#5 - Work Life Balance

In the newest edition of Future Funds, your hosts give their advice to aspiring sports professionals. Discussing different careers in sports and their opinions on the options available as well as advice to land that first job.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

And we are live. Thank goodness we're back. We're back, baby. Yeah, I'm Howie. Walt. And this is Future Funds. Missed another week. You know, had a little bit going on with the Derby. Rightfully so. Had uh some festivities going on, so had to take a little bit of a break, but excited to be back here. Different topic today.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Yeah, good topic.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna decide to take a little bit of a different route. Give some life advice, I guess. I think so.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

I think, yeah, yeah. You know, it's we have there's there's gonna be a lot of change in sports every week. We've covered really good topics, and that is a small amount of what we've covered in a much larger. We could honestly talk about one topic for what, half the year? Probably. I mean, it's it's crazy how many topics what we started this on are out there. So why not switch it up?

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Yeah, especially, especially transitioning to, I feel like basketball, yeah, we're going into the the draft and whatnot, but that season's over. Baseball, I mean college baseball. Yeah, not like the diehards follow it. But outside of that, like, you know, outside of the world series.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Let's touch on that real quick, though, because like the SEC, some of the records in the SEC and they're ranked in the top 15, it's fucking mind-blowing. And I don't know. Again, we'll cover this maybe next week. Maybe we'll do a baseball special as we kind of clear out conference tourneys and get into like the college world series, but like some of the powerhouses, man, are fucking weak. I'm I'm just gonna say it. Like some of these teams, I don't know if it's an NIO issue and all the teams are now spread even, or if it's just ass cheeks. But nonetheless, yeah, baseball's pretty much over, softball's pretty much over. I mean, I don't do we need to talk about golf? I don't think so. Like, frankly, like I think golf is cannon fodder.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Have you ever watched college golf?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Uh women's. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

I don't know why I was watching it, but I have watched women's college golf. And back in the day, young me, college me, I would help with athletic events and set up a regional cross-country event.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

That's cool. That I do kind of follow. That I kind of do follow because I used to run. Like, I I won't watch it. Absolutely not, but like I'll check. Actually, uh, one of the girls I ran with in high school placed second in the big east this past year.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Really?

SPEAKER_02 2:55

Yeah. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

I mean, it's not. We know some people that have ran Division I track across country.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

And nothing against it. I think they're incredible athletes. I go to the gym seven days a week. What makes me any different? Yeah. I mean, we all work out. You know what I mean? I'm not knocking it. I'm just saying, like, again, future funds, future episode here. But there will be the way we're heading, trajectory-wise in college sports, there will be cannon fodder sports that are cut to make room for the big revenue generating sports, your football, basketball, women's basketball. And if you don't fucking think, a free event that nobody even knows is happening, like track and golf, facts, they're gone, brother. What Arkansas do? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

What did they do?

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Oh, see you later, men's and women's tennis. They cut that shit effectively immediately. July 1, those programs no longer exist.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

See, I guess this kind of is what we're talking about because it's the industry. Like today, we want to discuss more so the jobs and and stuff like that and the programs. Because yeah, we we've touched on it a lot, I feel, but we haven't done a deep dive yet. And I feel like there's a lot that we can kind of cover today to give everyone a better understanding of what our world is actually like, yeah, for sure. But that's interesting because I guess being men's and women's, that's fine. But like, what do you think it transitions to? Do you think all those students then transfer, or do you think they're like, yeah, well, if I play club, they'll give me money, maybe? Like, I think you have to transfer.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

From my understanding, and I didn't dive real deep into it, I just kind of saw it. Uh, if anybody out there is looking for a good source, D1 ticker's great. Just because they post fucking everything, yeah. I didn't read too much into it. But I don't think you can bank on that. I think you have to transfer. If you're trying to get NIL, you're coming from an SEC school. Surely somebody's out there that's like, whoa, this guy was top of his top of his team at the University of Arkansas. I'll take him at fucking Santa Cruz. Like, I'll I'll take a guy, I'll take a top single guy. Yeah, like I'll take a guy like that and give him the most NIL we can possibly give. Do they are tennis? I don't fucking know.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Because if they're not getting, like, what's the point?

