10 Things I Learnt From Peter Robert Casey

If you’re not into basketball or college sports, you may not have heard of him, but Peter Robert Casey is a sports microblogging trailblazer. I had been following his journey from the other side of the world for almost a year, and in March of this year I was fortunate enough to meet him. When I decided I was going to the US, Peter was somebody I simply had to meet, and he was nice enough to give me a few hours of his time. During these few hours, I was able to learn a lot.

Here are the top 10 tips I learnt from Peter:

1. Follow your passion

Peter had always loved one thing, basketball. Growing up in New York, he closely followed the St. John’s University team. This past season, the team found him online and asked if he would be interested in formally covering the team via his Twitter feed, a ground-breaking concept that allowed him to marry two interests: basketball and digital media.

2. Intern or volunteer

Peter was able to get into the sports world by volunteering. He wrote sponsorship proposals for the Entertainer’s Basketball Classic, which sharpened his writing skills. After starting to make connections within the industry, one thing lead to another (too much to go into detail) and he built what is now his popular website which focuses on basketball and social media.

3. Have a goal, work out how to achieve it

Peter has a goal, somewhere he wants to get to in life. But at the same time he has a lot of amazing opportunities presented to him on a weekly basis. He taught me to analyse those opportunities in respect to the big picture, and act accordingly. Learn how to “say no….politely” to opportunities that may distract you from achieving your end goal.

As the saying goes: Three first names, one passion.

4. Be humble

Always have time for the little guy because we were all the little guy at one stage.

5. Always listen

If somebody wants to talk to you, be thankful. You never know what they’re going to say, or who they know.

6. Think outside the square

In 2009, the NCAA and collegiate sports were moving away from bloggers, Twitter and even digital cameras. Mark Fratto, St. John’s Associate Athletic Director for Communications came to Peter and said let’s break the mold, turn the system on its head, let’s make you the first official media credentialed microblogger in college basketball history.

7. Hyper-localise your content

It seems as though digital media is changing sport on a daily basis. Local sports fan want local sports news like never before. ESPN caught on by starting sites such as ESPN Los Angeles, ESPN Dallas, ESPN Chicago, etc. Peter taught me you can’t be everything to everyone. Go deep, find a niche you care about and post consistently. Always make your content remarkable, that’s what will get people coming back to you.

8. Feed your network

Peter shot to fame almost overnight after being featured in Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, on Mashable and more. People and organisations wanted a piece of him more than ever, so he had to manage those that he could help, and those that could help him. He pro-actively connects people that could mutually benefit one another in his network.

9. Respect everybody

This comes back to point 4, always be humble. Respect everyone, and always pay it forward by helping others accomplish their goals.

10. Concentrate on what you’re good at

How did Peter get to where he is today? He blogged, he tweeted and the rest took care of itself. Focus on your core competencies, continue doing what you do well, and your career will continue to rise.