Making a Military Difference with Act Now Education Vice President Micki Patel

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I had great, great leadership throughout my career, who saw my potential and pushed me to that break where I had to do something, because they were putting me in uncomfortable zones. And it was either you excel or you crumble.

Warriors fall in, it's time for formation. So today we're joined with one of ACT NOW Education Board members. She's currently the Vice President of ACT NOW Education. She's also retired 20-year Navy veteran, and today she's going to talk with us about her own transition experiences, her role with ACT NOW Education, and what the organization is all about. Today, I'm very fortunate and honored to have the Vice President of ACT NOW Education, Binal, aka Micki Patel. Thank you for joining us today.

Thank you for having me, KP. It's exciting to be here.

I am so used to just calling you Micki. Like it took me a second to pronounce your real name, Binal, which is what's listed on your background over there.

Let's go with Micki.

We'll just go with Mickey. Right. That's what you're known as. When did that name start for you anyways?

Oh, my goodness. So actually it started when I was a baby. And it's funny because everybodies always asking me "Binal does not correlate with Mickey at all." So when I was born, my uncle was supposed to give me my given name, and he hadn't come up with it yet. So when my parents brought me home, you know, the neighborhoods, like all the people came to see me, and my mom said that one girl was like, "Oh, what's her name? What do we call her?" My mom said, "Oh, we don't have a name for her yet." And she proposed that I should be called "Micki." So everybody was like, "Okay, we can go with Micki." So my name is Micki. And I have a brother whose nickname is "Donald." But we go by Micki and Donald.

When I...that's funny, you guys are like, you guys are like Disney characters.

Well, when we have a friend together, we go, we go with the Goofy in the middle.

I love it. I love your sense of humor by the way. Ever since I've been a member of ACT NOW Education, you and several other members, you have really, really, really great senses of humor, and I love it. When I think of Micki, I think of the 80's song and I'm sure you've heard it over and over again, people sing it to you, right?

Many, many, many times. I love it still, because I always try to dance to it. It does not work out. But...[laughing]

If you were a WWE wrestler or a UFC fighter, that would be your entrance music, right?

It would be. I would have to come up with a really cool dance for it, though.

As you're walking to the octagon or to the ring.

Like when I'm pointing at the fighter that's in the ring right now. And I'm like, "I got you." I don't know if that's intimidating, though?

I think it would be because it would be unexpected. Totally unexpected.

I mean, I am like very short. I have that Napolean concept sometimes, you know. So I would come out of nowhere.

You are very short. I just saw a recent picture of you, standing next to some other gentleman. And we'll get into talking about that as well, because I just remembered that you recently took a trip to DC, right?

I did to the Capitol Hill. And it was awesome. I tell you, I was a little scared at first. And I definitely am not very, I don't want to say good, but I try to stay away from the limelight. I try to be the background person to make things happen and, you know, keep things going. But when I'm given the opportunity, I will tell you honestly, Jai did force my hand to it. He did not tell me what it was. He told me that it was a roundtable, so I was like, "Okay, I can do the roundtable." Got in touch with the, the communicator of the, you know, in Capitol Hill, I did not know I was calling somebody out there. And once he started telling me that there was going to be members of Congress there, and couple of representatives, I was like, "This is not what I thought it was going to be." And Jai Salters basically was like, "If I had told you, I knew you wouldn't go, so I just blinded you to it." I'm like, you know what, he helps me get out of my comfort zone and appreciate it. Definitely was well worth to explain the process of transitioning to, you know, those who actually cared about it.

Yeah, well, we'll dig a tear too deep into that here in a minute. But for everyone else out there listening, you know, folks out there have seen you post on the ACT NOW Education Facebook group. They've seen you interact on LinkedIn and a number of other places, Micki. But I thought it was really important and would be a really great idea to get you behind the microphone and on video to talk about, a little bit about yourself, where your background is. And so what is your current role with ACT NOW Education?

