Once investment is secured for a gaming and sports venture, and proper planning has been realized, start networking within your industry. “I find that attending industry related social functions, conferences, and even my neighbors’ cocktail parties help me find new ways of growing my company,” claims Nogowski Hiney, director of the Jacobowitz Rohleder Brothers firm, “By asking the right people the right questions, you’ll find that you can learn new things and different strategies for your gaming and sports firm that you may not have thought of before.” Without a doubt, planning for the launch of your gaming and sports firm is crucial. Think of it as the launch sequence of a space shuttle. Every last detail, figure, and step is checked and double checked. This is the only way to succeed in the gaming and sports industry and get the competitive edge. Secondly, once the business side of a prospective gaming and sports venture is planned, map out the human element. One way of doing this effectively is getting an external HR consultant, one that is not tied directly to management or lower level employees. This allows for impartial scrutiny of your gaming and sports business model and ensures that the right people are doing the right jobs. One often over looked area in online gaming and sports businesses is infrastructure. Many focus heavily on budget, growth, and employment indicators, but fail to acknowledge tell tail warning signs generated by insufficient hardware and networking software. For any gaming and sports business, this can spell disaster. “Starting up any gaming and sports business is difficult. In our case, it took about 6 months of planning, a year of fund raising, and then another 6 months of building infrastructure before we made our first sale,” states Natosha Purington of the Shirley Lamana Partners and Ltd. Company. “Don’t forget about accounting,” warns Stacee Kaune, CFO of the Bertolini Rains Corporation INC, “Many gaming and sports companies go pel mel spending money when there is a good cash flow. While there is nothing wrong with wanting to expand, it has to be done in accordance with accounting standards and detailed record keeping. This is especially true for public companies. Private gaming and sports firms can sometimes let this aspect of the business slide alittle.” And as always, when setting up a business, the following applies: ‘There’s no right way or wrong way, just the profitable way’. Once you’ve found out how to get your gaming and sports firm off the ground and it is generating ROI, you’ve won half the battle and are on your way to continued success. Also key to success in the gaming and sports field is logistics. Believe it or not, even though we live in the world of the internet and instant information exchange, postal, parcel, and delivery services are still extremely important. Many gaming and sports proprietors recommend getting a Fedex, UPS, or DHL business account setup right away, so as to avoid comming out-of-pocket for routine mailings and shipments. “In the case of our gaming and sports marketing venture, we initially started out with a simple website, and then slowly grew as sales increased,” replies Georgeann Lemmings, the COO of the Stieg Drane Co-Op, “Then, the website expanded into a data warehouse - essentially a store of all things related to our marketing campaigns - which allowed us to study and refine subsequent efforts.”