Jamie Leigh Bailey

I would say everyone that has surrounded me and supported me throughout my career. I think I owe a lot to my mom and my dad, more than anything, honestly. Obviously, as years have gone by, my husband too. But my mom, my dad, and my brother really surrounded me and supported me and gave me that opportunity to just kind of open my eyes to different things. Like right now, I'm starting to write a book. I'd like to say they are the core of why I am the way I am, who I am, places I've gone, the pushes I needed. Yeah, just, they're always there.

This one's from my mom - there's always gonna be something. There's always gonna be something, and you just have to keep going. And God, is she right. It's so true. Day-to-day, there's always something, and you just can't let it fester, and you can't let it stress you out, because you're not the only one in the world with that same problem, with those same issues. And you just gotta keep moving forward, because I can't tell you how many times I've called her, and she's like, do you know how many people right now are sitting in their car saying the exact same thing you're telling me? You're not alone in this world. You are not alone.

I'm a very due diligence person. I like to get my ducks in a row before walking into anything. I think that doing research on every sort of position there is in the medical field is very important, because if you're not wrapping your brain around being in an OR all day long, then there's so many different other avenues you can go. There's so many different avenues - you can be a pharmaceutical rep, you can be an endoscopic rep. I would say your research would be the biggest thing. Do your due diligence, talk to other people. I think peer-to-peer is amazing. I have leaned on all my connections through LinkedIn, I can't tell you how much, and I've called and just reached out and had conversations with individuals, not necessarily for a job position, just asking how do you feel about your job? What is it that you do? What does your day look like? Is that something that I could put into my life? I would make the right calls, look at your life, look at what's most important to you, and you really can work around that to find that position that you would want in this space.

The biggest challenge in my industry right now is 100% what we have been going through with selling from what had happened with CMS. When they took away reimbursement, the doctors are very hesitant right now to talk about anything that's related to a skin substitute. Well, I can say we're not a skin substitute, but they're so nervous, even though they're getting reimbursed still from us. They are just very, very hesitant. So you have to have the conversation so lightly and in the most correct way with these PAs, NPs, MDs, whoever it may be that you can get in front of, because of the fact that they've gotten hit so bad that private practices are in so much debt right now because of all this. And they don't just go from the private practice, they go from the private practice to the hospital setting, so they're bringing that burden with them. We, unfortunately, as reps, are having to deal with overcoming that challenge - saying okay, we understand where you're coming from, but we also need you to understand we're not a part of that world. Even though in your mind what I'm putting on your patient looks like a skin substitute, we're not. You can breathe. You're still gonna get reimbursed, and you're gonna get reimbursed at a really good rate. Healthcare is changing all the time. Everyone's going through it. It doesn't matter what type of industry or what you're selling. But for me as a rep in this particular space I'm in, that's my biggest avenue right now that we're trying to barrier down.

Respect and integrity - I think those are my biggest two that I lean on for core values. I think those are just ones that people will say a lot, but I don't think they follow through with it. I think you have to kind of step outside your comfort zone almost and have that kind of talk with yourself, have that self-respect, have that discipline. And that trust. So if you have that trust and discipline and respect, you have that identity and value of yourself. And if you have that, it feeds off into who you're surrounding yourself by and who's surrounding you. And passion. I'm a very passionate person. I think that's a big valuable value in my life.