Because looking for a job shouldn't require a second job.
There's a particular kind of anxiety that comes with working in the creative industry. It usually arrives disguised as an innocent calendar invitation titled "Quick Chat" or "Organizational Update."
Ah, yes. The reorganization.
The corporate equivalent of musical chairs, except someone keeps taking away the chairs, replacing the music with a PowerPoint presentation, and explaining how this is actually a tremendous opportunity for everyone involved.
If you've ever watched the consultants interviewing employees in Office Space, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And if you haven't, congratulations on somehow avoiding one of the finest documentaries ever made about corporate America.
Throw AI into the equation, along with shifting budgets, agency consolidations, outsourcing, and the seemingly endless pursuit of doing more with less, and it's understandable why a lot of creative professionals are looking over their shoulders. I'm not suggesting that every company is plotting to replace its employees with an army of robots. Although, if your CEO starts referring to everyone as "biological resources," maybe update your résumé.
The reality is that our industry is changing. Rapidly. And while some of those changes are genuinely exciting, others can be downright terrifying when your mortgage, family, and livelihood are involved.
I've been there. Probably more times than I'd like to professionally admit.
I've experienced the uncertainty, the reorganizations, the unexpected career detours, and that wonderful moment when you realize your professional future is suddenly being determined by people who may not entirely understand what you do.
And then comes the question nobody particularly enjoys asking.
Where the hell do I start?
A Little History (And an Incredibly Unsexy Spreadsheet)
Over the years, I started maintaining a spreadsheet of advertising agencies, design studios, marketing companies, and other creative businesses around Central Florida.
Nothing particularly sophisticated. Just a running collection of companies, websites, contact information, and potential places worth investigating. When someone I knew lost their job, wanted to change careers, or needed a little help getting started, I'd send them the spreadsheet.
Here you go. Start here.
Not exactly a revolutionary act of technological innovation. I wasn't splitting the atom. I was organizing information in little rectangles. But it was useful, and sometimes, when someone has just had their professional world turned upside down, useful is considerably more valuable than inspirational.
Nobody needs another motivational LinkedIn post about how getting laid off was secretly the greatest gift the universe ever gave them. Followed, naturally, by a photograph of someone standing on a mountain with their arms outstretched, presumably celebrating the loss of their health insurance.
Sometimes you just need to know who's hiring, who's out there, and who might be worth calling.
So I kept sharing the spreadsheet.
And over time, I started wondering whether I could do something a little more interesting with it.
Enter the BBS Creative Career Navigator
I've spent a lot of time exploring AI, development tools, and ways to turn ideas into functioning resources without needing a small army of programmers or a venture capital presentation featuring the words "disruptive ecosystem."
As I've written before in Oh Look, The Marketing Silos Are Back, the creative industry has a remarkable ability to reinvent its technology while dragging some of the same old problems along for the ride. Different tools, different vocabulary, same circus. Occasionally with better snacks.
So somewhere along the way, I decided to revisit that old spreadsheet.
What if I could transform it into something more useful? Something people could explore rather than scroll through endlessly? Something that could grow beyond my little collection of agency contacts?
That became the BBS Creative Career Navigator, a project I've been developing through Big Block Studios.
The idea is relatively simple: make it easier for creative professionals to discover businesses, research potential employers, and get a better sense of the opportunities and resources available to them.
It's initially focused on Central Florida, but the thinking behind it applies just about anywhere.
And no, this isn't another attempt to build the next LinkedIn.
The world already has LinkedIn. It also has approximately 47,000 people explaining how to optimize your personal brand while standing next to a rented Lamborghini.
I think we're covered.
So, How Does This Thing Work?
The Navigator is designed to give you a starting point for exploring the local creative business landscape. Whether you're a designer, writer, developer, creative director, strategist, production specialist, or someone considering a different direction entirely, it helps you discover companies that might not already be on your radar.
It's not particularly complicated, nor should it ’t be. Someone who's just lost their job doesn't need to study a user manual written by the same people who assemble IKEA furniture.
Here's the general idea:
Explore the local creative landscape. Search Central Florida agencies and studios by role, specialty, or name, or narrow the directory by location.
Research potential employers. Open company profiles for services, official websites, and careers links where available. The Navigator also has a career resources section with résumé and portfolio guidance.
Expand your search. Look beyond the usual suspects and discover companies you may not have considered.
Make connections. Use what you discover to begin conversations, research opportunities, or build a more targeted outreach list.
