Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in media but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Andrew Alexander, a Plant-Based Entrepreneur, Author & Director of Creating a Vegan World Documentary, based in Boulder, CO, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Creating a Vegan World is a full-length documentary that goes behind the scenes of the growth of the vegan, plant-based health, and environmentalist movements. Our mission is to discover what it takes to create a movement that changes the world for the better on a global scale. To do this: we've interviewed hundreds of Vegan leaders all across the world to discover what they are doing to make the world a better place. The ultimate goal is to get this documentary streaming on large streaming platforms.

Tell us about yourself

In 2014 I built a digital magazine publishing company that grew from 0 to 1.3 million readers. This allowed me to quit my corporate job in Phoenix, Arizona and gave me the freedom to travel the world. After living out my personal dreams and goals for many years, I wanted to create a business that has a positive impact on something I care strongly about. In 2017 I became vegan and went on to co-launch an online vegan meal delivery service. I still felt the scope of my impact was minimal. So in 2020, I posed the idea in a vegan Facebook group that I wanted to make a film about the growth of the vegan movement. People loved the idea, and everybody wanted to get involved! My motivation every day is to help the animals that are harmed during the creation of products for humans and to see what I can do to shift people to a healthier plant-based style of living.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Before this film, I would say my biggest accomplishment was the ability to build my first business after years of struggling. I would jump from one idea to another when I didn't have success right away, and I always doubted if someone like me could ever build an online business (because I've never done it before!). That proved to myself that anything is possible in my life. My greatest accomplishment so far with the film were the people I inspired to become leaders in the Vegan movement and use the strategies I learned to jumpstart projects of their own. Each and every one of us has our unique role in the larger movement, and when we find out what our niche is - it is great when we come together and support the growth of our industry.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Right now, I'm working on fundraising for the film. In 2022, I raised $10,000 through a Kickstarter campaign and raised another $5,000 from a private philanthropist. Now, as I travel the world and capture these unique stories on camera - I'll need the funds for production, post-production editing, music licensing, and other things to turn the raw footage into a final product that the streaming platforms would be more than motivated to buy. So I am actively searching for mission-driven philanthropists and donors to help fund this project and also executive producers who care about the cause and can contribute to the film as well.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Sense the emotions of your future customers when you talk bout your product to them. Before the film, I was planning the launch of a vegan subscription box that helped people get essential vitamins through real food and not plants. People wished me the best, but I sensed that there was no excitement there. When I speak about my documentary Creating a Vegan World, I see people's faces light up, they get excited, and they can't wait for it to be released! When your future customers show a strong desire for what you are building - it's these emotions that drive their actions to be customers when the product is built. That's what is commonly called "soft validation." When I raised $15,000 for the film through donations and campaigns, that's validation that people are willing to financially support the project. The same concepts hold true for B2C products as well.
  2. When you take one step, the next step unfolds itself. I used to get caught up in my head and think about all the what-if's before I took any action on something. While planning is important, sometimes in the beginning, it's better to just go out there and do something and see where the market landscape directs you to go. It's not a matter of time but a matter of how many actions I take before the next step becomes clear.
  3. Pick one thing and stick with it until the end. When you know you are onto something, you commit to it for the long run. The analogy I like to use is "It's like building a sand castle at the beach. So many first-time business owners put one bucket of sand down and then move down the beach and try to put down buckets of sand in a different location before they have put in enough energy to see anything come to fruition. Put one bucket down, then the next, then the next. Keep going and one day you'll have the full sandcastle built. Because good things happen when you remain focused on them over time. Business is the same."

Where can people find you and your business?

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veganworldfilm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veganworldfilm/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/veganworldfilm
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/limitlessceo/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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