So as you mentioned, I am the Vice President for ACT NOW Education. And I started out as a research and a content creator, because I love creating things. It's my niche. And Jai saw that. He got me into the ACT NOW Education when we only had about 3000 followers, and in the beginning of, you know, the conception of ACT NOW Education. And we have grown to about 30,000 followers, as of two days ago, which was really exciting. I know, and we are growing, like, almost every day. Today was our orientation, you know, which happens every Saturday at 1pm. And that definitely brings a lot of people. But back to my role. I am the second person, you know, after Jai. And the way he had put me in charge, it was funny, because he had gone on a trip when I had come in, about four months into it. And he basically was like, "Hey, I have to do this trip for work, can you please take charge?" And I was like, "Yes." You know, just keeping things running in our day to day, day in and day out kind of thing. And sooner but later, he started calling me VP. And he told me that he was testing it out to see how it was gonna work out. And then at the end, it ended up being that I was a fit for that role, according to him. So that's what I'm doing right now.

Wow, Jai has a real talent when it comes to recognizing, recognizing and acknowledging people skills and overall potential. Because same way with me, like I was on Clubhouse, just talking in a random room, and Jai kind of pulled me aside and was like, "Hey, let's let's talk here, let's maybe we can work together. I've got this great organization." And he started telling me about it. And I was like, "Heck, yeah!" And then from there, went into the interview, which you were a part of the interview, right?

Yep. Yes, I was. You had about eight people.

Yeah, I don't know. Like it literally brought everyone to the yard. And...

I don't know what it was. But Jai was really excited about this. The, the whole prospect of bringing you on, and I don't know why we had eight people.

Oh my goodness, so I was not... I didn't know that either. I wasn't expecting that. Jai, when he told me to do the interview with the ACT NOW Education team, I thought "Okay, yeah, it'll be like two people or whatever." And, and all of a sudden, the screen it was by Zoom, so screen pops up, and all of a sudden, I see eight people. And I'm like, "Oh, was all eight people gonna ask me questions here?" And then, so it was, it was a real good experience. I'm glad that I wasn't like psyched out about it. I'm glad that I just went in raw, because all my answers were just right from the heart. They were right, what was on my chest, and in my mind, at that time, so.

I think you did really good...You know, when we talked about it, except for the sell...pen selling thing, you know.

Am I gonna sell pens? That was Yasmin, that asked me that question. And I was like, "I don't, I don't know, I don't know how to sell that pen that you have. But it's a good pen."

It is a good pen, you should have a pen.

So you know, one of the things that you talked about earlier was comfort zones. And that's what I love about being part of the ACT NOW Education team is always pushing yourself beyond those comfort zones. And I think that ACT NOW Education as a whole, really gives people the opportunity to go out there and get those certifications, get that extra education, that extra knowledge, to push yourself to get outside those zones, but also grow. And with that being said, Micki, we want to get to know you just a little bit. So would you mind sharing a memorable moment of a time when you were in the military, that you were pushed outside your comfort zone? Maybe it was when you joined? Maybe it was when you got promoted? I mean, you spent 20, you spent a 20 year career in the military. Would you mind sharing with the group, a time when you were pushed outside your comfort zone? And what was the outcome of that?