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah, I just one, like, since we're talking about this subject today, anyways, like when you get into sports, there's different avenues you can take. Most do, most start in the marketing world. Most. They love to start in marketing, right? There's a lot of sales jobs out there. Typically, those people end up transitioning out of sales, yeah, into development. Most some go into marketing and like these other different avenues. Look, being a salesperson takes a lot of grit, it takes a lot of shit. Obviously, you and I both know that very well. But like, it is not. If you have more ambition, if you have more and here's a Waltz wisdom. Wow. Right? If you have more ambition, sales is not going to be where you want to stay. Yeah. Some people are like, well, I want to be a senior vice president of ticket sales for a pro team. That's great. That's your dream, and fucking chase it, dude. Don't let anybody stop you or cut you down short. I'm a firm believer, if you want to do what you want to do, you fucking go at it 100 miles an hour. Don't stop doing it. If you want to go ambition in college, sales is not going to get you there. Yeah. It's just a fact. You're not going to make it to where you want to make it unless your goal is to be complacent and stay a director of ticket sales role. And there's nothing wrong with that. Again, nothing wrong with that. When you look at what Arkansas just did, they cut jobs. And everybody thinks that marketing is a glamorous position and that, oh my God, it's so fun to throw out a fucking woo pig towel and peg a fucking toddler. Yeah. Until you were over men and women's tennis. Where are you now? I'm just saying, in the grand scheme of what we have in college athletics, the safe bet is to go into a revenue generating field. Now, the counter argument is marketing is to an extent. They're expendable. And what I mean by that is like you have a lot of marketing positions that we don't really need in the sports world.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

No, I I agree. I can even think back to like minor league baseball, right? You know, going back to not even marketing, but the sales side, your top sellers become your managers, your chief financial officer, insert chief revenue person, insert title here, and they take on so much more responsibility and roles. Like if you you come in as a salesman, I guarantee that is not your end goal, right? You want to be a leader, you want to come up with new ideas, stuff like that, where you have more responsibility. So, yeah, sales definitely isn't the end-all be-all. I will say counterpoint though, great entry position. Because I feel like salespeople are the best equipped to be leaders, to go on to those bigger roles because they deal with people all the time, right? They know how to foster relationships, build relationships, yeah. Um, also persuade when they need to.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Everything is sales.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

That's that's like the big overarching picture of when you're getting. I also think sales, to your point, weeds you out if you don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Like get into it, give it a chance. And if you hate it, and you're like, no, I want to be on marketing or whatever, then you're gonna find out very quickly if you want to do sales.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

You're also gonna find out if you want to do sports in general. Facts. Because this glamorous life of fuck, I've used that word a million times, but like this life of man, I can't wait to meet the players. I can't wait to do this, do this. Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, buddy, that's a niche area that you're getting a degree nine times out of ten in a field that directly correlates with a player. That could be merchandising or an agent or whatever the case may be. But like if you're just going to get your general run of the mill, here is another Waltz wisdom for you, my little future funders. Do not, I'm not saying you can't do great things with it. If you don't know if sports is for you, do not get a sports admin degree. Don't do it. Go get a general business degree. A general business degree, if sports isn't for you and you're five years in and you've done well for yourself, you can go work a lot of different places. And they're not gonna go, what the hell is a sports admin degree? They're gonna go, oh, perfect. They understand revenue, they understand this, and they have a general business. Please do not get a sports admin degree. Just don't do it. I don't have one. It's just I'm not saying you can't do things with it. Obviously, results speak for themselves, but it's easier.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

It just restricts it so much more. I remember when I was in school and I was graduating, I had a friend, the sports media program was huge uh in Rhode Island. They did a really good job of placing people, like they've got anchors and and a bunch of stuff, which is awesome. Don't get me wrong, but I remember talking to someone um as we were graduating, and I did not go that route. I was like probably a junior when I decided uh I think sports is what I might want to do, but I had zero experience in sports. I did a PR major with an innovation entrepreneurship minor, like just kind of run of the mill, and then figured, okay, I'll use my connections and try and see if I can get in that way. And I was talking to someone who did sports media and communication, and they were applying to all these like pro teams for programs, and we're just having no luck, and they're like, I feel so trapped and restricted right now because my degree is so specific to this industry. Like, I I feel like I can't obviously my skills apply anywhere because if I can write about sports, I can write about XYZ other thing, but that's not what people see on a resume. They see, oh, sports specific, why am I gonna hire them?

