Turning a Love of Sports into an Exciting Career with Chris Chaney
“If something doesn’t fit or feel right, it is ultimately not what we want to do or want it to be. It’s okay to say ‘I’m going to do something else.”
In this episode of Nat Chat I’m joined by Chris Chaney. He currently runs Chaney holdings, which is a combination of sports marketing and financing for sports related companies and teams.
It all started when he graduated from college. He’d dreamed of working in the NBA, but when he got there, didn’t feel like it was the right fit, and quickly left to start his own sports marketing agency. He’s continued pursuing his interests, working with all kinds of athletes from basketball players to competitive video games, and followed his interests out into seemingly unrelated fields like startup investing and dinner experiences, which we start the episode by discussing.
If you feel like you have a hard time picking one thing and sticking to it, like I do, Chris is a perfect example of someone who has taken that extremely diverse set of interests and built it into a company and lifestyle that’s successful and exciting for him.
We cover a wide range of topics, including:
- Sports marketing and niche sport industries
- Career diversity as a form of leverage
- Unique targeting methods companies use on you
- Improving your networking and outreach skills
- The future of technology and what it means for the jobs market
And a ton more. Please enjoy, and reach out to Chris on Linkedin!
If you enjoyed our discussions on outreach and networking, you should check out my episode with Kevin Miller where we talk about mastering cold emailing and making outreach a habit. You may also like my episode with Justin Mares on choosing who to reach out to and on producing quality work, and my episode with Thomas Frank for finding work that you’re passionate about.
Links from the Episode
Find Chris Online:
Mentioned in the show:
- Medieval Times
- LA Live
- Madison Square Garden Theater
- Psychographics
- Princeton University
- Adidas
- Under Armour
- ESports
- League of Legends
- Counter Strike
- Hearthstone
- Dota 2
- New York Mets
- DARPA
- SEO
Books mentioned:
People mentioned:
Show Topics
1:11 – Introduction to Chris, him detailing his journey through various industries and some of the important takeaways he received.
6:01 – Chris’ unique dinner attraction industry, some background on it, and how he started the business.
11:37 – Chris discussing what psychographics is, going in-depth on various ad targeting techniques used on people, and how companies use your personal data.
16:44 – How Chris would introduce himself at a cocktail party, him talking about his venture into eSports, and discussing what e-sports are in detail.
24:21 – The financial aspects of eSports and what Chris is currently working on in the eSports industry.
25:23 – How long Chris has been in the sports market and some of the things he’s done in that.
28:37 – How Chris got involved in the sports world and him detailing some of the things he’s accomplished.
35:14 – Chris speaking on how he earned the money to fund his entrepreneurial projects and speaking on his job with the NBA.
39:11– Chris’ experience with sport tech startups and him being introduced to niche sports.
42:27 – How Chris found investors for his projects.
45:55 – Chris’ process for great networking and him speaking on becoming more versatile with working in many different types of industries.
50:06 – How Chris reaches out to others and his perspective on doing that in a professional manner.
56:15 – How Chris’ passion for entrepreneurial type projects developed and his thoughts on quitting the wrong job.
1:06:16 – What Chris would pursue outside of the sports industry.
1:10:03 – Which book Chris would recommend to others and Nat and Chris’ thoughts on the future of technology.
1:15:44 – Wrap up and where to find Chris online.
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://nateliason.com/podcast