How to Make New Friends in Your Neighborhood
Do you live in a neighborhood or apartment building and wish you knew more of your neighbors?
My friend Sujan did something genius to fix this! He printed out friendly family flyers and put them in everyone's mailbox in his suburban neighborhood.
You can do this, too, to make new friends in your neighborhood. I'll show you exactly what he did so you can copy it.
The Family Flyer
Here's the flyer that Sujan printed, folded, and then placed in everyone's mailbox:
The front of the flyer shows a nice photo of him, his wife, and their kids. I added black boxes over their personal information for privacy here on LinkedIn.
The inside of the flyer has friendly info about their family and an invitation to visit.
Sujan said that it was his wife's idea to make these. They used a simple tri-fold brochure template she found online.
Why Do This?
They wanted to meet their neighbors in Austin, Texas. It helped them to get recognized when they went to walks and visited their neighborhood common areas.
As a result of this flyer, they have many new friends in their neighborhood. It made moving into a new home much easier.
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What to Write
Here's what Sujan wrote inside of his flyer. You can modify this for your own friends and family.
Short History About Our Family
Sujan, Amy, Maverick, Jaxson, and Kira have been in Austin for 6.5 years then they moved from REDACTED- approximately 10 miles west down 71.
Amy and Sujan have been married for 13 years - before having kids they spent a lot of time traveling, working, socializing, and moving around.
Sujan loves cards, stand-up paddle boarding and whiskey. He's always been an entrepreneur - currently he runs Ramp Ventures (acquires and operates multiple Saas, Software as a Service, companies).
Amy is very outgoing - she loves being outdoor, drinking red wine, talking about science and eating vegetarian food. She is the Director of Software Digital Strategy at Thermo Fisher Scientific, which is a global laboratory products company.
Come Over Any Time
Monday through Friday the kids are in daycare, most days Amy & Sujan are working from home. On the weekends we like to do outdoor family activities. We love people and building relationships with our neighbors. We would also love to help by lending a cup of sugar, meeting your pets/animals, having some coffee together and do neighborly things. We've dreamt of a home like this for a long time and are thankful to be here.
Conclusion
I love stuff like this. I think it's a great way to make new friends in your neighborhood! And in your local community.
What do you think about this?
What is your favorite part?
What would you do differently?
Let me know in the comments!
Creating Opportunities for Women Professionals, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders to Dream BIGGER, Achieve GREATER | Career & Empowerment Coach ?? | Community-Builder + Master Networker?? | Podcaster???| Family Advocate ??
1 年Hi Nick! I listened to you on Ozeal Debastos podcast. This flyer made me smile. I moved to my neighborhood 16 years ago and after a few flyers inviting to a front porch block party, we all became more than neighbors. Yes, we do call and text each other for an extra egg, cup of sugar and really do watch out for each other. Kids play on the street most evenings and we always know there is at least one of US watching the kids. Long story to say yes I truly believe in building community. We are sad that we will be moving soon but excited to get the party started in our next home. Ps: two other neighbors are moving too. One of them when asked by their realtor their must haves in their new home, she described our street. The realtor looked at her like it was something out of this world and something hard to find ??
Innovator, Investor and Partner
2 年Thank you Nick. Until pandemic I used to greet in person any new neighbour on my street. Now I know one more alternative. ??
Senior Director of Product Management at LinkedIn
2 年This is so powerful thanks for sharing. Here’s a post I wrote about building community: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/my-community-building-nitin-julka
Leadership, Strategy & Operations Manager @?McMaster-Carr | Kellogg MBA Candidate
2 年This is great! Glad to see such a practical way to overcome distance to making new friends out in the burbs.