Brandon Stover On Life

Today's expert is Ben Sampson, Co-Founder of WeHero,  which gives companies the solutions to accomplish their social mission through powerful giving and volunteer programs to create a better culture, a better brand, and a greater social impact. Their mission: To empower 10 million people with the tools to give easily and impactfully. Ben Sampson has spoken at a number of conferences in the CSR and Sustainability space. Ben's particularly well known for designing social impact strategies and high impact corporate volunteer programs. Companies he has worked with include Visa, Facebook, Adobe, Deloitte, Salesforce, Autodesk, Linkedin, and many more.

In today's lesson Ben reveals how to establish successful corporate social impact strategies that not only make a social difference but also drive increased revenues to build a better business as an end result.

Today's lessons:

1. Understand the why of your strategy
2. Designing the right strategy  
3. Launching the strategy and activating your employees
4. Managing the strategy for continued success.

You can download this expert's playbook at https://www.evolvethe.world/learn/how-to-create-social-impact-strategies

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

Christian Shearer is the CEO & Co-Founder at Regen Network, a community of actors engaging with ecological regeneration, ecological monitoring, verification, distributed computing and technology development, centered around Regen Ledger. Christian went from permaculturist and educator in Southeast Asia to a global tech entrepreneur looking to solve global challenges like climate change, desertification, and resource depletion that affect nearly every aspect of human life. These experiences opened his eyes to the most powerful pathways for reversing climate change and unlocking the largest untapped market in the world: farmers and the earth’s Ecosystems. So he decided to create a block-chain based marketplace that allows land stewards to sell more than just produce. Farmers can monetize their ecosystem services to buyers around the world, functioning to reverse climate change, and improve their soils, through incentivized carbon removal.  

Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/christian-shearer

What You Will Learn In This Episode:

• How Christian bought a piece of land in Thailand after college
• How Christian became an expert in permaculture to fulfill his own needs
• What a world renowned permaculture designer taught him about inspiration
• The surprising secret of just how much agriculture affects our lives
• Why Christian moved back to the states to start Terra Genesis International
• The biggest lesson Christian learned working with permaculture clients
• The fundamental questions Christian started asking self about agriculture and the climate crisis that led to Regen
• How incentives can drive change, for better or worse
• How to better incentivize farmers to practice more regenerative agriculture
• How Regen is using open source, blockchain technology and advanced verification to support farmers
• How Christian went from permaculturist to technology expert
• What TechStars taught Christian and how it shaped his business
• Why companies would want to purchase carbon credits
• The counter intuitive reason why carbon credits incentivize companies to have more sustainable business practices
• How entrepreneurship affected Christians previous marriage
• The impact of Microsoft purchasing offset credits from Regen
• How Regen's blockchain technology works
• Why they are open sourcing their technology, even to competitors
• The problem with big agriculture
• The real reason Christian has dedicated his life to this mission

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

Today's expert is Cory Ames, Co-Founder & CEO of a Grow Ensemble,  a media and marketing company that amplifies the work of social entrepreneurs and purpose-driven business leaders to accelerate the change they wish to make in the world. At the age of 20, Cory dropped out from Gonzaga University to aggressively pursue a professional career in digital marketing. In 18 months Cory went from part-time Project Manager Assistant to CEO of a then multi-million dollar marketing agency with over 20 full-time employees.

In the lesson Corey reveals his Grow Ensemble Framework. For purpose-driven businesses, this strategy is immensely valuable to build a community around your brand and mission. 

Today's lessons:

Phase 1: The Foundation

1. Strategy: Building the Traffic & Impact Plan
2. Optimization: Capture Low Hanging Fruit

Phase 2: Build & Run the Content Machine

1. Production
2. Publication
3. Promotion & Distribution
4. Review & Analysis

Full show notes and transcripts can be found here: https://www.evolvethe.world/learn/how-to-market-a-social-enterprise-online

Want to download this expert's playbook? Join our community here: evolvethe.world/learn

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

Madison Campbell is the Cofounder & CEO of Leda Health & Creator of the MeToo Kit. Her company within 1 month of starting received 16 ceases and desists, 5 subpoenas, and 2 statewide bills introduced to ban a product that has aimed at helping the millions of sexual assault survivors across the globe which includes an estimated the 2 million a year in the U.S. alone. This young sexual assault advocate and technological innovator’s hope to revolutionize the care on a holistic scale created a frenzy of over a thousand mentions in press outlets such as CNN, Buzzfeed News, ABC, USA Today, NBC and over 1 billion impressions throughout the world and growing.

