Skiing Joni Mäki hurt the nobility of his sport and made an unusual manager’s contract: “I wouldn’t go anywhere”

National team skier Joni Mäki has concluded a cooperation agreement with three Managers.

Few Finnish athletes have at least one manager in their background. What makes the exceptional Mäki arrangement also is that all three managers are women.

However, there is a sprout in the organization of the hill and the manager trio, as there are only a handful of full-time sports managers in Finland. When there are more people involved, the work can be divided smartly.

Prior to the current arrangement, Mäki had taken care of his co-operation patterns with his father since junior times. Also considered by the Ski Team Manager Kauko Tikkanen has been part of the skier’s backdrop.

When Hill’s performance in sports has improved in recent years, he began to consider seeking outside help for sponsorship and partnership issues.

Tikkanen mentioned at the time Sanna Laajalahtinow called Sanna Puttaan. They were also found through Putta Heli Vepsäläinen and Johanna Pelttari.

In fact, the quartet has been grinding the step signs together since the spring. The management agreement was signed last week.

“I’ve been lazy to find partners myself. My dad has usually kicked me for that job, but it hasn’t been natural. Now we are starting to be on good tracks. Getting to know each other is important so that communication is natural and we are on the same page with what everyone expects from cooperation, ”says Mäki.

I do not the career has progressed on an upward trend. He has already received World Championship and Olympic silver from the pair print. In the personal sprint of the Beijing Olympics, he finished fourth.

The management team is jointly responsible for Mäki’s marketing and visibility.

In practice, Vepsäläinen manages partnerships and Pelttari social media. Putty sparring top ideas. He is involved in acquiring partnerships after his family leave.

Vepsäläinen is an entrepreneur and also manages two other skiers, Jasmi Joensuu and Leevi Mutrua. Part of his work palette is the Helsinki Ski Weeks event.

Pelttari does marketing for her day jobs. He is responsible for marketing partnerships with a company called Simucube, which works in sim racing, or electronic motorsport.

In addition to partnering, Putta has a diverse background in cultural production, films and the welfare industry. He is also from Pyhäjärvi, the hometown of Pohti SkiTeam, where he has been involved in skiing for a long time.

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“Recently, his position could have been told on a wide range of issues.”

Managers want to look for companies whose values ​​coincide with the skier ‘s partner. Domesticity, responsibility and environmental friendliness have emerged as key themes.

When he was younger, Mäki planned to apply for studies related to energy production. In addition, a large business cluster specializing in energy technology in the man’s home communities in Vaasa has increased his interest in the topic.

For example, renewable energy and new technological solutions in environmental and climate matters are fascinating.

In addition, close to the heart of the hill are family and nature. Nature parks are already important even in training terrain. Mäki hopes that they will be preserved for future generations.

The key points for partner acquisition are the Vaasa region and Vuokatti, where Mäki currently lives. If necessary, a skier’s photography hobby can be connected to the cooperation patterns, for example.

“I wouldn’t go anywhere. For example, I am not hard to take a stand on political issues, ”says Mäki.

Vepsäläinen consider this a good line. The manager sees a variety of contact requests that he or she filters for the athlete as needed.

“Recently, his position could have been told on a wide range of issues. Athletes are sometimes asked all sorts of things about world politics, ”he says.

Crucial to the collaboration between the athlete and the managers is that Mäki now does not have to spend time and energy looking for partnerships.

Vepsäläinen knows that reaching the right people from companies takes time and is not always simple. Ready-made contacts about the sport and the business world make his job easier.

Up to this point Vepsäläinen has contacted companies that have been invited to participate in the four-year partnerships between the Olympics. Together with Mäki, Pelttari has gone through the activities of this social media with its annual clocks.

“The bottom line is that the content looks like Joni. Everything starts with him. I am involved in thinking about what kind of content could be made and because so that Joni can focus on skiing in peace, ”says Pelttari.

Since Mäki has been the most active publisher of content on Instagram, the design has started from there.

The hill has a few long-term supporters in the home region and through the club. For example, he has visited the presentation days of his main partner Konesilta oy every year.

Forms of cooperation with new partners can be customized. Although social media often plays a big role in partnerships today, an Instagram account cannot be completely blocked by advertisements, Vepsäläinen says.

Well-being at work days, ski schools or fair participation are equally suitable. Some sponsors may still want a mere company logo on Mäki’s shirt.

“Joni’s race and training calendar needs to be considered. Sometimes the value of an athlete to companies is his network. Someone may want to be an athlete’s partner because they are already supported by another company with whom they want to network. ”

All the companies that the Managers are in contact with are, of course, not included. Some can ripen an idea in a year or two, so the work is long-term.

In management, Mäki’s team is motivated by helping the athlete.

“The next Olympics is a significant opportunity and I want to make it possible as a passionate bench athlete. The athlete is the boss here, I am the link in different directions, ”Vepsäläinen describes.

Because Mäki Managers work as a team, the tasks have been clearly divided. Everyone can better focus on one thing at a time.

A similar arrangement is not very common, at least in Finland, says the Executive Director of Finnish Sports Managers Jukka Virtanen.

According to Virtanen, about one-fifth of the members of the management association are women. The association’s 140 members make up an estimated quarter of those who work in sports management in some form in Finland. However, the ratio gives an indication of the situation.