
To
make big bucks on
this road, you
must
sell
yourself
Rich . . . and
Famous
65
generally aren 't "rich and famous." But T iger went to college! Sure,
he dropped
out
(like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates),
but
first Stanford
wanted him .
Pro athletes require an agent.
L\t1G
is perhaps the best-known
sports agency and manages many huge names. For others, check the
Sports Agent Directory (www.prosportsgroup
.com). Again,
don't pay up front!
They
get
paid when you do
-always
. Your agent helps
negotiate better contracts and lands sponsor-
ships and Wheaties boxes.
That'
s where the
big bucks are (like lunch boxes and action figures for writers
-see
Chapter 8). So, to become a pro athlete: 1. Practice 2. Finish high
school. 3.
Get
recruited to college. 4. Find an agent. 5. Become the
face of Nike. Easy as that.
Now
go do more wind sprints .
POTHOLES
AHEAD
NO
ONE
SEES!
The
talent road is youthful,
but
unreliable. Persistence has no high
correlation with financial success.
Nor
does talent alone .
No
mat-
ter
how talented an actor you are, odds are seriously against
yOll
ever being emp loyed in acting.
The
number
s are scary. According
to the Bureau of
Labor
Statistics (BLS), in any year there are only
about 157,000 acting jobs.
Not
157,000
actors-157,000
jobs
(some as dancing chickens).
No
way to know how many wannabes
are waiting tables instead.
The
Screen Actors Guild (SAG
-the
TV
and movie actors union) has about 100,000 members,
but
even
SAG admits only about 50