Oh, absolutely. So very, like I said, I'm not, you know, I am not a person that likes to be in the limelight, you know, as much of a bubbly personality, people think I have. I am very good working in the background for many of the causes and things I do. So, and my work ethic has definitely been one of those things that I always prided myself on. As I grew up in the military. I always told my sailors, I was like "Work in a manner where, when you're asking for things, nobody has the right to say no, because you're forcing their hand to say yes." You know, because they're like "You've done this many things, it's like if you want one thing, how can I say no to that?" Right. And I definitely attribute that to my dad. He always said that "Work in a manner, where if you're gone for half a day, your presence is missed." It might not be the right way to be missed. But you know, I think it's my joking way that people miss sometimes. But anyway, "sailor of the year," it was one of those comfort zones that I was definitely pushed upon. My leadership, right, I had this one.... She's a Master Chief right now. She's actually a CMC, Command Master Chief, Shelly Zakimi, who was definitely always pushing me out of my comfort zone. She saw the potential and she would, it was, it just wasn't me, it was all of us that worked for her. She would see your potential, and she would put you in a position that you could not say no to. Right. So she put me, I was on leave one time. And I came back, and I found that I was the treasurer for MWR, that I did not apply for. She nominated me and I apparently won. And I was like, "How did this happen?" She's like, "Oh, I, I put you in for it, you won it." I was like, "Oh okay." And she was the one that put me in for the sailor of the year. That was my first time in like, five years, me being in the military, that somebody had seen my work ethic, took a, you know, a chance on me and put it in there. And I was so nervous. It was one of the most nerve wracking things that I had done, because it's definitely a one way forward. Right. Where people are asking you questions, you know, like you said, as the interview. You know, I had about six people that were asking me questions, but this was not a two-way conversation. This was a one-way conversation down the line. And my best attribute is to make jokes about things. So you know, I definitely won it by making people laugh, I believe. But that was definitely outside my comfort zone. Coming in the military, I tell you what I've had, to be honest, I've had one of the easiest careers that I can think of. And it was the minute I came in, you know, I had great, great leadership throughout my career, who saw my potential and pushed me to that brink where, I had to do something, because they were putting me in uncomfort, uncomfortable zones. And it was either you excel or you crumble. And I didn't know what crumbling was. So I always, you know, excelled at what they put me in. I always try to, because one of the other things we learn in Indian culture is "respect your elders, and respect your authority." And elders was definitely one of those things that always stuck with me. I never wanted to be the disappointment that these people would see. So you know. And so that was one of the things that was always a pushing factor. It's like I always want to be one better than I was last time.

Yeah, that's, that's awesome. And when you talk about going to "soldier of the year" board, that's a lot of preparation. And you're literally standing on a stage, in front of people that are judging you, and critiquing you, what you've done what you're doing now and who you are. So, that is a huge monumental moment when it comes to you know, being in the limelight and speaking in front of people. Now Micki, when you retired out of the Navy, what rank did you retire as?

I retired as a E-8.

Okay, and you spent the majority of your career in what type of job?

Oh, my goodness. So when I said I had an easy career, I also had a very different career path than many people. I can tell you that I came in the military as a, what we call a Deck Seaman. I always make it equivalent to a grunt that comes in the Marine Corps, because I worked side by side with them, when I first came in. Then I became a personnel man, which is basically an admin person in the Navy. And finally, after four years and four tries of applying to be a tech IT, which is information systems technician in the Navy, I finally got my package accepted. And I was finally accepted into the community. So I retired as IT. Majority of my years were spent as an IT. But all those other ones that I had been through, definitely paved the road for the person that I would become in the end.

Right. And that makes a lot of sense, because right now you're currently employed with who?

Microsoft.

Yes. Makes a lot of sense right there, doesn't it. It all kind of lined right up. So when you retired out of the Navy, what was your career transition like when you retired? Were you as prepared as you want it to be? Or do you think that you could have been better prepared?

So the retirement process started the day one of bootcamp. I had told myself I was going to do 20, right. Until I came to two years out of me pushing the button to get out, I thought I was ready. I thought I had everything I needed to in order, you know, education wise and things like that. I had a plan. When I pushed the button, everything that I thought I had planned, went out the window. It was the past two years before I left the military, which was last year in August, was very hectic, stressful, the most very anxious time of my career. Coming in the military, easy peasy. Because military spends 12 to 16 weeks to bring you into the military, to get you acclimated right to how you understand the culture. But when they tell you to go home, you're on your own. You have no idea what it's like to be outside. I spent my whole adult lifetime in the military, 20 years. And at age 38, I'm trying to get out, trying to figure out what I want to do, who I'm going to deal with, you know, when I get out. My family was definitely walking on eggshells. I was losing hair. As you can see, I have a lot of gray hairs. I think it's from the, you know, transitioning itself.

No you don't.

