I started my own sports agency when I was 22 and now represent 8 top WNBA stars — including the legendary Lisa Leslie. Here's how I landed major clients and built my business. (by AllisonGaler)
Allison Galer is an entrepreneur, WNBA agent, and founder of Disrupt the Game, a full-service sports and entertainment agency. She began by representing Sammy Prahalis, one of the top players in the nation.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more storiesI started my sports agency, Disrupt the Game — which represents eight top WNBA stars, and Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie — fresh out of college at the age of 22. While at Brown for undergrad, I played one year of women's college basketball and became close with one of the top players in the nation, Sammy Prahalis, who was on track to become a first-round pick in the WNBA draft. At the same time, I was busy interning in different areas of the business of sports. She knew I was a go-getter passionate about women's basketball, and that passion would lead me to the WNBA; she asked if I would be her agent when she finished her college career, and I said yes. In 2012, at the age of 22, I launched a sports agency, Disrupt The Game, with the sixth overall pick in the WNBA draft that year. I had a vision of doing things differently to elevate the women's game; I wanted to be a disruptor of the existing agency model, and decided to bet on myself in the process. My goal from the start was to lift the profile of WNBA players outside the sport as much as inside of it. At the time, and even today, the WNBA was not getting the recognition it deserved as a hub for powerful athletes at the top of their game. As a young woman who hadn't worked at a WNBA agency, didn't play in the WNBA, and only had experience in internships with one WNBA team, I identified as an outsider, but as an outsider I felt I had a chance to come in, flip the narrative on its head, and start introducing my clients to new audiences. The only problem? I started out with one client and a long way to go. But what I lacked in experience, I made up for in effort. It's one thing to hear that a 22-year-old woman with her own "agency" is representing a top-six pick in her first WNBA draft. It's a whole different experience to meet me in person, or even over the phone. I played basketball and grew up around the business of basketball; I know basketball, and I know the WNBA. I knew if people met me, they'd believe in what I was doing. So, I went to every game I could, made a concerted effort to meet with assistant coaches, head coaches, general managers, basketball operations personnel, anyone, and everyone that I could to help build genuine and authentic relationships in and around the WNBA. I also made sure I went overseas to meet with coaches and management, to watch my clients play games that were overseas — to make sure that I was where my clients were. I'd interned with the Sparks my senior year in high school, and the summer after my freshman year, I knew Lisa a little bit, mostly from just friendly conversation when we would see each other. When she asked what I was up to for work, I told her about my agency, and she said, "We should talk." I knew that keeping my expectations low would be key, that this was Lisa Leslie we were talking about, literally the GOAT in women's basketball — the one athlete whose name is synonymous with the WNBA. At the same time, I was determined to shoot my shot; I followed up with her immediately after that game, and we set a date to meet a couple weeks later. I met Lisa and her husband at their home. I had spent a ton of time and effort into putting together a presentation that I thought would best reflect what she was looking for and who she really was and wanted to be. I saw my perceived weaknesses — being a one-woman-band and being young — as strengths. As a small business, time was on my side; I could put endless research into pitching her. Based on my research, Lisa was a wife, mom, daughter and sister at her core — someone with whom family always comes first. Lisa had extensive history and experience with other agents and agencies, even some of the biggest agencies there are. She had, and still has, a vision beyond sports — talking about motherhood, marriage, leadership, etc. — and I promised to do my best to try to make her goals happen. We started doing deals to position Lisa as a working mom that very first year, including a one-day shoot with YouTube's Modern Mom that we still reference in her work today. As an independent agent, this is the core of what I've been able to offer my clients: A listening ear that I can turn into action. I like to think of myself as their teammate. Clients want to feel valued and understood, whether they want to land a campaign surrounding motherhood or a head-turning photo shoot. A huge part of growing my agency revolved around building relationships, and letting word of mouth flow from that. I spend a lot of time getting to know prospective and current clients' families, especially their parents. Clients have frequently recommended me to other clients, like when Jacki Gemelos recommended me to Chelsea Gray, who is now a three-time WNBA All-Star, and Chelsea Gray recommended me to Elizabeth Williams, also now a WNBA All-Star. When Chiney Ogwumike was set to go first overall in the 2014 draft, Lisa Leslie, one of her mentors, recommended me to her family. Chiney is now a two-time WNBA All-Star and recently became the first Black woman to co-host her own national radio show at ESPN. I made the mistake early on of recruiting and signing players that didn't really "fit" the approach of my agency. Now, I keep my client list super-tight and seek to deliver more value for each client instead of less value for many. If we land a campaign, or help make sure they are best situated with their WNBA team or overseas team, I don't really take much time to celebrate; my aim is to build momentum, and always focus and think about what we can do. I don't take my foot off the gas, nor do my clients. It's so important to be proactive in this business, think two steps ahead, and ask myself how one opportunity can build on the next. For the first time in eight years, I haven't been traveling across the country or overseas to see my clients play; they were in the WNBA bubble this season, and I had to watch from afar. Many of my clients have endured some difficult situations to play basketball in the WNBA, while balancing social justice initiatives and quite literally helping make the world a better place. It's been hard to not be there with them. But I can honestly say, pandemic or not, the core of my business is the same. I love my clients. I care about their success, and that interest is authentic — which is what I believe should be at the heart of every service-based business.A look into the tech transformations underway at the world's largest companies. 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