A professional footballer has spoken of his plans to tap into Birmingham's booming residential property market as he contemplates life after retirement from his sporting career.
Mat Sadler is currently halfway through a one-year contract with Walsall FC and says he still has a lot to offer the world of professional sport.
But he is also keen to grow his Birmingham-based property company Sadler & Partridge with his business partner Paul Partridge as the city sits on the crest of a tidal wave of residential development.
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Mr Sadler, 35 next month, sat down with BusinessLive to talk managing two careers, business lessons from football and life after retirement.
So how does he juggle life as a professional footballer with being a director of his own company and the father of two young children?
"I like to train in the mornings and in the afternoon I work on my coaching licence and devote time to Sadler & Partridge such as meeting contacts and making calls," he told BusinessLive.
"I am out there, speaking to clients and developers and generating business.
"I also meet people within football who want to start their buy-to-let journey and need help with investing in property.
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"The message I want to put out there is they should be doing this while they're still playing and have an income.
"Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able retire at the end of their playing career and not have to work again so what can help them in that next chapter?
"Whatever your circumstances, you want to provide a safety net into the next stage of life."
There are two strands to the company which employs 12 staff at its city centre offices in Colmore Row.
Salder & Partridge Property Investment offers residential property sourcing and investment services while S&P City, launched last year, is an estate and letting agency.
Mr Sadler, who hails from Solihull, was drawn to the industry from a young age after seeing two members of his family spend their careers working in property.
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He said he saw how it could work as a long-term investment as the economy inevitably went through its peaks and troughs.
"As soon as I could afford a property, I bought one and have carried on buying as often as possible since," he said.
"I saw how people were damaged as a result of the financial climate following the 2008 crash but I realised that you can come through that.
"I feel I've seen quite a lot of things in property so can relay my personal experiences to other people.
"There is so much construction work here at the moment, driven by HS2. Everyone who works in the city knows that will have an incredible impact.
"You only have to look at the amount of cranes going up to see what is actually happening here and we want to be part of that.
"We want to be a champion for everything Birmingham related - it's my city, it's where I grew up and one I know well and love."
A career in business is not often seen as the default for professional sports people, with many pursuing related avenues such as media work, coaching and management.
But are there lessons from the sporting arena which can be taken into the corporate world?
"People skills are key - I like to lead in football and within dressing rooms and that can be transferable to the conversations you have with people in business," he said.
"The dressing room is essentially an office. Within business, you do have to be strong minded and strong willed and know what you're talking about and what you want to get out of a deal.
"But people will naturally want to engage with you if you're genuinely interested in what they're about. That is just as relevant in football as it is in business.
"Ultimately, people are people and honesty goes a long long way in all forms of life."
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His lengthy career has seen him spend 12 separate spells across nine clubs including Birmingham City, where he progressed from the academy to the first team, and twice for Shrewsbury Town.
He is keen to pursue his coaching badges and would like to continue playing after his contract expires at the end of the current season but knows he must have an eye on the future.
Mr Sadler concluded: "I'm a football person who thoroughly enjoys being around dressing rooms and football people and, without question, I see a future in the sport.
"But I also love all things property and there's no doubt I can definitely do both. It's just a matter of time management, much like the situation at the moment.
"The beauty of how we operate is I'm not trying to do too much on all sides. I won't be kicking around the house after retiring, the wife would have me straight out of the door.
"There definitely won't be any slippers pulled out just yet. There's a lot of life and work left in me."