ErikAverill.com

A topic that has been a re-occurring theme in many of my conversations lately is the importance of having a group of quality people in your life who can serve as your personal board of advisors.

I’m not so much refering to the need of having a formal board that has to meet regularly, rather the concept that you have people in your life that you can trust to offer encouragment in times of difficulty, accountability in your pursuit of accomplishing your life’s goals and someone who is not afraid and cares enough to put you in your place when you get out of line.

For many of us we assume these are the people we call our best friends, however, I have found that sometimes we expect too much of people that may not be in the right place to be the best advisor for you.

I have found it to be important to find role models and mentors in the areas of business, relationships, spiritual growth and health and fitness.

Do you have people in your life you can count on? If so, how have they helped you so far?

Hindsight is always 20/20. How often do we quote or hear this phrase when we start to talk about past experiences. The majority of the time I agree 100% with the fact that there was no possible way to have known how the decisions we made would turn out. However, as true as this mostly is, I also believe that it is an easy out and common excuse for many people.

Over the past 6 months every Wednesday morning I have met with three other former ball players who are business professionals. The original idea behind meeting was to help network for our individual businesses and learn more about each others respective business. However, the conversations continued to drift towards our experiences as amateur and professional athletes and naturally the phrase I wish I would have known then what I know now was heard. We were all in agreement that the problem was not a shortage of people willing to help us or access to information. The issue was and still is the creditability and hidden agendas of the information and individuals who offered assistance during this process.

The more we discussed the huge need for unbiased and factual information and the passion each of us have for helping young athletes avoid the pitfalls we experienced we realized we needed to act.

The instant clarity was to start a Non-Profit that would provide this truthful and reliable information to the athlete and family. A source that was not driven by self promotion or making money to provide a lifestyle.

This is how AthleteCEO Non-Profit was born.

As four young business professionals it will be an adventure as we learn how to balance our time, leverage our resources and get the message out!

I hope you will join us on our journey as we experience the high and lows but most importantly impacting athletes lives as I regularly update you on our progress. If you would like to learn more or offer guidance please reach out.

As always have a blessed day and thanks for your time!

Erik

Yesterday I had the unique privilege of visiting with someone I dearly admire and look up to as a role model, Armando Flores.

I first met Flores while I was playing ball at Arizona State. Back then, I really only knew him by reputation. He was an important supporter of the baseball program and from what I heard a successful businessman. The few times I interacted with him I was always impressed with his warm spirit and his ability to engage you into a deeper conversation.

It was not until after I had left the program that I began to realize the rare opportunity I had because of ASU baseball to engage with such a successful and knowledgeable individual. In my opinion, having access to Flores is the best kept secret of the ASU program.

During our conversation I asked Flores the question, “if you were sitting in my seat today, with the goals of succeeding as a businessman, a member of the community and most importantly as a family man what would you do.”

His response was not what you might expect from a man of his success. He first humbly explained that he was not a special individual who knew a secretive way to become successful. He then went on to share three things with me; 1) Treat every day as an interview. 2) Always see the best in people and  3) invest in building long term relationships through acts of service.

He explained that this was the secret to his success with hard work of course! I left the conversation encouraged now knowing that no matter who or where you are today that if you begin to apply these principles to your life you will succeed.

Spring Training is in the full swing of things and for only the second year I’m enjoying it as a fan instead of a player. This weekend I attended the Giants and Diamondbacks game with my wife, brother-in-law and a few buddies.

How incredibly different it is to be watching a game instead of playing. I have to laugh to myself when I hear the commentary from the fans around me. So many are under some crazy impression that to make it to the big leagues it’s all God given ability and that these guys just roll out the balls and bats.

As a player that never reached the major leagues and have many friends that are currently in the show I know first hand how difficult it really is to make it to the show. Yes, I don’t discount that the players are talented but the level of competition is insane.

Colin Curtis hits Walk Off Spring Training 2010

This makes it so much more exciting when I get to see my former teammates and close friends succeed. The first day of Spring Training watching Colin Curtis blast a homerun for the Yankees gives me just as much happiness as when I use to win a ball game. There is nothing better than to celebrate all my buddies successes at the professional level.

To all my former teammates and great guys I have met I congratulate you on all your success up to this point and am excited to see what the future holds.

The business of baseball peaked its head outside today with the filing period of arbitration beginning today. Players and teams will exchange their financial request on January 19, and for cases not settled by February 1^st, hearings will take place.

This is an opportunity for players to make a case for what they are worth based on their performance. Agent Alan Nero said, “arbitration gives us the opportunity to compare people based on statistical comparables.”

Players have historically been well rewarded in this process. Last year, the 111 players eligible for salary arbitration (eligibility now begins after three years of service) set a new record by receiving an average pay increase of 172 percent.

The big story this year is two-time defending National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, who is in his first round of arbitration. It has been speculated that he could ask for somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million.

With the opportunity to sign such lucrative contracts one would assume these athletes would be financially set for the remainder of their life.

Unfortunately, we are witnessing at this moment how vulnerable athletes are to financial disaster.

Triton Financial, an Austin, Texas-based investment firm which boasts prominent ties to the sports world — including a sponsorship deal with the Heisman Trophy Trust; a three-year contract for a PGA Champions Tour event, the Triton Financial Classic; and a roster of former Heisman Trophy winners and NFL players that were employees of the company — has been sued in a civil action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors in a multimillion-dollar insurance scam, according to documents filed yesterday at Austin federal court.

Athletes need to make sure they are paying attention and educating themselves on how to choose a qualified financial advisor. Too many guys let their agents or someone else choose their financial advisor for them, when in reality a professional athlete needs to spend as much time searching for the proper financial advisor as he would spend searching for the right person to spend the rest of his life with.

I’m getting excited to head up to Tahoe, California with my wife, Haley and her family. For Haley and the family it is customary to leave for their cabin on Christmas day and spend the following days snowboarding from sun up to sun down. You can feel the excitement building in the house and listening to the conversations of fresh powder, off course terrain and hitting massive jumps has got me a littler nervous and anxious at the same time.

For me, this will be the first time I snowboard in ten years.  I grew up loving to snowboard. Every winter we would head up to Snow Summit in Big Bear, California and I was lucky enough to join friends on ski trips to Utah, Colorado, and Northern California. From the age of 10 to 16 every winter without question I would be on the slopes.

What changed? I became a serious baseball prospect and had the opportunity to play college baseball and pursue becoming a professional ball player. I knew that the competition was ruthless and taking the risk of getting injured was not worth it. So I made the tough decision at the age of 16 to put my baseball career first. I understood that in order to achieve success tomorrow you must sacrifice today.

Being a professional athlete is the greatest job in the world. Everyday you get to wake up and do what you love and are great at. However, people often forget the many sacrifices athletes must make to accomplish these dreams. When we are off enjoying extremes sports, hanging out at the beach during the summers and traveling to weddings and birthdays, athletes are forced to sit on the sidelines.

People talk about how easy athletes have it. I can personally say from experience that being a professional athlete is one of the hardest dreams to accomplish and every time I hear of another athlete breaking through to the show I celebrate their success.

So if you are an athlete that has to stay back at the cabin or sip on some cocoa in the lodge while friends and family hit the slopes remember you are pursing your dream and its worth the sacrifice. You are only a step away from accomplishing everything you want.

Enjoy the holidays!