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BONUS: Running A Business That Saves Lives w/Seven Weeks Coffee · The Lila Rose Show

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  Did you imagine that the business and the mission would
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  have grown this much and you would be at almost a half
• 0:05
  $1,000,000 donated through Seven weeks coffee?
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  I think we're just getting started, but this milestone of
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  $500,000 donated is going to be awesome to surpass.
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  We're obviously unapologetically pro-life.
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  We're actually leading the charge in how we source our
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  coffee. So we like to say we're pro
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  abundant life, from the farmers we get to support to the moms at
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  pregnancy care centers. What is your advice to someone
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  listening who maybe is an entrepreneur themselves or is
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  trying to get into starting a business?
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  Anton Kresic, welcome to the podcast.
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  Thank you so much for having me on Lila.
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  All right, we're big fans of you on the show.
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  As you know, we talk about 7 weeks all the time.
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  It's really amazing what you've built.
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  So I'm excited to share with the audience some of the background
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  here because not many people know it.
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  So for starters, tell us a little bit about your
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  background, Anton, and then what inspired you to found Seven
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  Weeks Coffee? Yeah, so I used to work in
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  political fundraising, but I always had a passion for the
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  pro-life movement. It really inspired. 7 Weeks
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  Coffee was four years ago. I got to visit a pregnancy
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  Center for the first time. I was always pro-life.
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  I grew up in a pro-life household, but I didn't know
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  what it looked like. You know, you know, until you
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  actually see it in action, especially like a pregnancy
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  center, you don't know what actually it means to live out a
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  pro-life worldview. And I just saw the work that
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  they did saving lives in the community, helping mothers.
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  But one thing stuck out to me, how underfunded centers can be.
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  And it was really moving because you saw the need, you see what
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  they're doing, but there's a gap with the resources they have.
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  So that was four years ago. Fast forward 2021, I had the
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  idea for Seven Weeks Coffee out of a passion for coffee and out
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  of a passion to support local pregnancy resource centers with
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  the mission of donating back 10% of every sale.
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  So that's how it came to be. It was funny enough that it was,
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  it was two weeks after I got married, I started Seven Weeks
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  Coffee. I, I called my wife, told her
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  the idea for this company. She was totally on board.
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  She helped me come up with the name because at 7 weeks, a baby
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  is the size of a coffee bean, as your audience knows, and it's
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  the same time a heartbeat's detected.
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  And local centers which we sent out, which we support, provide
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  ultrasound services. So that's a little bit about me
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  and the mission of Seven Weeks Coffee and how we get to give
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  back at a local level. That's so beautiful.
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  It's so awesome, Anton. And tell me now, I I, I, we
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  sometimes up the number on the show because the business is
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  growing. The mission continues to grow,
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  which is very exciting. How much money so far has Seven
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  Weeks Coffee been able to donate to pregnancy resource centers
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  directly and what are your goals?
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  I know there's a big audacious goal now in order to further
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  fuel the pro-life movement and help moms connect with their
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  babies to save lives. Yeah.
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  So I'll start from the beginning because that first month when we
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  started, we didn't really know where this would go.
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  That first month, we just wanted to sell, cough and give back to
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  our local center. That month we sold $8000 and
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  dropped off a check for $800 and just thought it was the coolest
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  thing because we were able to give back.
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  Now, you're right, we are growing.
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  We've been able to raise nearly $450,000 supporting over 850
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  centers across the nation with the same model, providing world
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  class specialty coffee and giving back to local centers.
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  Which is really cool because we're coming up and launching
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  right now this new initiative called Drink More Coffee, Save
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  More Lives because we're approaching $500,000 donated,
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  which has the impact to provide 5000 ultrasound services.
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  So for your viewers to know, it's around $100 to service and
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  provide an ultrasound to an expecting mother in need.
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  And ultrasounds are truly the way that help moms choose life
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  for their babies. So we believe the $500,000 we're
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  about to donate can provide 5000 ultrasound services and save
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  5000 lives. So that's why we're launching
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  this initiative called Drink More Coffee, Save More Lives.
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  Help us save 5000 lives. It's been truly remarkable.
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  We're coming up on three years old and this is just a really
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  cool milestone we're grateful to reach with our audience and our
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  consumers all over the country. That's actually an amazing
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  milestone for just three years of business.
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  And I know again, you started it small just to support one
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  pregnancy center. Now you're at 850.
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  Did you imagine when you were starting just three years ago
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  and it was also pandemic time? I mean, there's all this
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  craziness happening, the economy.
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  Did you imagine that the business and the mission would
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  have grown this much and you would be at almost a half
• 4:34
  $1,000,000 donated through Seven weeks coffee?
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  Yeah, I, I had no idea. You know, it's funny when you're
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  just starting something, it's hard to see down the road where
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  things can do, where things can go.
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  But right away what was interesting, we saw so many
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  people have enthusiasm and support of our brand.
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  So we knew we were like on to something, which really shows
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  there's, there's so many Christian and pro-life consumers
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  out there who are dying for products that align with their
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  mission, that they can buy something that they support.
