in the acknowledgments in my book.

My current plan is to engage one undergraduate student intern, two graduate student interns and three law student interns. All interns can work remotely – you do not have to live in Atlanta.

Below is a brief description of what each will be working on, but note this may change as I engage in new projects over the summer.

Undergraduate Intern: the undergraduate intern will work primarily on database management, which will require experience using Excel. I keep a lot of databases to keep me organized, and they’re all poorly neglected right now.

Graduate Interns: the graduate interns will be working on a number of research projects dealing with both professional and college athletics. Experience with Excel is preferred.

Law Interns: the law student interns will do legal research on a variety of matters, including legal challenges to the BCS and labor issues in all four major professional sports.

As you can see, I like Excel. In fact, I log almost all my research in Excel. Accordingly, preference will be given to candidates who are experienced with Excel. To show me you know how to use Excel, I’m going to ask you to send an Excel spreadsheet you’ve done as part of the application. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy, I just want to know you can do the basics.

For the two graduate student interns, preference will be given to anyone who can begin working on some projects immediately. I’m in the thick of finishing up both of my books, and I could really use some help right away. I know school is still in session right now, so I’m not looking for you to commit full-time, but I could use a little help sooner rather than later.

In terms of time commitment, I’m looking for students who can dedicate at least 20 hours per week this summer.

I will have instructions for the application up by tomorrow morning at the latest. I will not consider any applications that do not follow the guidelines. I will accept applications for one week or until I get one hundred applications (per internship), whichever comes first.

If you have any questions, please post them here. I’d prefer to answer things here where everyone can see versus getting emails and tweets with questions.

Thank you all for your interest!

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March 1, 2012

My Road to ESPN

Many of the questions I’m asked by students and others looking to get into a sports career relate to how I ended up with my current position as ESPN’s sports business reporter. So, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you my story.

In virtually every presentation I give to students I give these three guidelines for breaking into sports:

1. Be willing to start at the bottom.

A picture from my time with Comcast Sports Southeast

2. Be willing to work for free.

3. Be willing to work harder than everyone else.

Unless you’re a professional athlete who can parlay that experience into a sports career, I recommend the three steps above. It’s what I did.

I grew up wanting to be the first female GM in Major League Baseball, but my second choice was being a corporate attorney. I learned early on that there were two ways to get into baseball: be a former player or start as an unpaid intern. I applied for an internship with the Braves every summer in college. I was an Atlanta native, a baseball enthusiast and attended a well-respected private liberal arts college. They never even interviewed me. (Learn from my mistake. Cast a wide net when you search for internships.)

During law school I found myself without an outlet for my passion for baseball. So, I started a Braves blog one afternoon. After just a month writing the blog, another Braves blogger who was part of a larger network of bloggers asked me to join him. It didn’t pay, but his blog got better traffic than mine. So, off I went to write for his blog.

The next year, I had the opportunity to intern for the WTA Tour. Finally, I could get my foot in the door with a sports organization. It wasn’t baseball, but it was sports. Once it was on my resume, I could apply again to baseball teams. And this time I’d apply to more than just the Braves. I’d learned you have to be willing to go anywhere you could get a job.

Then I learned you also had to be willing to start at the bottom – financially, that is. Turns out that when there is an abundance of interest in a position they don’t have to pay you much. I did get an offer from a baseball team as I graduated law school, which was the result of me emailing someone at the team and asking if they had any openings for attorneys. It paid exactly 1/4th of the amount a medium-sized firm in Atlanta had offered me. I had student loans and dreams of owning a home, so I took the law firm job.

Ever heard that things happen for a reason? It was at that law firm that I met someone who set me on a whole new course.

During my last year of law school, I wrote a paper for my Taxation class on internal taxation in baseball (i.e., revenue sharing and the luxury tax). I could always make any class relate to baseball, which is when I think I realized I had a passion for sports beyond merely being a fan. I finished law school with baseball-themed papers from Taxation, Sports Law and Historic Preservation.

Back to the story. My taxation professor was kind enough to help me pursue publication for my paper, and it appeared in the Spring of 2007 in the University of Denver Sports and Entertainment Law Journal.

