2. A Letter from the President
Dear Athlete and Family:
Congratulations on your outstanding amateur career! We have been following your
development and progress as an athlete. You are reading this now as a result of the
dedication you have shown to improving your game. Through our observations and
evaluations, we believe you have the potential to build a professional sports career.
It is highly unlikely we are the only ones to have identified your talents. In the coming
months and years, many people will approach you, offering a plethora of promises.
Educator and mentor Dr. Lynn Lashbrook advises aspiring agents that “players
cannot agent their way into the League, they must play their way in.” Athletes control
their destiny by demonstrating that they have prepared themselves mentally,
physically, and socially.
You expect your teammates to be dependable, on time, and there to pick you up
when you fall down. A great teammate is one for whom your success is just as
important as their own, because they want to see the team succeed. As coaches,
mentors and advisors we often refer to this concept as “The Greater Good.” You
should select your agent much the same as you would select a teammate. A great
agent provides open and timely communication of facts, not hearsay or
speculation, and works toward your success for the right reasons—not for monetary
gain. A great agent will aid your development and prosperity both on and off the
field. You will find some questions to ask potential agents later in this proposal that will
help you in the process of drafting those agents onto your personal team. Selecting
the right agent may very well be the most important decision of your professional
career.
I am very selective regarding the athletes I commit to representing. Character,
integrity, honor, and loyalty are critical in an agent-player relationship. Family is of
the utmost importance to me, and I treat all of my clients as part of my family. Ask
any of our staff, colleagues, or clients: We are truly passionate about serving others
and ensuring you have the greatest opportunity for a successful professional sports
career.
I hope that our core values are in alignment and that you will join the Flatwater Sports
Management family.
Best of luck,
James A. Heim, President
Flatwater Sports Management

3. To serve others in their transformation from amateur to professional player.
As a service to others, it is our mission to lead the charge for parity and equality in
regards to professional opportunities for those individuals with character, integrity, and
talent. Our vision is a level playing field for all prospective professional athletes. We
believe that there should be nothing standing in the way of a professional sports
career for those talented athletes who are truly committed to hard work and who
provide a positive role model for others.
We pride ourselves on staying true to our beliefs. Ethics, morals, and doing the right
thing are espoused through our fully integrated leadership model. The four pillars of
our integrated leadership model are self-awareness, ingenuity, love, and heroism as
defined by Chris Lowney in his book Heroic Leadership. We are unrelenting in
communicating what our athletes can offer a team. Eleanor Roosevelt said it best,
“Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.” We will
make sure your talents are evaluated by the key decision maker. When you are part
of the Flatwater Sports Management family, we not only take pride in promoting you
at the highest level, but we are passionate about promoting you to the right
coaches, to the right team, and to the right directors of player personnel. Your
dream of a professional sports career is our dream too, but a dream it shall remain if
no one is in your corner supporting you, ensuring that every opportunity available is
pursued. Your job is to prepare for those opportunities; ours is to identify and facilitate
them.
When he accepted his Lifetime Achievement Award, Mean Joe Green stated that
respect—for the game, teammates, coaches, and opponents—was what set him
apart from others that play the game today. Mr. Green went on to say that without
this respect, he did not believe he would have been able to stay in the League as
long as he did.
When former Chicago Bears Head Coach Marc Trestman was asked at a recent NFL
Combine panel what he thought allowed him to rise so quickly through the coaching
ranks in the NFL, he replied that it was as simple as serving others. To paraphrase,
“once you learn that it’s really not about yourself and you truly work toward helping
others, then good things start to happen for everyone.”
Listening to these responses, I couldn’t help but think how this relates to those teams
that are successful at the highest echelon of their field.
These teams are a model for serving others.
Self-Awareness Ingenuity Love Heroism
Mission & Vision