However this serial entrepreneur understands there is no such thing as bad publicity, especially when it is helping bring attention to the 77% of sexual assault cases that are never reported each year including her own. After overcoming the trauma of her own sexual assault in college, she sought out to give survivors time with processing their trauma by developing an at-home sexual assault examination kit and provide the care and resources needed for a full recovery.

With an expertise in epidemiology, mathematical modeling, policy and women’s rights, and work in multiple prestigious research institutions, this revolutionary thinker has called her moonshot against the many systemic shortcomings of current government and healthcare systems. Hundreds of thousands of kits have already been requested by colleges, corporations, military, non profits, and even cruise ships and participants of burning man.

Find all the shownotes at https://www.evolvethe.world/

Today's experts are Eli Libby & Kyle Nelson, Founders of Results Imagery & the Biz Bros podcast. These are two startup veterans who have had both success and failure in several ventures. They pride themselves on having actually done the work of building a business and not just telling others how to do it. Essentially they practice what they preach as we will hear today how to create foundations for a startup to have social impact.

Today's lessons:

1. Follow your passion and don't let anything get in the way of that (especially for social enterprises)
2. Find a foundational co-founder and instill your vision and passion in them.
3. Be transparent (especially when building a social enterprise).
4. Develop a good founding story that consumers can get behind and support.

Full show notes and transcripts can be found here: https://www.evolvethe.world/learn/how-to-create-startup-foundations-for-social-impact

Want to download this expert's playbook? Join our community here: evolvethe.world/learn

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

Today's Featured Founder is Aylon Steinhart, Co-founder and CEO of Eclipse Foods, which makes plant-based milk that is indistinguishable from conventional dairy, in taste, texture and functionality. Their products are made without soy, nuts, coconut, gluten, GMO’s, gums or stabilizers, making them free from all common allergens and much cleaner than other products.

Full show notes and transcripts can be found here: evolvethe.world/community/aylon-steinhart

Want to be a featured founder? Join our community here: evolvethe.world/community

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

Kelsey Moreira is the founder & CEO of Doughp, a cookie dough company with a mission. Kelsey has been noted by Real Estate Mogul and Shark Tank Shark, Barbara Corcoran as the most sophisticated store owner she’d ever met in her life. Why might you ask? Because this Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneur ditched her decade-long 6 figure tech career with Intel and decided to bootstrap a cookie dough company from a $500 food cart to growing 500% year over year in profits the first two years by serving more than 250,000 cookie dough lovers. But the real magic has been their mission to reduce stigmas around mental health & addiction, including the donation of 88,151 MINUTES in mental health treatment time. Her cookie dough and her mission-driven mentality behind has raised more than 1.2 million dollars, had multiple retail locations including the Las Vegas Strip, and after COVID has pivoted 100% online to ship nationwide through a strong e-commerce business.

Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/kelsey-moreira

What You Will Learn In This Episode:

• - How Kelsey's relationship with alcohol became a detriment to her life
• - When Kelsey decided to stop drinking and how she did it
• - How Kelsey started baking in order to rebuild her identity
• - How Kelsey discovered the cookie dough recipe that would later become Doughp
• - How Kelsey launched Doughp and started validating her idea
• - What happened when Kelsey started sharing her sobriety journey with customers
• - What is Doughp For Hope and why it is the core of Doughp's mission
• - How Kelsey decides which nonprofits to partner with
• - How Kelsey created a fun startup culture without drinking or mind altering substances
• - How to permeate your values as a founder in the company culture
• - The challenges Kelsey faced as a first time entrepreneur opening a retail location
• - How Kelsey transitioned 100% online during COVID and skyrocketed sales
• - How you can use your physical locations data and experience to direct online experiences
• - What Doughp does to stand out in their marketing online
• - How Doughp nurtures it's community online
• - The best advice Kelsey received to stay resilient through sobriety and tough times
• - The meditation app that Kelsey swears by
• - How we can better support friends and families' mental health
• - How to find existing solutions and use your business to support them

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

Cullen Schwarz is the Co-Founder of Done Good, Chief of Good Thoughts, & a man who traded the political suit for a startup t-shirt. After a decade of fighting the good fight serving as a senior communications adviser to members of Congress and in the Obama Administration, he decided to start driving some of the $130 trillion in consumer spending to what Forbes has called the Amazon for Social Good. Since starting from inside the Harvard Innovation Lab in 2015, they have partnered with over 200 brands including names like Patagonia and Warby Parker, tripled their community to over 100,000 members, and diverted over one million dollars to companies dedicated to making the world a better place.

