How to become a better football official muse

[nghs22]

After surfing around this forum about various business ideas and startups etc, the main idea that I have read is, "What do you love?"

Well I love football (American that is ) I am a football official (high school and college) and have been very active in officiating for years and years. My father also did college and would carry me to his games when I was little, so I guess football and officiating is in my blood.

So I have an idea about how to surround a business (i guess you could call it that or it could become that...i don't know) with it.

My idea is to develop and sell a complete guide on how become a better football official. I haven't set down and actually planned out exactly what I will include in it, but here are some vague ideas:

-An Ebook discussing: intro, tips, studying hints, uniform, mechanics, how to get playoff assignements, etc.
-Videos of penalties showing what should be called and what shouldn't (voice over the video describing what you should be looking for/thinking)
-Mock tests with answers
-Interviews with current and previous NFL and NCAA officials
-Interviews with current head of officiating for all major conferences on how to get big games, how to get into these associations, etc(SEC, Big 10, Big 12, ACC, Pac-10, etc)


Also, I want to set up and blog and a referee forum and website where members can discuss plays, watch training videos, talk about games, etc. I know there is atleast one one out there, but it only has a forum and I can't find it searching on google for the life of me, so it's obviously not being viewed and posted on as much as it could.

Which would be better...to set up a blog and website to develop traffic and then to offer te product or to offer the product and then give them access to the website? I will be setting up a blog ASAP to start with.

I know zero programming and definitly need some help with the website and blog (partners anyone :)) How does all this sounds guys?


Any help, ideas, suggestions, etc would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks

[mooncricket]

Just scanning over your post I think you might be on to something. Just look at how riled up people get over certain calls.

The advice on how to get better officiating jobs is good too!

Lots of material to work with here IMO

[mooncricket]

What about some sort of DVD on specific topics? Look at taking an order to gauge demand, then producing a quality product. Might even be as simple as an ebook, podcast, or audio CD... Just some thoughts

[kamakiri]

Your biggest challenge will be in getting people to pay for your product. There really is not much money being spent in that area, especially in high school level. Find something that you can give away for free that draws people to your site.

I just put football official training into google and came up with these results (http://www.google.com/search?q=football+official+training&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B2GGIC_enJP216JP216). The first site: Football Officials (http://www.naso.org/BeOfficial/sportspages/football.html) has what looks like a serious program set up. There are 3 DVDs for sale, and a few associations.

In order to get people coming and buying your products, you will also need to build credibility. Put together a few articles and try to get published in any associated trade magazines. Build up relationships with those other sites, and become active on the forums there. And of course always have a link to your own site, the free info that is, not the actual book for sale (most forums don't like blatant advertising).

Seeing so many hits for that topic though, it might be a bit easier than I had first though, because it is always better to open a pizza shop in a town with 1,000 pizza shops than in a town with none.

[ChiTowner]

Here's another info product idea:

http://www.coachdeck.com/

The first-ever, instructional deck of cards designed by coaches for coaches. Shuffle through 52 color-coded drills that teach valuable fundamentals, while leaving in the "fun."

What about producing handy quick reference guides that can be used during practice, itself? Wouldn't that be an advantage over ebooks or CDs?

Hope that helps
Debbie E

[webgal]

I like your initial thoughts. Start thinking in terms of target audiences who will pay and what products they would pay for. Like the handheld cards. So once you have a product thought, write down who would be the target audience.

If you have a target audience in mind, start jotting down products you'd use. A blog or forum to supplement the product pages is a good idea.

I do know that athletic associations for youth leagues hire officials. Perhaps there's a way to tap into that as a resource. However, they often have different rules for different levels. I know my son will be going to clinics in the spring to be an umpire for some of the pee wee teams. (he has no clue how tough this can be)

[final_id]

I thought this was a thread about an "Official Muse: How to Become a Better Football." I couldn't figure out why I should want to be a better football ...

[TimW]

Product ideas are nice, but whatever happened to business plans? You know...the whole "This is what I want to do/sell/be and here's how I am going to do it...oh yeah and this is the market I think I have, my competition and how I plan to compete against them", etc.??

[nghs22]

Your biggest challenge will be in getting people to pay for your product. There really is not much money being spent in that area, especially in high school level. Find something that you can give away for free that draws people to your site.

I just put football official training into google and came up with these results (http://www.google.com/search?q=football+official+training&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B2GGIC_enJP216JP216). The first site: Football Officials (http://www.naso.org/BeOfficial/sportspages/football.html) has what looks like a serious program set up. There are 3 DVDs for sale, and a few associations.

In order to get people coming and buying your products, you will also need to build credibility. Put together a few articles and try to get published in any associated trade magazines. Build up relationships with those other sites, and become active on the forums there. And of course always have a link to your own site, the free info that is, not the actual book for sale (most forums don't like blatant advertising).

Seeing so many hits for that topic though, it might be a bit easier than I had first though, because it is always better to open a pizza shop in a town with 1,000 pizza shops than in a town with none.


I'm not sure where you saw the 3 DVD's or series program on naso.com. naso.com is the website for referee magazine and is comprised of some very basic introductions into how to become an official and what to wear, expect, etc. I saw no DVD's for sale. Could you point me to where you found them? The only DVD I found was here

http://nirsa.humankinetics.com/showproduct.cfm?isbn=0736065458

From my research, there are zero products offering what I am planning on offering. Some similiar, but none all encompassing. Also, the other forum that I would be competing against looks unprofessional (www.refstripes.com)

My market: New officials with 1-8 years experience (research show that 70% of rec and HS officials fall in this category

What I will sell: See first Post

How I will do it: Using my knowledge, my contacts, and referee books to develop the information. Hire a website developer to assist with setting up blog, forum, and website.

Competition: None. They competition is only physical referee camps that are $$$, nothing online to compete with what I have to offer.

I believe that there will be a demand for this product through initial offline research. I've yet to test with PPC. The targeted market is very specific (young football officials).