Mar 25
I Got My Dream Career By Commenting on an Instagram Post
Five years ago, I commented on an influencer’s post, a few weeks later, he gave me a job offer.
Have you ever declined a salary position with benefits, stock options, and tuition reimbursement? I did. My parents thought I was crazy. My co-workers were completely confused. To be honest, I was a little too. What’s even crazier? I did it twice!
It was safe. It was stable. It was a fine place to work. Everyone talks about chasing your dreams but never talks about how difficult it is to decide to pursue the dream. What if you fail? Honestly, stories of failure weren’t commonly shared when I was growing up. It ultimately came down to one question.
Would I regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t pursue my dream career?
I knew the answer, which meant leaving behind a lot of what I had earned. It meant less income, more commuting, and less social time. But, do you know what made me feel like it was the right choice? I was happy.
Now, to provide you all some context. The first time I turned down a “stable” job to pursue my dream, I was in college. I had just gone through my new college orientation, and I found myself hanging onto every word. They talked about internships with companies such as NBC, Amazon, and many more.
They were talking about doing real career experience while in college. Instead of taking exams and tests, we would be graded upon our projects with real companies. This spoke to me. We wouldn’t be graded upon our theoretical answers but on our work with the companies that we were assigned to.
They were telling us to get a career while going to school. What?!
Now they did have counselors, tutors, pamphlets, and plenty of faculty to help you out with all the higher education details. This, however wasn’t their priority but rather helping you find, acquire, and enjoy the career that was right in front of you. So I knew what I had to do.
Later that same day, I went in for my shift and was offered a new “salary” management role, to my surprise. I was stunned but knew I couldn’t accept it. I wanted to try to make a career in social media. I spoke to the director trying to hire me for this position and was completely honest with what had happened that day.
He saw that I was genuinely excited and was understanding enough to allow me to leave that day. Might I add, we ended on fantastic terms. I said goodbye to all my co-workers and felt truly grateful for my time at the company.
After walking outside their doors, I knew I had to fight to realize my dream. That was the beginning of my journey to see what my dream career looked like. However, a question lingered in my mind, how long would it take to have a real shot at a career I was proud of?
Fast forward two years, I saw that one of the most prominent influencers on YouTube had made an Instagram post. I took 23 seconds to quickly type out an honest response which would be different from any other comment. You can see my comment below.
Shortly after, I got a direct message from Dan, who runs What’s Inside (7M) and What’s Inside Family (1.8M) on YouTube. To provide context on What’s Inside, it became one of the largest YouTube channels in 2016. According to GQ, he even had the #3 most viral video of 2016. Needless to say, this would be an incredible opportunity.
He provided his phone number and asked me to call him. We spoke, and we came to an agreement. I would gather together five or more candidates from our program, and he would interview them the following week at our college.
Within that week, I received an offer to work for a non-profit that I was genuinely passionate about. I had run a few campaigns through our student-run agency, and they were thrilled with our results. It was a great opportunity, and I told them that I needed some time to think it over.
A few days later, I presented Dan to five candidates at the college that I felt would offer value to him. He interviewed each one of them and was impressed. He stated the candidates were better than any he had interviewed at Brigham Young University.
We then started to chat about his various social accounts, strategies, and what I’d do to improve his social accounts. We talked about Facebook and what my experience had been with the platform. After we spoke, he offered the job to me.
It was a fantastic opportunity, but I mentioned to him that I couldn’t accept the internship. However, I’d be open to joining the team if it were a salaried position. He wasn’t shocked but was a bit taken back. I explained my offer from the nonprofit, and he told me he’d speak it over with his wife.
A week later, I received a call, and it was an offer for a salaried position at What’s Inside. We spoke over the phone for a moment, and we agreed on terms. As soon as I hung up the phone, I leaped for joy. I nearly knocked my head on the ceiling. I also quickly had to turn down the non-profit job offer.
It wasn’t the salary that mattered; instead, my leap of faith two years earlier had given me my first glimpse of paying off.
Fast forward five years to where I am now. I work/consult with Fortune 500 companies on various campaigns, help generate over 1 billion views, speak at conferences, gain lots of new skillsets, and have the flexibility to pursue multiple projects. If you had told me five years ago what I would soon be accomplishing, I would think you were kidding.
That sounds so cliche, but it’s true. I’m grateful for my dream career while realizing that I worked hard, took risks, strived to learn every day, and genuinely had earned it. I wish you the same fortunate in your career.
“Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive and Believe, It Can Achieve.” — Napoleon Hill
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