A post about Jack

I went into March with a new enthusiasm for the Product Marketer and had a plan for a bunch of different posts, having promised myself that I would be better at sticking to a habit. (As mentioned in previous posts…) 

But sometimes life can take a turn for the worse. 

Tragically, my younger brother Jack, who had been ill with an aggressive form of cancer for the past few months, passed away and, as you can imagine, suddenly little else mattered. 

Grief is a strange thing. Part of you wants to curl up in a ball and hide for a very long time in a darkened room. What also happens, though, is an outpouring of love and support from those around you, like nothing you’d ever imagined. So what you end up feeling is something quite surreal. Zombie-like, maybe even numb, in my case at least. 

But I do know I want to start writing again. I like putting these articles together. They're a good outlet and I think they're going to be a good thing to focus on and keep me sane. 

Plus Jack's life is a good example of why side projects are so important. And he was adamant that we all keep on living our lives and doing what we love. He was almost surprised we all wanted to spend so much time with him in his final months - he thought we should all be carrying on as normal.

So, before I go back to posting about product marketing, I want to write a little bit about Jack. 

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It's both heartbreaking and some form of consolation that my brother had found true happiness by the time he passed away. He'd met an amazing woman, Emma, who became his wife, and together they built a family with their beautiful, brilliant daughter, Niamh. 

On top of all of this, Jack had recently found his dream job. And this made me incredibly happy. 

My brother had spent much of his twenties working out what to do with himself in terms of work. He’d been a recruiter, he’d worked on cruise ships, and he’d even run room service at one of London’s top hotels. But it wouldn’t be right to say he was passionate about any of these jobs.

This was odd, given Jack was incredibly passionate about the things that took his interest. One of these passions was trainers (or sneakers, sorry, for the American readers...) and this passion soon turned into something more when he started his own side hustle, reselling limited edition trainers under the moniker of JW Creps. It was great seeing him start something he genuinely cared about and while I knew nothing about the world of shoes, it was clear Jack really knew his stuff. 

He was also a great example of how starting your own thing can lead to something bigger. JW Creps led to Jack being hired by Sneaker Con as one of their first trainer authenticators in London. It was a dream job for him and he was smashing it. Soon enough he was even leading a team.

Sadly, it was during this time that Jack got sick. His love for the job, his loyalty to his team, and his eagerness not to let anyone down meant that he was forcing himself into the office for far longer than he needed to, but that was who he was. I have no doubt that Jack’s final years were his happiest because of the family he had built, but made even better by a job he enjoyed so much.

A whole crew of colleagues from Sneakercon came to Jack’s funeral and confirmed a suspicion I already had… That he was an absolute fountain of knowledge when it came to trainers - and knew his job inside out. They spoke so highly of him, and have just sent over a few pairs of toddler-sized trainers to Jack’s wife Emma, to get Niamh’s own collection started. 

Jack leaves behind a family and friends that adored him, a beautiful daughter that reminds me so much of him, and around 70 pairs of trainers - all of them in mint condition. There won’t be a day that goes by that I don’t think about him. 

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There’s not much ‘business insight’ I can offer with this post but I guess Jack’s story is a reminder of what a privilege it is to work on things that excite you. And that starting your own thing can often lead to even bigger opportunities. 

Thanks for indulging me in this week’s post. Normal service will be resumed from the next edition of the Product Marketer.

Cheers.