Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / How to build a sustainable future: learn from 7 brands putting the planet first

Transcript

How to build a sustainable future: learn from 7 brands putting the planet first · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:09
  Hey everyone, it's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Thank you so much for tuning into my solo episode this week. It has been a hot second since I've been jumping on here solo. And today I want to dive into the blueprint of what it means to build a truly sustainable brand in 2022 and beyond. To do this, we're learning from seven guests we've had on the show who are putting the planet first. Okay.
• 0:36
  These are the brands leading the charge into a future where sustainability will be the rule over the exception. It's super relevant for any business builder out there because if you're not incorporating the planet into your business model moving forward, you will be left behind.
• 0:53
  66% of executives already believe that a sustainability strategy needs to be a necessity in market today. And 60% of consumers list it as an important purchase criteria. And I'm so sure that these numbers are only going to rise as we continue to feel the harsh impact of climate change on our beautiful blue planet.
• 1:18
  While this is so much more than a passing fashion trend, there is no denying that sustainability has become a bit of a buzzword in recent years. It's actually become so prolific that it almost feels like we're losing touch with both how serious we should be taking it and just how difficult it is to properly achieve.
• 1:37
  I am so proud to have had these next women that we're going to talk about on the show, both to open my eyes to the reality of the industry, but also to help us navigate how to go about this the right way. So let's jump into this episode. Here are seven key learnings from brands that are truly putting the planet first.
• 1:59
  Learning number one is that you should incorporate sustainability in your business model from the get-go. As Kester Black's founder, Anna Ross, puts it, start your business the way you intend to run it. Kester Black is often praised as paving the way for sustainability in the beauty space with their thoughtful and thorough sustainability approach. All of their products are 100% carbon neutral, and they can now officially shout it from the rooftops that they are certified B Corp.
• 2:29
  which is really impressive. But it wasn't always this way. When Anna first launched her six nail polish colors in 2012, sustainability wasn't a strong part of her brand philosophy. This meant that when she did want to take that step with the company, some of their practices just didn't align with what was actually good for the planet. And as a result, she had to discontinue a number of hero products she'd worked super hard to put out there.
• 2:56
  As bitter as it may have felt in the moment, there was a clear learning to take away from this. Sustainability starts with design. It's easy to be sustainable if you design it in from the get-go, but it's not so easy to re-truth your brand if you don't come up with these concepts initially.
• 3:15
  In this way, we're at a huge advantage building businesses in 2022. We absolutely know just how important sustainability is going to be in the future for consumers, for manufacturers, and all your partners. And we have the opportunity to build that into the system from the founding days. So have a really good think about your business, what matters to you, the stages of growth, and how it's going to look a decade from now. Incorporate this vision into your brand from day zero.
• 3:46
  If you're already well on your entrepreneurial journey, though, do not worry. Learning number two focuses all around getting the nitty-gritty about your supply chain to make sustainability a reality in your business should you already be on the journey. This is a brilliant opportunity to take a bird's-eye view of your organization. Find out how you operate, which processes are outdated, and where the inefficiencies lie.
• 4:13
  You may even find sustainable alternatives to help you reduce production costs. There's actually a famous case of America's 3M saving $2.2 billion with their Pollution Prevention Pays program by making all sorts of sustainable changes to its product line.
• 4:31
  This learning comes from self-confessed sustainability nerd Charlotte Pinar, who has a constant and effective magnifying glass on every single aspect of Everyday Humans' supply chain. And for those who haven't heard of it, Everyday Humans is a pro-planet SPF brand that's making some serious moves in the sunscreen space.
• 4:53
  As well as hyper-focusing on the supply chain, Charlotte also recommends every small business owner to complete an LCA, which means life cycle assessment. And it's a super comprehensive evaluation of the environmental impact of your business. And I'm actually going to link that in the show notes if you want to check it out. Learning number three is to find your sustainability tribe.
• 5:17
  Other business founders on a similar path to you with the same mission as you trying to do their bit to do better for the planet. Caroline Cotto quickly discovered the value of network in building Renewal Mill, her award winning next-gen ingredient company fighting climate change by upcycling byproducts from food manufacturing into premium ingredients and products.
• 5:43
  They basically take waste from other food manufacturing processes and use it to create products such as cookies, flour, and baking packs. Totally genius. Caroline quickly discovered that it was a really exciting time to be part of the upcycled food movement. And with that came a lot of interest and chatter in the space.
