A Letter from the President Dear Athlete and Family:

Congratulations on your outstanding amateur career! We have been following your development and progress as an athlete. You are reading this now as a result of the dedication you have shown to improving your game. Through our observations and evaluations, we believe you have the potential to build a professional sports career.

It is highly unlikely we are the only ones to have identified your talents. In the coming months and years, many people will approach you, offering a plethora of promises. Educator and mentor Dr. Lynn Lashbrook advises aspiring agents that “players cannot agent their way into the League, they must play their way in.” Athletes control their destiny by demonstrating that they have prepared themselves mentally, physically, and socially.

You expect your teammates to be dependable, on time, and there to pick you up when you fall down. A great teammate is one for whom your success is just as important as their own, because they want to see the team succeed. As coaches, mentors and advisors we often refer to this concept as “The Greater Good.” You should select your agent much the same as you would select a teammate. A great agent provides open and timely communication of facts, not hearsay or speculation, and works toward your success for the right reasons—not for monetary gain. A great agent will aid your development and prosperity both on and off the field. You will find some questions to ask potential agents later in this proposal that will help you in the process of drafting those agents onto your personal team. Selecting the right agent may very well be the most important decision of your professional career.

I am very selective regarding the athletes I commit to representing. Character, integrity, honor, and loyalty are critical in an agent-player relationship. Family is of the utmost importance to me, and I treat all of my clients as part of my family. Ask any of our staff, colleagues, or clients: We are truly passionate about serving others and ensuring you have the greatest opportunity for a successful professional sports career.

I hope that our core values are in alignment and that you will join the Flatwater Sports Management family.

Best of luck,

James A. Heim, President Flatwater Sports Management

 

To serve others in their transformation from amateur to professional player.

As a service to others, it is our mission to lead the charge for parity and equality in regards to professional opportunities for those individuals with character, integrity, and talent. Our vision is a level playing field for all prospective professional athletes. We believe that there should be nothing standing in the way of a professional sports career for those talented athletes who are truly committed to hard work and who provide a positive role model for others.

We pride ourselves on staying true to our beliefs. Ethics, morals, and doing the right thing are espoused through our fully integrated leadership model. The four pillars of our integrated leadership model are self-awareness, ingenuity, love, and heroism as defined by Chris Lowney in his book Heroic Leadership. We are unrelenting in communicating what our athletes can offer a team. Eleanor Roosevelt said it best, “Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.” We will make sure your talents are evaluated by the key decision maker. When you are part of the Flatwater Sports Management family, we not only take pride in promoting you at the highest level, but we are passionate about promoting you to the right coaches, to the right team, and to the right directors of player personnel. Your dream of a professional sports career is our dream too, but a dream it shall remain if no one is in your corner supporting you, ensuring that every opportunity available is pursued. Your job is to prepare for those opportunities; ours is to identify and facilitate them.

 

When he accepted his Lifetime Achievement Award, Mean Joe Green stated that respect—for the game, teammates, coaches, and opponents—was what set him apart from others that play the game today. Mr. Green went on to say that without this respect, he did not believe he would have been able to stay in the League as

long as he did.

When former Chicago Bears Head Coach Marc Trestman was asked at a recent NFL Combine panel what he thought allowed him to rise so quickly through the coaching

ranks in the NFL, he replied that it was as simple as serving others. To paraphrase, “once you learn that it’s really not about yourself and you truly work toward helping

others, then good things start to happen for everyone.”

Listening to these responses, I couldn’t help but think how this relates to those teams that are successful at the highest echelon of their field.

These teams are a model for serving others.

Self-Awareness Ingenuity Love Heroism

Mission & Vision

 

James A. Heim Sports Agent/Life Coach

I began my professional career in the oil and gas business and have worked for some of the nation’s largest energy firms,

including Enron, KinderMorgan, ONEOK and TransCanada, before starting my own energy consulting firm. This career afforded my family a comfortable lifestyle, but it did not afford me the opportunity to serve others.

As a sports agent, I am responsible for conducting myself with honesty, integrity, and determination in furthering my athletes’ professional sports careers. I take a fully integrated approach to my clients’ wealth, personal lives, careers, and post-career challenges. My goal is to simplify and enhance your lifestyle needs by working off the field, leaving you to focus only on your career on the field.

