How to go Pro
From Niftytricks
How to Get Sponsored (Going Pro)
This was originally written for snowboarding but can apply to most any sport. The details may change a bit but the core concepts should be the same. Good Luck, you're going to need it!
You want to go pro? Spend most every day riding and living the easy life, no worries about paying bills or working a regular job. We are talking about the life where everyone knows your name and watch your part over and over again in the newest videos…
Along with the good stuff is the harsh reality of the professional snowboarder life. Living in airports and out of a backpack for months on end, sleeping on floors and eating ramen noodles way too much. The misuse and abuse your body must go through to stay on top and the stress of having to do well so not to lose your spot to someone younger adds up quickly. For most of the pro riders out there the pay is horrible too and only a handful live comfortably.
Although the sponsored life sounds good there is also a very hard part to it, it is still a ton of work and is not all play by any means.
If this doesn’t dissuade you, and nothing does, then give it a shot. Go for your dreams and have the time of your life trying.
Everyone has a different idea on how to go pro but most people agree there are some similar characteristics that will make you stand out and get noticed and start you on your path to fame. Here are a few, but not necessarily all, the different things that will help you on your way to becoming a super star.
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Requirements To Go Pro
First off you have to have the skills. You may rule your local hill and that makes you a ripper but if you are not honestly push the limit then you are just an average ripper. You have to go out and travel at least a little bit and push your limits there too, places where you are not in your comfortable norm, or the best rider. This also allows you to be seen by more and more people and if you are good they will talk.
Although it may be taken for granted, you also have to go snowboarding, a lot. Like as many days as you possibly can. Only on weekends really doesn’t allow you to progress as fast as you need to. This makes it very hard to go pro while still in high school. But don’t let that little detail stop you, it didn’t stop Shaun White.
You also need to develop some sort of style and perfect it, something that you can brand yourself with and stick out. Having a smooth style is desirable but anything to really pull you out of the crowd is necessary.
Since a lot of people have a lot of incredible skills on snow you also have to set yourself apart with your personality. It takes a certain personality to be a pro snowboarder. You have to truly love and be committed to the sport and its participants. This means being cool to the wanna bes, the posers and the totally new kids. This leads to the next thing, actions speak louder then words.
No one likes a cocky bastard, but everyone loves a nice guy (or gal). Let your riding talk about how well you ride. Don’t tell everyone how sick you are, especially if you can’t back it up 100% of the time. This is especially true after you have gotten your first little hook up. If you go and tell the world how cool you are now that you are sponsored you might not ever get another sponsor.
This was my personal mistake, I got some gear and was so excited I had to tell everyone. Needless to say I never really got much more gear. However, there was also this guy at my local hill that was awesome. Way better then I was and he had the desire to go pro but he was just a dick to people. He was cocky and even though he could ride very well no one would give him a chance so I ended up getting the spot he was trying so hard for because I was nice to everyone.
Now in order to really be seen by more then the people who happen to be watching you from the chair lift you need to get some media. Best way to do this is to become buddies with someone who has a passion for photography or cinematography or a couple people that do. It is a symbiotic relationship. They need someone who doesn’t suck to take pictures and video of and you need the video and pictures to put together a portfolio. However, remember you will not always be their single star so make sure you volunteer to take pictures of them or help them shoot video sometimes too.
Contests are also an important aspect of getting sponsored because they quantify how well you ride by comparing you against the other local rippers. Going to as many contests as possible is a good thing. If you can build up a resume of results that is concrete you can show your potential sponsors that you are legit. Going to contests is also a great way to meet people including other sponsored riders or even reps from companies.
Spend a season shooting as much video or as many pictures as you possibly can, you are going to need this to build a portfolio. However you actually build a portfolio is your call, just make sure you do it. Whether it is a DVD or a website or a scrapbook it is your portfolio and will represent your riding (not you talking about yourself) for others to see. The iLife programs that come on a Mac are awesome for this sort of thing.
Building a social network of people is another huge aspect in the road to getting sponsored. The more people you know and that like you, can vouch for you or have seen your portfolio and resume the better. This includes shop owners, local team managers, other sponsored riders and company reps. Even if they personally can’t sponsor you don’t be an ass and don’t use them for who they know. Truly be a good, nice person and not a power hungry renob that will backstab for a chance to get on top, that will get you in the end, it always does.
I had the privilege of working in a snowboarding shop so that opened a lot of doors for me. Factory reps would stop by from time to time to check on their accounts and this gave me an opportunity to meet them and build up a relationship. I would always offer to take them out for the evening or offer them my couch to crash on. But just because you offer them a crash pad and get them drunk doesn’t mean they will sponsor you but it will help when they remember how nice of a person you were.
