God, I hate seeing people lose their jobs. Lay-offs are the worst. So many of my friends are either worried for their gigs, being the bearers or bad news, or now looking for work.

Switching things up this week. No social case study today, just my own process of dealing with a lay-off & trying to claw my way out of the funk it brings. Hope everyone out there knows that this can happen to any of us, and I promise, you’ll figure it out.

—Jack Appleby

I ghosted my dream job (and why Mark Cuban DMed me).

That’s probably a weird headline to read. We’re all out here just doing our best with big career dreams, hoping that someday we get the chance to do the thing we love most.

And I got that chance. And I fucked it up.

This was a few years ago now, but with Q4 mass layoffs becoming common again, figured I should share my own layoff story & how my reaction to it all broke me down.

I could’ve worked for my favorite NBA player.

I've always fantasized about working with NBA players on their personal brands. LeBron and Steph have built entire media companies around themselves. PJ Tucker’s a non-scoring roleplayer who became famous for building content around his shoe collection. Hell, former all-star DeMar DeRozan launched a LinkedIn account this week.

I wanted to help NBA players share their stories, both during their playing days and after they hung it up. And I got that chance, with my favorite NBA player of all-time.

After I was laid-off for the first time, I figured I should make a run at that dream. I tweeted that about it—that I thought an agency social strategist could have a unique POV on NBA personal branding, and to let me know if anyone wanted to chat! A few NBA agents saw it, and I eventually. got connected with Luka Doncic’s manager.

Luka. Doncic. My beloved Luka.

Had an amazing first call & was given the chance to build a full pitch.

Anddd I never emailed her again. I full ghosted the chance.

Depression is a wild thing.

I might as well have been comatose when it all went down.

It was Summer 2020—aka, right in the heart of COVID summer. I was 6 months removed from moving across the country to a place where I had no friends, and couldn’t make new friends thanks to quarantine. I’d only lived in New York for 6 weeks when the world shut down. I was laid off after that big move, during one of the loneliest times in modern history. My lease ended the same week as the lay-off.

So, you know, just casually homeless, couch surfing at friends’ places, hating myself.

I couldn't get myself to build the pitch deck. I tried. Nothing came out. Out of shame, I never even followed-up to pull myself out of contention. So, I ghosted. Which of course spiraled into more shame & self-hatred! I couldn't understand why I was failing at a dream chance.

Reality: I was just badly depressed. There wasn't gonna be some immediate solve. I wasn't gonna be able to pull off the Luka thing. And because I didn't understand that about myself then, I just punished myself for it.

The right job, the wrong time

I figured out I couldn't work yet, so I stopped trying—thank god for that. Opted for slow interview processes as I worked on myself. Got myself in therapy and ended up at Twitch as a Senior Creative Strategist—easily one of my fav jobs ever. Didn't know then it'd be my last gig before before becoming a full-time writer, launching this newsletter.

If I could do it over? I'd take the Luka call, but immediately caveat that I wasn't ready for work. "This is a dream opp, but I'm focusing on other areas of life right now - would love to work together in the future" would've been the pro move.

We're all gonna get a right professional opportunities at the wrong time. It's bound to happen. What's most important: being honest with yourself about where you're at, not forcing it if it's the wrong time, and being thankful you got the call in the first place.

What’s Mark Cuban got to do with this?

When I originally published this story, it was about a year after the fact. And again, because if you put yourself out there, things happen—it somehow got to Mark, who DMed me.

I'd already found a job I love, so I profusely thanked him and said I appreciate it, but I'm set. But between getting the original meeting & an unlikely second chance, it really does go to show what can happen if you're willing to just publicly say what you want to achieve.

Wanna dip your toe into sharing your career on LinkedIn?

I do hope my sad sack story helps you see that putting your thoughts online can be a career insurance of sorts. Even when I missed the Luka job, that Twitch gig came from another DM. Writing posts on LinkedIn can beat out cold applying for jobs and the constant networking that comes with finding a new employer.

I built something to help ya start sharing that big brain of yours, and it’s only $5/month. It’s called Break An Egg. Every month, you’ll get 30 LinkedIn writing prompts I craft specifically to help pull out what’s made your personal career interesting and special. I wanna help you mine that brain and experience for stories and thinking that prove why you’re a great candidate.

$5 a month is probably irresponsibly low of me, but I want everyone to be able to afford this thing—I really believe in it. You can sub right over here to start learning to share your mind online.