This is a great article from Slowtwitch. Really puts the point home that quitting your day job for a career in triathlon may not be a career move.
Written by: Dan Empfield.
Almost everyone to whom I talk—accountants, technical writers, sales managers—who wants a career in triathlon first thinks about owning a retail store. In my opinion, next to being a pro triathlete, this is the least likely path to wealth in triathlon.But in every case, in any aspect of the sport, little money is to be made if you’re not the owner of your business. The exception are certain categories of key employees—a CFO, for example—who reaps a financial benefit upon the sale of a company. But this doesn’t mean only the founders reap the rewards. When Zipp and Zoot were sold to SRAM and K2 respectively, the founders of those companies did not reap whatever largesse was there to be had, rather it was subsequent owners.
Manufacturing has one thing going for it that none of these other vocations have: The “brand” seems to be able to sell at a premium. For some reason, buyers of races and of retail outlets don’t want to attach a premium to these types of businesses, but they will to a manufacturing brand. Though I must regrettably acknowledge that I don’t make my own list (not even close), the brands that triathlon has built or is building—Zipp, HED, Cervelo, De Soto, Zoot, 2XU—along with brands that triathlon greatly aided, like Giro, have the potential to do well by their owners.
At the same time, there are brands (let’s take Softride as an example) that were novel ideas and generated a lot of interest but just couldn’t quite get over the hump. For every brand that makes it, 10 or 20 limp along or die trying.
