11/13 9:45am pst - SHAWN ASKINOSIE Founder of Askinosie Chocolate shares the secret to purposeful work and business

In 2005, Shawn Askinosie left a successful career as a criminal defense lawyer to start a bean-to-bar chocolate factory and never looked back. Askinosie Chocolate is a small batch, award-winning chocolate factory in Missouri, sourcing 100% of their cocoa beans directly from farmers across the globe. Recently named “One of the 25 Best Small Companies in America” byForbes, Askinosie Chocolate was founded at the forefront of the American craft chocolate revolution and is regarded by many as a vanguard in the industry. But other than the honestly sourced cocoa, what’s the secret of Askinosie Chocolate’s success? According to Shawn Askinosie (and his daughter Lawren Askinosie), there is a lot more, as he shares in Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul. In 2005, Shawn Askinosie left a successful career as a criminal defense lawyer to start a bean-to-bar chocolate factory and never looked back. Askinosie Chocolate is a small batch, award-winning chocolate factory in Missouri, sourcing 100% of their cocoa beans directly from farmers across the globe. Recently named “One of the 25 Best Small Companies in America” byForbes, Askinosie Chocolate was founded at the forefront of the American craft chocolate revolution and is regarded by many as a vanguard in the industry. But other than the honestly sourced cocoa, what’s the secret of Askinosie Chocolate’s success? According to Shawn Askinosie (and his daughter Lawren Askinosie), there is a lot more, as he shares in Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul. Shawn Askinosie shares: · How to create a work life that reflects what’s most important, so that it’s not a drain on physical and mental energy · How to use the principles of “integrated kinship” in order to achieve your business’ calling · “Success” no longer translates to “profitable” alone—it also encompasses happiness, purpose, and community · Despite their inclination, most entrepreneurs are skeptical that their business can have a purpose beyond making a profit. Askinosie says, there’s no need to wait for your business to live out a calling…begin now · The business philosophy of “reverse scale” not to get bigger, but to get better at staying small. Meaningful Work is not a book about “saving the world,” but how positive change begins with individual action. It’s a book for anyone who may be successful but unsettled, in a hurry for answers, and ready for the next journey, or anyone just starting out and looking for the on-ramp. It’s a story about Shawn did it, how he is still doing it, and how others can do it too. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shawn Askinosie is the founder of Askinosie Chocolate. Lawren Askinosie, his daughter, is the Chief Marketing Officer. Their business model has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and on Bloomberg and numerous other media outlets. Shawn was named by O, The Oprah Magazine, as "One of 15 Guys Who Are Saving the World." He is a Family Brother at Assumption Abbey, a Trappist monastery near Ava, Missouri. https://www.askinosie.com