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  And so we were truly feeling a void that we didn't maybe even
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  realize was there. And it quickly caught on.
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  Now it definitely has me, you know, looking forward to say,
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  hey, this is what we've been able to do in nearly three
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  years. I think we have so much more
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  that we can do and grow. We want to see our support to
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  almost every pregnancy center in the nation.
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  We want to be the resource, the funding resource for the
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  pro-life movement because we think there's so many great
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  opportunities to support in the pro-life movement outs including
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  pregnancy centers from adoption to maternity homes.
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  Now we're getting to support. I think we're just getting
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  started, but this milestone of $500,000 donated is going to be
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  awesome to surpass. So we're excited to invite your
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  viewers and people all over the country who love coffee and want
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  to make a difference. They really can do that by
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  joining Seven Weeks Coffee Every morning.
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  Amazing. And then Anton, just share a
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  little bit. What I really love about your
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  product is that it's not just, oh, it's a good 'cause obviously
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  it is the most important 'cause in my opinion.
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  And as you know, you feel the same way.
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  It's not just that we're trying to save lives here and you are
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  helping save lives directly, but that you've created and crafted
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  both a brand and a product that is just the best in class.
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  I mean, it is an excellent product.
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  The coffee is absolutely delicious, It's small batched,
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  it's fresh, and there's all these different blends that I
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  have loved to try and experiment with.
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  But tell me a little bit what went into the process of
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  developing the product so that it truly is the best coffee
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  product on the market? Yeah, It's a great thing we love
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  to talk about because we believe two things.
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  We believe life is worth fighting for and defending.
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  We're also believed to do that with our brand.
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  As a coffee company, we believe the consumer deserves a better
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  cup of coffee and we do that by how we source our coffee and
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  provide that to customers. So what's unique about us is
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  we're one of the only coffee companies that sources through
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  direct trade, which means we buy directly from farmers.
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  There's no middleman. Every coffee we sell, we
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  personally know the farmers who grew it, the hands that touched
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  it and produced this crops. We have complete transparency
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  over the supply chain. This leads to exceptional
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  quality. Top 1 to 2% of the beans in the
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  world allows us to treat farmers equitably and give them 300%
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  more than fair trade requires because we're not buying through
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  a middleman. So oftentimes farmers are paid
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  pennies on the dollar. We don't do that.
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  We buy directly from farmers and help communities across the
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  nation, from farmers in Ethiopia to Haiti, which obviously is a
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  poor country, but we support sustainable employment there
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  through our coffee importing. And it's just awesome that we
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  get to match what we say, excellence in mission and
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  excellence in product because we believe to really move the
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  needle with market based products, you have to actually
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  compete in the market. So we're obviously
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  unapologetically pro-life, but we are also a much better
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  product comparatively to your Starbucks, your Dunkin' Donuts
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  or other specialty coffees out there.
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  We're actually leading the charge in how we source our
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  coffee. So we like to say we're pro
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  abundant life, from the farmers we get to support to the moms of
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  pregnancy care centers. Amazing.
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  One more question for your Anton.
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  You've started this young, you know you had just gotten married
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  when you launched the company. It's now a multi $1,000,000
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  company. Your revenue is hitting in the
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  multi millions and here you are about to donate 1/2 a million to
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  pregnancy centers, which is an amazing milestone.
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  What is your advice to someone listening who maybe is an
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  entrepreneur themselves or is trying to get into starting a
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  business? What has been some of the
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  guiding stars for you? Maybe your top two pieces of
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  advice for entrepreneurs. Yeah, you know, the two, the two
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  biggest things I think for me were you have to be incredibly
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  persistent when you start, be incredibly resourceful and you
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  have to you have to learn how to cast a vision quickly.
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  What I what I do regret is not thinking, you know, long term
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  down the road from the beginning because you know, if you are in
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  it to start something for a mission, you believe in a
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  product you love, have a big vision for it because it truly
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  can happen. I've experienced that and I'm
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  just incredibly grateful and blessed for that.
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  But when you think long term and plan in that, in that fashion,
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  it really sets you up for what I think is what can really change
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  your life and you know, change your trajectory that your family
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  walks it. You know, your family has with
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  your business like me and my wife.
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  This has become our mission. So yeah, don't be afraid to to,
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  to dream big with, with the business you want to start.
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  Awesome. Thank you so much, Anton.
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  Where can people find? Well, I tell them all the time,
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  sevenweekscoffee.com tell people what how to get involved right
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  now so that they can help you reach half a million to
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  pregnancy centers. Yeah, you can shop our Drink
• 9:51
  More Coffee, Save More live Sale, Subscribe and save 15% and
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  then get a free pro-life tote. It says drink Coffee, save lives
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  on it to commemorate this $500,000 anniversary.
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  And as always, they can use Cold Lila to save an extra 10%.
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  So we we definitely encourage all listeners to do that and
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  join us in this amazing achievement.
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  Thank you so much, Anton for joining the podcast.
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  Yeah, thank you so much for having me on Lila.