SPEAKER_00 11:51

How the fuck is writing about a rugby max gonna correlate to the war in Iran?

unknown 11:57

Facts.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

And I'm not saying that you can't, to Howie's point, you can. Oh, absolutely. A talent is a talent nonetheless, however you want to look at it. So, like, again, chase your dream. Understand the person at CNN might not look at you because you were writing you're an SID for a D3 school writing about a fucking Quidditch match. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it it's just not the same as the guy who might have a year less experience than you, but put on boots and a helmet and went on the front lines of the Ukraine. Like it's just a different animal. Like, so I I just we're in such a changing landscape, and there's a real fear, there's a real fear in athletics right now, especially college. Pros, people are jumping shit because the pay's ass. But college, like, dude, I know a lot of people leaving, and I know a lot of jobs. There's more jobs open than I've ever seen in my entire life. Really? Yes. Like, people are just leaving constantly because it's like, one, you're working a ton of hours, two, it doesn't matter how much money you think is in college athletics, it takes a while to get there. It does. No, it does. And three, people no I'm gonna say I say normal people, I don't mean that in like a derogatory way. I mean your typical people in athletics all have families.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Yeah. Would you agree? Yeah, I mean I mean the only place it was kind of different was the monitor leagues.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

That's a different animal because everybody's fucking everybody's monitor leagues, dude. That's a damn tender hot spot. But like, so most people want a family. Sports takes away a lot of family time.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Like it just does. Now, if you get in at the right place and you get good people in that place, they understand work-life balance and you get a great like work-life balance. Yeah, you might work a shitload, but you're also maybe getting out a little earlier or you don't you get a freebie day to come in later. Like they they work with you. Sports is a family dynamic, you're with these people all the time. Yeah. If you're not ready for that, think about it before you go into sports. And if you're already in sports and you're one of our little funders, figure out what you want to do and how you can make it better. Sports is an old boys' club, it has been since the dawn of time. And this is for our female funders. You guys can do just as much shit. Stand up and fucking say something.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

We should have a voice in this industry that says, I'm fucking here and you're gonna listen to me. The old ways are dying. Oh, yeah. The pro model is in college athletics right now, and when you look at people and the pros, even those people who have been around forever are getting younger and younger because they don't give a shit anymore about what you look like. Yeah. Or your ideas. It's all about how do you make money and how do you appeal to the consumer? And I'm sorry, I think we talked about this, but what's a consumer do nine times out of ten? A fucking TikTok dance, dude. That's the consumer we're dealing with. You're seeing it. We talked about this not long ago, just in general, with people we see out in public out in the wild. Are you not seeing older people on TikTok, like 50, 60 year olds are starting to try to trend younger? Or is it just me?

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Yeah, no, definitely. I I mean, I think of like I would always see there's like that one dad that makes drinks or cooks, right? Like they're guys that like are just not even retired, just like doing their thing, like, oh well, I do XYZ. And they build such a niche market too, which is kind of cool. It is cool, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Like the woodworking dad that's like uh building fucking bird houses, and like you just kind of get stuck down a rabbit hole of like it's like that.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Used to be gym down the road, yeah. That we would just go over a couple days during the week and be like, oh wow, this this is cool. Now it's on a global scale.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Yeah, it's insane. And then all of a sudden, what's that do though? It catches fucking fire in the younger crowd, and they're like, then all of a sudden, bird houses take off on TikTok, and everybody's like, come with me while I make this clean birdhouse. What's that shit? That's uh I hate the acronym, dude. The Get Ready With Me's. They abbreviate it, and I'm like, dude, how do you have the time to abbreviate that long ass?

SPEAKER_02 16:32

G R W M.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

That's ridiculous. That's FR. Fucking ridiculous. Like, whatever, we're not gonna go down that rabbit hole, like, dude, but like, my God. But that's where we're at. That's where we're at. Consumerism is like, I think that's why, as you know, my goat, LeBron James, like, that's why he's so good at not just the game of basketball, but business as well. Because he understands that times have changed since he's been in the league, and he's just adapted. He's got podcasts, he's got uh, you know, a school set out there, his kids are I would argue his son is more famous than some of the top players in the NBA just because of how it's been marketed.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

His prom was on TikTok. Yeah, like that's insane, dude. That's good business though. So, like, I know that's kind of off tangent, but like it is prevalent in what we're talking about because all that glitch, all that glam that you're seeing, that's what you're getting into now in college athletics.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

You're getting into more of a glitching. It used to be how hard can Howie work?

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Are you gonna come in and pump out, you know, fucking like you work 40 hour weeks? Are you gonna come in and pump 65 hours out? You're gonna come in first, you're gonna grind your day, you're gonna stay a couple hours late because you're just on the horn. You're just grinding shit for you, young bucks, horn means phone. You're just on that shit grinding constantly. Are you gonna come in and do that? Fuck no, dude. Who does that anymore?

