Today we’d like to introduce you to Zan Kavanah.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Zan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In 1993, my father’s cancer had come back for the third time and another surgery was not an option. I began a rapid search for an alternative that would keep him alive. I stumbled upon Deepak Chopra’s Book 7 Spiritual Laws of Success and began to learn more about the correlation between our emotions and their impact on our body. This awakening didn’t help my father stay alive, but at 24 years old it was the conduit that leads me down the rabbit hole of my deep fascination of consciousness and the unseen world beyond. You see my father taught me to be an entrepreneur, as I observed at a young age the hustle and excitement of running your own business. My Irish father started his career in the “Schmatta” business in the heart of New York and was one of the original founders of Jones of New York. I blame him for my innate need to take risks, bring about change and do what is right by people but thank him for keeping a sense of humor through it all.
After graduating with a Media Arts degree, I ventured into the shark infested waters of the entertainment business, working in post-production and producing, which lasted only seven years until I started my Marketing Agency at the age of 28. Although, I have come to appreciate more ease in grace in my later years, early on it seems the tougher the challenge, the more intrigued I was. Bored with just a media firm, I launched one of the first pre-streaming online channels for the sport compact tuner scene, producing multiple documentaries, testing my skills to see if I could create in a field I knew nothing about, nor quite frankly cared about the world of cars. I did that because my husband at the time and all our mutual friends were in the industry, and I thought it might be fun. Slowly, I began to gain confidence in my ability to “Get shit done” regardless of the hurdles and that wasn’t because of just hard work. I was an ambitious student of metaphysics and guidance, seeking, reading and wanting desperately to learn as much as I could about the unseen world. I view life as a game of shoots(change to chutes) and ladders, aggressively yearning to only zip up the ladders to the place where I can manifest on my very own magic carpet ride, as quickly as possible.
In 2006, I was introduced to the film that catapulted me up one of those ladders, “What the bleep do we know!?.” My friends kept telling me “you need to watch that film, it’s everything you always talking about.” A scene in the film showcased a scientist by the name of Dr. Masura Emoto, who showed us that when you write words on water, say in a glass, then freeze it, put it under a microscope and take photos, the words affect water in a way that creates beautiful looking crystalline images, like a snowflake. I was struck by this phenomenon and pondered if words changed water to look that way, then they must also change the way water tastes. Shortly after, AQUAMANTRA WATER Premium Natural Spring Water was born. At that time, living in California we were plagued with unhealthy tap water and bottled water wasn’t the bastard it is today.
My goal was to marry my love of entrepreneurship with my passion for consciousness, to raise consciousness in humanity one sip at a time, by putting affirmations on the bottles. Our bottles had custom artwork and mantras like I AM LOVED & I AM GRATEFUL, to inspire people to raise their vibrations as they drink delicious spring water. This brain experiment worked, landing us in Whole Foods, Albertsons and winning the Gold Prize for best tasting water in a water tasting competition, as well as fabulous publicity in some of the hottest trendy magazines. Eventually, we launched the first ever biodegradable and recycle-able water bottle, because my desire for aligning my personal values of living in a more clean environment dominated my desire for more consciousness. We were the first to launch this into the market, and then the Attorney General, at that time sued us in a green washing quest to gain notoriety for her aggressive play for political gain.
Our bottles biodegraded in one to five years according to the microbial activity, which was better than 500 years, the alternative. It came down to politics. How can you fight the government? You can’t. I felt defeated. Eventually, I sold the company, with a heavy heart as patrons and fans, were disappointed. By this time, I realized I had to wait for my next big idea and this time, I would be smarter than a system that would squash my enthusiasm for creating a better world. In 2012, I ventured into the world of radical self-reliance, we call Burning Man and aligned acutely with a knowing that living in a world where we give and give from a heart of gratitude is a world I wanted to live in and not just one week a year. I came home, packed up my home and set off for San Francisco. Leaving a 20 year relationship, to find myself on a new wild adventure, me and my beloved pitbull Layla, set off to discover the pacific northwest and test my theory of chutes and ladders.
