Building a community, together

A heartfelt thank you, some principles, and a minor request

Welcome to Flourish!

Thank you for joining this exceptional group of people - we’re nearly 300 people strong, comprised of some of the most impressive students, CEOs, attorneys, private equity, real estate, and hedge fund professionals (in addition to many other industries, and nearly 100 of you that I don’t even know…yet - let’s connect!).

I am so humbled that you decided to join! My promise to you is that I will work tirelessly to ensure that every post is as practical as possible, regardless of your age, background, and industry. In return, I hope you’ll pass this newsletter to any friends/groups that might find it useful.

Some principles:

• I will be posting on networking, career advice, and resumes (most likely in that order/volume).

• I have plenty to share on the aforementioned topics based on advising hundreds of people, but I want to make two things very clear:

  • We are a community and I am certain that you’ll learn from each other even more than you’ll ever learn from me. Similar to your reason for joining, I created this platform to learn and become better! Let’s work together to redefine “blog” to “community.” This doesn’t really exist, but we can create it for the first time, together.

  • Pause. This “community” thing is important - networking is about giving and not taking (huh?! see below for a sneak peek into next week’s topic). Think about how you can contribute to this community, as opposed to taking from it. This will, hopefully, be the first among many fundamentals that we’ll develop together through this platform.

A minor request:

• First, a reminder: WE are a community!

• I am spending a lot of time thinking about the next year of content and want to make sure it’s as relevant as possible for all of you. Since we’re a community, please leave a comment to tell us about one topic/question you’d really like to learn about and take the time to comment on another person’s post as well! Here are some ideas:

  • “I am extremely introverted and can’t get myself to speak to someone at an event. What do I do?!”

  • “I am a 19 year old college student - how can I possibly give to someone in a networking setting at this stage in my life?”

  • “I would love to see you cover [topic]!”

• While keeping in mind that this platform has some folks that have been let go due to COVID, please leave a comment on how you may be able to help or, alternatively, feel free to ask for help. Here are some ideas:

  • “My firm is hiring for [X] role in [City/Country] and I’d be happy to review any candidates!”

  • “I work in [Y] industry and would be happy to chat with [one] person who’s interested in learning about that space! Please leave your LinkedIn URLs below with a comment on why you should be that selected person.”

  • Although I am currently unemployed and looking for a job in the [Z] industry in [City/Country], I have prior experience with [A, B, C], and I am happy to help someone else in need! (remember - networking is about giving, even when you need to take)

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Next Week: “Isn’t networking just taking from others?! That feels wrong.” Please use the link below to share this blog with two friends to make sure they don’t miss the next post!