Opportunites

I feel that in order to get into this industry and be successful you would need to have connections. It is a business that like Reali mentions you may not make a lot of money in the beginning. You need to have passion in this industry. Taking some of the words from the men I interviewed in order to do well you need to be able to write well, have a keen eye for a story, the desire to be successful within the industry and like Phil Simms said you need the be patient and unique. You need to bring something to the table.
As for the job opportunities there are numerous opportunities in the industry. The only thing is you have to start out low and making very little. If you are willing to take the time to gain experience for little pay it could be very profitable in the end. This is not an industry were you can expect to start off high up you need to establish yourself within the industry and work your way up. Having been an athlete and around sports for the last 14 years of my life I feel that I have definitely developed my passion for the industry. I would with out a doubt need to find someone to help develop my writing ability but after that I feel I have the connections and the knowledge about the industry to do well.

Change in the Sports Industry

Each of the four men i interviewed at some point talked about how important the Internet is and how it has changed the industry. Reali says “But the future is on-line. This is simply because you can report the news the moment it happens. It's literally timeless. You can have a game end at 11:00 and a game story on-line read by thousands at 11:01. You don't have to wait for the newscast in an hour or the paper in the morning.” Papa makes a similar statement about the Internet but follows it up with the fact that the Internet also causes problems for the industry; “computers have enabled the information flow to become instant. Everything is at a broadcasters finger tips. The internet has also created problems. Anybody can start rumors via chartrooms and websites. That has created a culture that strays away from true journalism.”
I think it is interesting that these four men that come from all different backgrounds and are in all different areas within the same industry all mentioned that the internet has changed and will continue to change the industry. This is also a fact that we have mentioned numerous times in our class.
Reali said something in his interview that I found very interesting, his comment on needing to know how to write. We have mentioned how important being able to write can be. Reali also mentioned that everyday as part of his preparation he reads blogs before he does his show. Another area I would like to touch on is that I think is speaks volumes that these four men took the time out of their busy schedules to answer my questions. Three of the four men took the time simply because I was a student from Fordham University and they to had a connection to Fordham.

Final Project (interviews)

The next three posts will be post about my final project for this management class. The first will touch on how I feel the interviews went with Phil Simms, Tony Reali, Joe DiBari, and Bob Papa.
Phil Simms was Super Bowl XXI MVP and 15-year NFL veteran, joined CBS Sports in January 1998 as lead analyst for the CBS Television Network's coverage of the NFL. Tony Reali is the current host of Around the Horn on ESPN. He is also the ombudsman or "stat boy" on Pardon the Interruption. He is often referred to as the Ultimate Sports Guru for his keen intellect and mastery of all sports statistics. Joe DiBari is Sports Information Director at Fordham University. Bob Papa is a play-by-play announcer for the NY Giants, NBC Sports and HBO Boxing as well as the morning show host on Sirius NFL Radio. Having the opportunity and the connections to speak with these distinguished professionals was a great experience. They are all key figures in the sports media/broadcasting industry and they all touched upon similar topics. They all mentioned the Internet and how important it has become and how it has changed either the industry or their specific job. All four men touched on how important it is to have an eye for a story and having the ability to write.

The Future Television

The way we view TV is constantly changing. We've gone from huge box TVs to flat screens. From basic cable to hundred's of channels and HD. Soon enough instead of paying a hundred dollars for a bunch of channels you don't watch and only a few that you do, we'll be able to choose and only pay for the shows we want to watch.
So when it comes to what I want in my TV package I would say I want to be able to choose to pay for only what I want to watch. I know it may vary for everyone but I only watch TV for about an hour and 1/2 a day and that is at night(Unless it's football season). If there was a way that we could only choose to pay for the shows that we want to watch instead of paying for a million channels that we don't watch, that would interest me.

My Phone

When people think about phones today you think about Internet connections, camera's, personalized rings, AOL, keyboards etc. I can't even imagine what is to come. In Germany cell phones are used as credit cards, you can walk into a store buy something and have your phone scanned as a form of credit card. I personally don't need the newest phone or all the gadgets. The most important thing a phone does for me is store information and make calls. The perfect phone for me is one that has a clear connection every time, never drops calls and is small enough is size to fit in my pocket. I've used my camera on my phone maybe 4 times in the last 3 years. So I guess I'm a very simple person when it comes to cell phones, I don't get to excited about all the gadgets.

