Sturner Inspires Students to Take Risks
By Kelli Ray

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Thursday September 30th the IUSMA was very excited to have the President and co-founder of Leverage Agency, Ben Sturner, speak to Indiana University students. Mr. Sturner spoke to the students about having a dream, setting goals, and then reaching those goals. Ben attended Boston University and had a dream of sports marketing and working for the Olympics. Ben set his mind to it and was able to work his first Olympics games in Atlanta; he was a logger for wrestling. Ben has not missed an Olympics since 1996.   

After graduating from Boston University Ben got a job with a company called Lycos, through this job he got some amazing experiences and accomplishments. He was a major part in the “Dunkin Madness” and “Pain Train” campaigns, each of which were extremely successful.  Ben was told by his mentor that “higher the risk, higher the reward” which brought him to co-founding Leverage Agency. Ben risked it all by taking a trip to Chicago for a conference and trying to get some of his first clients. He was very successful in that fact by meeting a man from Reebok and making his first deal. Leverage has many clients; some examples are the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), IronMan, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Top Rank Boxing. 

Ben also talked about the importance of social media and how it is a great tool that needs to be utilized. He notes that it is a great way to reach consumers and that companies need to start branding though apps.  Mr. Sturner was very helpful and encouraging, he even gave us his keys to success:
  • Network and maintain relationships 
  • Be unique and reliable 
  • Better try and fail then not to have tried 
  • Be aware of industry changes and jump on them 
  • “Surround yourself with five people” 

Overall, Ben Sturner left the Indiana University students with dreams and goals of their own. Ben was an inspiration to anyone that wants to be a part of the sports industry. With Ben’s encouraging presentation it left the listeners with great information on where to begin and how to think outside of the box. All you have to do is take the risk and just go for it!