For years, I've been connecting with interesting people and documenting insights that might help my clients and myself. What was once private is now (mostly) public.

People often ask: "How do you know all these people?" and "How do you connect these (re: random) ideas?" The answer is simple: consistent relationship cultivation and thoughtful note taking. My north star is trusting my instincts, my maps are the constellations in these reflections.

This approach to multidisciplinary networking has helped dozens of clients, colleagues, and friends strengthen their networks and unlock new opportunities. Feel free to steal these ideas directly - that's what they're for! I can't promise you'll learn FROM me, but I guarantee you can learn something WITH me. Let's go. Count it off: 1-2-3-4!

Introducing... Danielle Strachman!

Do you know Danielle Strachman? Co-founder and General Partner at 1517 Fund, founding member and director of Innovations Academy in San Diego, and self-proclaimed "Professional Fairy Godmother and 1517 Camp Counselor" - she's someone who literally walked into a neurology department without an appointment and turned it into her first career.

If not, allow me to introduce you. She's built a career on recognizing irrational passion in others - from teen founders building the future to kids making hyper-realistic stuffed animals. I wanted to connect with her because she embodies something I value deeply: the courage to trust your instincts even when they defy conventional wisdom, whether that's starting a charter school during the 2008 financial crisis or printing two t-shirts from Zazzle and calling yourself a venture fund.

Our conversation is LIVE now on The Intentional Investor YouTube channel (and this Intentional Investor Playlist). Listen and you'll hear about rejection from the Walton Foundation, borrowing $175,000 to start a school, and how Peter Thiel's breakfast meeting changed everything.

THREE: That's The Magic Number of Lessons

In the meantime, I wanted to pull THREE KEY LESSONS from my time with Danielle to share with you (and drop into my Personal Archive).

Read on and you'll find a quote with a lesson and a reflection you can Take to work with you, Bring home with you, and Leave behind with your legacy.

WORK: High Agency Means Walking Through Doors That Don't Exist Yet

Key Concept: High agency isn't about having all the answers or following prescribed pathways - it's about being comfortable creating your own opportunities when none exist. Danielle grew up watching small business owners (her mechanic father, her contractor mother) make their own way, which gave her the osmosis-learned belief that "you just make your own money." This translated into walking into a hospital neurology department without an appointment, starting a tutoring business instead of going to grad school, and eventually co-founding both a charter school and a venture fund. The pattern isn't recklessness - it's the willingness to dress appropriately, show up with genuine curiosity, and let others decide if you belong there rather than pre-rejecting yourself.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: You know in the kung fu movies, when the person has seen their village pillaged, and then they go to the temple to learn to fight, only to find themselves waiting outside until some monk invites them in to sweep a floor or wash dishes? That’s a lot of life to spend waiting on porches, only to do some menial task. But, sometimes it’s the only way to get closer to the action.

When I know I want to be closer to the action, but I also don’t know where to start, or worse, when I don’t know where something will end/finish, I like to revert to the question of “what can I just do right now?” When I wanted to figure out a job in business/finance, I started as a part-time teller. It wasn’t glorious and I had friends who made fun of me. But I just showed up and was willing to say, “I don’t know, but I’d like to know - will you show me?”

Maybe the biggest hack of all inside of this story is realizing how many people won’t just do this. If most people won’t, but you will, you have an edge. Danielle never forgets that - and neither should we, when we're standing outside our own neurology departments, real and metaphorical.

Work question for you: What door have you been waiting for permission to walk through when you could simply show up and make your case?

LIFE: Irrational Passion Is The Signal, Not The Noise

Key Concept: Danielle describes "irrational passion" as the thing you're almost embarrassed to talk about because other people might not understand - like a teen making hyper-realistic stuffed animals or someone performing magic for 5,000 people at age 12. This isn't about finding what's socially impressive or resume-worthy. It's about identifying what makes someone lean in so far they forget to care what others think. At 1517's camps, they explicitly ask kids to share what they're irrationally passionate about, and Danielle notes that younger people often downplay it at first. The real magic happens when they bring the actual thing to show - that's when the truth comes out. This kind of passion can't be faked, manufactured, or optimized for. It's either there or it isn't.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: I was irrationally passionate about being a music producer from my teenage years into my mid-20s. Then I decided to change up my life, found myself working in a bank, and quickly realizing how much I didn’t understand about money, how much less I understood about markets, and that the most valuable skill I probably had was in listening to people. Since I knew I had no skills in doing anything, listening came naturally. Which was good, because I was also learning very quickly that the people who were talking really appreciated it.

