Growing up in San Diego, I am a long-suffering Padres fan. The highlight of my fandom was 1984. I was at The Murph when they beat the Cubs in the deciding game of the NLCS to move to the World Series.
One of my favorite all-time Padres is closer Kirby Yates. He went from being released by the Angels to an All-Star with the Padres. The way he did it was by having a plan: stay in shape and develop a new pitch — the splitter.
Like Kirby Yates, you can have a plan for moving to the next level in your sports broadcasting career.
1. Always be building relationships
It’s sometimes hard to be motivated for relationship building because the payoff isn’t immediate. Our industry is small, though. The people you meet and build relationships with today can help you advance your career tomorrow.
One key for building strong relationships is to not approach people asking what they can do for you. Instead, offer what you can do for them. A second key: don’t wait until you need water before digging your well. Build relationships now so they’re ready when you need them.
2. Always be improving yourself
Your income is in direct relation to the amount of effort you put into improving yourself. It’s even more important to work on yourself than it is to work on your career.
You can get inspiration from a lot of places. I like to read. Three books have helped me a ton:
- Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. It’s been around for almost 100 years.
- How to Win Friends and Influence People. Another classic. Long-time STAA member and friend John Leahy recommended it to me.
- The Secret. This has been a life changer for me now, more than a decade.
Wherever you find inspiration, always be improving yourself. It’s going to be key to you moving to the next level in your sportscasting career.
3. Always be improving your craft.
I will share tips about how to do it in our next blog post.