Gareth Lewis: Founder @ SEKOYIA

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¡Hola!

All right, everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Gareth Lewis with us. He is an engineer and entrepreneur, and he founded his own company called Sequoia to enable individuals to take part in tackling climate change. So welcome to the show.

Thanks, Tyler. This is my first podcast. I'm excited.

Awesome, brother. I'm glad to be the first podcast for you. I'm pumped up. So we'll start off with the first question, Gareth. The first question I have for you, man, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

So growing up, my family and I were fortunate enough to live in several different countries and see a lot of the world. And that opened my eyes up to, you know, really what's out there. Put me out of my comfort zone a lot and shaped who I am today and helped me realize like you grow the most outside of your comfort zone. And so what I've taken from that and venturing into entrepreneurship is, you know, you don't have to physically move around, although that definitely helps, but there's so many ways for you to get out of your comfort zone and find ways to grow for the better.

And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

In the sustainability sector, it's really like our individual actions matter. You know, that's how we got in this environmental situation we're in right now. We as consumers are demanding things that are causing significant damage to our world, and none of these businesses are out there for the sole purpose of destruction. We're funding this in one way or another, and there's a lot of better solutions out there. Shane Goodall has this great quote which is along the lines of, you know, you can't go a day without making an impact on the world around you, but what you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. And so that's what my company is working on, is making sustainability more accessible and enabling people to make those positive differences and show how their individual actions do add up combined with the community to make a greater impact.

And what is your best piece of overall business advice, so not necessarily industry-specific?

Overall, I'd say what's helped me kind of the most is be biased towards action. I've got to continuously remind myself about this one, but you know, it's never going to be perfect, so get whatever you're working on out there, get some feedback, because I bet you learn something from testing it that you didn't know before.

And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

Become an entrepreneur earlier. No, I think, um, I don't think I'd have the perspective that I did. So I think it's valuable to get some career experience. But, um, but from, from the career, I think it's don't be so timid, right? Just realize more and more as I go through, it's, you know, everyone's human. Nobody knows the perfect answer. Few people even know what they're really doing. So don't hold these leaders on these pedestals, right? They didn't just magically appear there. They were in your shoes at one point. The truly good ones got there by not being timid, you know, whether that's by asking questions or just going out and doing it and making mistakes and keep trying.

And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?

I listened to when you interviewed my friend Dave, the founder of Oaks and Reeds, and He said sleep. I'd agree with that one. We could definitely all do a lot better on that. More and more research is coming out, but he's already said that, so I will, I'll have to say being present. You know, it's so easy to get caught up in worrying about the future, but be present, be in the moment. That's something I can always improve upon.

And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?

I think the best quote, best books, that's tough because I think I use— I'd have a different best book for different situations. But, you know, one of my favorite books that influenced me early was Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. It shook my view on the world back when I first read it, you know, talking about how this life, as much as society is making out to be about stuff, isn't. It's really more about the experiences in our world and the people we surround ourselves with.

And what is your favorite quote and why?

I'd have to say one that my old man would always tell me, the Latin one, illa legitima carborundum, which he would explain in his British accent was, don't let the buggers grind you down.

Yes, I love it. Thank you so much for coming on, man. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?

The best place would be through my website, through Sequoia, and that's S-E-K-O-Y-I-A.com and Sequoia Seed on all the social media feeds.

Perfect, brother. Thank you again for joining us. We appreciate it.

Thank you, Tyler.

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