#HowIGotHere

17 semesters on campus in total through the end of grad school included 5 years of summer classes for me. 

A college administrator by trade, my academic goals in school were largely centered around trying to figure out a way to apply the discipline of psychology to the field of education.

Realizing that "real change" within the world of a school must, at some point, on some level, come from the top, I quickly learned that far and few members of school leadership teams such as principals and vice-principals, school board superintendents, and appointed or elected officials within departments of education were mavericks or visionary renegades who had not first been classroom teachers, and I never wanted to just be a classroom teacher.

To my good fortune, as I was already working on-campus throughout student services and campus programming as a student employee, a division head of my school asked me why I wouldn't want to just work in higher ed. Dumbfounded by the plausibility of the reality that I could stay on-campus professionally, I was also rather impressed by the opportunity, and directed my Master's coursework at that goal.

My graduate school student internship placement widened my purview across campus life and community affairs, and gave me experience that has helped me identify and respond to a hugely diverse range of issues before they have been able to develop into problems plaguing students, staff, their families, and the overall surrounding community. 

Assisting the Chief of Staff for the Minority Leader of the Pennsylvania State Senate, I worked to help direct the helm of constituent relations for the office. Helping manage the constant flow of communication taught me what it takes to responsibly handle nonstop demands for information, and still today leads my work ethic to ensure that updates are given as often as requested and needed by those I report to, and serve.

It was around this time back somewhere around 2008-2010 that an employee at a non-Kosher pizza place stole my debit card number, and rang up $3k worth of orders in one night. My Mom gave me the advice that if I started using a credit card, then, if anyone ever stole my card numbers, they'd only be able to ring up a high bill for me, and not take my actual money. 

Just like that, the very same day I'd applied for and been approved for a new credit card for "Dr. Henry Goodelman", now mind you that I'd likely yet to complete my Bachelor's degree at this point, let alone my Master's, but I'd read a story about how, before he was famous, the comedian Jim Carrey once wrote himself check for a million dollars. Having no idea if he'd ever actually be able to cash it, or exactly how incredibly successful his career would be, I channeled the energy to identify an achievable and significant goal for my future, and while I've still not yet attained it, and am not currently specifically focused on doing so, this credit card story is absolutely central to one of the best things that has ever happened to me, and extraordinarily vital to getting me where I am today. 

See, after I got that credit card, I'd rang up a bill for the amount that I'd been assured I'd be getting back from my bank. I figured that when I'd have the money safely back in hand that I'd wholely pay off my bill, and call it even. Instead, seeing the minimum payment would be only $25, I decided to keep the couple grand. Considering myself a winner with a clean break after a tough situation, I wasn't too shaken by the cards numbers being stolen originally by the time I got the money back. 

This all mostly became an afterthought over the years, and I repeatedly increased my credit line to accommodate for my continued spending. Aside from the years of accrued interest, even when my monthly minimum payments eventually grew to $250, and I stood to owe an overall TWELVE THOUSAND dollars, I didn't think much about it. The situation seemed all around pretty normal to me for as long as I had a job to help me pay my minimums and keep track of my life expenses.

Then, in 2016, I lost my job on campus. As much as I love helping students succeed by guiding and overseeing their academic advising, career counseling, admissions, transcript processing, transfer credit eligibility, various campus resources, and support services, there was a change of leadership on the campus I'd helped facilitate the roll out of two different enrollment management platforms, offices were being merged, and my position, for one reason or another, was simply phased out.

Now, both before this all happened, and while it was all happening, another community effort that I'd been a part, grew from a student-led grassroots initiative into an official 501c3 nonprofit organization of which I was the founder and CEO. 

What happened was that after leaving my first job out of grad school working for a graduate school admissions office in Pittsburgh just down the block from where I'd already been living for my own schooling, I'd been recruited by a community organization to help spearhead a benchmarking project on the registration and recognition status of their student organizations on about 30 campuses from their global headquarters in Jerusalem, Israel. 

