Baltimore Ravens safety Matt Elam is working toward his future.
While it can be said that many NFL players plan for their future, very few - if any - would take the steps Elam is taking as a future entrepreneur.
ESPN.com reported that Elam, a 2013 first-round draft pick who made $3.7 million during his rookie season, is working as a part-time sales associate at a Finish Line athletic shoes and gear outlet in the Oaks Mall in Gainesville, Fla., citing the team's official website.
Elam told BaltimoreRavens.com he works about 20 hours a week assisting customers and stocking shelves and will work until team activities begin again in April. His goal is to own his own sports merchandising store, and apparently he wants to be a hands-on owner.
"I just need to get retail knowledge," Elam told the team's website, BaltimoreRavens.com. "That's basically what I'm doing. I'm getting that knowledge for when it's time."
He started working at the store last month.
Elam, the 32nd and final selection in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft, said he doesn't even know how much he makes working at the story, but the website called it a "nice little supplement" to his NFL salary.
The team site reported that the shoe-selling is Elam's first gig since he was a summer camp school counselor in high school. Working in the real world has captured his attention.
"I didn't realize there was so much organization, so much planning. I didn't realize there was so much to it," Elam said. "I just thought you'd say you want a shoe, so then you'd go back and grab a shoe. There's way more to it. You have number coding. You have color coding, all of that. I just realized that there's more to it than I thought."
The Oaks Mall is a few miles from the University of Florida campus, where Elam was an All-America and is currently taking classes to finish his degree. He applied to five stores in the mall and followed up with the Finish Line manager, who hired him a few days later.
The one drawback to the job has been that Elam doesn't feel right using the employee discount he receives as a Finish Line employee.
"I get a discount, but I barely use it because I don't want them to think I'm just trying to use them," he said. "I don't want to give them that idea."
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