Why Companies Sponsor Athletes
Lets back up for just a second. Why would anyone want to sponsor you or anyone else for that matter? You have to understand this and understand it from the companies’ perspective in order to make sure you riding for them is right for their company.
For most companies their team is an advertising expense. Instead of spending their hard earned dollar on a newspaper or magazine ad they are putting it into a team. They in turn expect their team to do the same things that an advertisement would do but for less (for a business the bottom line is money more times then not.)
So what does this mean? It means you have to first of all help them sell their product so they can make their money back (if the company does not have money left over after the bills then they have nothing to put into advertising and therefore their team).
Second, you have to help them sell, but indirectly. This means by showing the rest of the world who they are and how great their product is. The company sponsoring you hopes that people will see you winning contests with their product and that everyone wants to win contests so they will buy their product which then results in more sales.
They also want to make sure that anytime a conversation comes up about their product you are there to talk very highly of it.
Besides using a team for advertising sometimes a company will use a team of sponsored riders for research and development. These riders are responsible for developing and perfecting the company’s next line of products. However, these teams are very hard to become part of and are only open to a select few. For example, Burton’s R&D team, The Development Team, consists of only five people and Burton has 40% of the market.
Step 1
Connecting with shop owners is also a great first step in the process to living the sponsored life. A lot of specialty snowboard shops will have a small snowboard team to represent the shop on the mountain. Typically a shop sponsorship will include some discounts on in-store products, some shirts or sweatshirts with the shops logo and probably a lot of stickers. It will also give you access to the magical pro form.
A pro form is a special order form, that shops are given, that allows the shops employees and riders access to heavily discounted product from companies that the shop carries. Companies usually do this because it allows the people that are directly related to selling their product to have first hand knowledge of the product and hopefully sell much more of it. For example a shop employee usually doesn’t have a lot of money so they will buy something on pro-form. They then get to use that product everyday they go ride allowing them to know more about it then they would reading about it while at work. This in return allows a sales person to give more info and better descriptions to a potential customer, which in turn makes it an easier product to sell.
This first step of riding for a shop is essential as it makes your snowboarding addiction a lot less expensive. Instead of dishing out a lot cash for needed gear on top of buying your pass to the local resort you can get new gear at usually less then half the price now. Sometimes, although a little more rare, the shop will also have a pass that the riders can have access to. The shop may also allow you access to their tuning equipment, which allows you to learn the intricacies of your snowboard and how to keep it in tip top shape. At this step you have gone from spending a lot of money for your addiction to spending a lot less. Granted your not making a living yet but you are one step closer.
Typically your responsibilities while on a shop team will include competing in local competitions, riding a ton at the local mountains and interacting with as many people as possible in a positive way. This means helping people out while they are trying to learn, handing out shop stickers and generally being very approachable and a nice person anytime you are in public (that includes the bars.)
It is also best to stay in close touch with your shop. Make sure you bring all your friends there to shop and just check in as much as possible. However, when you are there don’t demand attention. If there are other customers then let the owners or team managers or even employees work with them first. You come last there and your patience will be appreciated.
One thing you can do that speaks well of you is to volunteer at the shop during their super busy season (Thanksgiving to Christmas). This straight up shows how important they are to you and they will be thankful for the extra coverage. It should strengthen your relationship even more.
Step 2
The next step is getting some recognition from the regional reps. These reps usually have the power to give away a limited amount of gear. At this step you have the possibility to get free gear, if you play your cards right. That equals spending even less money and possibly even making a little money at the end of the season when you sell off the gear you got for free. Typically the best time to go after this next step is in the late spring and early summer when reps will have a slightly smaller workload.
If you have been kicking butt for the shop you were riding for the shop owner can usually put in a very good word for you and maybe even use a little leverage to get you some help from a regional rep. The shop owner is really your in. Ask your shop team manager or shop owner to help you go through their rolodex of reps and get some names, numbers and addresses of companies you would be ecstatic to ride for.
Make sure you have that portfolio, that has pictures and hopefully video of you in it, and some sort of resume with contest results. Send this off to the rep with a letter explaining why sponsoring you is a good idea and say just because I rip does not cut it. However, pointing out that you have a direct impact on X many people because you are in a small part of Y production and your results where in Z contest were so good. You may also want to point out that you will be traveling this season and have a pass to V mountain so you will be visible to even more people.
It is very important to spend some time on your portfolio, resume and letter. Make sure you use proper grammar and don’t have any misspellings, they don’t want to sponsor an idiot.
Send out a package that includes your resume, portfolio and letter to everyone on your list. Give it a week or two then start making some calls. Don’t pester or annoy them and be considerate for their time, reps are notoriously busy people. Make sure you do follow up.
