My new job involved writing and researching sports topics to be turned into YouTube documentaries. I loved my role, but after a year, the startup downsized, and I was let go. I tried being a freelance writer, but with only one year of writing on my rsum, most publications turned me down.
While rejection was a struggle, the most difficult part of my unemployment was networking. I struggled to connect with anyone who could help jump-start my career.
Around the peak of feeling helpless, I took a trip to Vegas. It was my first time in Sin City, and having never experienced casinos, I had always viewed them through my lens of moral superiority. They were slaughterhouses for gamblers, I thought.
Yet, I was awakened within a half hour of walking through my first casino floor. Throughout the cards and craps tables, I found engaging people and even some humanity.
Society had long ingrained in me the negative aspects of casinos, but I saw their positives.
Casinos would become my place to network
Black Hawk is a mountain town about an hour from Denver. The town is considered Colorado’s mini Vegas Strip.
When I first started visiting, I was playing poker and struck up a conversation with a man from the nearby town connected to “South Park”creator Trey Parker. I started by asking the man beside me if he knew Parker. Not only had he met Parker, but he also claimed his sister dated Parker in high school.
While this was merely a cute story, I was curious how other conversations could lead to meaningful personal and professional growth. From there, I started driving to Black Hawk every week. My goal wasn’t to gamble; I wanted to schmooze with the people inside.
I was able to meet a man connected to an exclusive golf club nearby, and I played on the private golf course for free.
My most important encounter happened at a blackjack table. I started to banter with my table buddy. He mentioned he owned a Colorado-based golf magazine. I began freelancing for him a month later and have worked with him ever since, finally jumpstarting my freelance writing career.
I couldn’t continue my weekly visits to the casinos
Ultimately, the house takes one’s money, so I had to be disciplined with my “pay-to-play” mentality.
To ensure my gambling didn’t become a problem, I was regimented about my spending. Having won a few thousand dollars from the aforementioned Vegas trip, I used those winnings as my spending allotment at the Black Hawk casinos. I kept a spreadsheet of each trip’s net profit and loss to know when my funds ran out.
After eight months of oscillating wins and losses, my spreadsheet’s “NET” column finally showed $0. It was a solemn moment when I left the casino for the final time.
It was frustrating to leave my most successful place for networking in this past year. Plus, I was forced to return to traditional networking methods that had previously failed me — like using LinkedIn, inquiring about friends’ professional networks, and attending conventions and summits in Denver.
I’m glad I was able to make personal and professional connections
I eventually realized casinos helped me because their environment cuts out the gatekeeper that traditionally prevents people from talking to those in power. At the casino, there was no cold calling or having your LinkedIn DM go unread. Casinos leveled out the playing field so that any average Joe like me could post up next to a millionaire or CEO and begin to chat.
In the casino, I could also best play to my strengths. As an exuberant, gregarious, and genuine person, I was able to connect directly with those in power. This strength doesn’t come out as much in cold outreach, and that’s been my biggest roadblock in separating my applications from the dozens of other qualified people.
But I didn’t want to risk losing any more money, so I was happy with the connections I was able to make.
Now, I remind myself that every opportunity I step outside my comfort zone and socialize with someone new can lead to a connection or conversation that changes the trajectory of my career.
While casinos aren’t for everyone, I encourage people to find their own unique domain to meet strangers, network, and discuss life.
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