Intrigued by this offer to gain some project management experience in an international setting, I flew off to the Middle East, decided to redirect the focus of my personal life, and began learning more than I ever expected to about all of the staff managing the many campuses across the US, the many countless engaged student leaders actively involved with their local campus programming, and the rich culture of ancient traditions that had brought us all together. 

I was also given the opportunity to work directly with a number of student residence halls, and tasked with envisioning an ambitious new type of program that we could launch within our walls, but that would not only just be for students could participate in, but something that all people, basically anywhere and everywhere could do, all the time, daily. 

As water was scarcely accessible from the central bathrooms 2 floors down or a flight of stairs up, water bottles were quite popular around the dorm, and that's not to mention the soda, and beer; and there was often a lot of beer. 

Realizing that was diverting our immense amount of plastic from landfills was an easily implemented, actually achievable goals, I was quite surprised to learn that while the little trucks that picked up their trash in a miraculous fashion on most of their uniquely narrow and curvy roads, most of the Old City residents did not have super accessible recycling drop off points, so I helped recruit a few student volunteers, and put out recycling bins, bags, and signage. 

Aside from quickly learning that many changes to one's lifestyle and daily behavior that are not required are often rejected, and that without official buy-in from the senior executive administration, student involvement would be slim unless it was initiative that would be aggressively led from within the student body itself, I was incredibly fortunate to have a locally based, but globally circulated newspaper feature a major story on our recycling program. 

This cycle happened repeatedly in the years to follow, even after I moved back to the US from Israel. I'd recognize the opportunity for a community to improve and promote their recycling practice, a number of people would get excited about it, organizations would be slow, if not lackadaisical or even opposed to start adapting, and then a media outlet would publish a highlighted story about it all, momentum would pick up, people would get involved, and then the cycle would begin again shortly thereafter as more and more learned about it. 

Winning support from Google, GoDaddy, countless foundations, businesses, and the United Nations, at times my greening efforts had more sponsors than participants, so I knew there was serious potential, and I knew something had to change. 

Back to our story though, no job means no money. No money means no on-time bill payments, and I knew that I'd be in a bit of jam when the new month rolled around on my billing cycle, so on the very day I was let go from campus, I walked directly into a printing store to get a copy of my resume printed out, and then walked straight into the HR office of a local community group serving individuals with developmental disabilities.

Disability services is a major point of focus on campus across the country, and, even back when I was a student in college, I helped manage the office of a different group that also served the needs of this special population, so I knew that my new experience with them would keep me on track in adding to my background and lead me back on track in my career as a college administrator, or so I thought. 

What happened next is the first part of a series of three events that brought me to where I am today. I got the job working with a few houses of guys that just needed a bit of direction, guidance to reach the level of personal independence that many of us take for granted, and, most importantly, quality time with someone that would bring them out of their shell in a wide range of everyday situations where they can be just like everyone else. All in all, connecting with people to help them grow and support their success is something I like to do, and I definitely enjoyed the work with them. 

Meanwhile, my income was a bit less than when I was earning on campus, and it wasn't a full time position with benefits either. With no steady shift schedule, I chose to prioritize food, concerts, and, of course, rent, just to make ends meet with the money I was bringing in, but this meant that my credit card bills were past due, and I just kept getting more and more calls reminding me about it. 

When one of residents fell ill and was sent off to the hospital for a week, I immediately volunteered to spend Shabbat with him in the hospital. Serving as a patient advocate and the direct point of contact for communicating updates with our internal medical staff, I was incredibly and beyond pleasantly surprised at the amount of support provided by the local community. Full catered meals for guests visiting patients, a stocked pantry and tea room, choirs circling the floors singing, the complete range of prayer services in a beautifully designed shul easily accessible to all, and, most importantly, stacks of weekly local newspapers from all around Brooklyn. 

