Q: How would you describe your business style?
A: For better or for worse, I’ve always been the classic, genetically wired entrepreneur. I think my Mom gets some of the credit (or blame) for me being the way I am. Every morning that I can remember as a kid, my Mom put a list of chores on the breakfast table. She instilled in me a strong work ethic, making it clear that I should always want to play hard, but that playing hard came only after working hard. Ingrained in my head is my mother waking me up on Saturday mornings with the phrase, “Ray, today is a work day.” It makes me groan just thinking about it…
Q: What was your first entrepreneurial venture?
My first memory of business is when I figured out that me and my friend James were two of the better first grade football players on the small block where we lived. I knew that colleges charged admission, so I set up an admissions stand in my front yard whereby I could charge my loyal fans a dollar each for the chance to watch me and James play. I tried to stay positive after no one turned out for our first two games of compelling one-on-one football. I even tried to change uniforms and offer snacks for the Game 3, the big “rubber match.” Still nothing. Luckily, my Dad came home early and gave us 50 cents each to watch the game. I was hooked.
A few years later, in the 8th grade, I talked a 16-year-old into driving me and my friends/employees around the neighborhood to paint address numbers of the curbs. I invested in all the stencils and paint, and cut my team in on the profits. It actually worked for half the summer, but being from a small town, it didn’t take me long to go through my pool of potential customers.
Q: When did you begin focusing on sports and entertainment?
My senior year of college, I created the first product ever using the name “Dream Team,” cutting a deal with the NBA to group-license their players at a fraction of the cost of signing players individually. As you’d imagine, player agents weren’t happy, but I actually beat the system and created a poster whereby you could send in a picture of yourself, pick four of your favorite NBA players, and through a lamination process, have a snappy red, white and blue poster featuring you and four NBA superstars.
So, instead of a career with General Mills, at 22, I set out on my own in a partnership with the family that owned the San Antonio Spurs. As I recall, several times I created formulas projecting near-term sales in the millions and calculated my forthcoming riches. The only problem was, I didn’t know anything about direct marketing or running a business, and my arrogance convinced me I could figure it all out on my own — right up until the month we went out of business, which was month #6.
The good news is, one of the agent groups I’d angered a few years earlier with my poster scheme was ProServ, who represented dozens of NBA players (including a young guy for the Chicago Bulls named Michael Jordan). Still upset about the poster thing, ProServ explained to me how they were going to sue me. I explained how all I really wanted was a job with them. They agreed to it and I started a career in sports marketing.
Q: What did you learn at your first jobs after college that you’ve applied over the course of your career?
My first boss at ProServ taught me that, in general, social type guys out of college are lousy at planning and details. He broke me down and built both of those skills, for which I’m thankful. Overall, my time at ProServ taught me that if you treat people poorly, the talented ones will leave and you have nothing. I also learned that no matter what people say, they don’t like it when one person, or a few people, take all the credit and limelight.
I also learned that if you think small, you’ll be small; and if you think big, but don’t back up your thinking with strategy (i.e., action steps and grinding your a** off) then you’re fantasizing, and you’ll be out of business sooner than later. Beyond that, I learned that if you meet someone who is young, but a great person and a hard worker, then you should try to team up with them and give it a go. I met a guy like that in Brad Penman when I was at Talent Sports, and my life – not just my career – is much better for it.
Q: How long was it before you started thinking about launching your own agency?
I began thinking about starting my own agency within the first year of starting my career at ProServ. I was 23, still very naive, very cocky, and not very skilled. But it wasn’t until 1992 that I began considering it more seriously. By late 1992, I knew I needed a Plan B … soon.
So I prepared a 48-page business plan for a new agency that would focus on (1) marketing athletes, (2) event management, and (3) promotions. I’d been humbled enough to know that I needed a partner, so my goal was to become an equity partner in a Dallas office of IMG, Millport, or this up-and-coming little sports agent group based in Memphis called Athletic Resource Management (ARM), which was led by two agents: Jimmy Sexton and Kyle Rote, Jr.
Of my three options, IMG turned me down, Millsport didn’t even listen to the pitch, and ARM, after six months of negotiating, agreed to give me a line of credit (with interest) and a few introductions to the players they represented.
Q: Talk about the agency’s first few years in business, a time when a lot of small businesses fail. What was the turning point for TMA?
Early on, ARM really wanted me and Brad to focus on two of the clients in particular: A crazy receiver for the Dallas Cowboys named Alvin Harper, and a crazier golf instructor named Wally Armstrong. Both clients were awful, but we made enough (barely) to keep the lights on the first year. The second year, we talked Scottie Pippen into letting us head up his marketing. Unfortunately, a few months later, Scottie signed his rights over to a new marketing agency – Nike Sports Management. Huge bummer.
But in a move that might have saved our fledgling agency, Scottie did something extraordinary: After considerable begging and pleading, he agreed to go back to Nike and tell them he also was going to give this dink agency in Dallas a one-year shot at securing some endorsements, too. Scottie actually let me listen to the call with Nike where he said “of course, Nike will squash these guys down in Dallas, and I’ll let them go in a year…”
Incredibly, we secured more than a dozen worth well over a million dollars. Lesson: Don’t underestimate the little guy’s ability to kick your a** on creative. It just takes one person, one client, and one idea to change the whole landscape.
Q: How is TMA different than all of the other agencies you’ve seen and worked with over 20 years?
Ideas are one differentiator. I’ve always believed that ideas are the premium currency of an agency. But as TMA has grown, and the industry has grown, evolved and consolidated, it’s clear that the ability to execute broadly and with excellence is also a critical point of difference.
Q: Why is TMA still here after nearly 20 years?
There are lots of reasons why TMA has survived, but the reason is not one idea, or one client, or one person. I’m a right-brained guy. To make it work, I surrounded myself with really strong left-brain operations and account management people. In short, The Marketing Arm has had a lot of great people who committed to an evolving but common vision, and have absolutely busted their a**es to execute the plan.
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