Keep exploring. The goal is to develop an expanding resource rather than a static list that becomes obsolete the moment someone changes their website.
One important distinction: this isn't a promise that everyone listed is hiring. It's a resource for expanding your search beyond the same familiar job boards.
Because here's something I've learned after decades in this business: some of the most interesting professional opportunities begin with conversations, not application forms.
You discover an agency you never knew existed. You find a studio doing work you admire. You reach out to someone, make a connection, or simply learn a little more about the industry around you.
Sometimes nothing happens. Sometimes something does. The point is to give yourself more places to start.
And while we're talking about finding your next professional adventure, you might also want to read my earlier piece on gauging an agency's toxicity before taking the job. Finding an opportunity is one thing. Discovering you've accepted a position aboard the corporate Titanic is another.
Why This? Why Now?
Partly because of AI. Partly because I've watched enough talented people get blindsided by circumstances completely outside their control. And partly because I'm getting increasingly tired of watching experience, talent, and good people reduced to line items on somebody's operational spreadsheet.
There's a human cost to all this that doesn't always make it into the quarterly earnings presentation.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' October 2026 employment report, roughly 2 million Americans had been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. That's 27.6% of everyone counted as unemployed.
Now, that's across the national workforce, not specifically advertising and marketing. But imagine going more than six months without a job, sending applications into the digital abyss, and receiving rejection emails from companies you don't even remember applying to.
To be clear, businesses have to make difficult decisions. Markets shift. Technology evolves. Companies grow, contract, merge, and occasionally drive themselves into a ditch while leadership explains that the vehicle is actually performing beautifully.
That's business.
But the people affected by those decisions are more than headcount.
They're artists, thinkers, problem-solvers, parents, partners, and people who have spent years developing skills that don't magically become worthless because an organizational chart changed.
I've also been fortunate enough to work with, mentor, and learn from a tremendous number of creative professionals over the years. If some of that experience, a few professional connections, and an occasionally unhealthy curiosity about technology can help someone else, why wouldn't I try?
What's the Catch?
There isn't one.
I'm not selling a course. I'm not offering a subscription to my exclusive seven-step system for career domination. I'm not going to explain how you can become your own CEO by waking up at 4:30 AM, taking an ice bath, and developing an intimate personal relationship with a productivity journal.
I'm just sharing a tool.
It's a work in progress. There will be things to improve, information to update, and probably a few moments when something doesn't work quite as expected. That's part of building something, particularly when you're experimenting with technology that seems to reinvent itself every time you leave the room to make coffee.
I'd rather put a useful resource into the hands of people who might need it than sit around waiting for it to become some magnificent, fully realized digital masterpiece.
Besides, I have enough unfinished projects. My computer is essentially a digital archaeological site.
A Few More Resources While You're Here
The Navigator is only one piece of a much larger puzzle. If you're actively searching, these are a few additional places worth keeping in your arsenal:
CareerOneStop — A U.S. Department of Labor resource for job searching, training, salary research, and local career assistance.
American Job Centers — Local employment services, career guidance, and training resources.
My Next Move — Particularly useful if you're considering moving into an adjacent field or trying to figure out where your existing skills might translate.
And don't discount your own network. Former coworkers, freelance partners, clients, vendors, and people you've crossed paths with over the years may know about opportunities that haven't appeared on a job board.
No, I'm not suggesting you contact everyone you've ever met and launch into a desperate sales pitch about your personal brand. Please don't. But a genuine conversation can go a long way.
A Little Help Goes a Long Way
If you've recently lost your job, are considering a change, or just want to know what else is out there, I hope the Navigator gives you somewhere to begin. If you're an agency owner, creative professional, recruiter, or someone who knows of a company that belongs in the directory, I'd love to hear from you.
And if you know someone who's suddenly found themselves staring down the unemployment abyss, please share it with them.
Will this tool solve the problems facing the creative industry? Of course not. Will it land everyone their dream job? God, I wish.
But if it helps someone discover an opportunity, make a connection, or simply feel a little less overwhelmed about what comes next, that's enough reason for me to keep working on it.
Sometimes helping people doesn't require an elaborate business model or an inspirational TED Talk.
Sometimes it starts with a spreadsheet.
And a healthy dislike of seeing good people get screwed.
EXPLORE THE BBS CREATIVE CAREER NAVIGATOR
Built through Big Block Studios. Shared with anyone who might find it useful.
