BIO: Gavin Wren is a founder, consultant, and content creator from London, helping the world learn more about food. His background in media has seen him photographing food around the world for the likes of National Geographic and writing in the national press.
STORY: Gavin’s worst investments have been the relationships he’s put in a lot of effort and time to build, only to realize they weren’t beneficial for him.
LEARNING: Don’t bend yourself out of shape for people. Learn to walk away from bad situations.
“Don’t be a people pleaser. It doesn’t get you anywhere.”
Gavin Wren
Guest profile
Gavin Wren is a founder, consultant, and content creator from London, UK, helping the world learn more about food. His background in media has seen him photographing food around the world for the likes of National Geographic and writing in the national press. Today he helps organizations develop their strategy for the future of sustainable food whilst also creating content on TikTok, which reaches millions of people each month. He’s the founder of three businesses and a non-profit but loves nothing more than good pizza or strong espresso.
Worst investment ever
Gavin’s worst investment over the years has been investing in the wrong relationships. Spending months or years building relationships that weren’t beneficial to him has been worse than losing money. According to Gavin, one can get over financial losses quickly. You’ll be depressed for a few days or weeks, and then you get over it and move on. But the bad personal business relationships are pretty insidious, and you never quite recover from them.
One instance Gavin recounts is this person with a lot of influence and power he badly wanted to work for. Gavin wanted to be part of their circle and work with them. He did everything he could, got close to the person, and started working with them. Gavin soon realized that there was a misalignment of values, and something just didn’t sit right with him about this person. But Gavin kept pushing because he knew he wanted to be associated with that person. A year later, Gavin was stuck, intensely stressed, and always anxious. Eventually, he stopped working for that person, which was the biggest relief ever because he didn’t get anything out of it. All he did was do a lot of work for very little money.
Lessons learned
- Trust your gut.
- If stress and anxiety arise around a person, question whether that relationship has a long-term benefit.
- Drop your ego and do the work that you want to do and that you enjoy. Not the work that you think someone else is going to enjoy.
- Don’t bend yourself out of shape for people.
- Speak your mind and be honest.
Andrew’s takeaways
- Learn to walk away from bad situations and just bite the bullet.
Actionable advice
Before forming bonds with people, ask questions to get more information and decide whether those are the right bonds.
No.1 goal for the next 12 months
Gavin’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to keep growing his TikTok account and find a way to start monetizing it.
Parting words
“Just keep trying to help people and learn in the process.”
Gavin Wren
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