We were lucky to catch up with Meagen Anderson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Meagen, thanks for joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

After going alcohol-free as a lifestyle choice at the end of 2019, I knew I was onto a new category that would show promise with non-alcoholic beer. Working in the brewing industry for nearly 20 years, I was an expert in the subject but through my lifestyle change found myself feeling less inspired by my work. However, once I started tasting great NA beers, I started looking at the rest of the category. In Jan 2021, I created a website called alcoholfreeaficionados.com, and started writing about AFNA beer, wine, spirits, and cannabis beverages. I thought it might be an online community of sorts, but realized there was such a knowledge gap in the AFNA world compared to the alcoholic analogs people were used to. The history, process, food safety, production, sensory, service, and marketing of AFNA drinks requires expertise and there was literally no book dedicated to that topic. I started to think that my years as a beer educator at Samuel Adams might help contribute to furthering category knowledge and reducing stigmas associated with non-alcoholic beverages would be the best way for me to continue to offer value to the industry. Given I was already a Certified Cicerone® and BJCP Judge, I thought a training and certification program for AFNA beer was a great place to start. In 2022, we launched AFicioNAdo™ Certification Program and BrewDog USA became the first brewery to certify their entire sales team. Since then, Total Wine, Whole Foods, John I. Haas, and other companies that have interest in this category’s performance began to reach out. There were no books written on the topic, and I had never run an LMS product or written an exam before. All of that had to be figured out. On top of that, I lost my job at the end of 2022 and was getting my MBA at the same time. Despite all of the setbacks and insanity, we were able to raise enough money to fund the development of the product and launch it in October 2022. We used that to build the content and create a brand strategy to have a real brand that spoke to the opportunity. We are nearing the release of our next two exams now — Cannabis Beverage Certified™ and AFNA Wine Certified™. These verticals will help drive more learners into our ecosystem and a great company called SeedTalent has invested in us to put our materials onto their platform, giving companies access to all of this in a mobile environment. We wrote the world’s first book on AFNA Beer which is available on Amazon by writing remotely and self-publishing. Anything can be done with the right people, focus, and passion — which we were blessed to have. Over 50 contributors from the space have contributed to the knowledge base that are global experts in their fields, making us a robust offering for professional development in the AFNA drinks space.

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

My aims:

To serve through relationships selling, marketing, training, education, and certification that delivers quality, enhances wellbeing, and is inclusive for all in the alcohol-free and non-alcoholic adult beverage movement.

Radical transparency in business to the level that exceeds expectations and delights customers.

Leadership that promotes inspiring in others the realization of their own creative gifts, and implementation of a priority oriented towards awareness and relating to one another and our planet.

Sustaining inner peace and learning as much as possible during this life.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Learning to moderate my drinking and transform my relationship with alcohol has been not only the most difficult part of my journey, but where my resilience was cultivated.

Today marks four years alcohol free, after spending 15 years serving the craft brewing industry.

For me, moderation did not work. I failed 1,100 times before I was successful. Once a week for 20 years, I told myself things would be different.

I had to find the right tools, I had to renew my mind, and I just had to keep taking steps forward.

Never imagined it would lead to AFicioNAdo™ Certification Program, writing a book, and creating something to share my learnings, driven by the deepest desire to share my journey with others and hope that it can help change the landscape for alcohol free and non alcoholic adult beverage, a major driver in my own transformation.

I am so grateful to so many incredible people for their help.

I am grateful to my Creator for my life, and for the strength and energy I have these days to live a life I never dreamed possible in a sea of hangovers and misery.

It was indeed hard work to transform, but yet it felt so attainable right away after the first Dry January. I knew I had a winning combination this time of faith, support, resources, people, and tools.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

LinkedIn!

To enhance the effectiveness of direct sales pitches, a shift in approach is necessary. Instead of simply promoting products and asking for a meeting, I recommend the following.

1. Regularly sharing posts that educate, inspire, or entertain the target audience. (Talking about your knowledge base and adding value in your voice).
2. Capturing attention by creating compelling content. (1x daily minimum!)
3. Developing a personal brand and expand your following.
4. Driving targeted traffic to your website.
5. Facilitate genuine and organic conversions.
6. Maintaining consistent engagement with your audience. (If the comment or message, REPLY PERSONALLY).

By adopting this strategy, potential customers naturally gravitate towards your brand when they are ready to make a purchase. Remember, building an audience lays the foundation for a thriving business; placing emphasis on audience growth rather than aggressive sales tactics leads to superior outcomes. This is the new digital marketplace and a great way to grow business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alcoholfreeaficionados.com
• Instagram: af_icionados
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlcoholFreeAficionados/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/af-icionados/