Flash forward to the fall of 2007 when I was a first-year associate. A chance meeting with a client who was also a baseball fan led to my showing him my article. As it turned out, he knew the editor of a sports publication and forwarded it to him. That editor knew an editor at a publishing company and forwarded it to him. To make a long story short, I signed a contract to write a book based on that article in December 2009 with that same publishing company. That book, BALANCING BASEBALL: HOW COLLECTIVE BARGAINING HAS CHANGED THE MAJOR LEAGUES, is due out next year.

Around the same time I signed the book deal, I decided to leave the Braves blog I’d been with for several years and go back to having my own blog. I started It’s a Swing and a Miss in January 2010. I had realized I enjoyed writing about the business side of baseball far more than writing about games, so the Braves blog just wasn’t the right fit anymore. It also gave me the chance to work through some of my ideas for the book and get feedback from those who read my blog.

Then, in April of 2010, I was watching a video clip of Forbes’ SportsMoney editor, Michael Ozanian. He was discussing an aspect of Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, and I thought he said something misleading. I decided to email him and express my thoughts on the issue. I added in that I was working on the book and that I’d be happy to collaborate with him if he ever covered MLB’s collective bargaining agreement again. I pointed him to my journal article and other pieces I’d written online.

Much to my surprise, I received an email a few hours later asking if I’d like to write for SportsMoney on Forbes – for free. I tried to wait more than 30 seconds to respond so they wouldn’t know just how excited I really was to write for Forbes. After all, who turns down that kind of exposure, even if it is for free?

By this time, I had moved to another law firm. This law firm hired an outside publicist to handle their work, and a colleague suggested I meet with her to see if she could help market my book when it was published. We had a lovely lunch and talked about my long-term goals. I told her one of my goals was to appear on a show called SportsNite that Comcast Sports Southeast tapes here in Atlanta. I had been a long-time viewer of the show and thought I could appear if they ever needed an expert on collective bargaining.

The publicist suggested I email the show. “Just email the address on their webpage?” I asked, doubting the effectiveness of this approach.

“Yep,” she said. “You’d be surprised where that can get you.”

Truth is, I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, I’d gotten the offer to work for a baseball team after emailing the General Counsel and asking if there were any jobs available. I got my book deal because I emailed a client my journal article, hoping he might be interested. I got my position at Forbes because I emailed the founder and offered my expertise. Why wouldn’t Comcast be the same?

One interview and a bundle of nerves later, I was live on the set of SportsNite. I went on to get a segment named after me (“Miss SportsBiz”), a blog on the CSS website and a weekly appearance. This was my first paying gig in sports media, but I wasn’t exactly making a living. If you divided my per show fee by the number of hours I put into preparing, it was nearly a losing proposition.

By the end of the summer of 2010, I was being asked to appear on podcasts to talk about baseball. I’m not sure any of them had much of an audience, but I did them for the experience, and because I like to hear myself talk (as I’m sure you’ve figured out from the length of my posts). Comcast had required me to branch out from baseball for my segment, and I soon began writing more and more for Forbes on other sports. By the fall of 2010, I was becoming more fluent on each of the four major professional sports leagues.

My first appearance on a live radio show was in October 2010 with the Milwaukee Sports Geeks. I’d met Chris Carter on Twitter through my various blogging efforts and he asked me to be on his show one Sunday morning. I was shaking through the whole thing.

By December of 2010, I was doing interviews several times a month for radio stations all over the country, most of whom found me on Twitter. (If you’ve been to any of my presentations, you know I’m a big proponent of Twitter!) At that point  The Pulse Network found me through tweets I was sending from MLB Winter Meetings. By early 2011, they had created a weekly segment for me. I still wasn’t making any money though.

The more I wrote about the impending NFL lockout possibility during the 2010 season, the more radio interviews I was asked to do. I used my legal knowledge to bone up on the collective bargaining agreement and the law surrounding these types of negotiations and agreements. Before I knew it, I was on the radio in a dozen different cities.

