Wednesday night, we had our third pro development session for the ’21 NFL agent class. This time, we invited Miami-based Aston Wilson of Agency 1 Sports Group. Aston took an hour and answered 10 questions I posed to him (as well as a handful that the participants asked). 

Having spent almost a decade as an independent contract advisor, working his way up from nothing, Aston was awesome, as I knew he would be. Here are a few highlights:

On the value of knowing scouts vs. knowing the game yourself: “You know, (as a former college football player), I can watch film with my clients and know what they’re talking about. I can scout players myself and be confident in knowing what I see, even if scouts don’t agree with me. . . I can be confident in my assessment of a player and I can say, ‘you know what? This guy can play regardless of, you know, if NFL Draft Scout has him as a PFA’ . . . What I know is, this is what plays in the NFL because I watch it, I understand it. But I . . . think you can learn that just from being a student of the game. I don’t think you need to be a former player in order to have that experience.”

On the value of independence in your ‘day job:’ “I think having a job still may hold you back as an agent if you’re not the master of your own schedule. I think the benefit for me being an attorney, or having my own business, is that I can get up and leave whenever I want. I don’t have to be tied to a city, an area, or anything that takes up my time. That’s my decision. I know some people are trying to start off and you have a 9-to-5. Obviously, you’re going to be locked into that 9-to-5 or whatever. Even if you have a boss, you don’t have the same freedom as not having a boss of being able to close the book.”

At the same time, agent work isn’t going to take up 100 percent of your time, all the time: “I think the demand on your time is a myth in the agent world . . . A lot of people (say they’re) grinding all the time, doing all this work, and yeah, you know, it’s time-consuming, but if you don’t have 5-10 active clients and then 2-3 more guys on the street (unsigned), you’re not consumed with agent life the entire time.”

On recruiting as a new agent with no clients: “It’s figuring out how to just survive through the gauntlet, you know? And . . . you find the loyal guy, like my first client that got drafted . . . (who said), ‘look, I like what he’s talking about. I’m going to rock with (him).’ And we’ve been through so much together. He’s one of my good friends, we talk all the time. It’s just that there’s no magic to it.”

Check out Aston at his law firm’s website if you have further questions about how he’s experienced success in the industry. Got more questions about the industry? Make sure to sign up for our Friday Wrap. We think you’ll find it helpful.