SPEAKER_02 18:18

I Dana White said it perfectly. Like, if you have even the slightest bit of work, by the way. If you have the slightest bit of work ethic, like you're golden because no one wants to work anymore. It's behind. You think like that's what I don't want to say deters because that's definitely not what I'm going for here, but like, do you think that's what like weeds out a lot of people in like pros too? Because they go from like these big associate classes or first year classes, it's like uh we'll hire 20 people, and like five of them make it, and like think by midway through, five of them right off the bat are like, yeah, this isn't this isn't it for me.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yeah, I mean my philosophy has always been this, and you know this about me. If you make let's just say 50 calls, if you're in sales, because every department's different, but let's say you're in sales, you make 50 calls, but your 50 calls translated to 20 fucking thousand dollars in college athletics. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm okay with that, depending on what the cell is, right? I don't give a rat if you make 80 calls but you make five thousand dollars, I don't give a shit how hard you work. Yeah, your work ethic is how good you are with the people that you're working with. And if you're grinding those relationships out, that speaks volumes. Yeah. If you're just here to go, well, I'm never gonna get fired because I come in and grind, wrong.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Yeah, wrong.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

And I'm not saying you can't be successful that way. What I'm saying is that I think work ethic is judged more by character and how hard you work while you're there than it is by the work you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

And I think in those pro classes, a lot of the times you see you see a lot of people get let go in their first year, to your point, because they're out there grinding the hell out of it and they're just not doing anything.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

You know, oh, I'm not getting promoted. Well, you're not getting promoted because yeah, you're making 90 calls a day, but are they worth a shit?

SPEAKER_01 20:23

True.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

I don't know. Probably not if you're making 90 calls and you're bottom of the leaderboard.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

That's probably a pretty now. Do I also think you can make 80 calls a day and still be really good at what you do? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Yeah. Like I think you I think to your point, work ethic, if you can just give this pains me to say, if you can give 75%, you're in a really good spot nowadays. Because I think what's happened to in college athletics specifically, people are hiring, I don't want to say lazy, but people are hiring a little underneath of them because it's changing so rapidly, their job stays safe.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

So if anybody cuts anybody, it's gonna be the people that just got hired because it's like, well, you're not really doing anything. We're gonna save revenue. See ya. So it's like, now that's completely unethical and immoral. Quite frankly. How do you sleep at night? Yeah, but it's happening. So I don't know, man. It's just like I I really I'm not I know it sounds like I'm like, don't get into athletics. Well, no, I think there's a huge opportunity if you want to get into athletics right now.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

If you're gonna give a little bit of effort, I think it's a massive opportunity because people are looking for people to care. Dude, like you talk about the Alabamas, the Ohio States, the big schools of the world. They have fans that have never even gone to a college. But why is that? Because they have a staff in place that makes those people feel like you went to school there. Oh, yeah. That's why their out of college fan base is so big. Because the people that are picking up the phones and selling them tickets or helping them with their operational issues or their marketing ploys give a shit about 'em.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

College athletics, man, is all about how much you care. It's a passion. They're trying to make you. I'm gonna conspiracy theory the fuck out of this. Right now, media is trying to make you think that college athletics doesn't care about you and you're just a number. I'm here to tell you that's bullshit. They care. People care, trust me. There's people losing their fucking jobs over how much they care about the fans.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

True.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Make no mistake. It might seem the other way around right now, but it's not.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Yeah. No, I I even I guess like what would be your piece of advice for someone who's like fresh out of school saying, I want to start working. Has no didn't do an internship in college in sports, just knows they love sports, wants to get into it. What would be your like biggest piece of advice for them?

SPEAKER_00 23:15

If you're a dude, go into the bathroom with whoever your boss is, look over the stall and go, I knew I picked the right place. No, don't do that. If you do that, like that would be great. That would be great. Big baller. If you're trying to get into the industry and like break in and you just graduated, yeah. My advice, it's tough. I would say network.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

There's network fatigue right now because everybody's trying to do that. Because people are panicked finding a job. So now these people that wanted to take on mentees, what would you call them? Pupils. These people that wanted to take on pupils are kind of like fucking tapped, and they're like, I don't want to take any more pupils on, so now they're not giving great advice. It takes a special kind of dude to take on a lot of people and keep up with them and try to help them get into where they can go. Uh, but I still say do it. I think do it, but do it strategically. Network strategically. I know right now a lot of people are thinking like I just gotta cast a wide fucking net and hope one hit. Don't do that. No, yeah. Strategically. Maybe by region. Where do you want to work? What do you want to get into? Who do you think don't just nothing bothers me more than when you skip the fucking team you're gonna be working with and go straight to the top. Connect with the whole team, man. Yeah, reach out to the people that are gonna be in the position you're in and say, hey, what do you think about working here? Start there.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

It means a lot, man. It means a lot when you reach out to the the quote unquote small fish in the department because like they're in the grind with you.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

I can tell you right now, the people at the top, they have their own stresses and they're working their asses off to try to make the department float. They are not gonna give you an accurate depiction of what you need to do on a day-to-day basis at that point in time. Yeah, especially when you're trying to break in the industry. Get with the people that are you're gonna be shoulder to shoulder with first. See how it is, and then try to connect with somebody at the top.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