The journey on my magic carpet ride was in my hybrid Ford Escape, which took us from San Francisco to North Lake Tahoe, o tReno, to Bend, Oregon, to Santa Cruz. I lead with my heart and followed by the seat of my pants, creating marketing/branding as a consultant for people along the way, promoting health supplements and hemp products.
In 2013, I decided I want to start a television series on Intentional communities, called ICEVO, Intentional Community Evolution TV and allowed my intuition and guidance to lead me to several intentional communities along the PNW. Intentional Communities are a brave world of unique individuals living together for the greater good of the community and I captured stories, content and friendships for over a year, discovering a book by Charles Eisenstein called Sacred Economics, which grabbed my attention. In his book, he talks about an economy that is supported by the universe. When you give, you receive and in the purest form of it, you will always be supported. If I have an abundance of talent or time, I might give this to someone and on this path, I might meet someone who has an extra room or an abundance of finance/food or connections. This is because in the giving you are offering a gift of yourself with love and the laws of the universe must support reciprocation in ways far greater than you can imagine. This theory, was fascinating and innate in my own awareness, so on my travels to create ICEVO I tested out this theory. Guess what? It worked. Charles said when he goes to speak he doesn’t ask for a fee, he allows them to gift him. It is different than bartering, it is not a concept where “I do for you” and “You do for me” – it is “I do for you because I can give from my abundance” and the “Universe, God, Source, will do for me” – creating a flow from a loving intention. After getting close to gaining traction with my show, I pulled the plug due to a lack of valuable validation. Not many people knew about, nor cared enough about intentional communities to support this programming. I settled in Santa Cruz, got a job and waited for my next bolt of inspiration.
In 2017, my friend Tony had purchased a hat on Amazon, and he buys everything on Amazon. I loved this hat and asked him to tell me how he got it, which was a bit of a cumbersome process, texting me the link. (hahaha) Later that day, in the shower I got the idea about having one location where we could post our favorite things, so our friends could easily seek out the items in our lives we love. I thought, maybe this could be an app, I’ve never tackled the industry of tech, a new challenge, time to saddle up! For the next year, I pondered this idea, quit my marketing job in Santa Cruz to take Layla and me on one more cross country journey to the land of green abundance, Colorado. A newscaster mentioned that Denver, has one of the fastest and most supportive tech communities in the United States, over 150, 000 new start-ups per year. Next, I ran an AstroCartography report, which is an Astrological Chart for where is a good place for you to live or even visit, which is based on when and where you were born. Colored lines decorate this chart, drawing attention to where you might most be happy, successful, seen, appreciated or loved, which revealed to me that four lines ran directly through the Denver area. As an intuitive myself, this was a synchronistic sign that Boulder was the destination for my next venture to be born. SHOPGRATZI.
