Alex Schulze, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and 4ocean CEO, leads a global mission against ocean plastic. His innovative approach has removed 38 million pounds of trash, inspiring millions and attracting corporate and celebrity support.

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Guest Resource

4 Ocean – Visit their website to connect with Alex and to check out their products.

3 Value Bombs

1) There’s a lot of things that you need to sacrifice in order to accomplish your goals and sometimes it can be lonely and a tough path.

2) When you want to do begin to do something, be intentional.

3) Nudge don’t judge.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.

Today’s Audio MASTERCLASS: Riding the Wave of Change: How Alex Schulze Turned Ocean Plastic into a Global Movement.

[1:36] – Alex shares something that he believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

There’s a lot of things that you need to sacrifice in order to accomplish your goals and sometimes it can be lonely and a tough path but there’s a lot of things that you need to work through.

[2:41] – Alex talks about his Bali surf trip that sparked a million-pound ocean cleanup mission.

He grew up in a small island in West Coast Florida and spen almost all of his time in the ocean. He was a licensed captian at a young age and has develop a passion for the ocean and all the hobbies and activities around it.
In college, he went Florida Atlantic University (FAU) because he has a view of the ocean. He met a group of guys who went to all sorts of surf trips in Central America, Nicaragua and Canada.
After college, they went to Bali where they had a good understanding of the plastic pollution problem from the life guards who were working there. That gave them the idea of how they can fund the clean up by selling a product that for every 1 sold they can remove a pound of trash from the ocean.
They brought this idea back to Florida and gave it a go. It quickly grew and they expanded from Florida to Bali and to Guatemala. Now they have 200 full time cabins and crew with 40 million pounds of trash removed from the ocean.

[6:20] – Alex talks about building a circular economy: From ocean plastic to sustainable products.

They find a way to utilize the plastic that they collecting and had the idea to leverage this plastic and recycle it into a product by breaking it down and make it into a thread. They used this product to fund their missions for additional clean up.
The concept of their signature product, the bracelet, is a “conversation starter”. They commoditize the material from waste to a valuable material that tells a story and get more people involve in ocean conservation.

[7:46] – Alex talks about visial storytelling and how he use social media to inspire 11 million followers.

They try to make cleaning the ocean cool. Everything they did in the beginning was very intentional like painting their vessels to look like coastguards or law enforcement to show how serious they are about it and it translated into social. They got the virality and their mission resonated to keep the ocean from plastic.
That drive awareness to different platforms to send their message across to live sustainably.

[10:03] – A timeout to thank our sponsors!

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[12:51] – Alex talks about how to empower coastal communities while creating jobs and economic impact.

They created jobs for the fishermen who are already experts in those areas. They shift the demand from seafood to plastic. It was not easy in the beginning because they thought collecting plastics are not a real full time job but as soon as they get the traction in the social media, many people are applying for the job.
He believed if they can create different forms of local economies and fund it, that will create a different outcome for this areas, work with the communities and create jobs with local fisherman that will have a lasting impact.

[15:11] – Alex talk abouts scaling impact through collaboration.

He expands his business model from collecting plastic to turning it to products that will fund their clean ups.
They expanded their business model to work with business corporation that are producing plastics and partnered with them to help them with their sustainability goals.
They started a program by partnering with brands to help, consult and work with them with their plastic packaging.
Their offer is for every product they sell, a pound of trash will be pulled from the ocean.
One of their core values is “nudge don’t judge” – they don’t believe that shaming or pointing fingers will help but instead a calm, cool and collective approach is better when working with these business corporations.
They just don’t want to clean the ocean, they want to stop the plastic from going into the ocean.

[17:35] – Alex talks about the future of ocean cleanup.

The future is pretty bright. Plastic is increasing in exponential rate but he is very optimistic because more brands are getting involve and take action on the plastic they are using.
They are expanding in a significant way by recently launching a non-profit organization to scale various clean up activities to remove hundreds of millions of pounds of plastic from the oceanand to stop plastic from coming to the ocean.
Their focus is how to scale their clean ups, to be more efficient and to leverage various technology to drive ocean plastic awareness.

[19:46] – Call to action.

4 Ocean – Visit their website to connect with Alex and to check out their products.

[20:44]– Thank you to our Sponsors!

HubSpot: Breeze is HubSpot’s collection of AI tools that helps you turn one piece of content into a whole suite of assets. Visit HubSpot.com/marketers to learn more!
LastPass: The most accessible and easy-to-use password manager on the planet! Visit LastPass.com/fire for a free trial and get started today!

Killer Resources!

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