I mean, find out if you want to do it.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

Yeah, no, I mean, what you you gotta ask questions, you know. Like, that's the only way you're ever gonna get any information. I know for me, like I literally just wrote about this in something. Like, I my extent of sports experience getting into sports was being game day staff at a soccer team. Like, I had no experience. Luckily, I was connected with the right people, and it kind of went by like tears almost, I'll I'll say. I had this one guy who um is vice president for like a sponsorship sales company. And I talk to him probably a couple times a year, which I know isn't a lot, but every time we talk, like it's not just like, oh, look, I need a job, like we catch up. And then I have like a couple other people, bigger fish, so to speak, that have worked for the NBA professional sports teams like selling their sponsorships, yeah, which is a little bit bigger, yeah, a little bit different animal. And they've got they to your point, like they have different day-to-days and stuff like that. So for them, it's kind of like, oh, I'll touch base with them once a year, roughly. But if I'm not like actively looking, it's kind of like, well, they're busy. And I again, I still do touch base because I'm not that kind of person and just be like, hey, get me a job. But for them, like it is like if I can help you in any way, I want to do that, but also I've got a lot going on. So I think that's like the big thing to too is like understanding how to how to work your network, how to use it as a good person. Because if you're a crappy person and you're just like, hey, like, I want to connect. Can you get me this job? It's just like, don't you want to like get to know me? Don't you want like mentee kind of thing? Like, I would much rather have an actual connection, similar to sales, and the the fan, yeah, like I actually want you to feel a part of this rather than just looking for a job. I know that was like a big thing for me, too. My mom said, like, the best thing to talk about whenever is ask people questions about themselves. People love to talk about themselves.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

And I agree with that. And I think the best people, we'll turn it back to you though. If somebody talks about themselves too much, that's a red flag of like, all right, like I know I asked the question, but like it's a casual ebb and flow, right? Like, if you're asking me my life story and they talk, oh great, cool. But if you ask them like, and they've just been itching, like they're tuning you out, but then they're ready to talk about themselves, like alright, like that's probably not great. I think the biggest thing, another piece of advice is be yourself, man.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

If you're a fucking weirdo who loves video games and listens to heavy metal and shit like that, then be that person.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Because that's gonna you're going to have success. You know, something that like I think a lot of people get into the industry and they're concerned about is be respectful 100%, but do not be a fucking doormat.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Because the people, let's look at just history for a second. The people that have made it in history are the people that go against the grain. True. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Jesus, right? On a bad note, Hitler. I knew you were gonna bring them up. I I I mean, it's true though. Like these people have gone against the grain, and you know, some of the greatest people in history that have made real change, significant impact. I mean, you're talking about too, like some of the schools in the deep south that had the first ever African-American basketball player. That guy took a massive risk to come play at a school in the deep South as an African-American. It's incredible, it's motivating, right? They did not do that by going, well, I might as well just bend over and kiss my own ass. No, man. You gotta put yourself out there, you gotta take a risk, you gotta be who you are respectfully, right? Nobody wants to be just around a guy who's just like, fuck you, kicking indoors and shit like that. Nah, nah, nah. But I'd much rather hang out. Like, if Howie, if I ask him, like, oh, how do you like your cheeseburger? And he gives me an answer that I don't eat my cheeseburger that way, I'm not like, what a dickhead. Like, no, I think it's cool. Like, explain to me like why. Maybe I want to try it that way. Maybe I want to do it. It's against the grain, yeah, but it can lead to so much more. And I think when you get in this industry, any industry for that matter, any job, you get intimidated by the people that quite frankly are assholes. You get intimidated by that because you're like, Oh yeah, whoa, they know what they're doing. No, they don't. No, the fuck they don't. They just use fear, and that is a terrible. Let me tell you something right now. If you feel scared in an interview or you feel scared at a job, that's probably not a good place to be. Because if you're seeing other people cower when somebody's walking by or like, I can't I can't fucking talk right now, I gotta get this project done.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

If they're that stressed, get the fuck out.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

GTFO, get the fuck out. Because it's not gonna go well for you. And I think you can attest to that.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I never had to experience it to that point, thank goodness. But there's a certain feeling when you're in that interview room of like, oh, this is just another conversation. But I mean, what would you say? I know it's maybe been a little bit since you interviewed, but like, what would you say are like green flags in an interview?

