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Today we bring you the story of an agent advisor who started with SMWW just five months ago and is quickly learning how fast your career can develop when you get the right player. Dimitri Ziogou came to SMWW with the belief that with the right opportunity, he could be a good agent for players. In a short amount of time, it looks like his prediction has come true.
SMWW: Dimitri, tell us about your player who recently signed in Greece. How did you structure the deal?
Dimitri: SMWW has an online area that agent advisors can login and look at players who have contacted the company looking for representation. I was looking at soccer players one day and noticed a keeper from Greece named Mike Sifakis so I began doing research. I learned that he has played for two seasons and won 2 championships with Olympiakos, which is one of the biggest football clubs in Greece; they play in Division 1 (Super League), he had a total of 140+ professional games under his belt.
I was able to make him my first client as an agent. Through our many conversations it was Mike's goal to come to North America to play in the MLS. I got in touch with John Print, who is SMWW's certified FIFA agent and he told me what information the teams required in order to evaluate a player. I got in touch with 10 MLS teams and two showed serious interest (Toronto FC and the New York Red Bulls). The deal with Toronto fell through due to international player restrictions, and the Red Bulls expressed a lot of interest for the 2008 season because there were only eight games left in the season for MLS.
We put a plan together that we would find him a team that would allow him to be available when the trial period begins for MLS. We made contact with teams throughout Greece and Mike got a tryout with Apollon Kalamarias (super league Greece). He made the team and we started negotiating his contract. We had specific demands that had to be met, the most important of which was being able to leave in December and January to come to North America to tryout for MLS. Kalamarias was not able to meet our demands so we collectively passed on the deal.
We settled on sending Mike to a team in a lower league in Greece and found that Apollon Smyrnis was so happy to have a player of his caliber that the arrangement worked out well for both parties. It was a month of non-stop phone calls, emails, and faxes. I got a lot of first hand experience and with the help of John Print & SMWW, it was an awesome experience.
SMWW: How has SMWW helped you as a new agent?
Dimitri: Without SMWW's Athlete Management course and agent advisor program, I wouldn't even be in the position where I am now; part of the business and having clients. SMWW also put me in touch with John Print, who again was a big help in my first agent transaction. I also got a lot of help from the staff at SMWW's office. Some days, I was calling them three or four times a day asking for advice and they were nothing but encouraging. I thank everybody who helped me along the way.
SMWW: What was your experience like in the Athlete Management Course?
Dimitri: I love sports and being an agent was something that I have always wanted to do, so I was looking forward to taking the course. Going into the course, I did not expect too much, but once the course actually started I was pleasantly surprised. It was very informative, interesting and overall the course was a great experience (I especially like the live chat portion).
It was great being able to talk to Dr. Lashbrook and hear what he had to say. He is a very upbeat and knowledgeable person and he got me excited in pursuing my goal of being an athlete advisor. The old cliché applies here; if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.
SMWW: What advice would you give to someone else who is looking at entering the agent business?
Dimitri: Persistence, persistence, persistence! That is the key to this business. Sports can be a tough business to get into and you have to have a strong mind set in-order to be successful. You also have to expect failures. It wasn't until I contacted the 15th team that I was able to sign my first athlete to a contract, but not once did I get discouraged. As soon as one team said no, I went right on to the next team; it became my mission to get my athlete a team to play on. Another piece of advice that is very important, and even Dr. Lashbrook says this over and over, is "don't quit your day job". Now this doesn't mean you can't make a career out of being an agent, but it is a very competitive business and not everybody is going to make it big and it takes time. Having said that, it is exciting to be involved in the agent business because it only takes one lucky break for you to take your career to a new level.
SMWW: Anything else that you would like to say?
Dimitri: Since my first signing, the players seem to be coming out of everywhere. I now have five athletes and two of them have a good chance of getting drafted into the United Soccer League (USL). It's very exciting to have these opportunities coming to me as a result of my hard work. I look forward to the future and I hope things will work out so that I will be able to quit my day job and become the biggest Soccer agent in North America!
If you are interested in becoming agent and/or an agent advisor with SMWW, select this text to read more about the Athlete Management course or to get registered today!
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