Motivation

One of the things I mentioned in my last post is that you need to be motivated. So I decided I will enlighten you as to what it is that motivates me. The reason I started my own business is because at the early age of 8 my father had his had caught in a machine at the US post office and became permanently disabled. He had RSD or Reflex sympathetic dystrophy and is never able to work again due to lack of use of his arm and the pain medication he is on every day. He had undergone 8 major operation to try to stop the pain that he experiences every day. My mother who had the task of raising me and my two sisters, one older one younger, now had to remain at home and take care of my father as well. I had to grow up and go out to work at an early age and learn how to do things that not all 8 year olds experienced. Than if that wasn't enough in 2002 my father had a brain tumor explode in his head and had to have emergency brain surgery which the doctors said they would be unable to save him. So at the age of 16 I sat there and said goodbye to my father. 12 hours later he came out of surgery with no scares and no complications; doctors couldn't explain it! So now my father takes about 25 pills a day at the young age of 49 in order to make it through each day.
So some people look at me and try to figure out where I get my drive from? What it is that makes me never give up no matter what situation I'm facing? What it is in me that makes me look at life a little differently than your average 22 year old kid? And I look at them and smile and sum it up in two words "My Parents". For two people who met at the age of 14 to stay together through all the adversity they have faced; who have never attended college, to get their three kids to Boston College and the other two to Fordham University and to still be together today. To have had to sacrifice so much that they can't even afford to have own home of their own but instead rent a house, that's all the motivation I believe one needs.
As far as my company goes, my goal is to use all the money I receive to help out my parents. To set them up as well as I can and try to enable them to start to live life as I feel they should. I would like to use this company to make them financially sound so that maybe they can start to live life a little.
That's were my motivation comes from.

Do I have what it takes to start my own business?

This post is suppose to talk about if I feel I have what it takes to start my own company. I'm fortunate enough to have already been able to start my own company so I can confidently say yes.
Starting your own business is all about taking a risk. It is a fact that 85% of all people attempting to start a business fail. At the beginning of my sophomore year I took a chance at starting my own T-shirt business. The business went well for about 8 months but after that I had a hard time finding new clients. I had been surviving on the Fordham community which went well but due to being a full time student and athlete I had little time to expend my business, so I had to stop. About a year ago I wondered into the food industry and started a pretzel company based on a secret recipe that has been in my family for generations. Knowing I had a great product I dove in head first with the attitude that I had nothing to lose.
In order to be successful you need to take risk, be motivated, not be afraid of people closing doors in your face and believe in what your selling. I walked into several establishments placed y product on the table and said let your customers try this, if they don't like it throw my card in the trash, if they do than give me a call and we'll do business. I've been fortunate to have had every establishment I've entered call me interested in my product. I am still in the early stages of things but feel confident that I will be able to continue to establish a market for my product and hopefully be successful.

John McLughlin's Digital music opinion

I liked John's post about the affect that the iPod has had on him and would even go as far as saying the I'm sure most of society would agree. It's funny to think how quick our society is evolving and fast we are coming up with all these new technological discoveries. The question I'd like to ask is if the cassette tape replaced the record, and the CD the cassette tape, now the iPod is replacing the CD, how long will the iPod be around?

Digital Music

When it comes to digital music I don't know what to think. The cost of music today is in my opinion way to high. I am not a person that has ever gone out and bought the newest CD. I'd rather list to whatever is on the radio. In our world today the Internet has made it so easy to listen to music or download music for Free! Although we have all heard that it is wrong to "steal" music there are numerous people who still do it.
Now that we are in the iPod era "stealing" music is even more popular. Who is going to pay $1 per song to put on their iPod when you can get the same songs for free? We're talking several hundreds of dollars to put the music you want on your iPod. I think if someone could come up with a way of bundling the song packages at a more reasonable price than you might find more people purchasing song instead of "stealing" them.

Quote taken from another Blog!

"However, I believe that attempting to create a blog and try and generate a bunch of viewers and subscribers is slightly intimidating."

This quote is taken from a new blogger and is something I feel a lot of new bloggers can definitely relate to. The idea that a new blogger is taking that leap, putting their thoughts "out there" for anyone and everyone to view and comment on is kinda "intimidating". So I guess the first question would be, how do you start to get people to read your blog?

1st post, Future career path.

This post will be a little insight into who I am and where I wish to be with my career over the next several years. I have gained a great advantage having been able to attend the University of Fordham as a student-athlete. Being a part of the football team for a division IAA school has taught me a lot about team work, time management, leadership, and how to face adversity. All of which I feel are key experiences when entering the Business world.
Coming from a family that has had to work for everything they've received and has faced an extreme amount of adversity, I have learned a lot at a young age. I've had to work my way through college and in doing this I have come up with some unique ideas to make money. The most recent being that I started my own pretzel company based on a secret family recipe which has done very well.
After this semester I will graduate from Fordham and I hope to enter the sales or management field. I plan on continuing the pretzel company and establishing the market for my product. My goal is to do extremely well in the business world, build my company, and be able to help support my parents as well as any family I may have of my own at the time.