But, you know, things like that. I thought I was ready. I was not prepared. I was definitely ready, but not prepared. I was so lucky that I found Jai, in the beginning of the process, right. As soon as I had graduated from college, I was looking at certifications. I was looking at what I wanted to do with the ed. I knew I wanted to work with people, but I didn't know in what capacity. Like if I wanted to be HR or if I wanted to do something different. Right. I was so thankful I found ACT NOW Education via Jai. We had a one on one conversation, it was about 30 minute conversation. After the conversation, he sent me a five-page PDF of lists that of things, a list that I should go through. Definitely called him like a month or two after. I didn't finish all five pages, but I was very close to it. Which is another reason why he brought me on the team, because he was very surprised that I actually took time to go through the list itself. And you know, tick mark all of the things, because he said nobody had actually done that. And nobody had actually followed up with him with it. So he was like, "Yeah, I definitely needed you." So it was very stressful. And I, like I said, two days ago, I went to the Capitol Hill and one of my analogies, I use TAPS, and transitioning process is like drinking out of a firehose. You don't fill up a bucket with a firehose. You need to have droplets of information, to fill it up. And I feel like it was one of those things that I am definitely an advocate for because I don't want people to go through what I went through. I don't want people to have a stressful time when it's supposed to be a happy time. Right. Because you're making a transition into something that's unknown. You're making a transition into something where you're going to be spending more time with your family. Right. It's that light at the end of the tunnel for many. It shouldn't be a light coming as a train, it should be a light of a "aha moment." You know, is what I think. And to have all these resources that we tap into as ACT NOW Education. I definitely felt like, it was a relief. It was a mindset change from "I am so stressed, I have so much going on. I don't know if I'm going to have a job." I am a single mother of this 11-year old son, you know. I didn't know I was going to have a job after I got out. I didn't know if I was going to be okay. I didn't know if I was gonna go broke. You know, you hear about veterans on the streets. That's not, that wasn't my goal. My goal was to excel and be something different and better than where I was last year, as I've said. And so it was stressful.

Yeah. You know, it's fascinating to hear more about you, Micki. You're right about the frustrations of career transition. You think that you quite, you understand that, when you get out that you're going to know how to speak the language of a civilian position. And in reality, when you sit across from that recruiter, it doesn't hit you until you're sitting in that seat and you're trying to explain what the heck a E-8 does in your specific field. And you're using military language and you're using military certifications and the recruiter is looking at you like "What the heck are you talking about?" And that's something that I also experienced as well. I thought I was ready. I thought...I literally told everyone "Get out of my way. I got this. I got my resume. I know how to write. I'm you know I'm smart. I have done this and that." Did not ask for any other help elsewhere. But it's absolutely fascinating to hear your passion overall. And Micki, think about it. You know, we're building a community at ACT NOW Education. And right now we're over 30,000 strong. You're literally helping out 30,000 members of the military community. We're talking about veterans, service members, military spouses, helping them make better decisions for tomorrow. And I always like to tie that to and it's something we don't talk about all that much. But that landing spot after the military is really important. And people talk about, you know, how can I help, you know, the, the suicide rates of, of our military, veterans, our military community? You know, I really feel like what we're doing really helps. Because having that landing spot, that career transition, where your family can live where you want to live, get the salary that you want to get, have the role that you want to have, helps with that overall process of going from the military, to the civilian life. And so I highly respect the founding members of ACT NOW Education like yourself, and I really appreciate you bringing me into the fold of this as well. And things happen for a reason, Micki, and there's a reason why Jai and I were in that clubhouse room together. And I'm very fortunate to be part of ACT NOW. When, when Jai approached me about it, I was honestly a little bit skeptical. I was a little bit about, because in the military, we're used to the used car salesman that's sitting right off of base, right, trying to sell that lemon.

Lemon. Yep.

Yeah, so I was like a little skeptical about it. And the more he talked about it, and the more I heard passionate in his own voice, about, he cared about the community. And then that was further advanced when I actually had my interview with with the entire ACT NOW education team. You know, there's nothing, there's no strings attached to ACT NOW Education. We're legitimately folks that care about the community. No strings attached to that. And I guess my my next question for you, Micki would be, what has been the overall impact? We know, we know that ACT NOW education currently has around 30,000 members part of our community, but what other impacts has ACT NOW Education been a part of over the years?

