In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews social entrepreneur and impact investor Avery Konda. Konda shares a personal story of a four‑month period of severe social anxiety and depression, explaining how the experience taught him perseverance, the importance of staying true to his morals, and sparked his commitment to positive social impact and impact investing. He emphasizes that aligning actions with one’s values naturally attracts an organic, supportive community, which is crucial in the often‑lonely world of entrepreneurship. Konda’s broader business advice centers on genuine human‑to‑human connections: making contacts, treating people with care, and asking personal questions to build lasting relationships. He advises his younger self to overcome imposter syndrome by staying confident and true to himself. When asked about happiness, he says it stems from authentic connections rather than transactional goals. Konda recommends the book Everyone Has a Plan Until Shit Hits the Fan by Tophie Evans for its insights on mental‑health struggles and adversity in entrepreneurship. His favorite quote, attributed to Mark Zuckerberg, is “If you can’t change the people, change the people,” highlighting the importance of aligning with like‑minded individuals. Finally, he directs listeners to find him on LinkedIn (Avery Konda) and his personal website (www.averykonda.com) to join his community.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?
All right, everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Avery Konda with us. He is a young, inspirational, and charismatic leader who has a natural ability to connect and communicate with others on a genuine and respectful level. He is a social entrepreneur, impact investor, and an avid believer of creating positive social impact. So welcome to the show, man.
Hey, it's great to be here, Tyler.
Of course, man. It's great to have you here. Look forward to your answers to these questions. We'll dive into the first one. The first one I have for you, Avery, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Oh yeah, that's a good question. I'd say that one's probably more recent. And it had to do with a challenging time in my life. But it was a short period and, you know, the challenges varied. But For about 4 months, I went through pretty severe social anxiety, and it was related to friendships falling apart and just situational depression. And it was really eye-opening for me though. I learned a lot during that time. I learned a lot about perseverance and how to stay true to your morals, but also the importance of social impact. And that's what really set me on this journey of being a part of creating that positive social change and that impact and what led me to impact investing and social entrepreneurship as a whole. And my lesson, you know, what I learned from this entire time really was to stay true to who you are, right? There will be times where you don't get along with people. There will be times where you have to choose long-term vision versus short-term gain, and those are challenging decisions. But in the end, it's worth it if you stick true to who you are.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
The most valuable piece of information, it would definitely be that when, when you align your actions with your morals, but also your goals, people will see that. And although it might not be, you know, very immediate, within time you develop a pretty organic but also a pretty responsive community. And that community is what will really keep you going and excelling and scaling because I mean, you're probably aware of it, but entrepreneurship is a lonely field, right? There's a lot of challenges with it, but when you have a community that you can rely on, that's what really makes or breaks it. That's what I would say.
And it might tie in, but what is your best piece of overall business advice, so not necessarily industry-specific?
Make contacts. At the end of the day, business is just another extension of meeting people, but also being genuine and being nice to people. I've always strayed far away from the ideology that business is just business. I think that's completely wrong. And it might work in some, you know, versions of business. But I think generally when you meet people, if you treat them with the right kind of care, but also treat them as an individual and always ask the question beforehand, you know, how are you doing? And How was your day? And these questions, because you want that human-to-human connection. That's what will make you last in business longer.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
To, to stay true to who you are. I think I went through a lot of imposter syndrome, you know, a couple, couple of years ago, but also months, even months ago. It wasn't too long ago. And that feeling of I have a lot to offer, but I think I'm, you know, I'm too young or I think I don't have it. I would rather tell myself, just stick with it and be confident because now that I've stuck with it and have been confident in my actions, I've seen that success come true. And I've also seen those contacts and friendships come through and it transitions into all aspects of life when you are confident in who you are. So I would say that, you know, get over that imposter syndrome, really be true to who you are and what your actions are and what you provide to the world.
And in your opinion, it could tie in, what is the key to happiness?
Ah, key to happiness. I love this question. Key to happiness is making genuine connections with people on a human-to-human basis, right? And it doesn't have to be everyone's your best friend. It doesn't have to be everyone is even your friend. But when you meet people and you genuinely care about what they're doing or who they are or what they have to offer to the world, that will make you happy, but that will also make business easier, right? Because then at the end of the day, it's not, you know, I need to make this sale or I need to make this partnership. It's I'm meeting a person, you know, that's great. And then it becomes easier to ask the questions of I'd love to work with you.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Best book I've read. I'd say recently it was a book by one of my friends on LinkedIn, Tophie Evans, and he has a book called Everyone Has a Plan Until Shit Hits the Fan. And it's about mental health struggles, but also about adversity. And I would say that anyone going through, you know, that imposter syndrome or going through generally just the nuances, but also the day-to-day of the challenges and the mental health problems you have in entrepreneurship and really in any part of life, actually. That's a book that will really be an eye-opener, but also show you that there is other people who go through the same problems that you do.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Oh, favorite quote. Oh God, I'm not going to remember exactly where this is from. I believe it's Mark Zuckerberg, but I love this quote. I love this quote and it's— oh, what was it exactly? I don't wanna butcher it. I believe it's, "If you can't work with the people, change the people," or something along those lines. But the general idea of it was that you're not gonna work with everyone, but if you align yourself with like-minded people, that's going to change it.
Yes, I love it, man. Dude, this is great.
Oh, wait, I have it, I have it. If you can't change the people, change the people. That's it.
Ah, got it, okay. Dude, thank you so much for coming on. This was very, very informative for myself and I'm sure for the audience. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for people to find you online?
Best place to find me online is definitely LinkedIn. That's where I'm the most active. You can also check out my website. It's just www.averykonda.com. That's where I put a lot of information on, but LinkedIn is where I build my community. So check me out on there. It's just Avery Kondo.
Perfect, man. Thank you again for joining us. Really appreciate it.
Awesome. Thank you, Tyler Wagner Wagner.
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