Sports Memorabilia Business Plan

Phil Garment started his sports fanaticism at the young age of nine. That was when he began trading baseball cards. His fascination continued throughout his life, in part from an observational standpoint, in part from a participatory standpoint. Phil enjoyed watching, talking, and playing sports. While Phil was receiving his Bachelors or Arts from Washington & Jefferson College, he played varsity baseball as well as being on the cycling team. After graduation, Phil went to work for one of the premier sports marketing firms in NYC. Phil spent five years at (name omitted) as a support account manager. It was Phil’s responsibility to offer support for the account managers. To some degree this was supporting all promotional activities that were undertaken for the sports professionals. This job also required just looking after the stars ensuring their comfort level. As Phil worked within the organization, he has given increased responsibilities, ultimately being promoted to account manager. This position provided Phil with excellent project management skills, and it also provided him with incredible networking contacts to a host of professional athletes. Phil was in constant contact will all of his clients. Because of his love of the job, he would go out of his way to exceed their satisfaction. As a result of Phil going out of his way to satisfy his clients, he developed long-term friendships with his client athletes who felt like they were indebted to Phil due to all of his hard work.

While Phil enjoyed this work within the sports arena, he recognized his need for more advanced business skills. Consequently, Phil went back to school to earn his MBA at the University of Massachusetts. Upon graduation, Phil was temporarily at a loss as to what type of job he was looking for. He enjoyed his work at the sports marketing firm, yet he longed for more autonomy. At a party a friend mentioned that he should open up his own sport collectible store. Phil’s initially reaction was that it was below him in terms of his skills, education, and experience. After contemplating this thought he realized that it was a perfect job as it challenged his business skills to operate a business, but allowed him to work in the industry that he loves. While in the process of writing a business plan, Phil heard about a gentlemen with a sports jersey collectible shop that was looking to retire. They were able to arrive at a mutually agreeable price and Phil is in the process of continuing Jerseys R Us.

6.1 Personnel Plan

• Phil: marketing, operations and customer service functions.
• Support staff: this will be several part-time employees to help Phil serve customers, track inventory, and find new purchases.