Do You Know What You Might Have To Do?

Last week, I was having a conversation with one of the graduate assistants who works for me. She was noting that she didn't think a lot of people understand what they may be asked to do in their early careers. She had a few years of work experience in professional sports before coming to grad school and has had the experience of doing some of the, to put it bluntly, crap work that we all have to do in sports, especially starting out. Just because you have an MBA and/or Master's in Sports, it doesn't make you immune to it. You're going to be asked to make copies, man a check-in table for an event, take tickets at a turnstile, or even pick-up trash. If you kvetch and complain about it, or do it half-way, you're not going to do your career any great service. I've seen interns and entry level employees get written off by my colleagues, and I've written off people myself, because they thought that such menial tasks were beneath them.

Right, wrong, or indifferent, this is often part of paying dues in the sports industry. There's always someone else out there who will be willing to do the work. If you're not willing to step up and go the extra mile, you won't survive long.