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Monday, April 21, 2008

Drive vs. Passion

For me, I have to have a lot of passion around my work, which is why I jump around so much in my jobs.  It's something that I'm sure is difficult for some people (especially hiring managers) to understand.  Once the passion for the product or service or organization is gone and I can't re-invent or re-summon it, I go looking for something else.   I know that I need change and continuous new challenges.  My passion lies in exploring new and innovative ideas.  There are people who can work at something that is "just a job" for a long time, but I'm not one of them.  

The reason for this post is to advise you to find a product/service that generates a lot of passion in you and then work in that area.  In the book The Monk and the Riddle by Randy Komisar, he describes the difference between drive and passion.  Drive is something that pushes you along, a commitment or something that you do out of obligation.  Passion is something that pulls you along, a force that you can't resist.  If you really want to work in sports, you should have a passion for sports, but also a passion for your specific chosen area of sports.  If you want to work in marketing, but take a long-term job in event management because you want to break into sports, it's not going to be enough to make you truly happy.   Your passion has to cover both areas to continue to sustain itself.  

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Auxiliary Products and Services in Sports

Inc. is one of my two favorite magazines. (The other is Mental Floss.)  In the April 2008 issue on pages 30 & 31 there is a great picture and insets.   It's a section called "Behind the Scenes: Companies at the Heart of Everyday Life."  On it, it shows a photo from pre-game of a Pistons-Trail Blazers game. It highlights companies responsible for some of the things in the photo - the court, the courtside seats, the mascot uniform, the pre-game pyro.

These are great examples of parts of the sports industry that students don't often know or hear about.  They're also great areas to look at to break into the sports industry, not to mention the fact that there are some really interesting things out there besides the obvious areas of pro sports teams, college sports teams, and marketing companies.  Just looking at this picture I start to think about other areas that students could pursue that they may not know about because they're not so obvious.

I have a friend from grad school who works for Aacer selling basketball floors.   I know another person who was a rep for Spalding basketballs.  A guy I worked with at Disney's Animal Kingdom has a company that creates card stunts for stadiums.   The company that managed the concessions and catering for the Indy car race at Disney also managed concessions for the Kentucky Derby and a bunch of other major sports events.  A vendor/friend from New York Road Runners who is responsible for their major event signage also handles pieces of signage for the Super Bowl.  John Anthony's travel company (Anthony Travel) has grown immensely in the last 10 years and now handles major accounts such as Disney Sports, the Iron Man Triathlon, the ING New York City Marathon, and countless universities and other groups.

There are all sorts of auxiliary areas out there to consider.  There may even be an area that will pique your entrepreneurial interest enough to motivate you to create your own company.   The opportunities in sports are out there. It may just take a little more thought or resourcefulness to find out what they are.

I'm Back

Sorry for the recent lack of posts. I was on a brief personal break, but am now back and starting to resume posting.