When you do get a hold of the rep then ask them if they received your package (portfolio, resume and letter) and what they thought. They may have liked it or maybe not. If not then ask them what they didn’t like or what they think you should do better with. Don’t take a NO and run away to cry. Get as much feedback as possible because this will only help you later on.
If they like what they see then ask when the next time they will be in town is or when you could meet them again or go riding with them. Don’t get greedy but ask them if they have some gear that you could use or even have for the coming season. Work with them to make sure that the gear they have is something that will work for you. Make sure to thank them for their time and working with you.
Typically at this level you will get some of the companies gear for free and possibly some incentive for winning contests or getting into a magazine or video. You also sometimes get some sort of small travel reimbursement.
Once you get one or maybe two gear sponsors you are going to be feeling like a million bucks. It is great if you can get different sponsors for different equipment. It is usually a bad spot if you are supporting two companies that directly compete against each other. If this is the case you may have to call one back and explain the situation and politely decline their sponsorship offer. They will respect you for this and you don’t end up burning a bridge and pissing someone off. The best you can do here is maintaining a relationship with the other rep. Who you choose is your choice.
As the season starts make sure you stay in touch with the reps that hooked you up. Don’t disappear with the gear they sent you. This may include sending them pictures of you kicking ass with their products or your contest results. Make sure it is something though to keep your contact there. If they are in the vicinity doing product demos then definitely volunteer to go help them out.
Another huge thing you can do is give the company feed back. If you notice that a certain seam on your new boots is giving out or breaking then don’t tell a soul but do tell the rep. YOU SHOULD NEVER POINT OUT A FLAW IN YOUR NEW GEAR TO ANYONE. The rep should then be able to alert someone in R&D about the problem and have the problem fixed in next year’s line.
This helps the company and shows that you are really using your new gear.
Step 3
The next step is working with the companies that flowed you gear the season before to get not only new gear but possibly some sort of allowance or even extra gear that you could use, trade or sell. By now the rep should have your number in their cell phone and talks to you on a regular basis.
You should also send another round of packages to companies that would not conflict with your current sponsors. Your portfolio should be twice as thick and your resume even more full of awesome contest results. Your letter should note the things that the rep said you needed from the season before and how you achieved those things in the past season.
So at this point you will have a few companies that are helping you more then others and you shouldn’t be paying for much of your gear anymore. This doesn’t mean that you can now ditch your shop sponsorship by any means. You still want to be referring as many people as possible there and helping them out in any way you can.
Continue ripping as much as you can and keep winning those contests.
Step 4
Hopefully by now you have a handful of companies that pay you a small allowance and give you some cash incentives to win contests. This is probably the point where you don’t have to worry about holding a regular job during the winter season. This is also probably the point where you need to move beyond the rep that has been helping you out and make a solid connection with the companies team manager. The team manager will most likely start to have some stringent requirements for you including photo shoots and lots of traveling to the major contests.
Although it is hard at this part of your journey it is super important to remember who put you where you are today. Those reps and shop owners that took a risk on you and stuck out their own necks.
Even though it may be hard, try and stay loyal. At this stage of the game your name is going to be floating around and you will be in some demand. It is important not to drop a sponsor on a dime just because someone offered you more money or something along those lines. Hopefully you chose wisely earlier on and are representing companies that you believe in and have good people with whom you work with. If you drop a couple sponsors in a row very quickly no one else will want to risk having you represent them, you have basically shot yourself in the foot and it will take a long time to get yourself back to being desirable.
Also at this leg in your journey you have made some friend out there that have chosen the life as a professional snowboarding photographer or cinematographer. When you are not at a contest you want to be hanging out with these guys in whatever adventure they have planned. This will allow you even more exposure and your demand will be directly correlated with it.
Step 5
You have made it. Congratulations. By this point you have a few sponsors that pay you a decent allowance and your season has gone from 6 months to 10 months or even more now. You are not financially strapt like you used to be. You get to travel a ton and are always on the road helping promote the companies that pay your bills. You may have much more impact on next years product design and you may even have a board line coming out sooner or later that you have been helping work on.
Final Words
Going pro is not for everyone and is a journey that may take many years to complete but just remember every step of the way, you are doing what you love and persuing your dreams. Always remember your roots and those that got you where you are today.
NEVER EVER under any circumstance should you ever rip on the companies that are flowing you gear or helping you pay your bills. It doesn’t make you cool to talk trash about the companies that are putting you where you are today not matter what the situation is. Some how somewhere the word will get out and get back to who ever and create a bad situation. You may loose your sponsorship and no one wants to sponsor someone who rags on their company so finding another may be a very hard task.
You should also try not to rip on any of your companies competition because first of all its really not necessary and second you never know when you may have to go knocking on their door.
Good luck!
-Lakes