SHOPGRATZI is a two year personal dedication project into experimenting with a platform that just might create more gratitude in the world of commerce. I want to create a valid sacred economy and one that could ultimately bring more joy, money, friendship and appreciation to all those that use it. SHOPGRATZI was generated in Colorado through the help of several mentors, advisors and many Colorado willing participants, who have supported me and this vision of a more utopian way to shop our values. After raising over $500k with my last company and attracting some significant advisors, I was excited to put all of my energy back into a vision that I 100% believe in. The last two years have been what might appear to most as a struggle, and yet, to any entrepreneur can be recognized as the perilous tightrope where dreams are created, and in my reality, co-created with willing participants. After a lifetime of combining my passion for humanity, my need for justice in the world and a desire to educate the youth about some basic gratitude principles through a medium that doesn’t have a soul, like humans, SHOPGRATZI will undoubtedly be my biggest accomplishment to date. But who knows? Maybe my intention of re-connecting people with the brands that they love and supporting those that are doing great work in the world, isn’t what the world wants? Perhaps Value-Spending isn’t as important as the discount or the convenience of next day delivery. The only way to find this out though is to keep going. At the time of this article, we have created the brand, the new paradigm business model, we have a stellar team of advisors, we have an MVP thanks to a semi-successful crowdfunding campaign, that will end November 11, 2019. https://ifundwomen.com/projects/fund-shopgratzis-software-launch our goal is to test the market for the holidays, by promoting the value matched brands and giving them a leg up in exposure. I may not live a luxurious life, in a fancy house, with a Tesla (yet) but I am 100% authentic in my life, I value-spend and support entrepreneurs doing great work in the world, surrounded by amazing loving friends, my angelic companion dog, Layla and a committed optimistic perspective that my existence on this planet has made a difference in humanity’s progress, in some small way. I will never give up working towards making a world better than it was when I arrived and I hope that I make it the tallest ladder, with some remarkable memories before the game is over.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
For the most part, as long as I keep my frequency in joy, the path stays even keel and smooth yes. Let me explain, the higher your frequency the more in alignment you are with what your desires and needs are. However, when you dip into fear, worry and doubt, the saying “where your attention goes, energy flows” is true law. When struggles arise, my practice is to do something that brings me joy. Struggles have varied from losing seven pregnancies to not knowing where I was going to live by week’s end. My life is numerology number nine, which is Faith based and I am here to learn to Trust. I committed to building SHOPGRATZI and on this path and I chose not to “work” for a year to focus on building the business. At that time, I did things that required little brain activity so that I could dedicate my time to meeting people, going to meetups, start-up weeks, etc. I drove Lyft, I baby sat children and I lived in community, to keep my expenses low. I agreed with my friends last summer to live in their backyard in a large tent, which I made a classy Zen Den. Camping and being in nature is what brings my heart the most joy, but because I was building the business I knew I wouldn’t be traveling that summer in the wilderness, so I opted to live on the land.
It was wonderful because I lived in a community with my friend’s children and was able to be an integral part of their lives, with a view of the Boulder Flatirons, having my own space as well. Then September came. It was time for me to move on mostly because the snow was coming and yet I didn’t have any funding. I started asking around and a fellow boulderite, suggested I put myself on next door as a pet sitter. I internally scoffed, as who would possibly offer that to me as I had my dog, a pitbull at that. My intuition nudged me to recognize that this was direction given to me as a guide. I did as suggested, and the very next day a woman called me to tell me that she was leaving town for a month and her pet-sitter bailed at the last minute. She had a private basement suite set up for rolfing students from the nearby training center, and I could stay there for the month. This is a perfect example of how Sacred Economy can work when we allow it and now, Trust & Believe is my purest motto and one that I am still working on as we speak. I could write a book with miracle opportunities that have manifested for me along this journey and all I can say is your perception of the situation is crucial to its outcome.
Tell us about your business/company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
SHOPGRATZI will be the first AUTHENTIC Social Commerce platform to discover and buy value matched boutique brands while rewarding the recommender, someone’s trusted peer. We are creating a sacred economy a safe, friendly shopping experience that ends with a Gratzi (a gift of gratitude) $$$ that can be used to buy more products or be sent to a favorite charity. ShopGratzi is activating tech-altruism, creating a more harmonious online shopping experience for all parties involved.
It’s time for us to move away from the paradigm where advertising drives content. We want to be part of a collective voice where we are co-creating a more positive impact with where our money lands ie Value-Spending. There’s a lot of really cool products and services out there that don’t have the discovery and support they need. ShopGratzi collaborates with those retailers & merchants so they can grow and thrive through their existing brand cheerleaders. Advocates they probably never even knew about. We like to call them Gratzi Generators and We reward them for sharing the products they believe in.
