The Beginning and Middle.
The beginning:
I woke up one day, my bedroom closing in, shrinking and wobbling and a little disoriented. For days I had been trying to get comfortable in my tight space. But all of a sudden I was being forcibly evicted — squeezed, shoved and dumped into this cold, rough, blindingly bright environment with all these huge alien para-troopers and pokey-things surrounding me.
That’s how I met The World. Let me tell you: the reception has not become any less harsh – the lights are a little less alarming, though.
The middle:
As a SmallJillian, let’s just say…..I was misunderstood. I tried a bunch of things, met a bunch of people, had a bunch of experiences and followed a LOAD of advice. What I didn’t have is a handle on who I was.
So that takes us through 25 years, now on to the last 4 years!
Welcome to 2006.
The economic outlook was sliding like a half-stuck papier-mâché. My hopes were high, my energy boundless, my resources…lacking. I plugged away for 5 months, got nowhere and flopped into a retail job that at least spoke to my hobbies. The pay was less than half what my college degree was supposed to have guaranteed and the advancement opportunity outlook was not even worth mentioning. Unable to accept stagnation, I lumped on free work and through that, had the fortune of still more paying work.
Not so fast.
It pleased The Economy to apply breaks to my momentum. I dodged the Quarterback sack, as it were, and headed south. Tennessee was a siren call to future glory and I was a headstrong sailor ready to run aground on its shores. After what proved to be the longest 19 months of my life (though various oil, insurance and banking institutions seemed to be quite the winners), I slumped back home to Kentucky, licking wounds and hating every atom of existence for producing another speed-bump for me, just when I was gaining momentum.
Enter Twitter.
At my lowest point, I couldn’t move any part of my body without moaning curses to medical science, due to the latest in a series of mishaps. A car accident had my back twisted in knots from my neck to my nethers so I passed the days eating pills and watching cable. Then I passed the days eating pills and trolling the internet for my next paying gig – determined to do it right this time. I vetted job postings. I sifted through double-talk and peered past the veneers of company mission statements. I also rejected lots of postings for fear of repeating past mistakes in judgment.
To blow off steam and pull in some fresh perspectives from people searching like me, I joined Twitter. As the year burned on and every newscast spoke doom and hope in the same breath, I took slow, steady stock of myself. My likes and dislikes. My undeniable abilities. My absolute, un-ignorable needs. My follies. My weaknesses. My preferences. My offering to friends, neighbors and employers. I did a figurative version of splitting myself in half, shaking my own hand, and taking myself out to lunch.
Then I met my boss.
Ironically, I ultimately have to give credit to Steve Jobs for my move to New York. My MP3 player had run out of juice. A cheapo replacement didn’t actually play MP3s, and I couldn’t just go without music. The shiny new iPod Touch – a Christmas present I gave myself – promised to be practical and flashy, my two favorite things to smoosh together.
The thing worked for a good 3 weeks. But those 3 weeks were spread over 3 months. In those 3 ‘weeks’, I became thoroughly immersed in the linking, blogging, sharing, hashtagging, twitter-chatting ways of Twitter. Steve Jobs gets credit for introducing me to Spin Sucks, Copy Blogger, RedheadWriting, Bookslut, {GROW}, Margie Clayman, Bill Boorman and Margo Rose. The iPod died a loud, thrashing, spiteful death but my relationships on Twitter grew into a relationship with blogging, LinkedIn and Facebook – all for the greater goal of personal branding. That was 2010.
I found work and moved to New York.
I tried my hand at branding in 2011, starting January 1. On New Year’s Day, I changed my approach to job hunting. I did the equivalent of hanging a big flashing neon sign over every storefront I had online: FOR HIRE! It was my internet identity.
A month in, I pushed for still more: virtual, in-person contact. Skype was the avenue to bringing flesh to digital relationships. Two weeks after that, my relationships started throwing value back to me – a contact saw value in me & recommended me to a contact of his.
That guy turned out to be my boss, Ric Dragon. And one Skype conversation turned into a visit in the deepest winter, followed by a two-day u-haul moving adventure (and a broken TV). Now I’m digging in for another adventure. Greetings, New York. How you livin’?