Starting a new business is about opening new doors. For Andrew Ellsworth, this isn’t an analogy. It’s his business plan.
Andrew Ellsworth
Founder/ CEO
Door Unhinged
Starting a new business is about opening new doors. For Andrew Ellsworth, this isn’t an analogy. It’s his business plan.
In 2018, Ellsworth founded Doors Unhinged. Its mission: to recover the thousands of commercial doors destined for the landfill and resell them to developers at a substantial discount. But with a background in both architecture and sustainability, Ellsworth believes the goal of his business is more than just financial.
“I set out to start a business that could operate as a for-profit, but still be able to accomplish these goals of keeping material out of the landfill,” said Ellsworth.
The one thing his experience didn’t include? Starting a small business.
“When I started the business, I didn’t know what I was doing,” said Ellsworth. “There’s no precedent for this type of business. So, we essentially had to figure everything out ourselves.”
According to Ellsworth, the first few years were rocky. As the challenges mounted, he began to question his decision to start a new business.
“I might have just hung in that area of low self-esteem,” Ellsworth said. “It was like I didn’t know if it was a real business.”
In 2020, everything changed when a colleague introduced him to Entrepreneurs Forever. At first, Ellsworth said he didn’t know what to expect. Remembering his past experiences with small other small business education programs, his expectations weren’t exactly high.
“Really, I expected it to a group of people sitting around talking,” said Ellsworth. “Instead, I ended up learning and connecting with people in a way I never knew I could. I was very surprised at that – at how deep and how rich it ended up being.”
Watch Andrew’s video to see how Entrepreneurs Forever transformed his business. And how it can transform yours, too.
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