So we hear this a lot. And you know, I would say Tyrone is definitely one of those people that have a huge impact on the community, along with Jai himself. And I'll say honestly, having you within the team is definitely been one of those other channels, where we have been able to have impact if we weren't able to reach those. I think ACT NOW Education impact, like you already mentioned, like somebody had actually told us is like, by educating and providing people with resources, we're also helping them, you know, with suicide prevention. We had never thought about it, because people sometimes get stuck in a rut. Right. So it's very hard for them to understand what could be, or what if, you know. And when we bring all these resources to the fingertips, you know, it's like, "Hey, this is a plethora of things available to you, for you, for free. And all you have to do is apply for some of those things, or click a button for some of the other things." Right and move forward. There are so many. There are about 40,000 different companies out there, whose sole purpose is to help military family transition and better their life. Right. So the thing is, we don't tap into those resources very often. So I appreciate that ACT NOW Education brings all those into one places, right. So we help provide suicide prevention, with with education and things. We bring things into one place, you know, at fingertips, where people can just click a button. It's like, oh, there is a resource for that. Right. Like I see it every day. Somebody's like, "Hey, is there a resource for PMP?" Yes. And they now we're getting our, our members within the group there are actually being proactive and helping other members. I saw the other day somebody had actually, somebody asked about the PMP. And one of the members were like, "Well, did you go look at the guide? Here are the screenshots." And I so much wanted to be like, I appreciate you. But you know, I didn't want to come out as condescending. But I appreciated that that they were actually being part of the community where people want to help each other. So that community aspect that people might not have on the other side...when you leave the military, one thing we leave behind is that community feel. So having that community you know as ACT NOW is definitely hyping people up. You know, I always told my friend, I was like, "If I'm at this level and you're here, I'm going to bring you up here, because we have to go on vacations together. And if you can't afford my vacations, you can't come, you know. We can't be friends, you know, because I never want to one up you I want to one up together." You know, it's like, we have to be at the same level. And so I love the fact that we're always pushing each other, to be better, you know, to do better, not only for ourselves, but the community itself. So those are some of the things that I think it benefits from being part of ACT NOW. Being around ACT NOW. Because you're acting around it, you know, it's not just somebody sitting behind and watching somebody else do it. It's you in the action.

Yeah. And I love, I love the overall quality control that we have. I mean, every, you talked about 40,000 businesses out there, partners, that that we involve ourselves with. Those are not just people that we find on the internet, those are people that we sit down, and we have a Zoom conversation with face to face. And we decide as a team, as a board, do we want to continue doing work with this specific organization? Because we're very protective about this community. We're building, we're building a culture of what you're talking about, of a culture of helping each other level up. And it's a beautiful thing, when you see the community members themselves, reaching out to help one another out. And I just had a conversation with Malcolm Smith who utilized, he's now an executive working for Citi. And he utilized in NPower, which is one of our many partners. And so I sat down and had a conversation with him and talked about his experiences overall, because I think folks like to hear true stories about people who used these, these nonprofits, these partners that are through ACT NOW Education, and leveled themselves up. Had a great landing spot and are doing really well. Going back to what you talked about with the, the ties to the suicide rates and suicide prevention, you know, I think that we don't talk about it enough about how important it is for us to help each other out. And to have that sense of community belonging. And that's what we have at ACT NOW Education. And, you know, I, I really appreciate you know, Jai, you, like I said, all the founding members for starting this whole thing, because it's a it's an actually very beautiful, beautiful community. That's, that's being created over here ACT NOW Education. And for folks out there that may not be familiar with acne education and what we're about, Micki, what are the top three things that people need to know about ACT NOW Education?