I had this older client explain compound interest on CDs to me like I was five. I’d never taken a proper business course, so this basic stuff was a revelation. But more importantly, the guy came back, became an early client of mine, and - he just kept coming to do more business.

What took me years to understand is that these weren't different careers - they were the same job in different rooms. A music producer in a recording studio is a professional listener. He hears what the artist wants, then helps them get it. I just irrationally loved listening to all sorts of creative people.

The artists in the studio were creating something. The people in the bank were also creating something - a financial future, a sense of security, a purpose, etc. It took me some time to contextualize that, but once I saw it, I went all the way into the advice business because of it. The studio and the bank were different mediums, but all the people had the exact same desire to be heard and helped.

Now that I'm doing it in podcasts with business/finance/creative types like Danielle, it’s like I've unified the last 43 years of my life.

Life Question For You: What were you irrationally passionate about at age 12, and what would it mean to reconnect with that kind of unself-conscious enthusiasm today?

LEGACY: Sometimes You Need To Give Yourself Permission To Stop

Key Concept: Danielle had already gotten accepted to graduate school for neuroscience, had a professor write her a recommendation letter, and had spent years building toward this path. But she realized that being good at something and genuinely passionate about something are completely different experiences. She knew what passion felt like from her years as a competition-level clarinetist - practicing every day, memorizing skills, putting her whole self into it. When she couldn't find that same fire for neuroscience, she had the courage to jump off a train she'd already boarded. This required distinguishing between the social kudos of "neuro" as a conversation starter versus the actual lived experience of wanting to read neuroscience books in her free time. The lesson isn't about quitting - it's about recognizing when you're following momentum instead of calling.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: After starting down paths toward CFA, CFP, and a whole alphabet soup of other certifications, I realized something I’m really proud of today: somebody else can do this better than me, and I already know who those people are. I used to be embarrassed about my growing list of professional paths I've quit. Now? I'm proud to be another villager.

In another life, I have all those designations and a very fancy business card. I'd be proud of the credentials, sure. But I'd also have lost time for the pursuits that actually matter to me - the ones that don't fit neatly into continuing education credits or licensing requirements.

The fancy business card version of me would have credentials but not collaborators. And those thoughts taught me something crucial - that I'd rather be part of a village than emperor of an empty (but well credentialed) kingdom. You can't be everything. You have to leave some hats for other people to wear - and that's the whole point.

We make our legacy both in the things we do and in the space we leave for others to do what they do best. Shared values and complementary skills - that's what keeps villages alive. Finding people like Danielle, who've learned this through lived experience rather than theory, is priceless. They know they're first chair clarinet in some areas, and they know when to hand the instrument to someone else.

Legacy question for you: What train are you riding because you've already invested so much in buying the ticket, and what would it mean to get off at the next stop?

BEFORE YOU GO: Be sure to...

• Connect with Danielle Strachman on Twitter/X and LinkedIn

• Check out 1517 Fund and their work supporting young founders, dropouts, and renegades

• Read Danielle's pinned tweet about how to cold email her - she actually wants to know what you're irrationally passionate about

• Consider what it would mean to adopt the "no asshole policy" Danielle learned from her mechanic father in your own work

You have a Personal Network and a Personal Archive just waiting for you to build them up stronger. Look at your work, look at your life, and look at your legacy - and then, start small in each category. Today it's one person and one reflection. Tomorrow? Who knows what connections you'll create.

Don't forget to click reply/click here and tell me who you're adding to your network and why! Plus, if you already have your own Personal Archive too, let me know, I'm creating a database.

Want more? Find my Personal Archive on CultishCreative.com, watch me build a better Personal Network on the Cultish Creative YouTube channel, and listen to Just Press Record on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and follow me on social media (LinkedIn and X) - now distributed by Epsilon Theory.

You can also check out my work as Managing Director at Sunpointe, as a host on top investment YouTube channel Excess Returns, and as Senior Editor at Perscient.