• 6:05
  Food waste is a massive issue and people want to know what they can do to help. As a result, there are so many communities online where people offer all this advice and really want to see you succeed, like Slack communities, regional city programs, and Facebook groups, all that kind of stuff.
• 6:23
  All of this is super helpful to expose you to a network of people. Find your tribe of entrepreneurs building in a similar space to you and also get feedback on your early thoughts of whether there will be a demand for the product. All these people will look at your business idea from a different angle and the more angles and perspectives you take into account, the more robust your business concept is going to be.
• 6:48
  This is such a popular and exciting time for sustainability, so take full advantage of that and join the conversation wherever you can. Keeping that in mind, it's not just other founders who are excited to connect over sustainability practices, but your potential consumers too. Learning number four is to join forces with your community, digitally and physically.
• 7:13
  In founding the dog food brand Chippin, Hayley Russell quickly picked up on just how excited her community was to drive positive change alongside her. Fighting climate change is something that we're all in together, chipping in trying to make a difference in the world. And that's how Chippin was born. It's high quality pet food that reduces the eco-pawprint by developing products from all natural proteins such as insects, overpopulated fish, and algae.
• 7:43
  Building a community feeling at the dog park, online, and through word of mouth helped them accelerate digitally and create an ambassador program that would amplify their message. And to this day, Hayley makes sure this community aspect comes through in every touchpoint of the experience, whether it's in their social media presence, replying personally to every question, or customer care on the website.
• 8:08
  Learning number five is to have true passion in what you're building. This one is so important. If you want to found a sustainable business, the most important thing is to do something you truly care about.
• 8:21
  For Isabel Agard from Last Object, it was clear for a really long time that she wanted to create something that really had the power to create a difference. She had a ton of good ideas, but nothing met the passion of what she wanted to create and what her actual inner dream was. It is so, so, so important that this aligns because starting something is such a huge thing to do and it's going to consume every aspect of your life.
• 8:50
  This made the lightbulb moment for Last Object all the more empowering. Isabel would create the world's first reusable alternatives to single-use products, such as what's become the hero product, a reusable Q-tip. She knew immediately that this was going to be her mission, and it became almost impossible not to dive right into the venture immediately. When you get that, that's when you know you're onto something.
• 9:16
  On to learning number six, which is all about playing the long game. When Sarah Pagiu founded Blue Land, her mission was to make it easy for people to be environmentally friendly. She wanted to eliminate single-use plastic and have her eco-cleaning products live in every household. She quickly realized that a large piece of attaining that puzzle would be around educating and empowering people with small changes that they can make every single day. Okay.
• 9:43
  Not to just sell to people, but to start an actual conversation and change the narrative. Now that's a long game, but with the potential for a huge amount of impact.
• 9:54
  Through Blueland's Instagram channel, which has near 400,000 followers, they deliver value to their audience over thinking about how to extract value from them. Tips and tricks on how to incorporate sustainability into your everyday life over directly selling Blueland's latest product. It's time consuming, but it's something that directly fuels Blueland's mission and directly feeds back into the success of the brand.
• 10:20
  Harness the opportunity you have to show up as a brand every day and speak to your audience in a very organic way. That is the gift of building a brand in today's world. And learning number seven is simply not to give up.
• 10:37
  Lauren Gropper has been creating green alternatives to disposable plastic since 2010. And if there's one thing that she can tell you about building a sustainable brand, it's that perseverance will trump everything.
• 10:53
  Just take it one step at a time because we all know you're not going to get there overnight. There's going to be so many hurdles along the way, but just keep on going, keep climbing that mountain and keep chipping away. Even in times when rejection hits you and you think it might be easier to quit, remember that the only thing that successful people have in common is that they never gave up. So give yourself and the planet the chance to be successful by simply not giving up.
• 11:24
  Okay, that's all for today. Thank you so much for tuning into my solo episode this week. These are all episodes that inspired me so much about the work that's being done to better our future. And I hope there are some practical learnings here that are easy to incorporate into your budding businesses moving forward. We can make some serious impact if we keep working on these things together.
• 11:48
  And as always, if you're on your phone listening to this episode, take a quick screenshot of the podcast and share it to your Instagram stories or leave a review in your podcast app to help other ears find us. And of course, you are always welcome to slide into my DMs or my inbox because you know how much I love to chat with you guys.
• 12:10
  Feel free to ask me any questions or share what you're thinking. You can reach me directly at Dunrosheen in all the usual places, which is D-O-N-E-R-O-I-S-I-N. See you next week. Bye.
• 12:41
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 13:05
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 13:28
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