I have to tell you. I was 28 at the time. I'd been keeping Shabbos for four years. When I'd moved to Israel four years prior, I went all in on Shabbos, and enjoyed the calmness of it all as much as I loved and appreciated the excitement and busy activity that goes along with being in a Yeshiva.

Among friends, a number of us agreed that if Shabbos was going to now be an important part of lives on a weekly basis moving forward, then our experiences needing to take time preparing to be ready would not always be as easy as having a dining hall serving chow for all three meals, and that we would intrinsically benefit from engaging in some amount of work on our own to help get ready for Shabbos. 

Deciding that late Saturday afternoon seudah shlishit would be our point of focus, and that spending time together enjoying a meal that we'd have made the effort to prepare would be a very nice and worthwhile experience, many weeks a number of us would gather Friday morning to go off to the Mahane Yehuda shuk food market to buy all kinds of assorted crackers, wines, and fish, and would then sing Shabbos away as Saturday would come to a close in a variety of different back street Jerusalem settings, or from the incredibly beautiful views on porches over looking the Western Wall. These weeks absolutely infused a deep love, enjoyment and appreciation of Shabbos into my heart forever. 

Let's not forget about those local Jewish newspapers that I'd had access to in the hospital though. See, I'd bring some books with me to read and learn during the extra long double shift, but the papers were recently published, and filled with both news and stories relevant to the weeks parsha, so they'd strongly piqued my interest. 

Many are filled with ads, but I guess that's the state of print journalism today. Targeting the local community, most ads offer goods, vacations, and, as would change my life forever, a large number of professional services are advertised too. 

A guy no older than any other friend of mine put an ad in the paper that week. A friend of his was a lawyer specializing in niche financial dealings, and this man felt that he could help spread word of his work on a far greater level, so he took an ad to see who he's connect with. 

It's important to remember how I had gotten to to this point in time. I'd lost a job. I'd had credit card debt. I was getting calls from collectors, and I didn't have a full time job, or even part time work with reliable shift hours. 

So here I am making the best that I thought I could of the situation sitting in a hospital safeguarding a patient who couldn't speak for himself and just enjoying Shabbos however I could reading the paper, and then I saw the fellow's ad. 

"Are you in debt?" "Are you getting called incessantly from collectors?" "Did you know that you can sue for being called?" "Call me!" 

I did just that, and, wow, less than 3 months later my debt was wiped clean. My attorneys were paid well too, plus, and, what was most shocking, the people who'd called me all of the time for owing them, wrote me a check for more than twice I owed them.

This cumulative moment, resulting from being a victim of identity theft, having my checking account emptied, gradually plunging myself into credit card debt, and being unable to pay my bills helped me more in life then very few other things have been able to provide such immensely positive change. Truly one of the best things that ever happened to me. It's beyond understanding why HaShem Blessed me like this, how it all really happened, or how it was even plausible to have occurred,

But now what? How to use good fortunate and further connect my aspirations with the service of others? You may be able to have a good time with a Blessing of a windfall of cash like that, but one can't retire on 1/2 or 1/3 of a years salary. So I needed to keep moving forward. 

One of my favorite parts of working on campus was helping students discover and pursue their professional ambitions. Defining and exploring what their goals and fields in the future would be. In fact, suggesting interconnected cross-sections of student interests in niche career markets that could open the doors of their ideal jobs and lives in the future is still a lot of what I discuss with students when they're still enrolled in school. 

Once students graduate though, and are now in their first entry level position, starting their own business, or are befallen without gainful employment, what do you then tell a former student that comes to you for advice? 

And this is where alumni resources comes in as such a vital part of any school's success. Career services for undergrads doesn't often focus on providing business advice and counseling about how to manage a business currently operating. 

Repeatedly over the years, I'd been invited to contribute to alumni initiatives. Helping build alumni directories on LinkedIn, welcoming alumni as panelists at events, and obviously reaching out to alumni about giving campaigns were just some of the various ways I'd been involved. 

