5 Unique Dilemmas of Green Entrepreneurs: Do you face any of these?
A green entrepreneur’s trials and tribulations
Just spittin’ some truth.
So you decide to be a hero–
And become a green entrepreneur.
Hats off to you. You are one of the few that care for the well-being of the planet.
But the billowing cape of green is cursed.
Some internet charlatan may sell get-rich-quick schemes, yet nobody questions him. But you decide to do something good for the world (sometimes at great personal financial peril) and every dork on the street points their finger at you and says “that’s the evil guy/girl.”
But the trek through hell is one that all heroes must take. Look at Batman, Superman and the legion of comic book sentinels. Their stories are filled with torture, tribulations and difficult choices… and that is exactly what makes us root for them. (Precisely the reason why we at Balding Green Hills want you to incorporate your challenges into your brand’s storytelling).
Here are five dilemmas that you will face sooner or later if you are a green entrepreneur:
1. Limited market demand
According to Investopedia:
Because buyers have finite resources, their spending on a given product or commodity is limited as well, so higher prices reduce the quantity demanded. Conversely, demand rises as the product becomes more affordable.
The big question is, when there are cheaper products that often work better than your ecofriendly offering, why would people buy your stuff? Just because it’s meant to help the world? To an extent– yes. But most people would rather say ‘I love nature’ with their mouths than with their wallets. Non-green is still all the blaze. Look at the example in the picture below:
The plastic cups are cheaper, more popular and even better rated than the biodegradable alternative.
I will include a personal opinion here that you may agree with or not– green products are not COOL yet. They are a social cause meant to generate sympathy. It’s high time that we market ecofriendly alternatives as fashionable and attractive.
2. How do new green entrepreneurs find like-minded people?
This might sound strange but finding like-minded people still remains a persistent challenge even in the age of social media. How many times have you sent connection requests on Linkedin (sometimes specifically mentioning that you are not trying to sell anything) only to have them forever pending? How many times have you connected with people, but they do not bother to respond to your harmless messages? It’s one thing to have connections and followers and subscribers. And it is a very different thing to have real connections and followers and subscribers. On top of that, fakers masquerading as ecopreneurs add another level of complexity.
How do you meet potential collaborators who are as sensitive about the environment as you are?
Some Linkedin and FB groups have tens of thousands of members and supposedly cater to your industry or niche… but how many members engage there? A maximum of three of four. Look at the screenshot from an ‘environmental’ subreddit. You might as well be posting to a group of dead people.
3. Solving problems creates more problems
Everyone said plastic is bad. So you invented a biodegradable plastic and it finally begins to sell… then you discover that your invention works fine on land but behaves like any other bag of polythene in cold ocean temperatures. Marine animals are still choking to death thanks to your (not) biodegradable plastic. Whoops!
Are you even an ally of the environment? The imposter syndrome is real.
Should you run a profitable business or should you innovate and perfect your product until you are in your nineties? Everyone dreams of driving posh cars, going to scenic places and ‘living the life’… you might as well place an ecofriendly gravestone next to such dreams.
(I have delved deep into this particular issue in this article)
4. Education and Awareness
Sure, you might have a lot of data and scientific evidence on why your eco-efficient product or service works. But your target clients and customers are not always able to process this. You need to strike a fine balance between being friendly and technical in your brand’s communication. Awareness is often limited to “Green is equal to environment friendly’. Some customers do want to buy ecofriendly products, but sly greenwashers whisk them away by employing green cartons and leaf logos.
There is a whole army of climate change deniers who promote misinformation. The tragedy of the twenty-first century is that topics of global warming, pollution, environmental degradation, species extinction etc have been politicized.
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it — Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s pal.
Remember the concept of the ‘big lie’ described by the Nazi party that they themselves cunningly used against the Jewish people?
97% of scientists from different countries agree that humans are driving global warming, and yet the very existence of climate change deniers indicates that the ‘big lie’ of ‘climate-change-is-a-lie’ spread by naysayers is doing its damage.
5. Should a green entrepreneur focus on profit or purpose?
Your green company does take off, but then you find scaling problematic. Would you put your purpose aside and incorporate non-green solutions, while being thoroughly aware that they are harming the environment? Since you have already built a green brand that people trust, now, do you join the ranks of greenwashers?
How do you stick to your purpose?
This is a problem that I am facing myself. I go the extra mile to create well-researched content, investing a number of hours (sometimes days) for each piece. Yet, writers in other niches earn much more, even though their work doesn’t require any extensive research. More often than not they are just rephrasing other people, especially in niches like self help.
For example, I recently came across a clip where one writer banged out a so-so article of one thousand words in 30 minutes and got paid $200. I invest ten times the effort, but find there is a certain reluctance in the green industry to pay reasonable rates to writers, even though great content goes a long way to solve many of the dilemmas I have mentioned in this article.
Similarly, you may see other entrepreneurs filling up their pockets with stacks of cash from activities that poison the air, while your earnest efforts to create a better future for humanity go unappreciated.
Will you be tempted?
Conclusion
Keeping in mind the above challenges that often make green entrepreneurs quit, I have launched Balding Green Hills. Some of the above issues such as awareness creation, finding like-minds for collaboration or funding could be solved using informative articles, case studies, white papers etc. Great content can change people’s perspectives (sometimes even sway entire markets) so they are more inclined to support you.
Not any clickbait content though, but compelling content that speaks from the soul. In an age of AI generated trash, the human’s voice will go a long way to power position your brand as a caring leader.
Book a FREE discovery call here: https://calendly.com/akhoywrites/15min
Also, if you are a green entrepreneur with a successful company, I would love to interview you and know how you overcame obstacles to establish your business.
My ultimate aim is to create a platform where ecopreneurs could collaborate and help each other find solutions to problems.
As the saying goes:
A rising tide lifts all boats
References:
Vetter, D. (2021b, November 19). 5 Big Lies About Climate Change, And How Researchers Trained A Machine To Spot Them. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2021/11/19/5-big-lies-about-climate-change-and-why-researchers-trained-a-machine-to-spot-them/
White, K. (2023, April 5). The elusive green consumer. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2019/07/the-elusive-green-consumer
Dostál, J. (2015). Theory of problem solving. Procedia — Social and Behavioral Sciences, 174, 2798–2805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.970
Do scientists agree on climate change? — Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. (n.d.). Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/17/do-scientists-agree-on-climate-change/
