This day and age, most anyone who's pursuing a career as a top-level athlete must juggle matters of sponsorship, contractual negotiations, schedule and travel management, public relations and exposure, websites and social media, etc. The fact is that when you're busting your butt day in and day out to be the best athlete you can be, these other crucial aspects of the equation oftentimes get set on the back burner.

Cue the sports marketing manager. These are the people behind the scenes who work with athletes to ensure that their career paths are on the right track. You might not have known it but the majority of the biggest names in freeskiing hire and rely on these individuals to manage the various ins and outs that come with being a professional skier.

To give you an idea of what it's like to fill the shoes of a sports marketing agent, we caught up with 26-year-old Ferguson (Fergie) Cancade, the man behind Goodlife Inc. Established by Fergie in 2009, Goodlife's mission is to "effectively and efficiently work with the athletes and personalities of action sports to manage all aspects of their careers, and market their unique talents and abilities."

Fergie manages a handful of skiers including TJ Schiller, Mike Henitiuk, Ian Cosco, Justin Dorey, Riley Leboe, Josh Bibby, Matt Walker, Matt Margetts, Kaya Turski, Rory Bushfield, Alexis Godbout and Charley Ager. Here, Fergie explains how he keeps things in check for his athletes, so they can focus on what they do best: skiing.

(L-R) Matt Margetts, TJ Schiller, Fergie Cancade p: Shay Williams

About Fergie: Fergie Cancade was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He moved with his family to Vernon, BC at a young age to be closer to the mountains and skiing. Fergie has always been passionate about all action sports and the culture that is synonymous to each respective sport. Goodlife calls Vancouver, BC home as its hub for action sports in Canada.

FS: When did you first think that you wanted to be an agent? How did Goodlife come to be?

FC: I never really sought out to be an agent in the beginning. My plan all along was to continue trying to compete [in skiing] after high school but after a shoulder injury that fall and some pressure from my parents, I started university at the Okanagan School of Business. While I was going to school, I was trying to figure out my plan to work in the ski industry when I finished my Degree. I had an opportunity to work with Cody Lynge when he was the team manager at Orage to help out on trips like the annual Retallack photo shoot, and the old 'Pros and Powder Tour'. This pretty much gave me the kick start in the ski industry and allowed me to meet a lot of key contacts and athletes.

As for how Goodlife came to be, I have been good friends with TJ [Schiller], Josh Bibby, Riley Leboe, Justin Dorey, and the whole crew from Vernon for a long time. While I was in my 3rd year of university, TJ asked me to help him out with the business end of his career. As time went on, I started taking on more responsibility from his dad [who was dealing with his agreements at the time]. While working with TJ I started being approached by more athletes that were interested in working with me. Pretty much from that point on its been a full-time gig and getting busier by the day.

What does it take to be a successful sports agent? I.e. is schooling important? Or is networking the most important thing? I ask because I know some agents have studied Law, whereas others have relied simply on their widespread connections.

Schooling is definitely important. I wouldn't say that it's a make or break to becoming an agent. I think the combination of schooling and key contacts within each industry is the biggest factor to being successful as an agent. It's important to be able to take into account the well-being of a brand when you are negotiating or maintaining an endorsement deal and one of the key things to that is being fair and having a strong connection to those contacts at each brand.

I think the biggest things I have going for me is that I like to think I am fair and have a strong relationship with each brand I work with. An understanding of the legal aspects of an agreement are definitely a huge factor. If you have to hire a lawyer to read every agreement that comes your way, it's going to significantly decrease your revenue. It's important to have legal support when it comes down to the end of the negotiation, but you have to be able to understand the language to make sure your client is getting the deal they want.

You're heavily geared towards the action sports industry. How did you get so involved in this community?

Pretty much just from being a fan and participant from a young age. My main sport was skiing, but I have always dabbled in skateboarding, biking, etc, and I love them all whether I participate or not. I think it's important to focus on what you are passionate about. It makes it a lot easier to spend the hours to get the job done well. 

If I don't see myself being passionate about the sport or the athlete, it makes it a lot harder to do the leg work to get the job done. I would like to expand more into some traditional sports, but definitely sticking with what I'm passionate about.

Monashee sled crew: Fergie, Ian Cosco, Riley Leboe, TJ Schiller, Josh Dueck, Josh Bibby, Justin Dorey, Joe Schuster

What are some of the ups and downs of being a sports agent?

There aren't too many downfalls to what I do. I would say that one of the hardest things is the 'agent firewall' that some brands have put in place. This isn't something that they necessarily set out to do, but there are definitely still companies out there that would rather deal with an athlete than a manager. That being said, I think if you approach them fairly and bring some value to their brand, that feeling goes away fairly quickly.

There are a lot of upsides to what I do. I like the athletes that I work with, and I love seeing them be successful (both in a contract negotiation or in a contest or film). It's cool to work with athletes that are so different both in their career path and personalities. It allows me to market each athlete differently.

I've heard many people ask questions like, "why can't an athlete deal with sponsors and contract negotiations on their own?" What do you say to that?

There's a lot of people that could deal with their own contracts. In most cases it's more a question of time and willingness rather than the ability. With the hectic schedules that athletes deal with these days, they realistically need someone working full time to get the job done. It's a lot more than just signing the contract and walking away until it's done.

There's a lot of administrative work to maintain each agreement, not to mention marketing the athlete, looking for new opportunities, and dealing with media etc. Having an agent allows for them to be comfortable knowing their career is in good hands, and they can focus on training and competing.

As an agent, you spend a great deal of time on the road. Is it difficult to stay on top of all your clients' needs as you're jumping from place to place?

Sometimes it gets a little tough to juggle it all. The one thing I have learned the longer I do this, is that its not a necessity to be at every event the athletes are competing at. It's good to support them and shake hands with all the people at the events, but sometimes you have to look at what is ultimately creating value for that athlete, and standing beside a jump line for 5 hours a day definitely doesn't. I like to be at the important events and sit out the less important ones.

You've got a handful of top-level freeski athletes, and then you've got the rap artist SonReal too. How did he come to be in the mix, and has transcending to the music industry presented any challenges for you?

We've known Aaron [SonReal] for a lot of years. I used to actually steal candy from him in the early years [laughs]. SonReal has been putting out music since the early days in high school and we always tried to promote that as much as possible through the channels we had in front of us. I think the first thing was Josh's segment in Skimatic. All of us have always been really passionate about the drive and talent Son' has to create great music.

A couple of years ago Biz [now Goodlife's music head honcho] and I were talking and decided that Son' would be a good artist to be involved with. Although music is a bit of a far cry from action sports, I think that SonReal especially fits the Goodlife image. Like I said before it's all about being passionate about who you represent, and Biz and I definitely see a lot in what Son has going on.

What does the near future hold in store for you?

At this point I'm just trying to get my head wrapped around that. I definitely want to spend some more time focusing on other sport segments like skateboarding, snowboarding, moto and surf. I'm excited about ski pipe being in the 2014 Games as well as ski and snowboard slope, so I want to spend a lot of time creating a plan for that. It's an exciting time for action sports and I'm just really stoked that I can be a part of the circus.

Any shout outs?

Definitely.  I would have to thank all of my athletes that are constantly kicking ass and making my job just that much easier. Also, I want to thank Cody Lynge, Chris O'Connell, Michael Spencer, and Jaimeson Keegan for being supportive of what I do. Of course my fam, friends, and Freeskier.

Learn more about Goodlife here: https://goodlifeinc.ca/#all