With a promising career in football cut short through injury, Fergus Bell explains why his fellows players should plan for a life after the game.

Time is life’s most valuable commodity

There simply aren’t enough hours in the day when you leave the sporting arena. Ideas, opportunities, networking, embracing new found freedom to travel etc, will always stand in the way of crisp productivity. My advice is to utilise the hours – although this may seem unappealing – by waking early as part of your routine and planning the day.

Prepare for your meetings, reply to your emails and keep up your fitness routine – all before 9am. Being used to rigid routine and timings with a career in professional sport, it is imperative to keep that up regardless of whether you work from home or an office.

Build your black book

Networking is king. Over the years as a sportsman, you have probably built a strong network of sporting professionals and likeminded individuals; however, with the professional sporting arena being relatively insular, it is crucial to discover new contacts elsewhere.

Networking events, professional get togethers (lawyers, accountants etc) can prove brilliantly useful in making contacts. Also, if you’re not averse to standing in front of a microphone, public speaking at events and seminars is a great way to illustrate the other side of your character and business mindedness that people haven’t seen throughout your playing career. Finally, create a database/buy a notebook and keep those contacts listed and searchable, I promise you will need them.

Several sources of income

Whether you had been fortunate enough to save your playing days’ income, or whether you may be starting from scratch, it’s vital to ‘get back on the earning horse’ as soon as possible. Utilise new found skills and opportunities in your spare time to keep ticking over and apply the well-known principal that all successful individuals have more than three sources of income.

I very much see it as a pyramid structure with your low risk-long term projects at the bottom (steady income), perched above are your out-of-hours projects/business in the middle and the more speculative, yet potentially lucrative projects at the top.

I chose property for the recurring rental income and have tried to build my blocks upon that. A sure-fire way of guaranteeing yields and offering asset backed security whilst providing a sector with which you can easily get to grips in a short period of time.

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