I was wrongfully fired from my job.

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Hey,

Some of you already know this, but for those who don’t, here is a quick bit of context.

Back in 2023 and part of 2024, I worked as a casino dealer.

It was loud, chaotic, long hours, rotating shifts, and more personalities than any workplace really needs.

During that same stretch of time, I was also trying to build my brand on X.

I was writing every day, posting ideas, testing what people responded to, and slowly figuring out how to speak in a voice that felt like mine.

That part was exciting.

The part that was not so smart was something I did without thinking it through.

I told my friends and coworkers at the casino about it.

On paper, that does not look like a big problem.

Most people talk about side projects.

Most people share what they are working on.

It feels normal to let the people around you know what you are trying to build.

But if you have ever tried to grow something online while also keeping a regular job, you probably already know why this can get messy fast.

Let me walk you through it.

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The first issue is that people in your day to day life will never understand what you are building online in the way you understand it.

They do not see the hours. They do not see the drafts.

They do not see the small wins that feel big. They just see the final result.

They see your posts. They see your ideas.

And they judge them based on a version of you they already think they know, not the version of you who is building something bigger.

This was exactly what happened to me.

My writing style on X has always leaned into a passive aggressive tone.

Not in a serious way, but in a way that adds some humor and keeps things sharp.

The tone helps get attention. It helps highlight a point.

It helps people feel the message instead of simply reading it.

But when you work with people who have only ever known you in a professional setting, they do not see it as a writing style.

They see it as you being dramatic for no reason.

Or worse, they think you are talking about them without naming them.

That is where the problems begin.

Every time I posted something a little sharp or a little too honest, people at work would bring it up.

They would ask if the post was about someone at the casino.

They would ask who I meant. They would ask why I said that.

They would ask what I was going through.

And some would not ask at all. They would simply assume.

When you spend your time trying to build something, you do not want to waste energy explaining the creative choices behind every short post.

And you especially do not want to feel like you need to censor yourself because someone you see at work might take it personally.

That right there was the first lesson I had to learn.

Not everyone needs to know what you are building.

Not everyone deserves a front row seat to your progress.

Especially not people who know you only through the smallest window of your entire life.

The second lesson was even more important.

When you tell people about your goals too early, you give them room to judge outcomes that are not finished yet.

You give them the ability to look at incomplete work and act like they understand the full picture.

You also give them the chance to project their own limits onto what you are trying to do.

And most people do not realize how heavy someone else’s limits can feel when you are trying to grow past your own.

Here is the truth.

When you are building something in public, you can handle strangers questioning you.

You can handle people online disagreeing with you. That is part of the deal.

But when people who see you in person do it, the weight hits a little different.

It slows you down. It makes you think twice.

It makes you hesitate on posts you would normally share without a second thought.

That hesitation is expensive.

The third lesson was the one I did not expect until much later.

When people in your life know about your online presence, they start connecting dots that are not even there.

They start reading your posts as if they are reading your mind.

They start assuming your content is a diary, not writing.

They forget that online you is a version of you shaped intentionally.

Not a raw feed of your thoughts.

This shift makes everything you post feel heavier than it should be.

Looking back now, the mistake was simple.

I tried to bring two worlds together that did not belong together.

One world was loud, busy, and full of people who only knew one angle of my personality.

The other was built on intention, clarity, ideas, and growth.

When those two worlds collided, it created friction that did not need to exist.

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Then the worst thing happened.

I got an email from the higher ups saying that my contract had been cancelled.

And that I have been terminated from my position for a post that I made.

It was a little controversial but not enough to lose a job over.

People around me were laughing but those against me weren’t.

At the time I was scared out of my mind.

At 20 yo, I was making $5,000/month.

It was stable for the time and I was comfortable.

But I had a back up.. I had a way to still make money.

It was my personal brand and my writing.

In 3 months I was back at $5,000/month.

In 3 more months I shot up to $8,000.

It was Gods blessings in disguise if I am being honest.

And the best part of it all? I get to say whatever tf I want without the fear of losing my job.

If you are building something online right now, here is the part I hope you take from this.

You do not owe anyone an explanation about what you are building.

You do not need to keep your creative life open to people who will never understand why you choose to post every day.

And you do not need to share your goals with anyone until those goals are already real enough that they can stand on their own.

Keep your work private while it is still fragile.

Protect the early stages. Share with people who support your direction, not people who pull you off of it.

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Your confidence grows when fewer people are watching the early steps.

And your work becomes stronger when it is not filtered through someone else’s opinion before it is even finished.

If you need the reminder, here it is.

You are allowed to build quietly. You are allowed to grow privately.

And you are allowed to decide who gets to know about your progress.

Some things get stronger when you keep them to yourself.

If I learned anything in those casino years, it is that your future work should never be shaped by the reactions of people who are not part of that future.

And that is something I wish I understood earlier.