FREEDOM - 2025 !

Work & Finance

For May I am writing about my word for 2025 which has three main parts;

1. Family & Friends

2. Health

3. Work & Finance

This week I’m writing about Work & Finance.

Let me start by saying I am very fortunate in that I love what I do for ‘work’. It’s not always been the case - my first job from school was not anything I loved but I didn’t hate it either. From a fairly early age, I worked in ‘marketing’ which is a passion of mine, coupled with business - understanding how businesses work and working out how they can grow. That’s my area of focus.

Today, most of my work is focused around ‘sports marketing’ - helping organisations/brands use sports as effectively as possible. This is way more complicated than a sponsorship where a brand pays for the right to have their brand placed on a shirt or motorcar etc.

Sports marketing is much more about understanding the rights/assets that a sports rights holder has and how they could be used by an organisation/brand to help them achieve their business growth objectives.

For over 25 years, I have been very fortunate in that I work for myself and from where ever I want to work - as long as I have good internet, I can work anywhere - home, wherever that is, a coffee shop, even out walking etc.

So work is something I enjoy. I am not in a position to not be focused on my revenue - I need to earn money to pay my bills and live a life that I desire.

After last year, I am now having to rebuild a business that was certainly dropping off in terms of annual revenue and the level of activity I was managing. My business for the past two years was just ticking over, a few contracts were not renewed and that was fine as I didn’t need to continue to earn at the same level.

I was not retired, far from it, and probably never will be - I’m not really sure what that means anyhow - I cannot see myself doing nothing !

But moving back to England at the beginning of this year due to my circumstances drastically changing, I have had to put way more energy into my work and fortunately, I have been able to create a much larger number of projects that I’m currently working on. Some small in terms of potential revenue, some medium size and a few larger ones.

Already this year, one new sports marketing project was concluded - a medium size one and one that will pay for four years. So, that’s really good and a great platform to use and spring from.

Some examples of the sports marketing contracts I have been responsible for - my role included building a relationship with the right contact at the organisation/brand and then creating a strategy where using the right sports marketing programme would be very effective. Once this phase is completed, it’s about finding the sports rights holders who could be a good ‘fit’ for the organisation/brand and then woking with the sports rights holder to create a tailored sports partnership programme that will be effective for the organisation/brand. There are many steps involved which is why these contracts can take up to a year and in some cases over a year. I’m currently working on something that is in its second year - we are getting close but it could be a few months yet ! And of course, anything can happen along the process where either party decides it’s not for them. Once both parties are in contact and building a relationship and we’re discussing a potential partnership package, there is lots of negotiation and I work with both sides to help move the partnership closer to a conclusion - even drafting rights agreements and drafting legal contracts.

Three examples - Anheuser Busch (the world’s largest beer company) and Cricket West Indies (one of the top international cricket teams), Plus500 (an FX trading organisation) and Atletico Madrid and Corpay (the world’s largest foreign exchange organisations) and World Athletics (one of the top Olympic Federations).

The way I get remunerated is an agreed commission level based on the partnership/sponsorship fee - so no win, no fee ! It’s not a great business model but it’s the way the industry works and can reward well if you are able to secure a large sponsorship fee - commission can range from 7.5% up to 25%. And most contracts ate for three or four years.

My start point is always 15% paid on the sponsorship fee paid, and on the lifetime of the deal. And I’m paid within 14 days of the sports rights holder being paid by the sponsor. But I’m open to negotiation as many sports rights holders work on an agreed agency agreement which is slightly different to my ideal.

As we are fast approaching the end of May, five months of 2025 already ! I am focused on closing out three new contracts plus I am working on another two that are close behind (or could be). I also have three large projects that are moving through the various phases - my job here is to help move them along and make sure we address any issues so that we can create a solid partnership programme that will be a win win.

This week I picked up a new project that could be up and running by mid summer - so that was nice. I also have some other larger projects in development that I’m working on.

I’ve just worked out that I have 28 projects on the go - all at various stages of development. Of these 28, 11 are very active and moving on through the process. The rest are either at the stage where early discussions are being held to see if something could be viable or they are projects that are on hold for now as other projects are more advanced and look more promising. I also have some where the sponsor is saying not just now but maybe later in the year - so I keep in touch with them and share other ideas that might work for them. I also have sports rights holders asking me if I know of anyone wanting to become a partner with them, e.g. a football club looking for a new front of shirt sponsor etc.

So, work is busy - which is great. I love what I do - which is great. I need to build my business back up to a level where it was a few years ago - so that’s a challenge that I embrace, let’s see if I can. Work needs to provide enough revenue to pay my bills and live a life that I desire - so I’ve set myself a challenge to hit certain targets by certain dates. I’m a firm believer that in business, if you set realistic targets with a solid plan to achieve them, you will hit the objectives and probably over achieve.

I’m on target so far this year - but anything can happen in business - things way beyond my control - so that’s one reason why I work on so many projects at one time.

If one or two of the smaller ones plus a medium one plus a large one come good in 2025, I will have achieved my objective and this then gives me a bigger platform to build from in 2026. I’m working on a one year and three year plan. Always reviewing and adjusting and refining my strategy etc.

Hitting work and financial targets will deliver the ‘freedom’ I desire - to work when and where I want to - to take time off to travel - I have a dream to take a month or even two or maybe three months off per year - I would love to take time off and travel, maybe stay in Florence for a few months - to live there over a period of time long enough to get to know it better than being a tourist. And of course, I can still work by staying in contact etc but I wouldn’t drive new projects, just manage existing ones.

The dream - and why not ? I want to live an abundant, exciting and joy filled life -filled with love and laughter.

Thank you for reading this far - and if you did, I hope it helps you in some small way with whatever you are doing in this area.

Kevan