We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandy Cochrane. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandy below.

Brandy , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’ve always wanted to live in NYC. I’m not sure why, but from an early age , the city just called me. After doing a little research I realized, I would need to get a roommate if I wanted to eat and pay rent so I went to Craigslist and started my searched. I met a girl who seemed really cool. She was my age, had a good vibe and was actually from NYC. We found an apartment that we loved and on the day we went to sign the lease, she didn’t have her half of the money. My gut told me it probably wasn’t a good idea to live with someone showed signed of default this early on. Plus, I didn’t have a job and the money I had saved in preparation for this move, needed to last. I ended up telling her I couldn’t move forward with our roommate agreement but that didn’t mean I wasn’t moving forward with NYC. At this point, I had learned that there were agencies that rented rooms and I could afford to rent one. I ended up finding the perfect place -huge, clean, high ceilings, hardwood floors and a window. This may seem basic to some but in NYC this is pretty rare. The only thing is that the person renting the room was a middle aged taxi driver. At the time, I was a young adult female. I didn’t know this guy. I only knew a handful of people in NYC. I didn’t have a job. I didn’t even know the neighborhood that well but I took the risk and moved to the city. My gut said this is the place so I listened and moved forward. That risk was the genius of developing the person I am today. I’m not saying I wouldn’t be an entrepreneur with a diverse network of business owners, creatives, and nonprofits had I moved somewhere else but the opportunities and access that this city has afford me has shaped how I approach life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m the founder of Entrepreneur Meal Plan (EMP), a community focused on keeping entrepreneurs well – used plant-based food and creative experiences to develop a generation of founders who prioritize their health over their profits. Our services include a membership that provides recipes, meal plans, resources, experiences and courses that help entrepreneurs take care of their mind, body and business. EMP is a combination of my two professionals- one as a creative strategist and the others as a certified plant-based chef. I realized that most people where solving the same problem in their own bubbles and wanted to create a space that allowed people to come together to support one another personally and professionally. Plus, I realized people literally didn’t know what to eat. As entrepreneurs, it you are not working, you are not making money so it directly effects your bottom line. Your health is literally your wealth so why not feed yourself foods that support keeping you and your business health. EMP has been around for 3 years and has won 6 awards for the work we are doing and our approach to supporting entrepreneurs and professionals. Wondering how I ended up combining these two things into one business? Here goes:

I am a creative at the core and I use that talent to solve problems. I started out helping people develop their ideas. At first I didn’t even know that was real profession. I just knew I had the ability the reverse engineer a vision and so I did. I would go to different networking events, meet people and offer up a work session at a cafe. Then, I would follow up with a consultation report and I did that just for fun. I had a day job and a side hustle because I knew early on working for someone else wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I’ve working in International printing, Real Estate, Health Management and the Nonprofit sector, both on the customer relations and marketing side. My last job before going out on my own was with a NPO. We had recently lost a grant and my boss didn’t want to lay anyone off so he gave us all a 20% pay cut. Now that sounds like a lot, because it is. But, when I got my first paycheck with only 80% of my previous salary, I knew I needed to figure something out. My gut told me to go back to what I loved, not just what I could do- that was helping people turning their ideas into realities. I ended up reaching out to the people who I’d met and prepared those business idea reports for a over 50% of them hadn’t used them but where willing to pay me to help them implement their ideas. As serial entrepreneur myself, I had learned so much on everything from grant ops, to free business resources, to building websites, to design that I was able to use that knowledge to help others on the same journey. I also leveraged my marketing and customer relations background to help grow my business. In about a year, I was able to walk away from my day job and live as a full time entrepreneur but it wasn’t a smooth ride.

Since I was working with people at the beginning of their journey, funds where very limited but I wanted to provide an excellent customer experience. My initial approach however wasn’t sustainable and didn’t feed me well at all. At one point I had over 21 projects at one time and still needed a side hustle because it wasn’t making business sense. I stopped and asked myself why do I love what I do but not like what I doing? What I realized is that I was doing “the most” meaning I wasn’t focused. I was literally working with everybody. So I decided to narrow the offering and started working on with arts and entertainment, health and wellness, nonprofit organizations and starts ups. Focusing was a game changer. I was able to streamline my business, work with different vendors to execute some of the work and free up time to go back to school to become a certified plant-based chef.

I ended up running to consulting company by day and running to plant- based food company by night and on the weekends. I got to a point where I wanted to simplify my life even more and have more of an impact. Since I was spreading myself pretty thin, I felt my offerings weren’t as rich if they could be. They were always good, but I wanted to serve something great. So I went back to kitchen and created the recipe that is now Entrepreneur Meal Plan. The solution that combines both of my passions and influences how entrepreneurs build their legacies.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Boundaries. If you don’t establish what you don’t do, then you will be open to doing anything. Initially it may feel like you are giving yourself more ops but ultimately, you are just watering down your greatness. Boundaries allow you to serve up the concentrate version of yourself.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Being a product of the product. Like so many businesses, mines was build on my passions, helping people stay healthy and live the life they can enjoy. Everything I share with the community is something that I’ve used or tried myself. I’m also always honest and open with my resources and support.

Contact Info:

• Website: entrepreneurmealplan.com
• Instagram: entrepreneurmealplan
• Facebook: entrepreneurmealplan
• Linkedin: entrepreneurmealplan
• Twitter: entrepreneurmp
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRKgAzbtGLHKEFJaDLKWZ2Q