The Mottram Program

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I didn’t show up to Sports Illustrated asking to write half a column. Gary [Smith] talked to me about this. He said you have to show them who you are right away. Show them you’re going to write the bonus pieces. That’s just what you do. That’s how they’ll see you. As someone who writes bonus pieces. And that’s exactly what happened. I did that for two years, working on freelance stories for SI on nights and weekends on top of my regular full-time job. It was torture sometimes, for me and my wife, especially when the baby came along. My kid was born on May 18 and I had a deadline of July 1, and we really needed the money. So I missed a major chunk of the first six weeks of her life. I’ve been trying really hard to catch up since. But after two years, I asked Terry to bring me on staff, because what I was doing was unsustainable. And he somehow found a way to do it. I started at the bottom after college. But I started at the top at Sports Illustrated, as a senior writer, because I followed Gary Smith’s advice and defined myself that way. I’m not saying this advice is applicable for everyone. It’s totally possible to rise through the ranks; in fact I know someone else who did just that. But that’s how it worked for me, and I thank God for it.