A few days ago I asked my sister on a whim if she wanted to start a soccer ball company. To be honest, I’m really not at all enthusiastic about going down this path again to create a new soccer ball, but I mostly asked her to gauge her reaction about the idea. She immediately said sure, even though in reality she probably couldn’t find the time to juggle a soccer ball for a few minutes with her busy schedule, never mind start a company with me.
She mentioned how she remembers when I lived at home that I would get these packages from Pakistan containing patch, bladder, and full ball samples from various companies. This was an aspect I had forgotten about. I do remember doing a lot of research on construction because I didn’t want crap. I also envisioned a simple website that sold the ball alone in a few different highlight colors and nothing more.
I’ve wanted to design my own soccer ball for a long time. I came up with a name and purchased the domain name too, but I let the domain expire years ago because I had done nothing more to further this idea along. I didn’t bother trying to sell the domain because it was a company name with the “soccer” suffix so I doubt anyone would ever want to acquire it. As of the publishing of this post, the domain is still available should I ever change my mind.
I even had an idea for some of the marketing behind it. In addition to being a quality game or practice ball, I wanted to make the ball desirable and something you covet almost like a trophy. I thought of starting things off by giving balls away as an award for an outstanding game, almost like a game ball that wasn’t in the game, for a specific players performance. I figured this might be a great way to get some word of mouth advertising too.
If you hand delivered the ball/award right after a live game, or asked the coach to do so, you not only have an audience of players and spectators wondering what this award is the player is receiving, but you could later request write ups in the school and local newspapers. As a soccer fan myself, I can’t think of a better way to spread information about your soccer ball company than by actually being there, watching games, and rewarding a superior performance.
I tend to revisit this soccer ball idea when soccer is receiving more media coverage like it has during the recent 2015 Women’s World Cup. Yay USWNT! I also start crushing on these women after watching them all play, but that’s probably better suited for its own post. I’ve always liked soccer girls. I’ve been told I actually cheer louder for womens soccer than I do for my Patriots. Hey, so what! 🙂
The problem is, even though I played soccer and enjoy watching championship level matches, I’m a bit of a fair weather fan. I admit soccer isn’t always the most exciting thing to watch. It usually depends on the skill level. If we were to equate all sports to an electrocardiogram, football would be heart attack, soccer would be a faint pulse, and golf is flat-lining.
How do I consciously dive into starting a soccer ball company when I don’t eat, sleep, and live soccer? It felt a little disingenuous to try and build this kind of company while my heart might be into other projects. I suppose if I started worrying about that, then I’d never start anything, and we all know starting is what I do best.
One of these days I’ll come up with an artistic design so stunning that it will compel me to get the thing manufactured. Until that time, this one is on the back burner and it’s on to the next thing.