This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
So yesterday, we had this story about a backyard gardener in Brooklyn who creates hyper-local produce boxes. She goes on to make some money with that, which is great, of course. It's side hustle school, but she's also creating positive change in her community, right? So two good things. Today, a listener questioned, "How do you build a business that aligns with your values without coming across as performative?" So we're going to do our best to help this listener navigate authenticity and sustainability and activism, and again, through the lens of a money-making project.
Just to be clear, I love nonprofit work as well, but here on the podcast, we are focused on economic empowerment, something you can do to help you make more money, which can then help you to pursue other goals, whatever those goals are. This question comes to us from Ellie. Let's consider how to weave purpose into a business model in a way that just feels legit, right, genuine, helpful, legit, all right? How can your side hustle align with activism without feeling forced? That's the question.
Let's hear it from her and my answer after this quick shout-out to our sponsor. Hi, Chris. I'm Ellie. I've been thinking about starting a business that focuses on skincare products. Sustainability and environmental activism are really important to me, and I want those values to be part of my brand, but I've seen other businesses get criticized for being performative, and I don't want to fall into that trap.
How can I incorporate activism to my side hustle in a way that feels authentic, meaningful, and generally makes an impact without it seeming like a marketing gimmick? Okay, here's what I'm going to encourage you to do here. I thought a good bit about this question because I know it's important. I want to encourage you to lead with your product, not your activism, and this is not to diminish your activism or whatever it is, whatever kind of change you hope to create in the world. But nevertheless, if you're selling a product, your product is the centerpiece.
So Ellie specifically is selling a skincare line. Make sure those products deliver real value, quality, effectiveness. Make sure the products are amazing. I think that's actually much more important, and because the activism should enhance your brand, not overshadow it, the activism is a secondary benefit, at least to the product itself. And so if you have a quality brand, that is much more important.
And then related to that, start with action before messaging. So focus on tangible steps that your business can take to reflect its commitment to sustainability rather than just talking about it, right? And I'm sure that Ellie is thinking of this, but I just think sometimes people kind of get these things reversed. And so if you're creating a useful product, and then you're actually taking that action, whatever it is, you're creating the right kind of packaging, you're working with the right suppliers, maybe you're donating a percentage of profits to environmental organizations, or whatever the case may be, instead of broadcasting that activism right away, let your actions speak for themselves. And I think that is a much more powerful route to creating a more successful long term brand, because authenticity builds over time through consistency, it doesn't just, it's not just a one off kind of thing, all right.
And last but not least, you know, be transparent about your efforts, like share things honestly, including what you know, still needs improvement. People respect businesses that acknowledge they're not perfect, but they're actively trying, right? So you might say like, we're transitioning to 100% biodegradable packaging by 2026 or 2027, you know, like, we're not there yet, but that's our goal, we're transitioning toward it. Ellie, that's what I think about that I do wish you well, I encourage you to be passionate about those things you believe in. But I also encourage you to make helpful useful products, because that's also a form of activism and helpfulness.
Listeners, let me know what you think if you have a question or an experience side hustle school comm slash questions, we'll continue to feature reports, questions, comments from our community, along with updates from other listeners as they launch and grow their projects. Thanks so much for being out there. More to come. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is side hustle school.
From the Onward Project.
