We recently connected with Zach Weismann and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Zach, thanks for joining us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

My parents co-founded and opened their own Accounting practice together, as equal partners, in 1987. They had two young children, my brother and me, who were 4 and 2 respectively, at the time.

Now being married myself with two small children, I have such an appreciation for how risky, stressful, but also how exciting that adventure must have been for them. I started my own company before my first child was born and thankfully my wife has had her own full-time job and successful career, lol.

But watching them work together, as partners and as equals, for over 30 years, taught me so much about work and having a career. They showed me what it meant to lead with respect. To stay small, yet mighty. To value customers and build not just relationships but friendships.

My mom showed me what its like to be an amazing, tough, female founder. She kept her maiden name throughout their entire working career so no one would assume they were married or she was my “dad’s wife.” She never took no for an answer and was the heart and soul of the business.

My dad taught me what hard work really entails. How to chip away, day in and day out, never complaining. He showed me how powerful of a tool listening can be – in both work and life.

And this influenced my work ethic, my entrepreneurial spirit, but also my relationships as well. Supporting my wife in her successful career and leadership roles, being her biggest fan, and now ensuring my two young boys will understand how smart, successful and empowering women can be and are.

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

I’ve spent the last 15 years working in wildlife conservation, sustainability, and innovation. My clients have included Fortune 500 companies, world-renowned start-ups, and even celebrities. (Hi Sir Richard Branson, I miss you!)

But, something was missing.

I was working too hard for someone else. I was bringing too many relationships and close contacts to the table with an employment contract that could be terminated at any point. (It was twice in my career.)

So, in search of autonomy, I started my own company, MAG Impact Collective.

After running the Collective for 4 years (and still today) I realized what I love to do, what I was meant to do:
Support & inspire people to lead impactful lives.

The result?

The Impactful.

The Impactful is a combination of all that I have learned from collaborating with people and businesses around the world, with a deep-seated desire to have every one of us working day in and day out to solve our world’s most pressing challenges. You CAN build both income and impact.

The Impactful is the next iteration of this journey. An endeavor where I have connected with change-makers around the world, helped them grow their businesses, bring in tens of thousands of dollars in revenue, align work with purpose, assist in change careers, and put good out into the world on a daily basis.

When we tie our livelihoods to creating positive change, we build the longterm commitment needed to solve global problems. Needed more now than ever.

Before creating support for impactful people like you and me, I collaborated with organizations such as:

Google, GreenWave, Sabin Vaccine Institute, Rare.org, VipKid, Pepsi, IKEA, MD Anderson, UT Southwestern Cancer Center, The NBA, Virgin, and more.

Now, let’s start collaborating together.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Funding my business is an interesting story. I set out to disrupt a traditional business model, the traditional agency / creative services model. Having worked at an agency, I knew the secrets of how we worked, how much stress the business model put on the business and how the fancy office, the high salaries, the paid for awards was actually driving business, despite what the agency owners said.

So I wanted to set up a business with little to no overhead, where the cost to start the business was essentially nothing. I knew there would be some costs – business formation, registration fees, software for doing business – but I wanted to keep these as low as possible.

I knew if I went the traditional agency route I would either have to take out a huge loan, raise funds from friends and family, or find outside investors. And I didn’t want to go down either of those paths.

And by freeing myself up from traditional ways of thinking and doing business, we build an entirely new business model, with next to no overhead, that gave us a network of 10-20 amazing service providers around the world and enabled us to offer clients a true cost of doing business. Considering we work with social enterprises, nonprofits, and changemakers, this has been hugely impactful.

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

Yes, of course! I was 28, had just taken a new job at a company called Sustainable Brands in San Francisco. I was helping lead all their international business development and working with partners in Thailand, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, Spain and Japan. We collaborated with large brands such as BASF, Coca-Cola, Target, Unilever, etc on corporate social responsibility and sustainability projects.

I really loved the work, the team and the partners I got to work with. It was a really good fit for me at the time.

And then my mom got diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. It was devastating.

I came back home to Dallas to be one of her primary care givers, working with my dad, brother, family and friends to give her as much care and support as we possibly could.

I continued to work part-time, as much as I could but it was extremely stressful.

My mom ended up passing away after a 4 month battle, with all of us all hands on deck.

It was exhausting, soul crushing, and definitely launched me into a period of depression. At one point, I even considered taking my own life. This isn’t something I take lightly but feel I am at a place to open up about this for others to know they are no alone in their struggles, their challenges, their feelings.

Leaning on the support of my now wife, friends, and family, I was able to slowly (and I mean slowly) turn my mom’s loss and grief into motivation, fuel, and energy to continue to do good work in the world.

In the end, it’s made me a strong and more empathetic leader.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theimpactful.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachweismann
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/zachweismann
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusFoose2Q3VXKzhJtYGAIQ