How Personal Ethics Inspire Business Ideas

Constant pressures from a job that doesn’t stimulate you. Frustrated in the lack of growth of your position. Wanting to work on your own terms and not be told what to do every single day. These are all reasons people decide to start their own business but they are not necessarily ones that inspire ideas and innovative thinking. Personal ethics are the real drivers in successful entrepreneurial endeavors.

Change. Many industries are led by corporations that do not necessarily take the ethical route when generating revenue and most young entrepreneurs, especially millennials, want to see that change. For example, many cleaning product ingredients are tested on animals. If someone was passionate about the welfare of animals, this could be a driver for them to start their own cruelty-free cleaning product business. Another example could be how daycare expenses are rising every year and it can make it impossible for some single parents to work full-time when their children are young. This could be a driver for someone who is passionate of equity in childcare, to start their own day care service that is affordable for this market. Lastly, if the environment, and its unraveling, is something that a person feels passionate about, it could inspire them to invent technology that re-purposes plastic.

All great businesses and services, whether small or big, are inspired by personal ethics. Innovation, one of Futurpreneur Canada’s key messages for today’s new upcoming start-ups, goes hand in hand with change and ethical thinking in business practice. Many of Futurpreneur supported businesses and their founders are vocals about the personal passions and ethics that brought them to start their businesses. Here are a few examples we’ve talked about recently:

1. As seen in our blog post a couple weeks ago, Chickapea Pasta’s founder is passionate about healthy eating and its convenient accessibility to families. Those strong ethics are what started her initial efforts for the creation of her healthy pasta alternative. Her pasta, which is sold in 500+ retailers in North America, is made from only two ingredients, organic chickpeas and lentils.
2. Another amazing example featured on our blog is a company called The founders, Joshua and Zach Green, took their knowledge in engineering and their strong beliefs in a more sustainable environment and created a smart thermostat that gave consumers more control of the electric heating units in their homes. Their technology has already sold 600+ units so far and is continuously growing since its launch.
3. David Brown, founder of Mycodev Group, believes that “entrepreneurship is a form of activism” and that attitude has brought him success in his industry. His technology extracts Chitosan, an ingredient that can be used in cancer fighting treatments and other pharmaceuticals, from various fungi and mushrooms (view his spotlight here).

If you want to start your own business but you’re not quite sure where to start, keep these questions in mind:

• What are my personal ethics?
• What change do I want to see in my community? Industry? The world?
• What are my talents and skills that I currently have/working towards having?
• What activities and causes am I passionate about?
• Do I know any contacts or networks I can refer to for advice?
• How can I ensure that the idea I pursue is lead in an ethical manner?

There are so many issues in the world and so many ways to inspire change. Protesting, making petitions and volunteer are incredible ways, but starting a business that tackles those very worldly social issues that each of us feel personally connected to will make all the difference as well. Not only do personal ethics inspire business ideas, but they keep them alive.

If you would like to start your business, click here for more information.

Written by: Sara Pivato, Social Media and Content Intern, Futurpreneur Canada