4.
James A. Heim
Sports Agent/Life Coach
I began my professional career in the oil and gas business
and have worked for some of the nation’s largest energy firms,
including Enron, KinderMorgan, ONEOK and TransCanada, before starting my own
energy consulting firm. This career afforded my family a comfortable lifestyle, but it
did not afford me the opportunity to serve others.
As a sports agent, I am responsible for conducting myself with honesty, integrity, and
determination in furthering my athletes’ professional sports careers. I take a fully
integrated approach to my clients’ wealth, personal lives, careers, and post-career
challenges. My goal is to simplify and enhance your lifestyle needs by working off
the field, leaving you to focus only on your career on the field.
I have proven myself to be very adept at preparing my clients for their professional
sports careers, with experience in agent regulations and player association
legalities, contract negotiation, endorsements, sponsorships, ethics, collective
bargaining agreements, draft preparation, marketing, and recruiting. I will always
represent your best interests, helping you achieve your goals as a sports professional
as well as in your life away from sports.
I have been blessed with the opportunity to develop a network of amazing sports
personalities. As a former athlete who never quite made it to the Show, I have
sought a common denominator for why and how an athlete’s dream of competing
at the professional level comes to fruition. I have found that if you listen carefully,
you can decipher the codes to unlocking great potential in yourself as well as in
your teammates.
I strongly believe that the success of an athlete is greatly attributed to the quality of
people in that athlete’s support group, and a quality sports agent is perhaps the
greatest ally an aspiring pro athlete can have. As your agent, I measure my value
through your success and quality of life.
“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and
belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication.
Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” - Gail Devers

5.
Branding & Visibility
Whether or not you realize it, you likely began building your brand in college. Your fan
base started with your hometown fans and grew larger as you progressed in your
college career. It will continue to grow and evolve with you throughout your
professional and post-professional career.
Starting today, YOU are a marketable brand. Starting today, you will begin managing
and controlling your brand. Your brand is an extension of your character and morals,
and it is one of the few things you will be able to control when pursuing a
professional athletic career. Our goal at Flatwater Sports Management is to help you
understand what it takes to stand out and prosper, and to help you begin thinking of
yourself as your own brand manager. There is virtually no limit to the ways you can go
about enhancing your brand. We will provide access to media experts to help you
monetize opportunities as your brand becomes more powerful.
Everything you do—and everything you choose not to do—communicates your
values, ethics and character. Everything from the way you handle interviews, to your
social media presence, to the way you conduct yourself in the public eye, is part of
the larger message about your brand. If you want people to see you as a powerful
brand, act like a credible leader.
Athlete Biography
Once part of the Flatwater Sports Management family, FSM will work with you to
compile your sports career data and create a professionally produced athlete
biography that will communicate to franchises the value of your athleticism and aid
you in maximizing prosperous professional opportunities.
Flatwater Sports Management stays current with trending player evaluation
technologies used by front offices, directors of player personnel, coaching staffs,
player evaluators, and media alike. Keeping up with the evaluation technologies
used in your sport is key for an agency to ensure you stay relevant and marketable.
Media Training
Post-game interviews will be just a portion of your media encounters. Professional
sports franchises employ teams of professional marketing and media personnel to
manage their brands. Making a collaborative effort with your team’s front office and
coaching staff in your communications with the media is critical to avoiding dissent
among teammates or placing the player-coach relationship in jeopardy. A concise,
collaborative message is critical to maintaining your employer’s brand.
Flatwater Sports Management has established relationships and
continues to network with progressive media professionals. These
same relationships are available to you for your training and
development regarding media relations, both on and off
the field.

6. List of Questions to Ask Potential
Agents
 What qualifies you to be an agent?
 What professional connections do you have in my sport?
 What services do you provide? Who pays for what?
 What will you do to further my career that I can’t do on my own?
 How much do you charge; what is included and what is not included in your
fee?
 When and how do I pay for your services?
 With all your other clients, how will I know that you are working for me?
 Will you help me find marketing endorsements? Other financial opportunities?
 Will you assist me in finding a financial advisor? Can I use my own financial
advisor?
 Do you receive a referral fee for referring me to a financial advisor?
 What happens if we have a dispute over your services?
 What states are you registered in?
 Have you ever faced any disciplinary actions against you as an agent?
 Why should I hire you to be my agent?
“The time is always right to do what is right.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

7. Again, congratulations on your outstanding amateur career: Your entire future is
ahead of you. The decisions you make today will have a profound effect on how
your professional career ultimately takes shape. Take time and approach your
decision to select an agent with both head and heart.
While our door is always open and our phones are always on, we encourage you to
discuss this important decision with someone you trust and believe to be of sound
character.
Should you decide that Flatwater Sports Management is not the right choice for you
at this time, know that we will be following your career and will always be available
for consultation.
In closing, we are very excited to begin working with you to achieve your dream of a
professional sports career and hope you contact us to begin the collaboration.
I wish you all the best in your continued success.
James A. Heim
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events;
small minds discuss people.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
Your Future