Boundless #2 | Happy Holidays from Paul & Vivo Strategies

Thank you for your support in my first year as a freelancer!

This year has been quite the journey and I could not have done it without your support.  I launched my own consulting practice, moved back to Boston, wrote a longform white paper making sense of the crisis in modern organizations, got to help build a website and other resources for an inspiring organization who wants to create good jobs for low-wage workers and even launched a podcast, which I'll be focusing on in 2018.

Taking the leap to freelancing has been better than I imagined, but also more challenging than I imagined.  It has forced me to continuously re-evaluate where I want to focus my time, assess how I define success and think about how I want to build connections with other freelancers and companies.  I have certainly made some mistakes, but am energized by the pace of learning and continuous reinvention that freelancing demands.

Thinking about helping people thrive and giving back

As I launched my practice early this year, I knew that a big focus for me was thinking about how to enable people to thrive.  This comes alive through the consulting work I try to focus on, my writing, my work with the undergraduate consulting group at UConn, the many college students I try to talk to at least weekly, my coaching work and also volunteer work I do with America Needs You.

For the past year and a half, I have been a full-time volunteer with America Needs You in New York and have attended over 20 workshops on Saturdays, where I spend the day with 100 other mentors and 100 "fellows", who are some of the most inspiring future leaders I have met.  The 100 fellows are first generation students in the city of New York university system and I am lucky enough to get a chance to work with many of them.  I was paired with a student, Ivan, who has been a real inspiration for me. He is a first generation student who grew up in Manhattan and is one of the most grounded, thoughtful and driven 20 year-olds, if not all people, I have met.  What I appreciate about him is that he has big dreams and is willing to put in the work to make them happen.  I've talked to him many times on Friday nights or during finals when he could easily be out with friends, but is reading or preparing for exams.  His work has paid off with him landing one of the toughest jobs to get in the world, an investment banking internship in New York.

Back to the point - when I launched my practice, I decided that I would donate a percentage of my earnings to this organization.  I am also proud to support it because the organizations that runs it is one of the most well-run organizations I have come across.  Not only do they have a program that focuses on enabling first-generation students to thrive, they also enable their employees to thrive.

So I am proud to be donating a percentage of my earnings to America Needs You, something I plan to do again in 2018.  If you are curious about the organization, check them out here!

Happy Holidays and here's to a 2018 filled with meaningful work, thinking past our limits and servant leadership of others!