Today we’d like to introduce you to Shaun Chavis.
Shaun, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My life has this funny circle to it. My dad was a US Army officer and later became an entrepreneur; he started a government contracting company that he ran until he was 78 years old. He used to tell me that I would make a good entrepreneur, but I had my heart set on becoming a journalist. I very much believe in the public’s right to know and in journalism’s role as The Fourth Estate.
Then, I didn’t care about the money, and journalism can be a career with lots of great adrenaline rushes. The funny part is that throughout my career, I’ve always been part of starting something. I became managing editor of a new weekly metro in Oklahoma City when I was 24. Later, I worked in TV as a newscast producer, and I was on the team to launch my station’s website and became an online news producer.
I’ve loved cooking since I was six years old, and part of me wanted to do something in food. I moved to Boston for culinary school and a masters degree program in gastronomy. By the time I finished my degrees, I had a job at Health magazine as the editor of its new diet section.
Through all of that, I had a spark for starting a business. I took a stab at several. I baked and sold cookies in undergrad. I started a solopreneur graphic design agency shortly after college. I tried to buy the metro weekly I worked for when the owner started to burn out. I took a stab at a chocolate business. I co-founded FoodBlogSouth, which became the largest food blogging conference in the Southeast US.
Right after we started FoodBlogSouth, I moved to Time Inc.’s cookbook publishing division. I loved it more than I thought I would. I was on the “light foods” or healthy cookbooks team. I had a few list bestsellers, and one of my books won a James Beard Award. After a few years in cookbooks, rumors were going around about the eventual split between Time-Warner and Time, Inc., the publishing division. I saw the handwriting on the wall and left. I moved to Georgia and worked for about 18 months as content marketing director of a young ice cream company. There, I had a chance to develop a new line of ice creams that were sold exclusively in Whole Foods Market stores in the US and Canada.
After that, I decided to start my own business, Saltshaker Marketing & Media, a boutique agency that specializes in brand cookbooks and magazines for food, wellness, and tourism companies.
I’m now working on starting a new company, LVNGbook, and the official launch will be in early 2020. So, I have to admit, maybe my dad was right!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I’m a real workaholic, something I think I developed while working against deadlines in TV news. I’m a workaholic to my own detriment. (Though I don’t think I’m as bad as Elon Musk.)
Saltshaker’s been a challenge because the sales cycle for this kind of work is long, I was bootstrapping, and cash flow was great some months and terrible others. I have great talent to hire for each client’s project, and I curate teams based on the client’s goals. But for a long while I didn’t have a partner or anyone to help with the day to day work. I was constantly juggling fundraising, sales, operations, and client projects. When my mom died suddenly a few days after Christmas 2017, I stepped away. I was burned out, and I needed to take some time to deal.
I’ve learned some valuable things.
1 – Have a life. About a year into Saltshaker, someone asked me what I do for fun, and my answer was, “…uh…” I’d gone from someone who regularly threw dinner parties for her friends to someone who didn’t allow herself any fun at all. The book Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less really helped change my mindset.
2 – Before you “grow where you’re planted,” make sure you’re planted in the right place. You can’t expect hydrangeas to thrive in the desert. The environments where you spend the most time make a significant difference in your present and future. For me, that means being in Atlanta and surrounded by brilliant, successful people who look like me. It means working with people I enjoy and admire. It means having supportive friends, family, and a home… home should be the place where you are happy and accepted more than any other place.
3 – Entrepreneurs need support, especially women and people of color. I’ve heard people in entrepreneurial-investor circles say “support the founder,” but that support is missing for founders who are women and people of color, even though we are starting businesses at rates that outpace other population groups, and women-run businesses are outperforming businesses with only men at the helm. Little things have mattered to me, like a friend who makes healthy meals for me now and then, or a friend who offers a few hours of help. I’m grateful to a few supportive women in my life who made short-term loans to help me get the business through rough spots.
Coming out of my grief, I came up with the concept for LVNGbook. I haven’t completely shut down Saltshaker, but I’m selective about what we take on. Right now I’m focusing my energy into myself and LVNGbook.
Please tell us about LVNGbook.
I’m really excited about LVNGbook, a new business I’m developing with a registered dietitian in the Digital Undivided incubator. Our mission is to help people who are living with chronic disease eat to manage their health, make a lasting lifestyle change, and feel good about what they eat. Our approach combines healthy recipes with behavior science.
We want to help people stay tied to their cultural roots, and we want to help people who are cooking two meals a night because someone in the family has a health condition.
Our first product will be personalized print-on-demand cookbooks for people with cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure and high cholesterol. We’ll have an early access version ready in October, and we’re offering a limited number of invitations to customers and clinicians who’d like to offer it to their patients. The official version will be ready in early 2020.
The early access invitations will be sent this fall in stages. People can get an invitation at lvngbook.com, and the first version will be priced around $25 to $30. We’re starting supper clubs for people with chronic conditions soon, and we’ll eventually develop recipes for other health conditions, such as pre-diabetes/diabetes.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I think I would have used my bootstrapping money differently. And I would have prioritized self-care. I worked on my business like I worked on newscasts — just keep going furiously, and rest after the show’s done. But there’s a big difference… you can create a newscast in a day. A business takes a lot longer!
What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to or planning for – any big changes?
I’m really eager to see what LVNGbook will grow into. I’ve got dreams about what it can become.
Now that I’m an entrepreneur, I want to help other entrepreneurs. I’ve been talking to my state representative about a strong unemployment-to-entrepreneur program that gives people extended financial support if they write a business plan and start a business. There are similar programs in a few other states that partner with SBA SCORE, and in some countries founders in these programs can draw benefits for a few years until their businesses are able to support them. I’d like to do more about that.
Also in the works is a project to educate founders and individuals, especially women and people of color, about ways to grow businesses, personal wealth, and community wealth. Anyone can help, and it pays off. For starters, anyone can invest in a small business—check out Angels of Main Street (angelsofmainstreet.com), which is a new platform that connects small businesses and potential investors. If you make $200K a year, you can become an accredited investor. Families and communities can do more to support entrepreneurs by learning how to invest or offering some sweat equity. You might have some valuable contacts and connections to offer. Even little things like being a workout partner or spa buddy, bringing healthy take-out by for a meal, or taking on some household work can make a significant difference. The support you give will not only help the business, but they can offer valuable opportunities for you, too.
I’m also really excited about pursuing some personal things… I have an interest in investing in art thanks to Zucot Gallery. I have a long travel bucket list.
Pricing:
- Early access cookbook: $30
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lvngbook.com
- Email: hello@lvngbook.com
Image Credit:
Jason Lagi, photographer, Andrea Swemley, prop stylist, Victor Protasio, photographer, Brown, food stylist, Castleberry Daylight Studio
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