Body of Work: What's Your Legacy? (+Giveaways)

Written by Davis Nguyen If you could choose the words on your epitaph, what would you want it to say?

Pam Slim’s Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together explores this question by asking, “What is the legacy you want to leave behind?”

Pam defines a body of work as “everything you create, contribute, affect, and impact. For individuals, it is the personal legacy you leave at the end of your life.”

Why is it important to have a Body of Work?

One of the central premises of Pam’s book is that we live in a time where change and shifts in our professional lives happen frequently and often with little notice. This is normal as the economy is unstable and the future unpredictable. We have to be ready for this change when and where it happens, and the way to do that is by creating a larger narrative about the story of our work and strengths.

The role you have now is not the only one you will have in your lifetime. There is no longer a linear path to your career.

It’s likely that many of us won’t stay in the same industry, let alone the same role our entire lives. By identifying your “Body of Work”, you give yourself a whole new way to look at your career. You view your current role as a part of the legacy you will ultimately leave behind and seek opportunities to build on your legacy.

How do I Identify my Body of Work?

Over the course of the book, Pam shares sage advice on achieving our long-term goals, exercises to help identify what truly matters to each of us, and stories of people like John Legend, Brené Brown, and Martha Beck about how they developed their Body of Work.

Pam breaks down the book into the following chapters to help define the story you want to tell yourself and the story you want others to know.

• Define Your Roots (What you value and who do you want to serve?)
• Name Your Ingredients (What skills do you have/want to develop?)
• Choose Your Work Mode (What type of work do you want to do?)
• Create and Innovate (How do you test your ideas?)
• Surf the Fear (How do you overcome your fears?)
• Collaborate (How do you find people to support your dreams?)
• Your Definition of Success (What does success really mean to you?)
• Share Your Story (How do you spread your story?)

What can I expect from Body of Work?

Here are some of my favorite passages from the book:

On Creating Your Own Success, Chapter: Collaborate

“Martha Beck once told me: ‘Every time I go to a cocktail party, well-meaning authors or experts corner me with a copy of their book, asking in a hushed tone ‘would you mind giving my book to Oprah when you are in her office?’ What they should be asking is: ‘What were the most powerful steps you took to prepare yourself to be on Oprah?’”

On knowing your roots/values, Chapter: Defining Your Roots

“When you name your roots…you remind yourself why your struggle is worth it in the long run.”

On Moving Past Fear, Chapter: Surf the Fear

“While it is normal for people to get depressed or afraid about the unknown, the key is to keep moving forward by focusing on the future. If you focus on what you want in your life instead of what you don’t want, you’ll see your opportunities expand.”

Interview with Pam Slim

In my 25-minute interview with Pam Slim we discussed why, more than ever, 20somethings need to develop a body of work; how to define your roots; how to create your council of Jedi advisors; and how to communicate your dreams to your parents, who might not be immediately accepting of your major or career path.

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Giveaway Time!

We are thrilled to give away two signed-copies of Pam Slim’s Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together to two lucky Life After College readers.

For a chance to win, answer the following question and leave your email in the comments by Friday, June 6th. We will pick two winners with Random.org and email to let you know!

Comment to be Entered to Win:

What are your top 3 key ingredients that you want to have present in your job or career?

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About Davis

Davis (@IamDavisNguyen) graduated from Yale University in 2015. He currently lives in San Francisco and works at Bain & Company. When he’s not helping CEOs transform their companies, he is helping recent graduates figure out the type of life they want for themselves and helping them get there.

Smart People Should Build Things

Written by Davis Nguyen

You’re 26 years old with $100,000 in student loans. Your recent start-up has just collapsed. You have a law degree and your friends and family pressure you to be a lawyer, but what you really want to do is build things.

What do you do?

This was a real dilemma facing Andrew Yang, who is the author of Smart People Should Build Things: How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement, Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and Create New Jobs in America, a few years ago.

I met Andrew a few month ago at a conference where he delivered our keynote. The conference had nothing to do with business or start-ups, but when Andrew asked “how many of you would want to start your own business or join a start-up?” 80% of the attendees raised their hands.

Andrew followed up by telling us that while the dream of building a company is one most of us have, when it comes time to choose, most of us will defer our dream for security and comfort. He understood that this was a normal reaction.

Bootstrapping Your Life

Andrew graduated from Brown University in 1996 and earned his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1999. After graduation he started working at private firm. Despite the job security and six-figure salary, Andrew couldn’t find much meaning and purpose in his work. Six months into his career as a lawyer, Andrew quit to pursue his passion of building things with no experience in business and $100,000 in student loans. Less than a year later, his first company, Stargiving.com, was a victim of the dot-com bubble in 2001 leaving him with no back-up plan.

Despite his parents jeering him, “Didn’t you used to be smart?”, his friends introducing him as a lawyer, and his growing pile of bills, Andrew decided to give entrepreneurship another chance.

Today, thirteen years later, Andrew has had a successful career as an entrepreneur and founded Venture for America, a non-profit helping recent college grads become entrepreneurs by pairing them with early-stage companies to gain experience. He was recently named Champion of Change by the White House and one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” for his work with Venture for America.

While most people in the audience were amazed by Andrew’s successes, I wanted to ask him about the story behind the success: the nights no one will talk about.

Two lessons I learned about being a successful entrepreneur from Andrew Yang

1.     Find Your Yoda (Mentor)

After Andrew’s first start-up failed, he started to work for Manu Capoor, whom he met while networking for Stargiving. Manu was a former doctor and investment banker who had started a healthcare software company, MMF Systems. Andrew had no prior experience in this industry, but working under Manu, Andrew had found his Yoda.

Andrew notes in the book that it was from Manu where he learned the most important lesson about getting things done in business. It comes down to “people, processes, and technology.” Andrew left MMF after three years to work under his friend Zeke Vanderhoek at Manhattan GMAT where he learned to shape company culture, scale a business, and provide unparalleled customer service. Andrew eventually became the CEO in 2006 and ultimately grew the company to employ over one hundred people and had it acquired by The Washington Post Company/Kaplan three years later.

2.     Learn to live within your means

Andrew gave up a six-figure lawyering job to work at start-ups that were paying him just enough to cover food, housing, and other essential needs. Through this process, Andrew learned that what he previously thought he “needed” were really just “wants.”

Besides paying for living costs and his student loans, Andrew never went broke or homeless. As one of my favorite quote about entrepreneurship goes, “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”

Audio Interview with Andrew Yang

I had a chance to do a 18-minute audio interview Andrew, where I went into more depth about Andrew's decision to quit his six-figure job, managing a start-up with student loans, and how you can take the first steps towards being an entrepreneur today if you wanted. You can listen it below.

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You can buy your own copy of Smart People Should Build Things here.

We’d love to hear from you in the comments below:

What is the biggest obstacles facing your entrepreneurial endeavors? 

What is one first small step you can take?

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About Davis

Davis (@IamDavisNguyen) graduated from Yale University in 2015. He currently lives in San Francisco and works at Bain & Company. When he’s not helping CEOs transform their companies, he is helping recent graduates figure out the type of life they want for themselves and helping them get there.

How to Make Friends in a New City (Outside of Bars and Clubs)

Written by Davis Nguyen

Moving to a new city is tough. Each time I move, a dozen questions are in my head: Did I pack everything? What if I don’t like my neighbors? How will I make friends?

As a kid, my family relocated seven times, but adjusting was easy. I could always count on meeting new people at school. As I grew older, moving became harder. I lost my established network of friends and I hated having to start over.

In college, I continued to move around as I studied abroad and picked up internships and odd jobs. The more I moved, the more I had to uproot myself, but each time I found it easier to meet new people and make new friends no matter if I was in a big city like Los Angeles, California or a small town like Morrow, Georgia.

After college, everyone moves in one way or another; even those moving back home are relocating to a new social environment. We have a plan for our stuff, but we should also have a plan for ourselves.

With the six strategies I share, there is something for everyone no matter if you prefer to party or want to spend the evening discussing your favorite books. With these strategies, you will be able to meet new people, come to call some of them friends, and stop worrying about the fate of your social life when you move.

How to Meet People

1. Re-connect with friends and acquaintances

Each time I move I go through my existing list of friends to see if I know anyone who is also in the area. It gives me an excuse to reconnect with friends even if we hadn’t spoken since first semester of college. Reconnecting with friends and acquaintances will help you meet their friends and have someone to go to events with if you’re both new to town.

2. Get to know your neighbors/co-workers

You’ll be spending a lot of time either at home or at work. Reaching out to your neighbors and co-workers who know the area better and telling them your interests will help them help you meet other people you might be interested in knowing.

3. Contact alumni

I like to check if any alumni from my college live in the area. Like your neighbors and co-workers, alumni have been in the area longer and can help you meet people and be a friend and resource in themselves.

4. Join an established activity

In college it was easy to meet people through classes and extracurricular activities. You can still meet people after college by joining classes and continuing or starting a hobby.

For example, I enjoy public speaking and the largest organization for public speaking is Toastmasters which has chapters all around the world. When I am in a new city, I reach out to the local club to drop in on a meeting. The same process can be taken for almost any hobby, sport, goals, or religious group.

5. Find your favorite local places and become a regular

Last summer I joined a local gym. After the first week, I could tell who the regulars were. I started striking up conversations with them and even hired one as a personal trainer.

This same concept works for any local café or hangout spot. After you go a few times, you’ll be able to identify the people who go regularly and they’ll be able to identify you as a regular as well.

When I find other regulars, I like to introduce myself. People are friendly than you think. All it take to introduce yourself is to walk up to them and say, “Hi, my name is Davis. I am new to town, but love this café and I noticed you come here a lot too so I wanted to introduce myself.”

At best, you just introduced yourself to your future husband/wife. At worst, you met someone you’ll never talk to again.

6. Use the internet to your advantage

The internet is such a powerful tool especially for connecting with people.

My friend Scott (creator of Live Your Legend) made it his mission to bring together people who want to pursuit a career they love and live in the same area, but not know each other. In 2014, he created the Live Your Legend local meet-up event: monthly meet-ups hosted by locals for locals all over the world. While the location is different, the mission is the same: bringing together people who want to do work they are passionate about.

The cool thing is Scott isn’t the only person who is putting together events like these. There are people all over the world putting together small local groups for everything from wine tasting to playing Dungeons and Dragons.  You can find these awesome groups on sites like Meetup and even Craigslist. If you don’t see a group you like, you can also create your own.

To get you started meeting your future friends, you might also check out Jenny's Meet Market brainstorming template. With time and effort, no matter where you are moving to, you have the ability to shape the social life you want.

I’ll be in Manhattan this summer if anyone is up for a Life After College meet up. ;)

We’d love to hear from you in the comments:

What are your favorite ways to meet people in a new city?

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About Davis

Davis (@IamDavisNguyen) graduated from Yale University in 2015. He currently lives in San Francisco and works at Bain & Company. When he’s not helping CEOs transform their companies, he is helping recent graduates figure out the type of life they want for themselves and helping them get there.

Who is your hero and when are you going to meet them?

Written by Davis Nguyen

“If you could have dinner with any living person who would it be?”

I enjoy asking this question, because the answer tells me a lot about the person I’m asking: qualities they admire, their interests, and the type of person they might want to be.

When the question is asked of me, I usually reply with the author of the book I am reading at the time. No matter the book I was reading, my asker would always leave with an answer and I was left with another question:

“Why aren’t I meeting these people I admire so much?”

Most of the time the excuse I used to justify my inaction was,

“Why would someone like X want to talk to me?”

The Journey (and failures) begins

In January 2013, I sat in my dorm room and brainstormed a list of people I admired, from close friends to people who didn’t even know I existed. I called my list the “Dream 500.”

I decided that 2013 was going to be the year I faced one of my biggest fears: reaching out to people I thought were “too accomplished”, “too famous”, or “too good” for me. I turned my “500 dreams” into goals.

That was thirteen months ago.

The results?

• Dead-ends connections: 215
• Unread/Un-replied emails: 104
• Declined invitations: 23
• Accepted Skype conversations: 21
• Accepted invitations to speak at Yale: 10
• Internship offers: 4
• Five A.M. in person meetups: 3
• All-expense paid trips to meet my role model: 2
• Offer to join Life After College team: 1
• Start-ups founded: 1
• Lessons learned on relationship-building: enough for a lifetime

I list my results not to brag (or mention how often I fail at stuff), but to demonstrate that meeting your heroes is possible. As a first-generation college student who grew up in a poor community in Georgia, I had no connections and no one taught me how to “network.” All I had was my grit and willingness learn by failing.

What I found was that it is not about where you started, what you have (or don’t have), or your age. What does matter is your approach and mindset.

Through my successes and many…MANY failures, I learned a lot about forming and maintaining relationships.

Five lessons really stood out to me, which I applied when I first came into contact with Jenny Blake.

How to Approach YOUR Dream 500

1. “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care”

Why do you want to reach out to this person? If your answer is so they could help you with X or Y, then you’re headed for failure. Everyone values their own time.

Think of all the emails, letters, and request for help Jenny must get. If she spent her time replying to all the request she wouldn’t have the time to do what makes her Jenny Blake.

Instead of asking what the other person can do for you, ask what you can do for the other person.

 When Marisol and I reached out to Jenny in the summer, we wanted to see how we could most help Jenny. At the time, Jenny was developing and refining a talk she called, “Career in the Age of the App.” Being college juniors we knew a lot of students would love to hear advice from someone like Jenny. The students would gain valuable advice, Jenny would get to give her workshop as a Master’s Tea at Yale, and we could get to meet Jenny. We emailed her and described our proposal, and let her know that she would join the likes of Morgan Freeman, Bill Clinton, and others who have been a part of a Master’s Tea at Yale.

While the Yale name did help, what was even more useful was that we were long-time readers of Life After College. We followed Jenny and knew what was important to her and the LAC community.  I never contact anyone without doing my research. You wouldn’t go into a job interview without researching about the company and their needs, why would you do it for people?

2. Make it easy for them to connect with you

Continuing from Lesson 1, Make Life Easy for the person you want to reach out to. Respect their time. Things such as keeping your email short and to the point or going out of your way to be helpful makes the person infinitely more likely to want to connect with you.

Marisol and I made it as easy as possible for Jenny to want to speak at Yale. We applied for funds for her trip, found a place for her to stay, organized the workshop space, marketed the event to students, and arranged a private dinner afterwards. All Jenny had to do was show up and be herself.

3. Follow-up, follow-up, and continue to follow-up

Why make a connection if you aren’t going to keep it?

After Jenny left, Marisol and I both followed up to personally thank Jenny and we continued to keep in contact with her. In December, Jenny mentioned needing help at LAC. A few phone calls later and here Marisol and I are here writing for the community we grew up being a part of.

4. Rejection teaches and Persistence pays

Yeah, I hate rejection too, but I find that as much I hate it, rejection has taught me at least as much as success has. Each email that went unreplied or unopened, I forced myself to change how I approached contacting my role models. With time my rejection rate went down and my success rate up.

At Yale there are 12 residential colleges (our dorms) each with their own master. Part of my list of role models were the 12 Masters at Yale. A year ago, I only knew my own college master, but not any of the other 11. I reached out to each and every one of them asking to meet. One of them was Master K of Silliman College. It took me 5 emails and 3 rescheduling before Master K and I had our first meeting. We hit it off. A few months later, when Marisol and I were looking for funding and a place for Jenny to stay, it was Master K who first popped in our minds. She quickly said yes and the rest was history.

5. Be Genuine – be you

I was going to put this first, but according to research we remember best the last item on a list. During the entire time I’ve known Jenny and the other amazing role models I’ve met this year (Susan Cain, Keith Ferrazzi, Pam Slim, etc.), I have always been myself and shown genuine interest in what is going on in their lives and helping them succeed.

If you don’t have genuine interest in the person with whom you are connecting with, then please stop. You are wasting your time, and theirs.

At the root of any successful relationship (business, family, romantic) is a sincere care for the other person’s well-being, success, and happiness.

We’d love to hear from you in the comments:

If you could meet anyone in the world who would it be? What is one step you could take towards making that happen?

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About Davis Nguyen

Davis (@IamDavisNguyen) graduated from Yale University in 2015. He currently lives in San Francisco and works at Bain & Company. When he’s not helping CEOs transform their companies, he is helping recent graduates figure out the type of life they want for themselves and helping them get there.