Each Gratzi Generator gets six circles, and in those circles they will highlight their favorite things, like gear, jewelry, travel, art, wine of the month, etc. Instead of selling your soul to make sales, or constantly having to post on a roulette feed of images and ideas, Generators will have their own Unique Boutique where a single link drives traffic back to them. Generators choose the brands not based on how much they make from them, but how much they admire their products, their intentions and company altruism, like BCorps, woman owned, made in the USA, etc. The magic is in the Gratzi. Those brands get to choose how much to thank our Generators, nothing is obligatory except that the lowest bar is 20% of the initial purchase price. So many of us are super-connectors and want to share our passion and do, but now we’ll get paid for doing so. SHOPGRATZI is creating a system where everyone wins.
It’s time for us to move away from the paradigm where advertising drives content. We don’t want that anymore – we want authentic discovery where everyone wins. By engaging both sides of a shared economy, consciously choosing with our money, the shopping experience will be way more fun and rewarding!
As CEO of this company, I am most proud of the fact that I am waiting patiently, for the right investors to support this. As with anything, it can be manipulated for good or for evil. We are facing new precedents right now in surveillance capitalism with no respect for privacy and data. Technology is moving quickly with AI, Blockchain and Data. With my idea rooted in a new business model, I can stabilize the relationships in commerce and bring the community into this ocean of options. We will respect privacy, create our sacred economy to begin funding projects that have the highest impact for all involved not the pocketbooks of the 1%. Everyone deserves enough money to survive, thrive and shop their values. My commitment is to create a platform with this option to what is out there and start ethically, stay that way and GIVE BACK on a monumental scale. Out of every 25% we will earn, 75% goes to the people creating a flood of cash flow into the pockets of the people who deserve it the most!
If anyone wants to be a part of this movement of Authentic Social Commerce we invite you to participate in whatever level feels rewarding. Visit our website www.shopgratzi.com and give us the list of your favorite things, like us on Insta/Facebook or contribute $25 to our #1000peoplewhocare iFundwomen campaign, while it is still available. https://ifundwomen.com/projects/fund-shopgratzis-software-launch this is created for the people to support the people. Let’s Give, Get, Gratzi!
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
The first thing I tell new business owners who come to me creating a business, it to align themselves with advisors. People think their idea alone will manifest without them and they couldn’t be more wrong. I’m lucky like that because I have a large community of cheerleaders, that know I am endlessly seeking better humanity that we were given. My intentions are pure and my dedication to love and light, have always been obvious. For SHOPGRATZI, I invite you to look at our website under the Crowd Fund tab. All those amazing people are SHOPGRATZI cheerleaders, people who contributed to my crowd-fund campaign and all the people who believed in me. At the bottom of the page is all the people who have supported me http://shopgratzi.com/crowdfund/
I have found that when you are trying to create something that benefits the community your leadership inspires others and many people want to get behind what you are doing and help you create your greatest vision. My support ranges from my last company’s CEO and Mentor Russ Kamalski, who is literally my hero. I vetted this idea with him and he told me I had to run with this because it could be the next Snap Chat. While I don’t care to be the next…. I do care about generating a monumental impact in tech on the side of new business models that move away from advertising driving content. When I moved to Colorado, I was grateful to experience the potent and driven successful women mentors in the tech scene like Wendi Berkhardt, Silvernest who I saw speak on a panel at Boulder Start -up a week, then met me several times to guide me. John Weiss, from Human Design, also gave me time and attention when building a solid brand outline that would stand up in a sea of tech brands. My longest standing Mentor on this project is the fierce and optimistic Teacher & friend, Jennie Hoff, Partner at Lignin Growth Partners, Co-Founder at GiveVesting/Impact Lending, Jennie helped guide me this last year through a lot of avenues to create a solid pathway for success. Jennie continues to see SHOPGRATZI in its highest vision and her endless offering of support has allowed me a safe harbor for all things startup, I could not be here without her. Building a business is not just a logo and a website.
