Meet LaunchHouse member Alexis Edelman at Legacy biographies. As an entrepreneur of many hats, Alexis has always liked business and is attracted to business development, growth, and marketing. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Alexis has lived in Ohio for the past sixteen years. Alexis is in love with the people of Northeast Ohio, the opportunities, and the institutions. His hobby is doing standup comedy, sharing his experiences and stories with others in a way that will make them laugh, and have memorable experiences.
Get to Know Legacy Biographies and Corporate Biographies
Alexis is in the business of visual storytelling and he does this through his company Legacy Biographies. In this business Alexis acts as a personal historian for different families looking to preserve their heritage. Alexis says, “the goal as personal historians is to combine all the elements of family stories (anecdotes, memories, heirlooms, photos, and videos) into a cohesive family video biography that will be privately enjoyed and celebrated for generations to come” The purpose of Legacy biographies is to transform a family’s heritage from the eldest down to the youngest, “to create a keepsake for the future generations.” The idea is to create this knowledge of heritage and to secure it in a digital format. From this format, Alexis noticed there was a demand for this style of storytelling in business, since a lot of his customers also had family businesses. This is how Corporate Biographies came to be. As a corporate storyteller the idea is to “develop relevant short videos that can be used across all social media for sales, marketing, staff training, client testimonials and drone purposes. We create value for organizations by producing cost-effective videos that tell their brand’s story.”
Who is Alexis Edelman
Alexis, like other entrepreneurs, takes on many roles in his business. Alexis is on his own and doing it all, from CFO and COO to marketer and creative team. In a way, this has been his biggest learning experience from starting Legacy Biographies. Alexis said, “I always knew I was going to have to wear so many hats but had to learn how to handle the constant flow of business.” As a solopreneur working directly with companies, nonprofits, and families Alexis had to learn a balance between serving his clients and selling his business to them. As Alexis put it, “I need to have the customer service, but have cash flow.” Being in the second year of his business Alexis believes that he has started to figured out the balance.
Another obstacle in Alexis’ journey to becoming an entrepreneur is that he never considered the rout. With international and cultural challenges, being an entrepreneur was never really an option he thought he could have. After receiving a green card and becoming a US citizen the option of entrepreneurship started to grow on Alexis, “there wasn’t an ah-ha moment, it really was a growth process”. Alexis now sees the challenges but also sees the rewards of being an entrepreneur.
While being an entrepreneur was not Alexis’ focus early on, the inspiration behind Legacy Biographies Corporate Biographies stems from his passion for visual storytelling. Alexis said that he believes that his generation is doing a poor job at connecting the values and heritage from grandparents and parents to their children. He explains, “there has been a disconnect. They either do not have time, or they have no interest”. Alexis wants to close this gap and bring the generations closer together through his business. Alexis has a passion for connecting generations because he believes in the opportunities to learn from our elders. Alexis told me, “knowing where you come from helps shape the type of person that you will become”.
The LaunchHouse Vibe
For Alexis, Launchhouse has been the perfect solution to this business needs. He chose to join the Launchhouse community because of the opportunities he could receive. Alexis told me that LaunchHouse “was an attractive proposition because of the advice and support you can get when you are starting a business”. As a coworking community LaunchHouse creates a space were entrepreneurs can network with each other at social events and interactive workshops. The workspaces at LaunchHouse allow the members to connect with each other, or as Alexis said, “you are forced to interact with people”. Although it sounds negative, Alexis believes it is a good thing. Having that interaction and having a membership at LaunchHouse allows entrepreneurs and solopreneurs to have a separation of home life and work life. It comes as no surprise that Alexis’ favorite part about being a LaunchHouse member is the human interaction and the sense of community. Members can always bounce ideas off each other and are typically ready to help each other. Alexis said, “there is an openness to be comfortable, being able to share an idea and it will be protected, by the way of honest feedback.”
Takeaways
Alexis defines himself as a solopreneur, and he has been finding his own way with Legacy Biographies and Corporate Biographies. Through his experiences Alexis has learned a few things, “I would always advise people to keep their day job for as long as they can before fully transitioning to being an entrepreneur.” However, on the other side of things, Alexis would say to “be bold and blunt and risky as early as possible”. Entrepreneurship is a game of risks and you must work at it. Alexis believes that making as many mistakes in the beginning is the way to go. According to him, mistakes are way cheaper in the beginning and there is more affordability for the mistake. By being bold in the beginning it is “forcing you to be ahead of the curve by being more risky”. To end our interview, I asked Alexis how he defines success, and after taking a good moment to think about it he told me “I think that success is the result of consistently achieving your measurable and realistic goals.”