The Exception

I recently made a post on my Facebook, with the expectations of my 1,509 "friends" to look at it and keep scrolling without commenting or giving their honest opinion. I thought to myself, I see these types of prompts all the time, contemplate about commenting for a split second then decide, I don't have time to do this for every person so why would I make an exception? Which led me to my next thought, how many people don't interact with someone online or give their opinions on a matter that's being questioned, am I the only guilty one? That conscious thought led me to yet another big question, that I didn't even realize I seek the answer to everyday, why would a person PUBLICLY make a post that had the potential for no interaction? Was that specific person attention seeking, were they needing their ego stroked, did they need to remind everyone on their "friends" list how much they were loved, what was the reason behind this post that looked at me and said, you love me right?

This prompt was added to my newsfeed by a friend in the early morning hours, that's when I looked at her post, thought about giving my opinion BUT decided I didn't have time, needed to get my workday started and get off Facebook. As I went through the day with my usual routine, not many people were answering my phone calls so to help pass the time I decided to get on my LinkedIn and explore what I could learn today through my new connections and learning videos. Now if you have never been on LinkedIn let me just warn you, it's completely and utterly overwhelming! You realize quickly that if you aren't defining yourself a business professional or you're very green in an industry, it's quite intimidating. I joined LinkedIn first in 2017 based off my dad's recommendation, to help give me a jumpstart into the business world when I graduated and was actively seeking employment. After creating my account, I made maybe a total of ten connections and deleted the app from my phone, it offered nothing but confusion and intimidation, which for me took a lot because I'm a very confident person to begin with. With full intention of never downloading the app again, I pushed it into my little "forget box" in the back of mind, went about obtaining my degree and gaining experience through in-person interactions.

Fast forward to 2019, I finally graduated with my Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Management and was feeling that confidence grow within me, along with all that fresh knowledge I had just plowed through in two years time. I was visiting my parents one evening in Louisville and LinkedIn came up again in one of my dad and I's conversations. After mauling it over, I decided to give the app another chance and redownload it so I could job hunt. I slowly began to add more connections and really work on my profile, to make it stand out to recruiters and big name companies but I still was not interacting with people unless I knew them personally.

Push the fast forward button again to this year, 2020, LinkedIn remained on my phone but still not a favorite, I continued to keep it on my last homepage. In March I accepted a new position with US Health Advisors, as a licensed health insurance agent and I had absolutely no clue how to sell anything besides myself or why you should be a Taylor Swift fan. Several times I find myself re-evaluating my abilities to do this or any other sales job, was I in over my head, did I make a mistake, should I keep looking for another position?

It wasn't until my regional leader, in one of our weekly zoom meetings, suggested for advertising and marketing tips to check out LinkedIn, that I moved the app to my first homepage. I found the LinkedIn Learning area, started reading articles and watched endless short clips from well made business professionals, it was the best thing I could have done for not only my career but for myself as a person. I quickly became addicted to gaining all this knowledge and started following the advice I was to terrified to admit aloud.

First I started sending random connection requests, I mean anyone that popped up, so I could get some more traffic on my timeline and activity board. Keep in mind now, with my job position I get yelled and cussed at on the DAILY, so my confidence was only growing and hopefully so would my success. As one of my favorite inspiration quotes says, "If you are comfortable you are not improving, get comfortable with being uncomfortable", I take that in account everyday as I set out to improve myself as a person and business professional.

Second I started making posts and interacting with so many random business professionals until it no longer felt uncomfortable or foreign to me, just a daily tasks. It wasn't until this second step I started realizing that if you weren't interacting with complete strangers or just trying to radiate positivity to the world, what was your purpose? In any business industry, your goal is to give your customer, manager, team, corporation, partner, etc., the smoothest and most memorable experience that you possibly can, right? So my next question was, how do I accomplish this on a personal and professional level?

There isn't just one defined answer to this question, in fact, there are unlimited answers and some haven't even been discovered yet! With that being said, I did manage to pinpoint an answer for myself, constant self-improvement. I needed different perspectives from people in all industries, all age categories, complete strangers, lifelong friends, family, my husband, anyone who could spare a couple minutes out of their day to help me become the absolute best version of myself.

The first step I took to mold Jade 2.0, I announced on my LinkedIn page that everyday I would randomly choose someone to message to just send positive vibes and wish them a productive work week. I think it honestly benefits me more than any of my receivers, because I look forward to making someone's day every single morning and it excites me to read the responses! Who knew just a couple minutes and some positive words from a complete stranger, could turn a person's day from crappy to feeling appreciated?

The second step I took for Jade 2.0 was going back and giving my opinion on that post I came across my Facebook newsfeed that morning. I had a completely different outlook towards this prompt now and it crossed my mind that maybe she needed to be told she was cared for, maybe someone had told her she was a bad coworker or some other negative thoughts and I didn't want her to feel that way anymore. I messaged a previous supervisor of mine and proceeded to ask him, "I need to ask you a serious question and I want you to be completely honest, what qualities do you think I need to work on in a professional and personal manner?" I nervously sent the message and decided to make lunch without dwelling on it. When I checked his response I was blown away and completely surprised, this man is 56 years old, hard to impress, and a very well respected nurse/veteran, so I initially thought he would drop the hammer and squish me with criticism.

"Hm, honestly just experience I would hire you in a minute and not just because I know you on a personal level but because you have what it takes to make a difference and your leadership is very much missed at this workplace"

I stared at my screen, baffled for a moment then decided, what the hell? While I was in such a good self-improvement mindset, I found that prompt on Facebook and shared it.

"If you've ever worked at a job with me, tell me what your experience was like".

After I post it, I was scared to check it, not because I thought people would comment on it and say bad things, but for the fear that nobody would interact and I would have made myself look like an attention seeking fool that was still in high school. I refused to open Facebook for the rest of the evening and went to bed, wondering how I improve myself tomorrow if my "friends" tore my confidence limp from limp publicly on my timeline.

The next morning, I got myself in a good mindset, took a breath and opened my Facebook app, you know how many comments I had, 68! Shocked enough just at the amount of the comments, I began reading what people thought about their experience with me and responded to EACH and EVERY single person that took the time to write such kind words. Some people were from 6-8 years ago, some were from last year and some were very recently, but they all had nothing but encouraging words to give.

My whole point is, make an exception and take the time to interact. It doesn't matter if it's a complete stranger, family, friend, colleague, or your neighbor but MAKE AN EXCEPTION to make someone's day, week, month, or year. I would have never had the courage to be on that level of interaction and self-improving if I hadn't started using LinkedIn and acting on the advice offered daily. So next time you are second guessing, do yourself and others a favor, don't; because it could be the difference of self growth or maybe opportunity knocking.

My name is Jade Hiltner and this week I made an exception, who are you and when will you make your exception?

Open to connecting on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram!