By Lyndsey Ducharme: MFF Fellow & Mom of Twins
“Community service helps better the city you live and work in, as well as gives you an opportunity to create both personal and professional relationships. Relationships create options.”
That is what I learned during Morgan Franklin Fellowship’s (MFF) online learning event: “Earning Income in a Changing World” on July 16, 2020.
Panelists shared their stories of successes and lessons. We had great discussions, and participants were from all ages and backgrounds. I was able to attend as a fellow and ask questions of the panelist. I learned a lot, and I volunteered on the MFF side too. I was part of the planning meetings and introduced one of the speakers.
What I found the most interesting was how the panelists all spoke about community service, relationships and dedication. It makes so much sense and it’s all so simple. Community service helps better the city you live and work in as well as gives you an opportunity to create both personal and professional relationships. Relationships create options. One thing I heard from the panelist, Amy Chhom, a real estate broker and developer, was to treat every person and every request with respect and follow through. Every request is a big deal. Of course, you need to be dedicated to whatever job, career or project you are working on, but reaching out to experts and using my status as an MFF Fellow can open more doors. Again, it’s so simple but so easy to forget or follow through with. As an MFF Fellow who was able to see how the behind the scenes of the event worked, I was able to learn even more beyond what was discussed during the event.
As with many, I have never been part of the virtual working world. My main jobs were to reach out to other Fellows to invite them and remind them the event was coming up, as well as introducing one of our panelists. Talking to people doesn’t make me nervous, but the virtual world is different than in person. I was able to get my feet wet in the professional world, gain a bit of confidence, help the MFF team and create a few relationships along the way.The biggest takeaway I have from the conference is that many people, even the successful ones, aren’t as educated about money as they would like to be or as we assume they are. It’s never too late to learn. There are always people doing better than you, or at least appearing to, but it doesn’t matter because there are always ways to learn how to create a better and more sustainable life. If you can have patience and keep learning, you can reach your financial life goals.
