Why Did Ken Start a Career Coaching Business?
By Ken Troupe
It was 27 years ago this fall I stood in front of an MLB VP of Marketing and was excited to have the opportunity to review my findings of my internship project. I had developed a survey to inquire what roughly 300 8th graders thought about baseball and how they compared it to other sports. I compiled the data, wrote my report, and arranged a meeting with the VP on the last day of my internship.
I walked into the office feeling comfortable that my insightful report was going to lead to a full-time job and serve as a springboard to a career of teaching people to love baseball like I do. It took no more than 90 seconds for this sports marketing executive to crush my dreams with the simple statement of “won’t show me anything I don’t know already” before throwing it into the trash. (FYI look for the upcoming post on why/how baseball has never figured out how to market to kids) I was of course crushed, but I thanked the VP for his time anyway and went on about my day.
A couple of weeks later I got the call about a $5 an hour job that launched my Sports Business career. As I learned and worked my way through my career, I always remembered this initial interaction and vowed that I would always offer my time to any up and coming sports business professional who asked me for advice.
So, this brings us to this crazy year of 2020 with the entire industry being crushed by a worldwide pandemic and furloughs hitting most every organization. Spending most of my career as a “ticket guy”, I found myself paying special attention to the ticket salespeople being furloughed in masse. I also noticed that most ticket sales leaders still employed were now overworked and stressed just trying to keep ticket buyers & fans up to date on the situation. As they dealt with fans, I think many were simply too busy or unsure how to handle or communicate to their staffs about what is next.
To me it seemed clear that there were two driving reasons to build a business focused on solving sports business related economic challenges. First and foremost, the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting furloughing of staffs has put a great number of under 30 sports professionals, specifically ticket sellers out of work and worried about what is next for their careers. The second factor is the amount of under trained ticket sales leaders that have never been through a downturn like this before and are unsure how to handle or communicate to their staffs about what is next”.
My first step was to call my longtime friend Tom Sheridan and simply say, “so I have an idea”. With that an idea turned into a business plan, and our company SportsBiz Builders was born. We are committed to being a resource to the freshly furloughed ticket related as they look to reenter the sports business. In addition, over the years Tom and I have had a front row seat to bankruptcies, strikes, work stoppages, economic downturns, and of course 9/11. We feel our experience uniquely qualifies us to offer guidance to any individual or organization as they look to rebuild their careers or sales departments and grow revenue with innovative ideas.
One of my favorite quotes has always been from Robert Kennedy – “Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not”. I say Career Coaching in Sports Business? Why Not!