Dean Wegner
Passion, Values, and Processes: An Entrepreneurial Calling – Dean Wegner
Dean Wegner is the Founder and CEO of Authentically American, a veteran-owned American-made premium apparel brand. He founded the brand in 2017 to bring manufacturing jobs back to America. As a seven-year veteran with expertise in the apparel industry, Dean is a passionate and value-driven servant leader.
Here's a Glimpse of What You'll Learn
- Who was Dean Wegner before entrepreneurship?
- From the military to entrepreneurship: how Dean discovered his calling
- Dean’s inspiration to join EO
- How EO transformed Authentically American’s marketing strategy
- Advice for making decisions following an EO forum presentation
- Identifying speaking opportunities by investing in relationships
- Dean talks about displaying your authentic self
In This Episode
While passion is integral to entrepreneurship, it’s not enough to manage and sustain a business. You need strong advertising and marketing strategies to drive sales. So how can you merge passion and processes to get your business off the ground?
After acquiring an apparel business from a government contractor, patriot Dean Wegner realized that only 3% of the garments were manufactured in the US, and he couldn’t do anything about it. With a passion for his country and a mission to cultivate American jobs, Dean founded a locally made apparel brand. Yet he learned that while Americans spend $300 billion on clothing each year, he couldn’t market to every individual. He joined EO to help him narrow his audience to veteran-owned businesses and charities and develop a niche marketing strategy. Presenting your business problem to your forum is only one step of the process. You must apply the knowledge you gained and conduct further research to make a final decision.
Join Robert Hartline for another episode of The Decision as he interviews Dean Wegner, the Founder and CEO of Authentically American, about his entrepreneurial journey and passions. He shares the value of being authentic, his inspiration for joining EO, and how he identifies speaking opportunities by building relationships.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Sponsored by:
This episode is brought to you by EO Nashville.
The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is a high-quality support network of nearly 15,000 like-minded leaders from over 60 countries.
EO helps transform entrepreneurs’ lives through life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learning.
EO Nashville is the largest EO chapter in the US, third in the world, and has the most female members of any US chapter.
To learn more about how EO Nashville can benefit you, visit eonashville.com.
