Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Category: Business

  • Ep296: Investing in the Environment with Environmentalist Entrepreneur and Energea Investments Co-Founder Mike Silvestrini

    Ep296: Investing in the Environment with Environmentalist Entrepreneur and Energea Investments Co-Founder Mike Silvestrini

    The Earth is one thing we all have in common; whatever we take from this planet is reflected on this shared soil we call a home. So, for environmental philanthropist Mike Silvestrini, giving back to nature is the go-to plan of action.

    Co-founder of Energea Investments and the main founder of over 400 renewable energy development projects, Mike is a firm believer that environmentalism and financial conservatism can coexist and that the entrepreneurial lifestyle can be achieved with an environmentalist mindset.

    Energea is a renewable energy retail investment platform. Since launching the company’s first solar energy offering in August 2020, Energea has raised more than $65 million to invest in its Africa, Brazil and U.S. portfolios. To date, retail investors have realized a 12.27% IRR.

    Prior to Energea, Mike was co-founder and CEO of one of the largest commercial and industrial solar firms in the U.S. He managed multiple renewable energy funds worth more than $500 million in aggregate and oversaw the development of more than 400 renewable energy projects

    “We’re trying to show a for-profit approach to our profession and have the result be more good things for the earth.”

    With that in mind, Mike plans to take the market for renewable energy and bring it forward to the public with a vision to make a market that invests in the Earth. And even though today’s current market for renewable energy is pretty big, it’s still trillions of dollars away from the goal he has in mind. Despite this, Mike has faith that humans are an incredible species with boundless potential.

    “I’m a big believer that humans are incredibly capable… humans can manage the gaseous content of our atmosphere, I think that we are so capable as a species that we can really do anything.”

    The Eco CEO also reminds us that saving the environment and changing the world’s view on sustainable living, as well as resource consumption, is no easy task—it’s a global effort that starts with an individual choice. Making that decision to live a sustainable lifestyle and influencing others to take the same path is only the first step for the world to turn a new leaf.

    “We have to start today, we have to get busy, and we need businesses to be focused on sustainable issues so that we can harness that incredible power of capitalism and put it to work towards rebuilding.”

    More From Mike:

  • Ep295: Pairing Creativity with Commerce in a Unique Way with Best-Selling Author and Founder of RLVNT Media, Tina Wells

    Ep295: Pairing Creativity with Commerce in a Unique Way with Best-Selling Author and Founder of RLVNT Media, Tina Wells

    How many of us can say that the same things that matter to us now, mattered to us as a kid? Tina Wells can say the same. Her adoration with books as a little girl led her to become an award-winning, bestselling author of several middle-grade series including The Zee Files and Honest June.

    In fact, when you visit her Instagram (@tinawells), it would probably still reflect a lot of the same things she enjoys such as consuming culture, creating, travelling and just being with the people she loves.

    In her early years, growing up in suburban New Jersey, she shared with us how her parents are very much firm believers in education. She’s the eldest of 6 children in a very active family who spends a lot of time together as she recalls having a fun vibrant household. And even until now, they’d see each other often, travel together and also love travelling individually.

    Preparation, Inspiration, Recreation and Transformation

    As a business strategist, advisor, and founder of RLVNT Media, Tina has four phases she applies in every book and every project she creates. Everything is going through a cycle called Preparation, Inspiration, Recreation and Transformation.

    Preparation is when figuring out if the business, idea or service makes sense. Inspiration is when you ask yourself how do I make it happen? Who’s done it before? It’s all about getting inspired to bring this idea to life. Recreation, it’s where you go out to do something fun and you take a step back so that you can look at your product, and check how to make it even better. And lastly, Transformation is bringing it all to life.

    Pairing Creativity and Commerce

    Tina is also the Founder of Elevation Tribe, the platform for women of colour who want to launch, grow, and lead businesses. To her, doing all of these different things is her way of existing as a full expression of herself.

    One of the things Tina is proud of from Gen Z is the ability to pair creativity and commerce in a really unique way that the previous generations failed to figure out. She is optimistic of many shifts that are going to happen as people realize that they’re able to make money doing the things that they love to do in ways that maybe weren’t available to that previous generation.

    Loyalty of Readership

    We all have the ability, whatever our idea is, to dig deep and know as much as we can in the industry that interests you. So Tina’s advice is to watch what’s happening, watch how people are moving, watch for pain points and how you get your intended buyers.

    And this answers the question of why Tina chose the preteen demographics for her books. She loves the universal themes of that age, the awkwardness, and the fact that they’re still at a phase where they’re impressionable. She wants to grab that opportunity to get some good stuff in there and focus on getting the values there. So for anyone who’s thinking about a creative business, it’s how you focus on your audience and really continue to deliver for that audience.

    Tina always believed in making a vision really clear and doing everything she could to get that vision across.

    “I am always striving for work-life harmony. I don’t really believe work-life balance exists, but I believe in harmony in creating the life that we want.”

    More of Tina:

    • Website: tinawells.com
    • IG: @tinawells
    • LinkedIn – Tina Wells
    • Facebook:  Tina Wells
    • Twitter: @tinacwells
  • Ep293: Turning Words into Wealth with Author Trainer Aurora Winter, MBA

    Ep293: Turning Words into Wealth with Author Trainer Aurora Winter, MBA

    It is said that there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you, which is why award-winning author and writing coach Aurora Winter has made it her life’s work to help people realize the value of what they have to say.