So number one is are there 40,000 different companies, right, built to help military, active duty transitioning, military spouses, and you know, dependents. It's very overwhelming. They all have different purpose and different agendas on how they want to help. So what we do is we are a reliable resource that bring all of those resources in one place. I do a lot of research, right. Jai, he is, he can pop things out from his brain, just like that. But I do a lot of research on what's available out there for us for free. You know, people ask me, it's like, "Hey, how do I get my LinkedIn?" And I was able to give one person about five different things to you know, prepare for their LinkedIn. So we bring all the resources in one thing, one place, that handle, you know, at the fingertips, that's one of those things we do. Where other things we do is we build a community, a community where everybody is always helping each other. Everybody wants to make sure that somebody else is, you know, bettering themselves. That's one of those things we're doing. And the other thing, I think, is like definitely a reliable partnership with other entities, where we are able to expand our reach. So we have, you know, definitely partner with ACP in the past, where we were able to bring mentors for military spouse. We have launched a campaign for that, you know, which was helping other military spouse better themselves. They wanted to get out of their careers, or they wanted to just have a mentor that can help them as they're going, because a lot of them think they're just a military spouse. That's not a thing. You are a military spouse that has sacrificed many of those things to make sure that your service member and your family is you know, not worrying about what's behind. Right. And mid deployment. You don't have to worry about those things. That's what a military spouse does. They definitely sacrifice so many of those things. And we wanted to make sure that they had the platform to understand that they can do better if they wanted to, you know, and we have those resources for them. And definitely bringing all those in one place. We had also partnered with Coursera, where we're bringing them in our courses, to make sure that they...we have one person, I think he has done 244 different Coursera courses and achieve certifications. Certifications from Google, IBM, certifications, you know, for all...like, you name it, they are doing these courses to get certifications. So you can be more more advertise-able, you know, to those companies that you're looking at to get a job. I definitely got my Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, you know. Veteran Transition Support was one of those entities that I had gone to to get mine. I wouldn't have found out about it unless I was with ACT NOW. So I have, you know, a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, then I was able to like when I was coming up with the VA process, I went to, again, to see what was available out there. And we were advertising for that too. Say there's a disability class that again, BTS puts out every month for you to understand what a VA disability process for somebody that's transitioning, or somebody that's already gotten out would look like. Right. And my mom sat with me, and apparently, you know, she's an expert at it. She can tell you about disability. But you know, it's just some of those things that I think that we bring, like, reliable resources for everybody to partake in.

Right, right. And, you know, like you mentioned, this all covers military spouses, servicemembers, veterans, you're all part of the military community. And when you're talking about the importance of certifications, you know, I just got my certification...I don't know if you guys can see this or not, probably not. But

Oh, I see! From DOL Coach!

Yeah, I got my certification from DOL Coach in project management. So right now, I'm a Certified Project Master. And what, the importance of certifications is, so I have my MBA in project management. But what this does is, this certifies that I have a certain level of knowledge and experience within that field. So I have the degree right, which is okay, I got the education. But now I've applied my real life experiences and my overall knowledge to a certain level. So if I'm sitting across the table, from a recruiter, I can speak, and here "I am a certified project manager. And here's why. I've done X, Y, and Z." And they already automatically know that this guy is at a certain level, or this gal is at a certain level. It just, in my past experiences interviewing with folks, it's not enough just to have the college, college degree anymore. You got to really have the certifications to describe and explain where you're at within that degree. What level have you actually done, but have you actually had on the job experience with. So that right there underlines the importance of certifications. And Micki, I just want to ask you, if anyone out there is interested in contacting you to follow up with any questions that they have, something that you mentioned during this podcast, what's the best way they can contact you?

So the best way would be either through ACT NOW Education, we have the Facebook. I definitely am very active on my LinkedIn also. So LinkedIn is one of the best places because I also feel like, because if you want to contact me in a professional manner, LinkedIn is a place for you to find me, right. So I keep my friends on Facebook, and I keep my professionals on LinkedIn. And I also think if you just have a LinkedIn account, because you got it, because you needed a Coursera account, please, please, please go ahead and start acting on your LinkedIn account. And start, you know, beefing it up is what I would say. Start adding it. I have recruiters contact me all the time, because they see my experience on LinkedIn. And it's one of those places where you know, you should definitely utilize that, that we have free LinkedIn for a year premium. You can always get it extended if you need to. Just putting it out there. But LinkedIn is the best way to find me. I'm very active on there. And you can also message us on ACT NOW Education on the Facebook pages, because I also check those and also our military ones or you know military ACT NOW page.

