In a world that begins each day with a newspaper filled with global disasters, doing good is becoming more and more necessary. Everyone has something to offer, even if it’s minor. As entrepreneurs, we are lucky enough to have a platform to use our for-profit business to promote, support, or even found nonprofits. Even though large corporations have more funds and resources to contribute to charities and causes, small startups can also get in on the social good. Doing so can set you apart from your competitors even if your business is hardly off the ground. These three tips will help you choose the cause that your company will support, and turn your entrepreneurship into a socialpreneurship.
Do something that’s meaningful to you
Social entrepreneurship, socialpreneurship, isn’t about impressing others or looking good. It’s about passion. If you’re an entrepreneur, you already know you have passion: now use it! There’s no reason to support or promote a cause that bores you. If you care about animal rights, choose a charity or institution that helps fund no-kill shelters, ape sanctuaries or other organizations that help animals. If you’re up nights worrying about the state of our planet, help out an organization that promotes global warming awareness, conservation or recycling efforts. Spend your time on whatever makes you feel good, bad or angry. Don’t be afraid to use your personal background or a story from your life. Personal stories can only help you make a lasting impression and establish yourself as a good ambassador for your cause. With over 1.5 million non-profits registered in the United States alone, as an entrepreneur, you’ll have plenty of charitable causes to choose from.
Don’t force yourself to connect your social cause to your company’s product or service
Too many entrepreneurs try to tie charities or causes they support to the product or service their company offers. This is unnecessary and limiting. It’s true that entrepreneurs should sell what they know, but if you’re supporting a cause you care about personally, you already know it. Let your company’s official product remain just that. Your social cause is a personal project that you, as the entrepreneur, have a right to choose freely. What makes your company’s social good efforts memorable is your attitude and your passion.
Be social
There’s no socialpreneurship without “social”. If you can’t find a cause you’d like to support, look around you. Your company is a team effort, and your teammates and employees are your most valuable sources of information and inspiration. Even if you’re a solo entrepreneur, you probably have a support system of friends, clients and former co-workers, so ask them what they think about your new socialpreneurship idea. Listen to their advice, take advantage of their contacts and bounce ideas off of them. Then, when you get your idea off the ground, use your friends and contacts to help spread the word, by telling their friends and sharing your posts on social media. Social media is the means by which social good is spread.
Socialpreneurship is another way to have your company leave its mark on the world. It’s a great way to market your company, bring your employees together, and to promote causes that are important to you. Whenever you can give something back to society, no matter if it’s your money, time or skills, do it. As an entrepreneur, I now have the advantage to also use the business for a good cause. I would like to encourage every entrepreneur, no matter how big or small their business might be, to try and use it as a platform for doing good. Little steps can often have a tremendous positive impact on the world.