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Agent’s Best Friend: Cell Phone

We've used this picture before...but does it ever get old?Everyone imagines the stereotypical Sports Agent as a man with slicked back hair, ruthless in negotiations, and always on his cell phone. While stereotypes often simplify or generalize a situation to a great degree (there are women agents that do not have slicked back hair and are calm and collected in negotiations), they sometimes hold some truth. Cell phones are a huge part of every successful Sports Agent’s life. The job is a 24/7 commitment to be available to all of your clients whenever they need you (even if it is to just sit and listen to them talk to you about their problems). If you are not willing to adopt the cell phone as your true best friend (sorry dogs), then you are not ready to become an agent.

Now that you love your Samsung, Motorola, Nextel, etc., when are the proper times to use the cell phone? LetsTalk, a company that sponsors surveys to find out information about cell phone etiquette recently conducted a survey to find out what places the general population finds it allowable to use a cell phone. The results are below:

  1. 66% say it is allowable in a Supermarket.
  2. 63% say it is allowable in a Car.
  3. 45% say it is allowable on Public Transit.
  4. 38% say it is allowable in a Bathroom (my personal favorite place to talk).
  5. 21% say it is allowable in a Restaurant.
  6. 2% say it is allowable in a Movie Theater.

This survey shows that there are a lot of people out there who generally look down on cell phone usage. IMHO (in my honest opinion), I don’t care what people think about my usage in private places (bathroom, car). In addition, you may have to upset a majority of people by picking up calls from your clients in every other public arena. Only 2% of those polled deem it “OK” to accept a call in a movie theater, but in this business, you must always be available when a client calls, and therefore may have to make quite a few people unhappy with you as you walk out of a movie with your phone at your ear.

The Sports Agent world is already too congested with registered agents and many hopefuls that wish to one day break into the business. There would be no reason for this blog if there were not a ton of people interested in the subject. This blog received 65 hits yesterday, and about half of the referrals were from Google/Yahoo searches on how to become a Sports Agent. Be aware that these cell phone polls/results exist, and that they may have to be ignored by the “slicked back hair/ruthless” successful agent.

[tags]cell phones, sports agents[/tags]

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.

One reply on “Agent’s Best Friend: Cell Phone”

[…] Mark Rodgers is a Florida boy. He went to FSU for his undergraduate degree and for Law School (I’ll forgive him for that) and then worked for a couple of law firms before becoming an independent Sports Agent in 1997. He mostly does all of the work for his clients on his own, and used 6,000 minutes last month one only one of his two cell phones. I have already discussed An Agent’s Best Friend before. The workday begins at 5AM and sometimes end as late as 1AM. That’s a 20 hour day, something that you will have to be able to handle at certain times if this is the profession for you. […]

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