During an internship, you've gained experience, met a lot of people and finally landed an athlete: You convinced a second string high school senior football tight end with no prospects for college to go pro—for a startup team forming in Belarus.

The aforementioned first client blew out his knee in Belarus his first year and now the two of you have joined forces. Together you manage to get a few women and men signed to a couple of teams and you actually begin to make some money.

You've joined a small, boutique agency with a couple of top athlete's names, but your stable is mostly made up of players in the smaller, lower-profile leagues. You've taken a couple of scouts under your wing and they're starting to tell you about who's ready for the big leagues, and who's becoming a drag on the agency.

Because of your previous work, you've become known as someone with a good eye for talent and a good head for business. You now work for one of the largest agencies in the country, and you're an owner favorite: You're fair, you bring in and represent players who are stable and talented, and financially, you're doing better than you ever dreamed you would.

You own your own agency with several agents working for you. (They take the 11:00PM calls at their kids' weddings receptions now; not you.) You've got some very big name players and scouts working for you so that when your multi-million players retire, you've got some up-and-comers ready to take their place.