Q&A With Brian Ouellette, CEO of Pro Athlete Direct
1. Tell us a bit about Pro Athlete Direct.
We help financial advisors & realtors develop relationships with sports agents in a way that positions our members as an authority, specialist and trusted advisor in the beginning of the relationship by helping first (vs. selling/pitch which the herds are doing). This is the distinction we have found most miss when trying to work within this client base.
2. What gave you the idea for your business and how did it start?
In the summer of 2010 a sports agent buddy of mine share this article from Sports Illustrated, How & Why Athletes Go Broke. My jaw dropped. I knew some athletes had financial issues but had no idea that +60% of them have massive financial challenges within 2 to 5 years of retirement. As a retired financial advisor myself, it identified over 5,000 wealthy clients who needed a new financial advisor to fix this. For the financial advisors, it opened up a niche client base of 7 figure earners that was a diamond in the rough to develop. Within 30 days of seeing this article, proathletedirect.com was launched. In the last several months we’ve uncovered certain traits in regard to athletes as home buyers (very active home buyers/sellers on avg.). As a result, we are opening our service to realtors in certain US major markets.
3. What’s your favorite thing about your job?
Being able to create this idea and business from idea to full implementation to success to high renewal rate while helping professionals (financial advisors & realtors) add a fresh arm of clients who (many) are in dire need of help.
4. What are your keys to making yourself productive?
Being organized in my pursuit of development since I wear all hats, it is easy to have entrepreneurial ADD and wonder off. To stay at a high level of results production, I hierarchy the most important tasks which can be tricky at times. When it’s tricky I short, mid and long term chart that activities to see which ones fall into the mid/long term quadrant at a higher amount.
5. Tell us one long-term goal in your career.
Good question. To build a network of the most elite service providers in finance, real estate and law and be the go to source for celebrities and high income clients from around the globe to access.
6. What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned through the course of your career?
Take “imperfect” action, no matter what it is. Reason being is that so many times we wait for the stars to align to do anything. This can be something big down to something miniscule. By having this mindset that there is no perfect time other than right now, it allows me to take quick steps to identifying and accomplishing a goal or objective. When I take imperfect action (we coach the hell out this term) I have begun. From there I can make adjustments, movements, improvements & whatever is necessary to accomplish my goal and create the result. I have found when I live in a world of waiting for everything to be perfect, procrastination and delays tend to creep in. My kids and I have a saying we’ve had since they could speak. It’s, “we find a way.” This falls right into this mindset of taking imperfect action. Take imperfect action and find the way.
7. What advice would you give to others aspiring to succeed in your field?
Take imperfect action!:) There is a saying a mentor of mine shared with me back in 2010, it’s: “A winner takes action, a loser is still tweaking their plan.” I refer to this often when I find myself in limbo land.
8. What are your favorite things to do outside of work?
I love my family. I have a 10 year old son, 9 year old daughter and 3 year old son and amazing wife. I want to be with them 24/7. Whether it’s having my 2 oldest
9. Name a few influential books you’ve read and/or websites you keep up with that you’d recommend to readers.
Tim Ferrris, 4 hour body,
Russell Brunson, Expert Secrets, clickfunnels.com & Richest Man in Babylon
