Entry 124-3

Mike Wurm - How to be a Pro Fisherman

Tips on How to Get a Sponsor

Editor's Note: Do you know who has struck out more times than any other baseball player in history—Babe Ruth. Did you know that Gone With The Wind was turned down by 32 publishers? Did you know that most great athletes, at some time during their career, usually have a streak of bad luck that either puts them out of the game or that they come back from it with a vengeance and reach even greater heights than they’ve achieved before the disaster? We all like the story of the “come-back kid” who overcomes adversity, picks himself up, and dusts himself off not only go back into battle but to charge. But how does the tournament fisherman who has done so well for many years recharge his batteries and come back from a devastating season to compete again against the best of the best? This is what Mike Wurm will teach us this week.

Question: How does someone get sponsors?

Wurm: When you make the decision that you want to be a professional fisherman, you have to understand that if you’re going to earn a living as a professional fisherman, you also have to be a professional promoter. Your real business is promoting and marketing products for the fishing industry to the fishing public. Once you understand that promoting is as big a part of your business as catching bass, the next thing you have to ask yourself is “what can I do to attract sponsors and to keep them working with me?” Catching fish certainly helps, and that is one of the key things you can do to attract sponsors. But if you attract sponsors and don’t keep them, you will have a short life in the fishing business. But even if you’re not catching fish, you have to be a good promoter and marketer for the companies you represent.

Question: How do you promote and market professional fishing?

Wurm: The first and most-important thing is the way you dress, look and talk. You have to remember you are the front line representative for the companies that sponsor you. I am the first image that many people will see when they hear the name of the companies I represent. I am Strike King. I am Ranger Boats. I am Evinrude Motors. And, I am the other companies that sponsor me. As those companies’ representative, I need to look professional. I need to dress nice, have a fresh haircut, look and talk like a businessman. If I don’t, the companies don’t need me.

You also have to be able to feel comfortable talking to people you don’t know and have the ability to make friends wherever you go. You must be the kind of person that people want to come up to and talk to. You also must have the ability to get on stage and give a seminar to thousands of people you don’t know and make each one of them feel that you are talking to them individually. When a sponsor sees that kind of image, they say, “This is the kind of fisherman we want to represent our company.”




 

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