I have proven myself to be very adept at preparing my clients for their professional sports careers, with experience in agent regulations and player association legalities, contract negotiation, endorsements, sponsorships, ethics, collective bargaining agreements, draft preparation, marketing, and recruiting. I will always represent your best interests, helping you achieve your goals as a sports professional as well as in your life away from sports.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to develop a network of amazing sports personalities. As a former athlete who never quite made it to the Show, I have sought a common denominator for why and how an athlete’s dream of competing at the professional level comes to fruition. I have found that if you listen carefully, you can decipher the codes to unlocking great potential in yourself as well as in your teammates.

I strongly believe that the success of an athlete is greatly attributed to the quality of people in that athlete’s support group, and a quality sports agent is perhaps the greatest ally an aspiring pro athlete can have. As your agent, I measure my value through your success and quality of life.

“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication.

Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” - Gail Devers

 

 Branding & Visibility Whether or not you realize it, you likely began building your brand in college. Your fan base started with your hometown fans and grew larger as you progressed in your college career. It will continue to grow and evolve with you throughout your professional and post-professional career.

Starting today, YOU are a marketable brand. Starting today, you will begin managing and controlling your brand. Your brand is an extension of your character and morals, and it is one of the few things you will be able to control when pursuing a professional athletic career. Our goal at Flatwater Sports Management is to help you understand what it takes to stand out and prosper, and to help you begin thinking of yourself as your own brand manager. There is virtually no limit to the ways you can go about enhancing your brand. We will provide access to media experts to help you monetize opportunities as your brand becomes more powerful.

Everything you do—and everything you choose not to do—communicates your values, ethics and character. Everything from the way you handle interviews, to your social media presence, to the way you conduct yourself in the public eye, is part of the larger message about your brand. If you want people to see you as a powerful brand, act like a credible leader.

Athlete Biography Once part of the Flatwater Sports Management family, FSM will work with you to compile your sports career data and create a professionally produced athlete biography that will communicate to franchises the value of your athleticism and aid you in maximizing prosperous professional opportunities.

Flatwater Sports Management stays current with trending player evaluation technologies used by front offices, directors of player personnel, coaching staffs, player evaluators, and media alike. Keeping up with the evaluation technologies used in your sport is key for an agency to ensure you stay relevant and marketable.

Media Training Post-game interviews will be just a portion of your media encounters. Professional sports franchises employ teams of professional marketing and media personnel to manage their brands. Making a collaborative effort with your team’s front office and coaching staff in your communications with the media is critical to avoiding dissent among teammates or placing the player-coach relationship in jeopardy. A concise, collaborative message is critical to maintaining your employer’s brand.

Flatwater Sports Management has established relationships and continues to network with progressive media professionals. These same relationships are available to you for your training and development regarding media relations, both on and off the field.

List of Questions to Ask Potential Agents

What qualifies you to be an agent?

What professional connections do you have in my sport?

What services do you provide? Who pays for what?

What will you do to further my career that I can’t do on my own?

How much do you charge; what is included and what is not included in your fee?

When and how do I pay for your services?

With all your other clients, how will I know that you are working for me?

Will you help me find marketing endorsements? Other financial opportunities?

Will you assist me in finding a financial advisor? Can I use my own financial advisor?

Do you receive a referral fee for referring me to a financial advisor?

What happens if we have a dispute over your services?

What states are you registered in?

Have you ever faced any disciplinary actions against you as an agent?

Why should I hire you to be my agent?

“The time is always right to do what is right.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Again, congratulations on your outstanding amateur career: Your entire future is ahead of you. The decisions you make today will have a profound effect on how your professional career ultimately takes shape. Take time and approach your decision to select an agent with both head and heart.

While our door is always open and our phones are always on, we encourage you to discuss this important decision with someone you trust and believe to be of sound character.

Should you decide that Flatwater Sports Management is not the right choice for you at this time, know that we will be following your career and will always be available for consultation.

In closing, we are very excited to begin working with you to achieve your dream of a professional sports career and hope you contact us to begin the collaboration.

I wish you all the best in your continued success.

James A. Heim

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

Your Future