Around the beginning of 2011, I was shocked to find that the topic I wrote about most often wasn’t MLB or the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement – it was college football. I was doing a Conference Finance Series on Forbes and getting tens of thousands of hits. I’d finally found my perfect niche.

I started BusinessofCollegeSports.com on April 18th, 2011. After consulting with the owners of several other amazing sports blogs, I decided to start my own. The decision was primarily based on the ability to post immediately (without oversight) and organize the categories how I pleased. I threw together a WordPress blog with a terrible header and sat back to see what happened.

In the first two months, BusinessofCollegeSports.com received over 100,000 unique hits. It was linked to online by ESPN, CBS, NBC, the Seattle Times, the Atlanta Journal and dozens upon dozens of other networks, newspapers and blogs. I did a remote interview for a television station in Tampa. I began to do interviews on the radio on an almost daily basis. I did nationally-syndicated and satellite radio with guys I really admire like Tim Brando. I even picked up my own radio segment on Wednesdays at 5:30pm ET with Shawn and Wally on Arkansas Radio Network/Sports Animal 920.

And now I’m writing another book, this one on the business of college football. The amazing feedback I’ve received from this website has convinced me that there is a demand for analysis and news on the business surrounding college sports, particularly football. I’m passionate about this subject, and I love sharing with you all what I find.

Before joining ESPN in October 2011, I made a grand total of $5,000 for all my sports work over the previous five years. That’s it. I didn’t make a living. I made a little spending money off a hobby.

I put at least three hours into BusinessofCollegeSports.com every single day last year until joining ESPN. Some days it was far more. I was emailing and calling athletic departments, reading through eighty-page budgets and writing a post each weekday. I used my lunch break or woke up early to go on radio shows to do interviews. Before an appearance on SportsNite or The Pulse Network, I spent hours researching topics.

I treated my sports work like a part-time job. There was virtually no pay and no benefits, but I loved it.

The only advice I can give you if you want to work in sports are the three keys I shared before: You have to be willing to start at the bottom. You have to be willing to work harder than everyone else. And you have to be willing to work for free for awhile. Oh, and it helps if you’re willing to email anyone, anytime and ask for anything!

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February 15, 2012

Just how small is the world?

No doubt it’s smaller than you think. That’s why you should always put your best foot forward, whether it’s in class, while interning or anywhere out in the professional world. I don’t care how many people are in your potential or chosen profession, it’s smaller than you think.

Two stories from just the past week of my life:

Following my second year of law school, I interned at the WTA Tour in their General Counsel’s office. It was a six-week internship under two attorneys: the general counsel and assistant general counsel. I have kept in touch with the assistant general counsel, who I worked with on a daily basis, but not with the general counsel. Accordingly, I hadn’t noticed he’d left the WTA Tour.

Flash forward to last week. For those who follow sports or ever turn on sports programming on tv or radio, you’ve probably heard about a guy named Jeremy Lin. Well, as I was researching for a piece on Lin last week, I read some pieces on NBA China. I happened to catch the name of NBA China’s CEO: David Shoemaker. Not world’s most uncommon name, but not exactly John Smith either. Could it be the same David Shoemaker who was general counsel of the WTA Tour during my internship six years ago?

Yes, indeed it was. I made an interview request, and I spoke with my old boss earlier this week about NBA China and the impact of Jeremy Lin. Imagine the terror that would have entered my mind if I’d had a poor experience during my internship or somehow burned a bridge with this man. He certainly wasn’t someone I ever planned on running into again – I left that internship knowing I was accepting a position in a law firm to practice corporate and real estate law. There was no reason to believe we would ever cross paths. But we did…life is funny like that.

Then today a random chain of events caused not one, not two, but three people I know from different areas of my life to converge. A friend from law school was in judge’s chambers with a judge I clerked with seven years ago and in walked an administrator from my undergraduate institution, where I now serve as a trustee. Somehow the connection to me was made, and they proceeded to discuss me. It was all good – or at least that’s what they told me.

The bottom line is that you just never know when you might cross someone’s path again. Never say never. Always act professional, and remember that every conversation (not to mention every internship or job) could follow you for the rest of your career.

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