Nicole Lynn - Agent You: Show Up, Do the Work, and Succeed on Your Own Terms

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Dedicated to every woman who

is making room for other women at the table

Copyright 2021 by Nicole Lynn

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by Harper Horizon, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus LLC.

Any internet addresses, phone numbers, or company or product information printed in this book are offered as a resource and are not intended in any way to be or to imply an endorsement by Harper Horizon, nor does Harper Horizon vouch for the existence, content, or services of these sites, phone numbers, companies, or products beyond the life of this book.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Epub Edition May 2021 9780785238058

ISBN 978-0-7852-3805-8 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-3804-1 (HC)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021930956

Printed in the United States of America

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N icole Lynn is a woman after my own heartbrave, passionate, insanely hardworking. She lives life to the fullest and wont stop until she gets all that she came for. Making history as the first black female sports agent to land a top 3 NFL draft pick, Nicole Lynn shattered the glass ceiling and is a rising icon and an unstoppable megaforce behind some of sports biggest names.

Though Nicole and I work in different fields, we share many of the same challenges as black women in white male-dominated industries. Like her, I know what it means to agent myself, to go for broke to get the role I want, to fight for that seat at the table, and to be my own advocate in a room full of people who dont look like me or share my story and experiences. Working as an actor most of my life, Ive learned how to speak up and refuse to accept less than what I know I deserve.

But what about you?

If you could fully center your own dreams, ideas, thoughts, and desires... if you were released to pursue the best version of yourself... if you tapped into the courage to be your biggest champion, who could you be? What goals would you accomplish? What dreams would you manifest?

In this book, Nicole reveals her incredible journey and how she got where she is today. Reading page after page, you will not only feel the same warrior energy she gives as she fights for her clients, you will also gain the knowledge you need to put in the work at the right time, in the right place, and with the right people to achieve the success you desire.

Nicole Lynn is an all-starone of the best and brightest who knows the struggle, yet has come out on top. She wrote this book so you can come through, too, and accomplish everything you set out to do. Nothing would move her more than to help you live out your greatest potential.

Let us lift her up in the light of goodness and hold her there.

Gabrielle Union

Y ou picked up this book for a reason.

Maybe youre struggling to find your purpose in life. Maybe youre trying to land your dream job. Maybe youve been clawing your way up the corporate ladder and trying to get a seat at the table. Or maybe youre trying to find just a sliver of peace to claim for yourself.

Regardless of your situation, its time. Time for you to walk in your purpose. Time for you to claim your peace. I want you to believe this is possible, with your entire heart. No longer will you be stagnant in this life, just going through the motions. No longer will you be content with staying in your comfort zone. No longer will you have a goal that you arent working toward.

And this adventure begins with asking yourself a question Ive asked myself almost every day for the past three decades:

What do you want in life?

My answer to this question guides every big decision I make. Its the reason I worked on Wall Street, earned my law degree, and became a sports agentthink Jerry Maguire with five-inch heels and red lipstick.

In an athletes career, aside from family, no one is more important than his or her agent.

Imagine that you have an amazing agent to help you navigate life. Someone pushing you to achieve your dreams. Someone advocating for you in rooms you havent even walked into yet. Someone protecting the boundaries you didnt know you needed.

Now, imagine that agent is you!

Maybe youre like me and have an inner drive that burns bright and strong. You already work hard and are more than qualified to assume a bigger role with more responsibility and independence. But you havent yet experienced the kinds of successes you saw for yourself. Youre motivated to go after your dream, but youre not sure where to begin. Or maybe youre still searching for your lifes purpose.

Im going to let you in on a little secret. Along my lifes path, I wasnt motivated to get into the business of sports because I loved football, or even because of visions like having wealth or being famous. The answer to the question of what I wanted in life was and is simple: I want to help people. In particular, I want to help people who had an upbringing like mine and are finding their own way up and out and need an advocate.

Just as I do with all my top clients, Im here to help you. Because you are your own first-round pick.

To show you what I mean, heres a thought exercise: Lets pretend, for a minute, that you hire me to be your agent. Im the person whose job it is to get you out of your cubicle and into a corner office, to finally make that big-time career pivot to more fulfilling work, or help you increase your earnings so that you can fulfill desires to travel, pay off debt, or live with financial security. What action steps would I instruct you to take? Which people should you meet with, and how should you position yourself to make major moves?

This book will show you the way forward. Ill share everything Ive learned over the course of thirty years, climbing corporate ladders and finally getting a seat at the table.

I know you can be your own agent. Because I did itand am still doing it for myself. Im telling you, hand to God, that no matter where you come from and no matter what obstacles stand in your way, this book can help you reach your goals. Ive got you.

Earlier, I mentioned my upbringing, and I think its important for you to know a little about my background.

By the time I was fourteen, the house I lived in had been robbed ten times. Which was ironic, since we were poor. Dirt poor. No heat in the winter, no running water, roach-infested poor. Empty bellies poor. If we had anything to eat, it was because the elementary school sent us needy kids home with a backpack containing sandwiches and fruit cups, or my dad had a couple bucks in his pocket and thought to buy my brother Julius and me a McDonalds hamburger, which in the early nineties cost seventy-nine cents. The only thing I ever saw in the refrigerator were cans of soda. For years, I vowed never to drink the stuff.