Awesome. Awesome. And I was gonna ask you is follow up question to that. Is there any other tips or pieces of advice you'd like to give our community listeners out there? And it sounds like you already gave one which is to beef up your LinkedIn but do you have any others?

I got plenty. I'd say is like you know, brand yourself, find your brand, know what you want to do. And make sure that you voice that so the people around you and people that are looking for you, know exactly what you stand for. Right. There should be no wishy washy things. It's like people know that I am the reason like, you know, within my workplace or outside my workplace. If you need questions, hey, people come and ask me all the time, say, "Hey, do you know how I can get X, Y and Z?" I don't, but I know where to find it. So that's one of those things. Yes, definitely brand yourself, beef up your LinkedIn, you know, if that's what you're looking for. And educate yourself. Educate yourself as much as you can. There's so much free stuff out there. There's nothing that says you shouldn't, you know. It's always a learning path for everybody.

Right, right. And, you know, I can't tell you how many people I know who are currently in the military now or currently in their specific industry, if they're a veteran working somewhere, and they were fortunate enough to get a job somewhere. Yeah I ask them often, "Hey, do you have a LinkedIn?" "No, I don't have one, I don't need one, I have a job." You know, you need to make sure that you have a LinkedIn that way you're connecting with people. Because you could be missing opportunities to have those conversations of getting a better job, a more ideal salary, a more ideal location, and you're completely missing out because you're not present online.

I also think that LinkedIn is just not for yourself, because I have connected so many people, right. People have come and be like, "Hey, do you have any, you know, mentors in X Y & Z industry?" And because I'm connected with so many different people, I'm not using it for my personal gain. I'm using it more to connect other people. Like one of my really good friends works at Google. A lot of people were like, "Hey, I'm trying to get, you know, my resume looked at or something." I'm like, "Hey, I can connect you with somebody if you want." I'm always available to help you and help them you know, so it's not just has to be about you advertising yourself. If you're good in your job currently, then be that way. Like you said, there could be something better out there for you that you have no idea about, because you didn't look. You just stayed in the little bubble and thought this was the best you can. But what if, what if something, right. So and then if you start making more friends, now you have other people that you can help, also. Your reach can get bigger. You could be the advocate for the others that need help.

Right. Yeah.

Just...yeah, that's what I think.

I've totally found that places like LinkedIn is a great place for like-minded folks to connect with each other. So if you are a project master, or a certified project master, and you're in the project management, and you're fanatic about it, just like on your LinkedIn. You're an "agile fanatic," self-described, right. You can connect with other folks that have your same mindset. And at the end of the day, it's all about leveling up, right. And I really think that ACT NOW Education, we really create that community and that culture, which is why I love being part of the organization itself. And for anyone out there who might have missed what Micki said earlier as far as how to contact or how to connect with her, scroll down to the bottom, you'll see in the show notes, as I always do, I put all those links down at the bottom. So if you're watching us on YouTube, go to the description, you'll see it down there. If your watch, if you're listening to this on a podcast, same thing, go to the show notes, you'll see all the all the links to contact Micki, follow up with her on anything. She is definitely a huge pillar, being the Vice President of the glorious ACT NOW Education. And, Micki, I just want to thank you for being on The Morning Formation Podcast today. I appreciate your time.

Well you manhandled me into this, so. I'm just kidding. Thank you. This was awesome. I, I should have done this earlier. I feel like and I'm sorry.

No. We're here to help each other out of comfort zones, right.

Absolutely, you did push me out. And I do appreciate you for that.

So at the end of the day, that's what's all about is helping each other within our military, within our military community level up. And for the audience members out there. I want to thank you for tuning in. And as always, I want you to stay tuned, stay focused, and stay motivated. Warriors fall out