The Rise From Poverty to Purpose & Power

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THIS ISSUE

1. Our featured legend is Lan Phan - she is a global expert on community development and she is intent on helping you lead with purpose.

2. Key insights to her journey from poverty to powerful.

3. The 4 quarters life strategy: match strategy to where you are in life

4. The concept of Ikigai, discovered from the “Village of longevity” in Japan and other curious finds across the web.

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FEATURE STORY

Check out the episode trailer HERE.

Listen on Apple, Spotify or on the web.

Lan Phan is a first generation American from Vietnamese refugees and grew up in poverty in Englewood, California. Her childhood was not easy. She lost a friend to gang violence at the age of 13, had to support herself at 17 and lost her father at 19. Her dad was an executive in Vietnam, but after the war, he was left with nothing and became a shadow of a man. He never worked in the US. Her mom? She did what she could, as a hairdresser who never made more than $15,000 a year, supporting a family of 5.

But Lan turned it all around. She became a:

• Psychology undergraduate from Stanford University

• Masters graduate from Harvard

• Real estate investor

• Music mogul

• Marketing maven

• Executive coach

• Community founder

• Published author

• Self-help guru

She is nothing short of a polymath!

How?

After spending sometime with Lan, it struck me that her tough circumstance during childhood had a large part to play in her resilience and drive - it pushed her to attain big goals and made her the person she is today.

She used her bad position to propel herself to a better one.

One my favorite pieces of research on Lan was this article by CNN Money in 2004: Tycoon in the making Lan Phan. She was featured as a young investor, buying properties and building a “f*ck you fund” that would be the foundation of her bold pursuits later in life.

Lan’s purpose today as a founder of Community of Seven is to democratize purpose led leadership so leaders of all backgrounds and levels can better impact the world.

🏔 Insights on Lan’s journey to a purposeful life:

1/ Having someone believe in you is game-changing

Lan moved to the US from Vietnam when she was 8 months old. So she was practically born in the US, but she was in ESL (English as a second language) class until 5th grade. She was afraid to speak up and really shy. Until one of her teachers, Miss Wilson in elementary school encouraged her to get on the debate team.

She ended up winning the debate championship and her life changed.

2/ Use the your painful circumstance as fuel

When she was in high-school, she did every extracurricular activity imaginable. This served two goals: 1) Build a stellar college application 2) Avoid her father. Her dad struggled after escaping Vietnam and those struggles erupted as mood swings, which Lan was desperate to avoid. She knew the only way out was through education and she made it her mission as a teenager to pull herself and her family out of poverty. She used her painful existence as fuel to do whatever it takes to escape.

And she did, eventually buying her mom’s house along with the other units in the triplex. She had a clear why - attaining safety and security for her and her family, and that drove her focus.

3/ Don’t trust the environment, trust in yourself

One of the tougher moments in her life was being laid off as a Fortune Magazine executive. From having a team and a multi-million dollar budget to nothing was a tremendous blow. This was the same time her husband also lost his job in the pandemic.

With two mortgages to pay and no meaningful income, Lan felt all the fear, the shame, the lows, but then trusted in her own abilities to move forward and rebound. That’s how she started her executive coaching practice and community - Community of Seven. (She just had seven people, including herself and her daughter when she started)

4/ Every side-quest or pivot is meaningful

I was talking to a friend this past week and the idea of side-quests came up. In our game of life, we have so many opportunities to embark on these side-quests and often it turns out that the sum of all of them allows you to accomplish the main one.

Lan talks about her real estate investment period as a powerful chapter that gave her the ability to try roles and work in toxic environments knowing fully that she could leave at anytime. Her music venture, her marketing career, all showed her that she could figure just about anything out if she tried. These experiences laid the foundation for resilience.

5/ Building a personal brand changed Lan’s life

It wasn’t about fame or getting “likes”, it was about helping other people and as she got replies from people saying her content changed their life, she kept going.

If you want to help as many people as you can, you NEED to build brand. Lan and I both started after we were laid off, but you don’t have to (read this letter for more.)

📕 Legendary lesson: The Four Quarters Life Strategy

In the discussions about purpose and passion. I see two main schools of thought:

1. Find and follow your passion so you never work a day in your life.

2. Don’t follow your passion, instead do what you are good at and bring your passion.

I asked Lan - which is right?

Her response was everything: it depends on which stage of life you’re at.

It makes so much sense to me. In the 2nd quarter of our life, we should dig into the opportunities that lie before us. Get good at that thing and hone our skills to deliver more value. As we get into our 3rd quarter of life, we start to readjust and reflect on how our passion, purpose, profession and vocation can all intersect.

Short 90 second video on Instagram where Lan talks about the two types of people in the world (P.S. Follow me on Instagram, it’s the only place where I will post short clips from all my interviews)

My biggest takeaway from Lan is this:

Everyone must walk their own path and as they approach each quarter of their life, be willing to reflect, pivot and shift. This is how to live a purposeful and authentic life.

LEGENDARY CURATIONS

🔗 4 interesting things across the interwebs inspired by Lan:

1. Authors Héctor Garcia and Francesco Miralles interviewed more than 100 elderly residents of Ogimi Village, Okinawa Prefecture renowned for being a “village of longevity.” Their common secret? Ikigai. Learn about what that is in this article on Japan Gov.

2. Jay Shetty has this great distinction between passion and purpose.

3. We know that low points in our career are inevitable, this Forbes article shares how we can bounce back.

4. Check out Lan’s YouTube channel, where she shares all her learnings and guest lectures in her community.

ONE ACTION

Lan reminds me to look for the intersections in our lives. If I’m faced with a decision, I will ask myself: Does this give me energy? Is this aligned to my purpose? Will this make me money? Will I take a step towards mastery?

Make your mark, live your legend 🤘🏽,

Howie Chan

Creator of Legend Letters

​Read my story​

​Follow me on LinkedIn

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

SOURCES

1. Phan, Lan Do This Daily: Secrets to Finding Success, Happiness, Purpose in Work and Life, Thin Leaf, April 2, 2024 - LINK

2. Wonder Woman in Business Lan Phan, Blog, Freeman Means Business, April 14, 2021 - LINK

3. Phan, Lan, The Untold Truth About Purpose and How to Lead and Authentic Life, The Legend Letters Podcast, October 15, 2024 - LINK

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