“I’ll meet people who say, ‘I want to do what you do’ or ‘I'm just not a 9-5 guy, I want to do the things you do’ ...well, it started for me by working 9-5.” – Rob Bell
A lot of people I speak with who want to work in the NBA want to skip right to… working in the NBA.
But if you (and I encourage you to) learn people’s stories who have worked in the NBA, you’ll find a variety of stories along the way.
Most people weren’t able to go straight from college to working in the NBA. They had jobs in the middle. They had jobs while they volunteered on a coaching staff or scouting staff. They worked a 9-5 and went to practices or watched game film before or/and after their 9-5.
My dream was to work in the NBA. But when I graduated college, no one from the NBA was going to give me anything, or even return a call. So I got a job. I was an Admissions Counselor at Liberty University. Half of my days working 9-5p and half working 2-10p.
While I worked my full-time job, I was also taking on-line courses to learn how to use Synergy and break down game film. And then I began attending my Liberty’s basketball practices as well, where Coach McKay let me ‘scout’ and write reports on the players.
All of this allowed me to gain experience and a skill set while simultaneously working a full-time job and applying for NBA internships.
NBA internships are hard to come by and can be even harder to come by if you sit around and wait for one. Oftentimes, the best thing to do is to just get going… get a job, start a career, and keep that hustle alive until you find your breakthrough.