SPEAKER_00 31:17

I think if it's just like joking. Yeah. If if the people you're interviewing with already make you feel like you're a part of the team, if I'll tell you this, if somebody's willing to say something that's happening internal in an interview, yeah, sign me the fuck up, dude. If you trust me off day one, and you know this about me, so a lot of people, here's some relationship advice as well. If somebody's touching all the bases, dude. If somebody's telling you, a young lady, a young man is telling you you have to earn their trust, fucking red flag. You get my trust off the back, baby. We're going to fucking war together. And if you trust me enough in an interview to tell me something that's happened internally and how I would handle that, oh man, I'm hard. Dude, that is that is awesome. Because like I'm I'm being trusted right now.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

Imagine that. You were trusted so much. What if you don't get the job you now know that information? That's how much they trust you already.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

That's a great place to work. I'm not going bash in that place. I'm like, man, I wish I got that job. That place was fucking awesome, dude.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Like, I think that's a big green flag. If you trust me enough to talk about the ins and outs of your day around me, and not just give me the bullshit. Yeah, well, you're gonna do this, you're gonna do that, you're gonna do, oh, I do this, I do that. Nah, nah, nah. I don't care about that shit, dude. I want to know what makes this place tick or how we're operating. What's it like working eight hours with you guys?

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

What's it like on a road trip that I have to be on and if we're in a car? What kind of music are you listening to? And if I put my music on, are you gonna be like, uh, nah. Yeah. You know, like, look, everybody has their taste in music. I'm not sitting here saying you have to listen to fucking like lamb of God. What I'm saying is that I think everybody should give it everything a chance. And in an interview process, if you're displaying that to me, if you're displaying that you're willing to take this chance on this outsider, yeah, that's a big green flag. If you're willing to tell me that. If the truth, there you go. There's the biggest green flag of all the truth. Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining. Don't do it, man. Yeah. Like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I get in there week one and it's a shit show, or you're a total asshole.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

You ever been a part of an interview where you were just like, uh-uh. I I just this is cheese dick sales 101. Like, you're just trying to sell me on this job. You're not giving me what this job is. Yeah. You're just trying to sell me on it.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

You're just like, oh yeah, like we need the help, like, whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

You'll love it here, man. Oh, you'll love it here. You'll love it here. Okay, dude. You're working a little too hard.

unknown 34:08

All right.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

Quite frankly. Yeah. Tell me it's a shit show. Like, yeah, yeah, they look like honestly, love what you're bringing to the table. We need fucking help. Yeah. We need fucking help, man. We're we're short staffed, we're a family here, and we take that very seriously, and we're demanding of excellence. Like, that's just a fucking fact. But we love each other and we go to bat for each other. Like, I'd rather work for a place like that than a guy goes, We're we're a well-oiled machine. Okay, dude. Give me some other shit. Rome wasn't built in the day. Yeah, jerk me. I don't need that crap. LinkedIn has enough of that bullshit on there. I'm good.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Dude, LinkedIn's kind of wild with that, but. Yeah, no, I mean, I think it what when I first started too, I was like, just get me an interview. Love talking to people. I again, everything's gonna come back to that of how can you manage a relationship with someone, regardless of sales, development, marketing. I don't care if you're in finance, like you're gonna have to manage a relationship. Um and I think that's where it's becoming more and more difficult for the new generation too, because they're on their phones all the time. Oh, dude. And it's like I can manage a real quote unquote manage a relationship on my phone. I can text someone, but like now I actually have to show emotion at work in the office on the phone, like insert situation here. I have to show emotion, I gotta put my best foot forward, and it's like I can't just mess around. And I'll even take it a step further. The image that's being portrayed on social media. I just saw, have you seen this? I think he's mainly on Instagram, but Big John Golfs. Have you heard of him?

SPEAKER_00 35:59

Dude, I know I'm laughing because it what the fuck does that even mean?

SPEAKER_02 36:03

So it's like this like dude who I think he lives in Florida or he might have moved to LA. But he's like an influencer now. Literally, all he does is like his whole bit in the beginning, I think, was like he w didn't have a place to live. So he would just like crash on people's couches, and he literally just like gets high and drunk all all the time. Like his videos are literally him just like ripping wheat. Oh, do you? Oh no, like by no means am I like, oh that's m but like Am I jealous?

