A Long Day

As much as I love making money, sometimes getting sleep is more worthwhile. However, being a sports broadcaster often means having another job or finding another earning outlet is necessary. For me, that means working at a grocery store three mornings a week.

Thanks to the incessant rain earlier this summer, the Whitecaps have three doubleheaders this season. One of them was today, and that meant I had to reschedule my shift at work. Instead of filling my normal 10 am to 2 pm time slot, I worked from 8 am to noon. That meant I needed to get up before 8 and lose out on the sleep I might need to have an exceptional broadcast.

Sacrifices are something I've learned to make frequently, since the sports broadcasting world is no more forgiving than the Sahara is humid. I need the money, so I ended up with a nonstop workday, starting at 8 and ending at 9 pm when I got home after the doubleheader.

I'm not about to complain about a long day like that, because it's not the first time something like it has happened, and it is not even close to the last time either. When I went to the Baseball Winter Meetings in Las Vegas this past December, there were a few presentations by Minor League employees who all described the hours of dedication you need to be successful (or at least stay afloat) in the sports industry. I'm prepared for it, but today was the first instance for me that a non-sports related event was part of that.

If there's one thing I can take away from today, it's that you should try to put as much effort into networking as you do into the quality of your broadcast. Like most other fields, connections are what put you over the top after a great interview or a spiffy resume.

Lesson 1b for today is that connections can come from anywhere. I spoke on end with a coworker of mine at the store and found out how she could pretty easily help me out. All I did to (unknowingly) start the conversation was get a little small talk going.

I never would have thought that bagging groceries and pushing carts could get me closer to anything media, and now I'm finding out that there could be another potential connection for me there too.

Remember to work hard not just at sounding and looking great on air. In the meantime, I need some sleep.