Green Beauty Entrepreneur – Are you trying to change the world and if so then how?

It could be that your intention is to help people to simply stop poisoning their systems with toxins or it may be that sustainability is your focus, (no plastic packaging for you then)……but the big question is, if changing the world is your driving force are these relatively small steps enough to satisfy your need to do this ?

Many of the entrepreneurs who come to me for mentoring do so with the wish to make money and to give back some of their profits to their favourite cause. In today’s world this is very relevant because in an overcrowded skincare market people buy into brands with a strong ethos and story. However, if you make that promise in your early days, pledging to give away a percentage of your yet to exist profits can prove to be de-stabilising for your business. Your role, as an entrepreneur should be to build a strong business first so that you have real financial power to help others later. In choosing this industry you are committing to a large investment in money (formulation, packaging, testing, stock, branding and marketing) and the chances are that in the first couple of years you will need to plough back most of your profits into the business in order to grow it .

So how else can you give back and be seen to give back ?

Ensuring your ingredients and packaging come from sustainable sources is an obvious route but to be honest, to compete in the ‘organic’ market your message could get lost in the noise. In order to be heard above it you must build on that USP maybe by exploring and highlighting the story behind the ingredients. This can be done with videos and interviews with your key suppliers so your consumers are emotionally pulled in to the journey you are taking.

No toxins ?

If ‘no toxins’ is your message try using stories from history to get your point across. We are not re-inventing the wheel here, every generation has discovered a potentially toxic ingredient used in cosmetics (think of lead face powders) put your story into context and do it visually. Piggy back on the healthy eating trend, highlight on the pollution factor in our urban environments, be scary, be uplifting or at least be something loud so you get heard.

Supporting a Third World Social Enterprise ?

Creating a partnership with a community maybe in Africa is another possibility. There are a number of skincare entrepreneurs who started their journey in an African village or an Amazonian rainforest forming communities of women to process shea butter and other botanical oils for their products. Anita Roddick did this although if you read her story you will discover that, clever lady that she was, she didn’t explore this route until her business was solid and substantial.

If you really want to help a better route for the new entrepreneur is to commit to loaning money for micro enterprise start ups through an organization like http://www.kiva.org doing so gives you the freedom to invest what you can, when you can with a good chance of doing good and getting your investment back.

Launching promotions to support specific events ?

This is a win win situation because it will not only do good but a good cause promotion can easily be publicised on social media and raise your profile in the process. You can also choose your time to do it so that your promotion is topical and so that it doesn’t impact your bottom line.

Be Inclusive

Another great way to change the world is to create an inclusive range that values the different needs of particular ethnic groups and is seen to bring them all together. This is good news in a difficult world where perhaps it is time for us to focus on our shared values rather than on our differences. Think about that one!

Don't go it alone .....

If you read my piece on ‘borrowing influence’ you will know that it is a no brainer to piggy back on people and events that have current influence. Build on what is already out there through partnerships and marketing opportunities. If you look hard and deep you will find many opportunities to get your authentic message out there without doing everything from scratch and alone. Partnering with people and companies that have clout will speed up your impact and save you a lot of money.

To sum up

You will note by now that my message on 'how can do good' always goes back to protecting your profits or building on your marketing. This isn’t because I don’t share your values (I truly do and I have even helped, on the ground to set up three social enterprises in Africa) its because experience tells me that if you make commercially sound decisions for your business and avoid allowing your heart to rule it will help you change the world a whole lot faster.