SPEAKER_00 36:36

Nah.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

No, no, but like also how many guys are like, oh, I'm gonna do or I'll take it a step fur like throwback. Um who was the the Daddy Long Legs dude? Do you remember him with like the really long neck? Yes, and like the tattoos, and like there was another guy.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

They did videos together, like short neck or some shit.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, but like what are they doing now, right? Each other? Probably. I'd I'd imagine that, but it's kind of like what image are oh, I can just mess around and do whatever, and there's no repercussion. So, like, I think that's also kind of part of the issue in terms of a fairy tale world, man.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

Yeah, and like again, here's a little bit more outside of the sports topic, but like I think we actually talked about it last podcast. So a little bit of a throwback to like, are is what you're seeing on Instagram or any of these places real? Yeah, like AI is funny enough, AI is being involved more in sports, too. Like, people are using Chat GPT to like create their outlines for a topic or like help with a seminar subject, things like that. I'm not saying anything's wrong, but what I'm saying is that's how much the times have shifted. I'd much rather sit there for three hours and try to figure out how to type out what I'm trying to do because it's about the process, right? I want to learn, I want to be able to be immersed in it and so forth like that. This is just a personal thing of mine, and how he's heard me say this shit until I'm blue in the face. Why the fuck, ladies and gentlemen, why the fuck are you paying for OnlyFans? Dude. Now we're on now. We're going down this rabbit hole. I'm just saying, like, it's it's crazy to me. Because how OnlyFans started, I don't even know if a lot of people know this, but how it started was it was a platform for people to showcase their talents.

SPEAKER_01 38:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

Guitar, painting, singing, so forth, like that. And then a shocker there, somebody went, Oh, I can show my fucking Dong and make money. And it's like you're giving into this. So to bring it back to your point about being on the phones, I'm using OnlyFans kind of as a catapult of like a lot of people think that that little six-inch screen, fellas, that's more than enough to please a woman. But that six-inch screen is everything they need. It's all right there. All the answers are in that little box, and it's like, dude, you're never gonna learn that way. Half of what you're seeing is not real. Yeah, half of what you're seeing is not real at all. You're gonna sit there and tell me, here's a great example. Let me use this metaphor for sports. The woman who's a supermodel telling you body dysmorphia and being a plus size is okay. Huh. Okay. Cool. Well, yeah, because body image is different for everybody. Correct. Dude, I could jerk off a million times, and if semen is the answer to getting my face to look like Tom Brady's, and if I believe that, it's still not gonna fucking look like Tom Brady's. Like, I think this message out there to young people coming out of school about like sports is a disclaimer's job, being a doctor's disclamorous job, all these things. If you're a doctor, you're dealing with death, dude. Yeah nine times out of ten, unless you're like, I don't know, a fucking foot doctor, but maybe that foot spot that you told was okay turns out to be cancer, they die. That's your fault. Like, I'm just saying, like, not every job is what it's meant to be. And I think to your point, all these phones and getting on social media and doing all this shit instead of paying attention is creating a false narrative for these different professions, but especially in sports.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Especially in sports.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Well, it do it definitely doesn't help that athletes, especially college now, are getting paid more than they have ever been. All these top-end execs are are getting paid um a ton, and you know, everyone at the bottom uh across the board outside of yeah, peanuts.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

Um peanuts.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

Yeah, no, they you really don't get paid a lot, and it's you work outside regular work hours too. So I think it my piece of advice is you gotta be built different, frankly.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

Uh yeah, let me go back to this, and and we said this, and like sales is a great way to start. Let me let me because I've I've worked every avenue. So uh fuck a third party if you can avoid it. And what I mean by that is I would rather make less money looking back on my career, I'd rather make less money and work my way through an athletic department in-house because at least I know the people that are above me earn that money. Whereas third party, you're making fucking peanuts compared to the top because they take a cut off of everything they fucking have. And that kills me. Because now, after what I know, what I know being in this as long as I've been in this is that they you're a number. You're a number. Yeah, and that devastates me because like you're not, you're more than that. And I think when you get to a point where you're starting to work for a school or a university, you're gonna feel that family feeling way more. Not everywhere. Let me say this, not everywhere, but like most places because there's quotas and there's more pressure in a third party to succeed, yeah, you feel the heat way more than if you feel it with a college or university.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

To your point earlier, too, like you'll know in that interview as well, like okay, like these people care about me. Or it's like, yeah, I'm I'm just not feeling the vibe.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

So dude, it's me with Alabama football every fucking game. Even if it's somebody who is, you know, fucking Bingle McGee, and we're playing Squirts University, and it's like, oh well, you know, I don't want to I go into that game nervous, dude.

SPEAKER_02 42:45

If you want me to be happy with the result, fine. I'm happy with the result. But I'm not happy with the process. Ah, dude.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

But that's what makes college sports fun. Yeah. And that, I think, to tie a bow on getting into sports, doing that kind of thing, is that's what makes it fun. Yeah. The excitement, the nerves, all those feelings are fun because you're doing what you love, man.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

And at the end of the day, that's what's important. And if you don't love it, then get out of it. Don't force yourself to do something because you think it's supposed to be this fun path. Do something that you love, you know?

