Tag Archives: sports

Jotham S. Stein, ‘Negotiate Like a CEO’



Rick is joined by author and lawyer, Jotham S. Stein this week.

What does it mean to negotiate like a CEO? How important are employment agreements? How can you learn to protect yourself and your family if the worst does happen? These are all questions that Jotham S. Stein addresses in his book Negotiate Like a CEO, with the goal of equipping individuals with the tools they need to safeguard themselves in business and employment.

A lively, engaging read, Negotiate Like a CEO outlines how employees, executives, and entrepreneurs have protected themselves in the past, and gives readers eye-opening advice on how to make sure they won’t get taken advantage of. The book describes best practices, common pitfalls, and sky’s-the-limit possibilities at any career stage, whether you’re just out of college or you’re gunning for that C-suite job.

This book isn’t just for top executives but is for anyone at any stage of their career. It’s never too early or too late to start learning what to look out for, how to negotiate a better deal, and, most importantly, how to protect yourself.

“It is imperative to protect yourself in business and employment,” says Stein. “It’s essential to understand the dynamics at play in any work situation and how best to use them to protect yourself, your family, and your friends.”

Stein is the principal of the Law Offices of Jotham S. Stein P.C. He has more than two decades of experience representing entrepreneurs and C-Suite executives, board members, venture capitalists, private equity principals, and investment bankers as well as less senior employees of all size companies.

He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Princeton University. He is admitted to practice in California, Illinois, New York, Colorado, and the District of Columbia as well as the United States Supreme Court, and several United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts. He is also a member of multiple bar associations, including the American Bar Association.

Stein is the author of Executive Employment Law: Protecting Executives, Entrepreneurs and Employees, a how-to guide for practitioners.


DJ Mitchell, Former Major League Pitcher, RockBox Fitness



Rick is joined by former Major League pitcher and owner of the latest RockBox Fitness, DJ Mitchell.

Fitness in Marietta, Ga. will never be the same.

A former college, Minor League and Major League pitcher, DJ has many great stories to share and his unique philosophy when it comes to fitness. DJ worked his way up through the Yankee organization and hold the rare distinction of being traded for a future Hall of Famer when he was part of a trade for Ichiro Suzuki to the Mariners.

When Mitchell moved to Atlanta he wanted to be involved in a business that utilized his athletic background and gave him the chance to make an impact beyond the field of play.

As co-owner of RockBox Fitness with his wife Beth, opened Jan. 10 in the Parkaire Landing Shopping Center in East Cobb, DJ and his staff are teaching boxing-based workouts, in a state of the art fight club meets nightclub environment.

The studios are equipped with high-end sound systems to rock the tunes that keep members pumped and pushing hard. Color-adaptive lighting is also used to cue another level of psychological motivation. When the lights change, so does the intensity.

The RockBox full body workout includes a 50-minute HIIT combination of boxing, kickboxing and functional strength training with kettle bells, battle ropes and sleds. The workouts change every day and circulate through two different boxing stations and 10 iPad kiosks, each with a different functional exercise. Each kiosk is loaded with over 900 different exercises, ensuring variety with every class. During any given workout, you can expect to punch, kick, push, pull, and more and burn up to 1,000 calories.

“RockBox changes lives, and brings together people from all over our city into this community of fitness and fun,” says DJ, “We are on a first name basis here, and on your team to help you achieve your personal goals.”

Listen and hear more from DJ and Rick!


Holly Sonders, Golf Personality, Model, Social Media



Rick is joined this week on “Tech of Sports” by former Golf Channel and FOX Sports broadcaster, Holly Sonders. Her story is an incredible one, rising to fame through golf broadcasting and becoming one of the first “womenpreneurs” in the Sports and modeling world through social media.

Holly is candid and insightful as the former college golfer talks about NIL deals, how she is using social media as a female entrepreneur creating a multi-million dollar business online. Her new love interest with Celebrity Boxer Oscar de la Hoya and how she helped him when he had COVID and was hospitalized a few months ago.

She’s in the tech space as her new NFT just dropped is already priced at over $10k, which includes exclusive access to the NFT community and never before released photos.

That and some great Golf Channel stories. It’s great to catch up with Holly.

 

 


Chris Ivy, Heritage Auctions’ Blazing Summer Platinum Night Auction



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Sports collecting has reached a fever pitch, and Chris Ivy of Heritage Auctions is here to talk with Rick.

Lots to talk about.

$20 million worth of sports history will be up for grabs when Dallas-based Heritage Auctions conducts its star-studded Summer Platinum Auction which is underway and continues through August 21-22. The event features a treasure-trove of sports memorabilia including a vintage Babe Ruth rookie trading card worth more than $1 million, the finest known baseball signed by Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, Magic Johnson’s title-clinching jersey from his rookie season with the Lakers, another $1 million artifact, and the collection of San Francisco Giants beloved icon Willie McCovey.

All of this and more with Chris Ivy.


BJ Pilling, CEO of GoFan, High School Ticketing



BJ Pilling is CEO of Atlanta-based GoFan, one of the top digital ticketing companies for high school sports events. He joins Rick to talk about the busy year they’ve already had in 2021 and what the rest of the year has in store.

GoFan is a tech company and a sports company, providing digital ticketing for high school sports and other events nationwide. Digital ticketing has grown quickly over the last five years, but the pandemic really accelerated the pace.

BJ talks about how the technology works, the value for schools, how much money schools will save and generate, and of course the safety aspect.

A few successes in 2021:

May – California – The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) renewed a multi-year agreement with GoFan as the official digital ticketing partner to provide touchless, digital ticketing solutions to high schools and state-wide post season play across California.

June – Florida – The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) renewed a three-year agreement with GoFan as its official digital ticketing partner to provide touchless, digital ticketing solutions to high schools and state-wide post season play across Florida in all ticketed sports. https://tinyurl.com/ydp4mmeo

June – Georgia – GHSA State Baseball Championships – High school baseball fans brought their excitement to the 2021 Georgia High School Association (GHSA) State Baseball Championship games — setting record attendance with 20,788 tickets sold for this year’s games at Truist Park, Coolray Field, and Historic Grayson Stadium. As professional sports and high school sports programs lift capacity limitations, organizers are seeing increased attendance and tremendous fan excitement. Every fan attending the 2021 Baseball Championships used Alpharetta-based GoFan’s platform for purchase. Statewide, more than 60 percent of schools use GoFan.

BJ was great. Listen to this engaging conversation!


Adam Goodyer, Realife Tech



A great Tech of Sports guest this week, as Rick is joined by Adam Goodyer of Realife Tech.

With live events strategically being held, we are starting to see organizations preparing their venues for fans. The safety of fans who attend these games/events is now taking priority, and new innovations in live event technology are reassuring fans’ comfortability in attending. I wanted to gauge your interest in having Adam Goodyer, CEO of Realife Tech, on the Tech of Sports Podcast around the steps organizations are taking to provide safety before, during and after live events. Adam can speak on:

What new features event venues are deploying to reduce key touchpoints, such as paperless ticketing, mobile ordering, and contactless collection from concessions?

Rick and Adam discuss all this and more.

Realife Tech works with some of the biggest sporting and entertainment clients across Europe and North America. Using advanced data analytics and innovative UI, the Realife platform creates technology that increases mobile spend and revenues at live events. Realife Tech works with the world’s biggest venues and events, including The O2, London; Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; LA Galaxy & Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Outside Lands Festival.