Former marketing and brand director at sporty companies like GNC and DICK’s Sporting Goods, Zack Duncan is a cool dude to know in marketing. After a midlife crisis at 30, Zack opened his own digital marketing agency with absolutely no plan and no clients lined up before quitting his job. 

Today, he continues to run his firm, Root & Branch, from the third floor of his family home, providing local and technical SEO services, digital marketing campaigns, and Google product implementation, training, and support. Zack is also the Executive in Residence for Digital Marketing at the University of Pittsburgh’s College of Business Administration. So I guess you could say, he’s a bit of an expert. Right?

Early in his career - although still pretty high up in the food chain at DICK’s Sporting Goods - Zack made the cringiest marketing mistake of the season. He sent a snarky email in the heat of the moment, and it went even worse than you can imagine. Listen to this episode to learn how he was able to save face and learn from his mistake, as well as a few tips on how to avoid this particularly awful mistake in your own career.