There’s a tremendous amount of work that has gone into the backstory, the brand, the pitch deck, the financials… oh, the financials. Jim Hedberg, came to my aid when I needed to identify if my ideas would work and make money. We are creating a new pathway for revenue, and an investor’s favorite words show me how you will make money. Last year at a Denver Tie Rockies event I sat next to Jim, and he was in between jobs. His kind eyes saw that I was struggling to create a model with an advanced spreadsheet, and he offered to help me. Thankfully, I have a business and a marketing background, so collaboration and guidance have given me the fuel to create all the tools I need to present to investors and additional mentors. After raising the initial funds for the deposit on our crowd-funding campaign, I began to create the platform through a white label software, recommended by my friend Maria Simone, and shaping it became another story.
I invited Morgan Smith, a Strategy + Millennial Advisor. National speaker/author at MillennialBlog and VP at Longmont Economic Development Partnership to join my Advisory Board, after all, I am creating a product for Millennials and GenZer’s to use. Morgan’s enthusiasm to create a legacy platform for his generation to thrive on has been a wonderful addition to creating a system that plays well with the generation who can make the changes needed to turn the economic ship around. I also invited the opinions and suggestions from a friend Justin Taylor who I met last year at a Google Tech Stars Startup Weekend. We had 54 hours to develop a company, MVP and pitch, his knowledge as an under 30 something was remarkable and our friendship ensued even after we took 2nd place that weekend. Boulder has been a wonderful support system. Big shout outs to Galvanize for hosting some amazing events to support the tech community where I met Ken Chez, one of my more humorous advisors who keeps me laughing, Consultant, Connector, Market Strategy, Business Development, Partner Development & Angel Investor. Our strategy sessions are always coffee at Beleza with my dog, since we are both dog lovers. Ken has been great at introducing me to people to help me get closer to my goal. Another amazing Advisor & friend is A.J. Cohen, Founder & Ecosystem Connector at Imbue Strategy, who continues to support so many entrepreneurs in their eternal search for building platforms to change the planet for the better. A.J.’s warm and caring promotion of SHOPGRATZI and myself is invaluable as he brings a higher realm of intelligence and experience to the table, with any question I ask. Then there’s Paul Quigly, CTO/CIO Stealth NewCo, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur Int. CIO WY Medical Ctr; Instr, Blockchain, Harvard Univ, who I was lucky enough to have coffee with once a month or so. Paul’s advice and guidance were paramount in multiple directions for SHOPGRATZI’s success and his wife Anne provided me the same support on the spiritual side, I am grateful for their input in my life and that of this project. Last and not least is Kate Wildrick, who I met many years ago on my quest to create a television show on an intentional community.
We have been working on spiritual matters that surround and support SHOPGRATZI with regards to safety, grounding, impact, alliance, and attraction to only those who are in the frequency alignment of SHOPGRATZI’s highest good for all. This list merely represents a small portion of the many people who have been my cheerleaders and advisors. My deepest gratitude goes out to all the people on our crowd funding page and all the wonderful life support friends who have helped me get marketing work to support me this year (Gina S), Sylvia Scott who continues to introduce me to people who can support, Whitney Freya & Michelle Anderson for always being there for me when I break down, all the patrons who continue to support our crowd funding campaign through their networks and all the alliances who gifted their support of this venture like Kelly Weiss, Gina Stenback, Kathy Mason, Cheri Ruskus, Sharu, Chiraya, Lisa, Claudia. DO YOU SEE! It takes a village.
Pricing:
- Please join our #1000peoplewhocare campaign and contribute $25 found at https://ifundwomen.com/projects/fund-shopgratzis-software-launch
Contact Info:
- Address: Youtube address:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSNBCPu2zKYdDxcSAnglRGA?view_as=subscriber - Website: http://shopgratzi.com/
- Instagram: @shopgratzi
- Facebook: http://shopgratzi.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/shopgratzi
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-zan-kavanah-6aa4668/
Image Credit:
Zan Kavanah
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