FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – The date was on his calendar for a full year before making his appearance at the Flagler Tiger Bay Club on December 18 thanks to a long-standing relationship with club president Jay Scherr.
Serving as the Club’s keynote speaker for the annual holiday dinner, it was during his inspirational talk that Jeff Hoffman shared that one of his earliest goals had been to have dinner with 50 different families in their homes around the world, during his lifetime.
Far surpassing his initial goal, Hoffman, a global entrepreneur, philanthropist and self-proclaimed lifelong learner, also shared a number of key lessons he’d learned along the way, including one of the most important, “You May Be Successful, But Will You Matter?”.
“Success is making another dollar. Mattering is making another person’s life better,” shared Hoffman.
It’s the outlook of universal equality among humans that has fueled Hoffman’s passion and belief that every person can make a difference, every person can create a legacy. No matter the circumstances, with hard work, success can be achieved, and what a person chooses to do with that success to help others becomes their legacy.
From creating the job or opportunity you want to having a goal and succeeding, it all depends on the tenacity of the person and their desire to make a difference.
“Don’t chase money, chase excellence,” said Hoffman. “Until and unless you build something amazing in the world, you’re not getting paid anyway. I was the person who always had an excellence strategy. We were heads down focused on building great companies, great products, and taking amazing care of the people that worked for us. Our focus was on being excellent.”
As the founder of several highly successful startups and even a couple of unsuccessful ventures, he was candid about his successes and challenges, sharing the moment he experienced a paradigm shift that enabled him to become a giver.
“Every human being deserves their own red carpet moment,” he said. “It was galvanizing for me, and it set the goal. The reason that I’m here and I do what I do now.”
“I would like every human being to get to a moment in their life when they look around and say, ‘no way, I can’t believe this is my life’. Does that make sense to everybody? Just whatever your definition is, I want you to get to a moment where you say, ‘I cannot believe I am so blessed, this is actually my life’. And that’s what gave me purpose for the whole rest of my life,” said Hoffman.
Along his journey of personal growth, Hoffman has made it a point to invest in his staff, community, and youth of our nation. Taking it further, his outreach has grown on a global scale, seeking to impact the future of youth in other countries through the World Youth Horizons organization.
“If we give kids a chance at a better life, they’ll take it,” he said.
Knowing how close the World Youth Horizons’ mission is to Hoffman’s heart, Flagler Tiger Bay Club Young Executives, led by Young Executives Chair Sherri Dietrich, took the initiative to host a fundraiser, presenting Hoffman with a donation in the amount of $3,500 for the organization.
Hoffman was clearly touched by gesture.
