How I Made 20K From Playing Hockey
I started to play in a local beer league hockey team this year as a way to get away from the grind, and get some exercise during the winter. I never would have imagined that playing rec league hockey would be one of my best networking groups.
I've gotten to know some of the guys on opposing teams by hanging out after the game tossing back some cold ones. It turns out that a lot of the guys were not what you would consider your "typical" hockey player to be. Instead, they were doctors, chiropractors, attorneys, restaurant owners, and various other business owners.
One of the guys I was hanging out with happened to be the general manager of a local retail business with an e-commerce site that accounts for 50% of their business. They haven't been happy with the marketing company that's been handling their online marketing and he asked me to take a look at their site to see if I could come up with some recommendations.
I put together an analysis report and created a proposal just in case they liked what I had to say. I typically don't create a proposal unless directly asked to or I'm fairly confident that I'm going to get the account. But, for some reason I thought to do it this time, just in case.
After a couple weeks of playing phone tag, we were finally able to get together and find a meeting time that worked for both of us, which happened to be today.
So, I ended up meeting with not just the general manager but also the owner this afternoon to go over the report. We were just about done discussing my findings when the owner had to leave for another meeting. As he was leaving he asked if I could put together a proposal for them. When I told him that I had one with me, he said to the GM, "If the terms are fair, sign the deal and get started right away".
After a little bit of negotiations, we agreed on $4,000 down, $4,000 in two weeks, then $1,200 a month for 10 months. I had him sign the proposal, and will be picking up the first $4,000 check in the morning.
The whole point of this post is not to brag, but to remind you that you never know where your next client is going to come from. So always be networking!
P.S. I also met the CEO of a large hospitality management group from playing hockey as well. I'm in the middle of writing a proposal for them that manages the SEO and PPC campaigns for their 10 hotel properties.
I've gotten to know some of the guys on opposing teams by hanging out after the game tossing back some cold ones. It turns out that a lot of the guys were not what you would consider your "typical" hockey player to be. Instead, they were doctors, chiropractors, attorneys, restaurant owners, and various other business owners.
One of the guys I was hanging out with happened to be the general manager of a local retail business with an e-commerce site that accounts for 50% of their business. They haven't been happy with the marketing company that's been handling their online marketing and he asked me to take a look at their site to see if I could come up with some recommendations.
I put together an analysis report and created a proposal just in case they liked what I had to say. I typically don't create a proposal unless directly asked to or I'm fairly confident that I'm going to get the account. But, for some reason I thought to do it this time, just in case.
After a couple weeks of playing phone tag, we were finally able to get together and find a meeting time that worked for both of us, which happened to be today.
So, I ended up meeting with not just the general manager but also the owner this afternoon to go over the report. We were just about done discussing my findings when the owner had to leave for another meeting. As he was leaving he asked if I could put together a proposal for them. When I told him that I had one with me, he said to the GM, "If the terms are fair, sign the deal and get started right away".
After a little bit of negotiations, we agreed on $4,000 down, $4,000 in two weeks, then $1,200 a month for 10 months. I had him sign the proposal, and will be picking up the first $4,000 check in the morning.
The whole point of this post is not to brag, but to remind you that you never know where your next client is going to come from. So always be networking!
P.S. I also met the CEO of a large hospitality management group from playing hockey as well. I'm in the middle of writing a proposal for them that manages the SEO and PPC campaigns for their 10 hotel properties.
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