Finding a product to sell and a mission to lead
Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 10:54 am
Blueland is a social enterprise that sells plastic-free alternatives to home essentials, such as cleaning sprays and paper towels. Sustainability is at the heart of its mission and is woven into its content marketing that educates readers about sustainability and single-use plastics.
Mission: “Make it easy to be eco with innovative products in reusable packaging that are convenient, effective and affordable.”
Impact: Its products helped eliminate one billion single-use plastic bottles from landfills and oceans since 2019.
LSTN
A screenshot of LSTN’s website showing its wooden headphones.
LSTN Sound Co. sells premium wooden headphones and provides access to hearing aids to people in need through the Starkey Hearing Foundation. It reflects the founders’ love for music and wanting to share that experience with others, especially those with hearing loss who cannot afford hearing aids.
Mission: “After seeing a viral video of someone hearing her own voice for the first time, co-founders Bridget Hilton and Joe Huff decided to focus their efforts on creating change through the power of sound & music, and make this incredible moment a reality for others around the globe.”
Impact: The company has helped provide hearing aids to more than 50,000 people wswitzerland phone number data ho would not have had access to them otherwise.
The mission might come first for social entrepreneurs, but that doesn’t eclipse the importance of choosing the right things to make and sell. When all is said and done, a for-profit social enterprise needs to make money to survive, just like any other business idea.
You could start a social enterprise selling physical or digital products, even services.
The one caveat is your product development process must align with your mission. The common trait among successful social enterprises is a “product-cause fit” that aligns their mission with what they sell.
Start by asking yourself:
What social or environmental problems do you see in the world that you’re passionate about solving? The world is no doubt filled with many problems, but pick one you truly care about.
Is there a way you can uplift your local community? You don’t need to change the world. You can change someone’s world in your own city.
Is there a specific market you can sell to authentically? Authenticity is at the heart of social enterprises and that goes beyond the cause and applies to what you sell to customers too.
Can you draw any connections between the causes and product categories you’re passionate about? You’ll likely be marketing the product first to your customer, not the cause, but it helps if customers can draw a clear line between the two.
From there, you can work backward to find specific product ideas you can develo
Mission: “Make it easy to be eco with innovative products in reusable packaging that are convenient, effective and affordable.”
Impact: Its products helped eliminate one billion single-use plastic bottles from landfills and oceans since 2019.
LSTN
A screenshot of LSTN’s website showing its wooden headphones.
LSTN Sound Co. sells premium wooden headphones and provides access to hearing aids to people in need through the Starkey Hearing Foundation. It reflects the founders’ love for music and wanting to share that experience with others, especially those with hearing loss who cannot afford hearing aids.
Mission: “After seeing a viral video of someone hearing her own voice for the first time, co-founders Bridget Hilton and Joe Huff decided to focus their efforts on creating change through the power of sound & music, and make this incredible moment a reality for others around the globe.”
Impact: The company has helped provide hearing aids to more than 50,000 people wswitzerland phone number data ho would not have had access to them otherwise.
The mission might come first for social entrepreneurs, but that doesn’t eclipse the importance of choosing the right things to make and sell. When all is said and done, a for-profit social enterprise needs to make money to survive, just like any other business idea.
You could start a social enterprise selling physical or digital products, even services.
The one caveat is your product development process must align with your mission. The common trait among successful social enterprises is a “product-cause fit” that aligns their mission with what they sell.
Start by asking yourself:
What social or environmental problems do you see in the world that you’re passionate about solving? The world is no doubt filled with many problems, but pick one you truly care about.
Is there a way you can uplift your local community? You don’t need to change the world. You can change someone’s world in your own city.
Is there a specific market you can sell to authentically? Authenticity is at the heart of social enterprises and that goes beyond the cause and applies to what you sell to customers too.
Can you draw any connections between the causes and product categories you’re passionate about? You’ll likely be marketing the product first to your customer, not the cause, but it helps if customers can draw a clear line between the two.
From there, you can work backward to find specific product ideas you can develo