Prospector Sam - My Journey So Far and How I Found Myself on Dimers

Last week I got an email from WordPress. Now, you might be thinking “what a terrible and useless way to start an article Sam,” and normally the contents of my inbox aren’t really worth sharing with the world. But this email was important, not because it had anything particularly special in it, but because it marked an important occasion; Exactly one year ago today I decided to take my passion for sports and gambling and put it towards something productive (using the term “productive” very generously).

In the midst of the pandemic and a slow work stream in my real job, I committed to the idea that I needed to do something with my life aside from drinking and playing golf. I’m not much of a reader, nor was I ever really much of a writer, but I figured it would at least be fun to get the creative juices flowing and put pen to paper for a little while until the world got back to normal. And, at first, that’s all it really was. Despite efforts to share my work on Instagram and with close friends, I usually got about 2 readers per article, one of which was always my retired father. 

If we’re being honest, it’s probably no more than I deserved either. The writing was, to put it generously, pretty rough and I had no real direction for the content or character. As a close friend of mine put it nicely to me recently, “it’s been crazy to see how much better your writing has gotten.” A compliment I will gladly take, but also a nice jab about how bad things were when I first started.

Fortunately, just like anything in the world, I got better with practice. My analysis got stronger, I got into a rhythm with the humor and tone I wanted, and I eventually expanded my writing beyond just making gambling picks to the product you see from me now. And, just as important, I got the lucky break I needed when one of the few solid articles I wrote came across the eyes of a Dimers founder. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, so they say.

While it’s not exactly mainstream news media, Dimers has made me feel like what I write actually matters. I get to put my work up on a real website and it gets dozens of reads in stead of two (it might not seem like a lot, but having that many people read my work still feels pretty fucking amazing). I also get to work with some really cool people who love sports and gambling as much as I do, and who are growing something bigger that hopefully becomes mainstream in the near future.

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So what’s the point of this article, since it clearly has nothing to do with gambling or sports? Well, for one, I’m just gonna take a minute to celebrate me. I try to be self deprecating and keep my ego in check, but I would never have expected this “hobby” to get as far as it has. And, for someone with absolutely no writing skills or experience in media, it’s a pretty damn good underdog story that I made it this far (until the Dimers guys get tired of my shenanigans and send me to the curb, at least).

The other reason I’m writing this is to advocate for anyone reading to take a shot like I did. One of the hardest things about changing something in your life or starting something new is that it can be so easy to see all the ways you might fail. It might even seem like a waste of time because, like me, you don’t think anything meaningful will come out of it. But, because I dove in and bought a WordPress site 12 months ago, I’ve managed to become a writer for a successful and growing sports media company for the heavy cost of 60 dollars to register my domain and a few hours a week of my time. 

Should everyone adopt a fake character to write comedic sports gambling articles? No, of course not (stay away from my market, there’s only room for one of us). But take a shot at something that sounds interesting or fun because you never know where it’ll take you. For me, it was getting to put my thoughts out for the world and finding people who care about the same stuff I do, but it really applies to anything. Dimers as a whole is generally an example of that concept too, an incredible tool for sports gamblers everywhere that started when two guys decided to create the company out of nothing. 

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As someone with enough faults to fill an 18-wheeler and who doesn’t exactly pedal in serious content, I try my best to avoid giving out life advice to anyone. It’s basically a stones and glass houses situation. But this is one where I feel confident that I at least have some idea of what I’m talking about. So, again, congratulations to me for all of my success. Now time for you to take a hack at it (god, I sound like some sappy life advice website. I need to go wash this shame off me). You too could end up as successful as me, a fake cartoon prospector who writes quirky articles with 600 twitter followers (or maybe aspire to something better, that part is up to you).

Have a different order? Want to tell me how much you love me? Go find @Prospector_Sam on Twitter and drop a line!