Full show notes and worksheets can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/cullen-schwarz

What You Will Learn In This Episode:

• What Cullen learned about conscientious consumerism when he became the leader of United Students Against Sweatshops
• Why Politics is too slow to make change and deliver the solutions we need
• Why consumer spending is the number one driver for positive change
• Why our hope for humanity is found in business
• What Cullen and his cofounder learned inside the Harvard Innovation Lab about startups
• Why Cullen's first app iteration of DoneGood turned out to be a terrible idea
• How Cullen pivoted his business model online by creating a chrome plugin & affiliate marketplace
• Why online shopping creates less behavior change for customers than brick and mortar
• Why online shopping is more sustainable than physical retail
• How Cullen got his first brands and customers to the marketplace and which side he built first
• Why Cullen decided to make a fully functioning marketplace and control the entire customer experience
• How DoneGood's business model creates a win-win for everyone
• How DoneGood competes against Amazon
• The dark side of Amazon's business practices
• Why socially conscious brands must be as good or better than regular brands
• Why Cullen believes sales and discounts are equally as important for socially conscious brands
• How to market and speak to conscious consumers
• Cullen's unique strategies to compete with Amazon, Better Days and Shop For Good Sunday
• How Cullen launched a new business model during COVID
• Where the most opportunity is in conscious capitalism in the coming decade
• Cullen's number one advice for social entrepreneurs just starting out

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

Ryan Mckenzie is the co founder of Tru Earth which bootstrapped from 0 to 2.5 million in monthly revenue in only 17 months while waging a war against plastic. After a career of growing several premium subscription boxes to multi-million dollar businesses, this serial entrepreneur decided to create a subscription, zero-waste, environmentally friendly laundry strip that completely eliminates the need for heavy plastic detergent jugs. With roughly 85 thousand active subscribers in 45 different countries, they have collectively kept over 2-million plastic jugs out of landfills, donated well over 2-million loads of laundry to vulnerable families in Canada, the United States and Ghana, and skyrocketed to the second fastest growing startup in Canada this year.

But the success of 8 figure monthly run rates has not always been the norm. Starting in the 90’s this entrepreneur has seen the heights of success getting hundreds of thousands of subscribers, generating 6 & 7 figures a month in revenue, and the lows of losing it all, working out of an ice cold garage in the canadian winter, and rationing out discount ground beef for his family for the week. Despite the ups and downs, the lessons learned in his 20 year career helped him design a subscription model around this laundry Eco-Strip, initially aiming to sign on 150 customers, and landing him with an astonishing fifteen-hundred in the very first month!

This disruptive startup and innovative founder has been featured in dozens of media outlets and in his written content that has been read by more than 100 million readers. Additionally their viral sensation "Things You Should Never Mix with Water” has been viewed over 16 million times.

Find all the shownotes for this episode at https://www.evolvethe.world/ryan-mckenzie

Kuda Biza is the Co-Founder of Nunbelievable & author of the SPEAR Method. Kuda went from washing windows as a young kid in economically deteriorating Zimbabwe to building 6 businesses & a non profit  to solve two of the world’s biggest problems: education and hunger. With only $150 in start-up capital, he launched a profitable clothing line from a college dorm room, resulting in the education of more than 100 children in Africa. He then launched a global buy-one-give-one social enterprise which has donated over 10,000 school supply kits to underprivileged students in Africa. His most recent venture, Nunbelievable, is a mission-based baked goods company that donates a meal for every cookie sold. Within just one year they have donated more than 100,000 meals and even had one person committed to buying close to six figures’ worth of these socially conscious cookies.  

Pretty extraordinary for someone who once lived through a drought that left millions without food and killed several of his friends and neighbors. Yet this gritty and determined entrepreneur wanted to change that. So staying up all night in internet cafes for scholarships and coming to the U.S. with only $40 in his pocket, he sharpened his spear studying business in college, launching startups, and spending over a decade in various roles at a Fortune 500 company where he helped take a new meal delivery business venture from ZERO to $20M in 3 years and managed a $75M ecommerce business across major outlets like Amazon, Retail.com and direct-to-consumer sites.

Additionally, he is a renowned public speaker delivering keynote addresses at more than 40 institutions in 4 countries including Harvard, the United Nations, and TEDx, inspiring audiences to take action, achieve dreams and impact social change through purposeful entrepreneurship.

Find all the shownotes for this episode at https://www.evolvethe.world/kuda-biza