The week is flying by!
Monday was a busy day – from getting ready for my Easy Vegan radio interview with Nick Cooney to then editing it (we had some tech difficulties so post-show work was pretty intense). Though I had to edit about five minutes of the interview out due to sound issues, the 22-minute show contains some gems from Nick on ag-gag laws and considerations for vegans when making philanthropic decisions. I hope you’ll take a listen!
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Save the date: My guests Monday at noon MST are Dreena Burton and Hillary Rettig! Show info here.
I flew to New York early Tuesday morning because yesterday I taught my “When Your VLCE Means Business,” a class on how to use a vegan lifestyle coach & educator certification to build a career. It’s a 90-minute class – these are the three areas in which I focus:
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Get started
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Get serious
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Get known
Get started
Become a student of your hobbies (be a lifelong learner). Often when we feel a calling to professionalize our passion we actually may not have the skills or experience in our “heart” area – but we have a real desire. I wanted to write, teach and consult about veganism and vegan cooking, so I needed to learn. I enrolled in the Main Street Vegan Academy, food writing workshops, and public culinary classes. That got me started, but I’ve never stopped taking classes. Since starting my business I have gone through the PCRM Food for Life instructor training. I take several writing classes a year. Lifelong learning!
Develop a personal budget. If you’re going to strike out on your own, you need to know exactly how much money you need to make. Pull out your personal budget and start slashing – to get started as an entrepreneur you may need to cut your personal budget so that you give yourself some breathing room. Dave and I started by removing newspaper subscriptions, all the online scripts (Hulu, Netflix, etc.), house cleaning services, etc. Of course, this was when I was the entrepreneur. Once Dave decided that he, too, wanted to professionalize his passion, we made a big cut in our budget – we left New York for Colorado – so that we both could pursue our heart work.
Develop a business plan + budget. Now that you know how much you income you need to earn annually, it’s time to develop a business plan that will help you achieve that goal. What services or products are you selling? What do you need to do to ensure that you will have enough clients or customers to meet those income goals?
Get serious
Connect your existing work/career/skills with your new area of interest. It can be hard to strike out your own. My number one advice is to tap into what you already know how to do (in my case: fundraising, writing, strategic planning in the nonprofit and higher education space) and link it into what you want to do. My ultimate goal was to have a business in which I was a writer, cooking instructor, and consultant to businesses (profit and nonprofit) with a vegan / animal rights focus. I began by doing fundraising consulting, while taking classes to hone my new skills (see above), and that provided me viable income. Tip: try to focus on the existing skills and experiences that you LOVE, not what you know how to do but hate!
Be realistic about your services + pricing. You need to know your market. New York rates for consultative services will be very different from rates in Colorado. Do your research and determine the value of your time. And be nimble. What you think is a right or just price now may be completely different a year from now.
Network, network, network. Self-explanatory? The short version is this: any work that I have taken on in the past three years of self-employment can be directly linked to some form of networking. Get out there!
Get known
Promote yourself – with NO APOLOGIES! How will people know about your new awesome business? When you TELL them. Figure out your comfort zone online (social media, website, etc.) and where you can go locally to talk about what you do. One day, as your business builds, clients and customers can share the love but in the meantime? It’s all on YOU!
Volunteer (when you give to your community, you receive so much more, including work). One way to let people know who you are, what you’re about, and what you can do is to volunteer your time and energy to demonstrate it. Not only will this make your heart and soul feel good, you’ll be doing good for your community. And you’ll be introducing yourself as a vegepreneur to your community.
Questions about getting started as a vegepreneur? Ask in the comments!
My 48-hours in NYC were awesome. I’m delighted that I can come back to my former home at least four times a year to teach at the Academy. I also get to see friends and colleagues and eat amazing vegan food (and there were some seriously delicious eats that I plan to share in my weekly Real World Vegan Meals newsletter – sign-up here – tomorrow). Can’t wait for the next trip!
3 thoughts on “Tips for the budding vegepreneur: key points from my Main Street Vegan Academy class”
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Hi JL! Thank you for this post! I actually just wrote on my own blog about my upcoming participation in the VLCE program starting Oct 2. I want to make a living doing work that aligns with my vegan and animal rights convictions but have no idea where to start. It seems like every vegan entrepreneur has a niche, something special to offer, and I don’t. Any words of wisdom you can offer?
How great that you’re going to be a part of the Academy, @natalieforman:disqus ! The Academy is actually where a lot of people find clarity about niche. You’ll be introduced to a variety of people, concepts, and ideas, all of which open up endless possibilities for you! I would suggest that between now and then you give yourself some space and time to think about your own unique skills and experiences so that you can start to apply what you know now with what you want to do in your future vegan career!
Thank you so much for the response @jerrilynn:disqus … I feel so much more hopeful now. I will do as you suggested and really think about who I am and where I want to be – and how I can get there. Thank you again <3