    Her natural vibrancy and lively personality gave her a natural edge in the entertainment industry where she spent most of her quirks and conquests. In seeing that all that the reputation she had gained and the relationships she had made was built on a foundation of excellent communication, it was during this time when she understood the value of her stories.

    “What I’ve noticed about the most successful people is always rooted in communication—they have a way of sharing stories.”

    But after spending time falling in love, getting into all sorts of businesses, and “schmoozing with celebrities”, Aurora decided that it was well about time she doubled down on what she felt was her calling.

    After a few years of diligent studying in Italy, she took her chances, and with a small email list of over 12,000 people, capitalized on her expertise and influence to pursue a career in writing.

    “I share that story because no matter what I’m going through, what you’re going through, what our listeners may be going through, there is a way through,” Aurora emphasizes, “If you have a big enough reason why.”

    Now a celebrated figure among authors and entertainers alike, Aurora reminds us that success follows those who are willing to take the risks of a path less travelled. To her, it is important to lead your own life and write your story the way you want it.

    “The most successful people—at least what I would define as success—their intention is of high integrity and not just to line their pockets.”

    More from Aurora:

  • Ep292: Building an International Community with Panion Founder Melanie Aronson

    Ep292: Building an International Community with Panion Founder Melanie Aronson

    It’s on how to build and run your own community online or offline. People often said that curiosity leads us down new paths, but for film director Melanie Aronson, curiosity made her take a hard left from a career in film and into the world of entrepreneurship.

    Living an international life and hopping from place to place, the newness of it all was a familiar feeling to Melanie as she was an enthusiast of the world’s uncertainties. The challenge of immersing herself in the unknown, combined with her natural fascination for new experiences different communities had to offer, became the life-blood of her work as a documentarian.

    “My mom used to tell me my whole life ‘nothing’s ever simple with you’” she said, jokingly, “For me, it’s exciting when there’s something new to solve.”

    It was this same passion for the community that lead her to pivot from film-making to app making, as she is now the founder of Panion, a platform for finding and building groups of like-minded people even in the most unruly places.

    Panion is a community management platform that provides an empathy-driven framework for creating safe and inclusive spaces of connection both online and offline.

    “I was really interested in understanding people’s experiences to people migrating was, coming from very different backgrounds and cultures, I wanted to understand what that process was like.”

    The effort and compassion that was put into her simple project have come a long way from its original purpose. Initially a tool for organization and meetups, it has become a full-fledged community-building platform. Despite the hardship and developments caused by the pandemic, Panion and Melanie’s goal still remains the same; making a safe space for people to find each other.

    “I think the hardest part of my journey was realizing that in order for this to be successful I had to recognize myself as a leader,” she says, “I have to do something, and then be able to actually look at myself and identify with that.”

    Concluding her story, she leaves us with one last message. Melanie reminds us that living an unconventional life could just happen out of nowhere and that the journey to growth is better when shared.

     

    More from Melanie:

  • Ep290: The Right to be Published with The Author Incubator President, Dr Angela Lauria

    Ep290: The Right to be Published with The Author Incubator President, Dr Angela Lauria

    Everyone has a story they want to tell, and the author-writing coach Dr Angela Lauria has helped thousands of aspiring authors to take those stories and share them with the world.

    Dr Angela E. Lauria is the founder of The Author Incubator™ and creator of the Difference Process™ for writing a book that matters. The Author Incubator was ranked #275 on the Inc. 500 fastest growing companies and #60 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur 360. Dr Angela won the Stevie Award’s Coach/Mentor of the Year Award and her program, The Author’s Way was named Coaching Program of the Year and was named, by Entrepreneur Magazine, as one of the top 10 most inspiring entrepreneurs to watch – one of only 2 women on the list.

    She knew at an early age that her destiny was written on paper and printed in leatherback. She was a natural bookworm, finding a second home in the library and a calling to write and be read. Her love for literature lead Angela to devote her time to publishing and helping marginalized authors speak their minds.

    “A lot of my work is just really helping women, LGBT folks, and people of colour, step into their authority in getting their message out there.”

    To Angela, being an author doesn’t just take vision, but action as well. She points out how a lot of her students wait for a “right time” before pursuing a career in writing and how she has helped them take the first step towards making a profit from their published work by helping them realize that “they have the authority; they just don’t have the clarity necessary to see it and claim it.”

    “You have to become the person who wrote the book before you write.”

    Angela also tells us how the changing times call for a new generation of writers; those who are dedicated to their craft and are willing to make a difference with the stories they have to tell. She makes it a point that the market looks for two types of authors; those who have mastery and the ones who want to become even better at it.

    Today, Angela and her team at the Author Incubator have helped aspiring authors turn their published work into a profitable revenue model with the same idea in mind; building mastery and forming a structure of commitment.

    “Number one, you’re not ready to write a book yet if you haven’t already done it, and then number two, if you’re not committed to continuing. That commitment to wanting to get better, that’s what I’m looking for.”

    More from Angela:

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