When the ball starts rolling through, and alumni are now starting their careers, launching their own businesses, or dealing with perilous financial matters for their companies, what can someone do to help them then? Advice often isn't enough of an answer. Money can help though, so I jumped right in the moment that I was introduced to the merchant cash advance industry. 

Bridging together my appreciation for being able to build new connections with my interest in helping others achieve their goals, business funding programs, and unsecured loans are a hot-topic, and quite nuanced industry, so I was quite interested to get involved. 

I ended up helping overhaul the training for new employees, establishing a sales funnel and web presence across multiple social media platforms, developing a new system to connect with more business owners, and taking on the responsibility of monitoring a number of incredibly unstable and quickly changing blockchain products for the entire office. Even if I wasn't always necessarily personally getting in new applications that were eligible for an overnight bank deposit from our lenders, I was helping make an impact ensuring that we were always improving our position and notoriety as a team.

Overall though, my work with business funding delivered me 2 major accomplishments, and one of the biggest jolts in my life to move forward onto something bigger and better, which is the point of this article. 

First off, missing another chance at BTC with values below 5k in 2017 encouraged our team's investments before it capped at 19, which has, in the time since, balanced out during the 2018-2019 sub-5k drop again, and brought in residual benefits as it has climbed past 10k again in recent weeks. Second, and more notably, my focus for researching regional needs as a means to connect with business owners connected right into my past interest in community outreach to help raise awareness about important causes.

Spending time on social media delving into the businesses that people post about, I discovered an odd request from an old friend of mine. "$75 for the phone number of a homeowner you know" he was requesting. Interested in what he was working on that he'd needed such a specific criteria, he and I hopped on a call, and he told me all about his venture into the residential solar industry.

Now, here I am running a sustainability nonprofit that's been globally recognized and supported by the UN, has major corporate backers, and gets featured at events and in the news, but I'd never even heard of someone working in solar before. I immediately demanded to know all of the ins and outs of his work!

Introducing me to the huge savings homeowners get when they "go solar," as well as the vast range of government incentives available to families and suppliers for panel installation, I spent the next three and half months in and out phone calls and emails with the executives from a major solar company. Building value in my proposal focused on better connecting with more of the community, as well as within my own niche demographic, we settled on letting me set up a roadshow display within several Home Depot, BJ's Wholesale, and Costco locations.

The plan was a success. I was having fun being in the heart of the store every day, and I was producing good results. Reaching elite recognition for monthly performance, I loved greeting and meeting shoppers, but I felt limited. 

Only able to connect with homeowners who came into the store, crossed my path, and had eligible homes, as I would look at the map surrounding the homes that I would be able to assess, I saw so many countless eligible homes, and I knew what I needed to do.

Thinking about my background in community outreach, which, to me, is at the core of any campaign focused on raising awareness about an important cause in need of championing, led me to realize that D2D canvassing was the answer that I was seeking.

I relish speaking with homeowners about how they can save money by helping reduce the stress on the grid through their creation of localized sources of renewable energy, Being able to present homeowners with information is easiest when you reach homeowners where they sometimes most often are: At home!

Solar incentives from government subsidies handle the funding of up front costs, and get families started saving money immediately. 

People are always caught off guard when they see how much I enjoy promoting sustainability as part of an infrastructure program that gives homeowners thousands in tax credits for just letting us help them save money off of their electricity bills by putting panels on their roofs. Only about 50% of homes are eligible to participate though, so getting reviewed is just the first step to go solar.

Working with up to about 20 others at a team, we've reached out to nearly 100,000 contacts in a month, and the results are EPIC!

For 2019, I've been fortunate to be recognized as the July & August National MVP!!

Excited to continue growing our efforts, recruiting and training new members of the team is a serious effort that I love applying myself to, and Elul here in September is a time of inspiration! 

The Bronx, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Upstate NY, NJ, PA, CT, FLA, TX, & CA are all on the table, and that's #HowIGotHere!

If you want to #TellYourStory - Share your link in the comments!

Thanks,

- Henry