Nobody Rebuilds Alone: The Importance of Leaning in on Community

I want to correct something I may have implied in a previous post.

When I talk about the quiet year — 2016, the fundamentals, the rebuild — it can sound like a solo mission. Just me and a field and a lot of unglamorous reps. That's not the whole truth, and leaving it there would do a disservice to the people who actually got me through it.

The Network You Don't See on the Highlight Reel

Community is the pillar of FOCUS that's easiest to skip, because it doesn't photograph well. Foundation is a training montage. Systems is a whiteboard. Community is a phone call at the right moment, a person who tells you the truth when you need it instead of what you want to hear, a room full of people who are further along than you and willing to let you catch up.

I remember a specific conversation with a former teammate in 2017 that completely changed how I viewed myself and my career. This former teammate, a friend from my college playing days, sat down with me to talk about life. He raved to me about my achievements in the USL and how proud of me he was for building a business alongside of a successful playing career. After a turbulent 2016, this was the exact conversation I needed to remind me who I was and why I was doing what I was doing.

Community is there to support you, during the good times and the hard times. In 2026, as I build Miller Woods Capital and work to scale Prime Focus Goalkeeping, I lean on my community to help me remember who I am. My family, my friends, my PAC community; these are all people that help me maintain my sanity and push me to continue doing what I am doing.

Building It On Purpose, This Time

Here's what's different now versus 2016: back then, community mostly happened to me — whoever showed up, showed up. Today, I build it on purpose.

That looks like staying connected to the Pro Athlete Community as I develop my speaking career, rather than trying to figure out the entire speaking world by trial and error. It looks like sitting on the board at America SCORES, which isn't just a credential — it's a room full of people who care about kids and communities the same way I do, and being in that room makes me sharper, not just more credentialed.

It also looks like the work I do connecting people to each other — athletes to investment opportunities, operators to funds, people who wouldn't have found each other otherwise. I didn't expect that to become part of how I build community, but it turns out that the fastest way to build a real network isn't to extract value from it. It's to be useful inside it.

What The Importance Of Community Actually Gives You

• People who tell you the truth about your blind spots, not just your strengths

• Access to rooms and opportunities you couldn't have found on your own

• A reason to keep showing up on the days your own motivation isn't enough

The importance of community is what has kept me sane through the ups and downs of navigating the investment space. Being able to reach out to friends and colleagues to get advice on certain opportunities is priceless. Sometimes the feedback isn't what you want but, if your community is properly curated, it will be the feedback that you need to move forward in the right direction.

Lean on your community. I used to struggle with being a burden to other people by asking them for things but I've steadily shed that feeling and now I'm enjoying the support that comes from asking for what you need. Take up space in your community and make sure there is space for others as well.

The Real Point

Foundation and Outsource are both, in different ways, about figuring out what's yours to carry. Community is the opposite instinct — it's about recognizing that even the parts that are yours to carry, you don't have to carry them without anyone watching your back.

The goalkeeper mindset says you're the last line of defense, alone. The truth I've learned since is that even the last line has a team standing in front of it. You just have to be willing to build one.