SPEAKER_02 43:21

I I literally told a friend today, I was like, yeah, man, like he's in a sales position as well, doesn't want to do sales anymore. I'm like, yeah, it's not for the faint of heart. It is not for the faint of heart. I will say though, I'm so fortunate to be in the industry of sports. Not because I get paid a lot, because I don't, but there's no bigger satisfaction when I love the grind. So, one, when you find some random group or company or insert whatever you're you're selling, you find some Facebook post or some website. And you call them up because that's the only way you can get in touch with them.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

And guess what? Two weeks later, they're coming out to a football game or a basketball game or they're buying whatever product. Like, I love that. That's like, wow, this is beginning to end. It was hard, it wasn't easy.

SPEAKER_03 44:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

But we got there, and guess what? This the little league or the basketball team and the parents all came out and had a great time. Like, that is just the most rewarding thing to me. And I feel like if you're in sports and you achieve that, but you're not feeling satisfied, sports isn't for you. Yep. Find something else. I agree. I mean, that that's just and that's not even exclusively for sports. If you want to get into medical sales, but you're just in it for the money, and you don't care about selling pacemakers and making someone's life better or whatever prescription you're selling. Like if you don't truly believe that it's making the world a better place, then one, you're probably not going to succeed.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

I just want to talk about OnlyFans a bit. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 45:09

One, you're probably not going to see succeed. And two, like, you gotta you gotta find something else, man. Because it's just it's not the answer. I'm with you, dude. I'm with you. Were you gonna say something about Olympics?

SPEAKER_00 45:23

No, I'm gonna leave it.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

I I think we'll start to wrap it up here. I end it on this question, though. Um in general. Generalized question first, secondary question. Where do you see not just exclusively college, but all sports, where do you see the industry going kind of more on a trend of do you see jobs increasing? Do you see jobs decreasing? I know you said you see more open jobs than ever. Do you think it's gonna become easier to break into the in industry or harder?

SPEAKER_00 46:02

I think sports as a whole is heading towards entertainment. Pro sports already is. Like, you're telling me a professional baseball player can make $400 million over 10 years. That's fucking insane to hit a baseball. Yeah. Just saying. And the odds of them staying healthy over the 10 years, very slim. Slim to honest. And you know, line of duty people, EMS, cops, firefighters, military, make dick.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

That's block that that that is mind-blowing to me in itself, right? So, like, that is what it is. I'll harp on that later because I got plenty to say about the fucking profession in itself. But as far as jobs go, this is gonna sound really weird. I think it balances out, but jobs get cut. Yeah, I think certain departments will add positions, but what that means is unfortunately some other departments are gonna have to cut positions. So, yes, I think that more positions will be added on a revenue generation side, but I think that other positions, your weird ones that nobody really knows what you kind of do, like a lot of IT jobs or media, uh fucking business office type jobs, those kinds of roles in college athletics will start getting diminished to make room for you know development teams, marketing weird because I think more jobs will get cut from marketing, but I think they'll find different avenues to bring back jobs in marketing. I know that's counterproductive. Stick with me on that though, keep your eye on the future. But like, and sales staff. I think big schools will start cutting third parties and going in-house for everything because they have the money and the capability to do it. Plus, they're gonna get what they want out of it, not what that third party wants out of it.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:46

But smaller schools will need the third parties to stick around to help them drive revenue. That's where I think it's gonna head. And I would avoid fucking small, small, small schools because God knows what that looks like in five years. You might not have a university. Yeah, like where I went to school, they might close their fucking doors. I went to a D2 school.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

That's wild.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

At one point was the top Division II school in the southeast. And now it might be gone. That's fucking insane, but that's a reality we're facing. Be careful where you're going.

SPEAKER_02 48:18

Yeah. No, it definitely everything makes it scary, especially on the collegiate landscape. And like you said, pros are pros already there. Yeah, this is a conversation that was had five, ten years ago. Um, you know, but yeah, I I think we gave some solid insight. I hope it was helpful to some people, whether you are interested in working in sports or not. Nonetheless, um, I I think it provides a different appreciation for either what you do, what other people do. But uh, as always, I'm I'm Howie.

SPEAKER_00 48:56

I'm Walt. And I do want to say before we sign off completely, is that like we got some fun shit coming for you guys to be able to interact with us as well. Like, we'll we're working on setting up some socials and we're working on maybe even getting an email inbox where you can send some questions and we can answer those to start a show or do a segment or do something like that. We want to hear what you are saying and we want to make this interactive because it's so prevalent in our industry, right? So don't worry, don't fret, my little funners. We got you guys covered. I'm Walt. We're fucking off for the day.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

Peace.