LET'S FACE IT, YOU AREN'T GETTING RICH COACHING BASKETBALL...
You may love doing it, but I bet you’d love it even more if you were making more money. In most cases, coaches aren’t in the position of getting raises or being able to ask for more money. So how will you ever become rich - or at least more profitable than you are now?
You may not even realize that you have some pretty nifty skills and resources that could be used to beef up your earnings.
Being entrepreneurial may not be in your nature, or may even really scare you. My husband, Mike, and I are pretty risk-adverse by nature and likely would have been scared to death to embark on our entrepreneurial journey had we known that is what we were doing and what our journey was to be. For us, it was completely accidental. But here we are grossing six-figures in our oopsie daisy basketball business. I’ll get to our story in a minute. First, I want to point out 5 reasons you could – AND DESERVE TO – be making more money.
Because you coach, here is what I already know about you:
You are hard-working, organized and work well with people. Coaching isn’t an anti-social desk job looking at a computer. Your very profession demands that you communicate with others in order to achieve goals. You are expected to manage a lot of details in much less time than it actually takes. You put in way more hours than people would guess.
You have A LOT of basketball connections. Basketball has its own community and you know people. Many of your daily conversations revolve around basketball, are with people involved in basketball and you are present at events & places involving basketball. Let’s face it, your entertainment IS basketball and you are connected to the basketball world.
You want what is best for kids. No matter what age you are working with, you want to see them grow as players and also as people. Obviously, you care a lot about them because most of us coaches aren’t getting our kicks out of being criticized by the media or being harassed by unhappy parents. You have a good heart.
You want to help your program grow. If you are a varsity-level coach, you know that your success is dependent on all the coaches working with players at the younger levels. They help groom the players’ skills and their love for the game which will determine your success each season. Every coach knows that the coaching and the experiences your players had before you are important determinants to your own success as a coach each season.
You know basketball and love being around it. It’s your happy place – in the gym, at a basketball game or on your couch watching a game. You are at home when you get to discuss HOOPS with anyone.
So, now that we’ve highlighted some things I know about YOU, let me tell our story. I think you’ll find it intriguing because we are a lot alike.
In 1997, we asked ourselves “How do we help build our program and help kids LOVE playing basketball?” And now we have a six-figure business with no reason to think it can't become a seven-figure business. It is important to note what I did not include in this question we asked ourselves. We did not get where we are today because money motivated us. It is only because we've learned a lot along the way about providing a quality product, always keeping our focus on what is good for and fun for the players, that we are now reaping the financial rewards of our labors.
Honestly, the whole idea of our 3 on 3 basketball business started with me coaching volleyball. I wanted to get kids in the gym in the summer to play more volleyball in a fun, non-coached way. I just wanted to build the enthusiasm and joy of playing. My 3 on 3 idea turned out not to work very well for volleyball, but we found that it worked beautifully for basketball. It wasn't long before neighboring communities requested we run a league for them. We weren't intentionally trying to grow but it became apparent that we needed to either start saying "no" to the requests or Mike was going to need to leave teaching and make 3 on 3 basketball his profession. So we continued to say "yes" and here we are working hard to bring 3 on 3 opportunities to kids around the country.
You too can find a way to make more money with all the attributes and connections you have as a coach.
You don't need to run 3 on 3 leagues like us. And you certainly don't need to know where your idea will take you five or ten years from now.
Find a way to make basketball fun for the kids.
Maybe you host some open gyms or camps.
Maybe you create a big brother/sister basketball program.
Maybe you want to try what we’ve done, 3 on 3 basketball leagues.
Don’t be afraid to be creative. If you keep the kids and the development of your entire program at the fore-front, you will think of something that makes sense. Your willingness to work hard will help your idea come to life. The making more money, well, that will come if what you are doing is really a good thing for young basketball players.
Good luck with this endeavor! If you think running your own profitable 3 on 3 league is for you, then you have something we didn't have when we started - HELP! 3 on 3 Hoops Hub will ensure you are prepared to run an excellent league.