Inspiring Conversations with Adam French of emote.design

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam French.

Hi Adam, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started realizing I wanted to serve people coming out of high school. I had a close run-in with the law that made me reflect on my white privilege – that reflection expanded to the different blessings I grew up with. Having a supportive family, a green neighborhood, and good food was a foundation that I started to realize a lot of people didn’t have, and this was a design flaw in our society that needed to be addressed.

My first idea was MyndMd, an app that connects people struggling with mental illness so they can share information, empathize, and access therapy resources to alleviate their symptoms. I was in my freshman year, so this lead to learning how to code, design an app, build a business, adapt to college life, and do my courses at the same time. I realized that this wasn’t sustainable, so I put the idea on the back burner while I learned more about the skills I’d need to develop to build solutions that serve society.

Continuing through college, I stumbled across 3-4 different companies that helped me understand where my skill set was. There were a lot of failures, and each one was rich with lessons and invaluable experience. After closing up on a failed construction software startup, I started a podcast called Applying Awareness, centered on gathering awareness of the different internal (psychology, spirituality, physical health) and external (political, social, environmental) aspects of life and how we can apply this awareness to create a better world. In the background of all this, I was exploring my passion for writing hip-hop songs and poetry.

After a perspective-bending study abroad trip in Amsterdam and reading the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris, I decided to start my own business around helping social innovators turn their vision into impact. This was the founding of my first profitable company, emote.design. I learned a lot in the first year and struggled to support myself through the business, but I didn’t see failure or “getting a job” as an option, so I grew it to the point where I could pay rent, feed myself, and more through my own salary. It really just took constant learning, persistence, and a dedication to serving a particular group of people.

In 2020, I dropped my first EP, Foundation. This marked my first major step into music. I’ve always had the pull towards focusing on music, but I know that staying patient and strategic in how I move will result in me focusing on music with my own budget, creative team, and time to think.

In early 2021, a previous client of mine approached me with the thought of partnering up to start a new business, Humanity by Design. We’d always shared a vision of the world we want to create, and I was incredibly excited to start working with him, as he’d always been a mentor to me. Also in early 2021, I found myself near the center of a community that was committed to elevating their consciousness through consistent spiritual work. That pretty much brings me to where I am today.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I feel like I’ve had a smooth road relative to most people. I’ve never been hungry, physically attacked, homeless, or felt like I had nobody in my corner. However, there were a lot of moments where I questioned myself and encountered obstacles.

In Amsterdam, I realize looking back that I was incredibly anxious, never feeling present and always thinking about how other people saw me in social situations. That was a period of expansion that really tested my self-image and it really hurt while it was happening.

In early 2020, I had to move back in with my family with 7k in credit card debt to pay off, simply because of poor spending habits and incredible inconsistent income.

There were so many moments that I questioned my talent, skills, and work ethic. It’s been a constant process of staying gentle with myself and reminding myself that I’m doing enough. That I am enough.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I started emote.design to help seed-stage social innovators turn their vision for systemic change into a reality through design thinking. I started it from a realization that there are so many visionaries out there with great ideas of how to change the world, but don’t know quite how to get started in creating that change. I help them design brands and business model that support the social change they’re trying to create.

The thing that sets emote.design apart from other consultancies in the social impact space is how business innovation strategies are merged with an impact perspective to create social change that is financially supported and clearly communicated.

emote.design provides business model, launch, and messaging strategy through the Impact Clarity Program, my flagship offering. It’s a 12 week program in which I’ve helped social entrepreneurs go from a very vague idea to a fully fleshed out product, website, and have people ready to buy.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Take your time. The greatest things take time to build, and rushing things just make it so you can’t enjoy the process.

Focus on who you want to serve, what issues they’re dealing with, how they fit into the current systems, and how you’re uniquely equipped to serve them. Everything else is a distraction.

Find collaborators that you love being around and grow with them. Things are so much easier and more fun with an aligned team.

Pricing:

• Transformative Impact Tier: $1200/mo
• Social Entrepreneur Tier: $800/mo
• Seed-Stage Tier: $400/mo

Contact Info:

• Email: adam@emote.design
• Website: https://emote.design
• Instagram: instagram.com/afreezyfrench/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/afreezyfrench