“Where do I start?”

This was my initial question when I began writing this article. I’ve decided to use my personal story to give you a comprehensive insight into the “Hult world.” More accurately, the “Hult family.”

It’s crazy when I look back approximately 1.5 years ago. I was a slightly different Eric Goldberg. I had a slightly different point of view. A different life.

In the middle of 2016, my life was generally quite decent. I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by a lot of family and friends. Academically speaking, I was doing OK at my undergraduate university. I was involved in some minor extracurricular activities. My startup business VIRL was making some money, but it was far from what I wanted it to be—yet.

I always imagined myself to be a serious leader, full of hustle and an unstoppable mindset, with a business that was enormously valuable and a team that far exceeded ten people. But I wasn’t, and it didn’t.

Even though I was indeed self-confident, I was lacking one of the most valuable characteristics an entrepreneur or anyone can have: self-awareness.

In my opinion, self-awareness means to figure out exactly where your strengths are, what you’re good at, and what you like. But it doesn’t matter how much self-awareness you have. What matters is how you put this information to use.

Embarking on my Hult journey

With that in mind, my year at Hult began. It was September 2016 to be exact. And everything changed.

Immediately after beginning my Masters in International Business, I started to work on all the important areas of my life. I started to throw myself into my academic work like a crazy person, with the goal of graduating with distinction (magna cum laude). I started building strong and long-lasting relationships with interesting and amazing people from all over the world. Furthermore, I started to actively work on my own business by acquiring numerous new clients, growing the team, and building a strong brand.

Working on these important areas in my life, giving 110% every minute, led to this year being the best year of my life!

“Giving 110% every minute, led to this year being the best year of my life!”

Taking things to the next level: Rotating to New York City

Hult’s Global Campus Rotation program was an invaluable opportunity for me.

My home campus was London, but I decided to spend my rotation in New York City, as I had never been there before. The chance to not just visit, but actually LIVE in this city was simply unreal—so I took it!

What happened during my rotation in New York City? Above all, along with a change of perspective, rotation meant meeting and networking with new, diverse, and interesting people from all over the world.

New York City being my home for three months had other benefits, too. As well as studying my challenging finance electives, I managed to sign three new clients with my startup, VIRL.

After rotating to NYC, I continued to work hard on my studies as well as my startup. I managed to graduate with distinction. I met people who I now consider my family. And I significantly grew my business.

Please don’t get me wrong—I’m not telling you this to make me feel good about myself or for you to like me. Not at all. I’m telling you this because it shows that a year at Hult can change and lift a person to the next level by giving you a real-life example: Me.

“A year at Hult can change and lift a person to the next level.”

Life after Hult

“Loyalty is a two-way street. If I’m asking for it from you, then you’re getting it from me.”

This is one of my favorite quotes.

That’s because loyalty is something I feel is extremely rare these days. But it is probably one of the best qualities a person can embody. All the more reason to value that quality, regardless of whether you are loyal as a person or as a business.

With that being said, I want to tell you something that is very important for the continuation of this story. At Hult, you experience loyalty during and after your studies—not only from your friends and fellow students, but also from professors and staff members. From everyone involved in your experience.

I’m so grateful for my year at Hult and the endless opportunities that the school has given me as a student, as an entrepreneur, and as a person—both during and after my studies. And I’m grateful for all the new friends, contacts, and connections I have made.

“I’m so grateful for my year at Hult and the endless opportunities that the school has given me as a student, as an entrepreneur, and as a person.”

Returning to the Big Apple as a Hult alum

This past February, my business partner and I went to New York City for business, with several points on the agenda. Firstly, we wanted to conduct some face-to-face relationship management in order to keep the collaboration with our existing clients going and strengthen our relationships.

However, we did not fly to the other side of the world just with the purpose of driving our business forward.

We also went to New York City to attend an exclusive dinner with accepted Hult students who will be starting in September 2018. This event gave us the opportunity to meet and network with future Hult students from different cultures and nationalities. I had the chance to tell them all about my experiences and my current life as a Hult alumnus.

It was truly great to meet future Hult students. And, I have to admit,  this night also made me a little bit nostalgic.

Some takeaways and advice for future Hultians

If there is one thing that you should take away from this story, it’s this: Hult provides you with a great, nurturing environment where you as a person, as well as an entrepreneur, have the potential to flourish to unbelievable highs.

In addition, Hult equips you with valuable “hard” skills and personal skills. These skills will be helpful in your future career and in your life.

But most importantly, Hult helps you to gain an incredible amount of self-awareness. However, in order to take advantage of everything that Hult provides you with, you need to work hard and hustle at everything you do in your life. Everything.

Ready to start your journey?