13th month of ecopreneurship. We found the unicorn.

This month, in 1 word: excited.

Before we dive in.

I am building Wildya & Wild Business Mates transparently.

First, you can see if this road would be for you.

Second, so that you have a blueprint of how to start & to get to your first paying/donating supporters.

So here are my 3 challenges & victories of the 13th month of being an ecopreneur.

🤔 3 Challenges:

1. 12 761 like-minded.

I thought I was the only one caring about nature for almost my entire life. I know it sounds crazy, but that's what I believed. 

Now, I have finally found 12,761 people who share the same passion for the wild world, yet I lack the time to meet everyone personally. 

This deeply frustrates me because when I see what you are working on or read your kind messages, I just want to chat with you all day. 

This part keeps me up at night.

💪 How I will try to overcome it: 

1. Organize live gatherings when there are big events I attend, like Change Now, so we can meet in person

2. Organize online live events; tonight, for example, we have the first Monthly Bonfire Chat with the Eco-Allies. Looking forward to meeting you there.

2. Prioritizing the big stuff.

What do you prioritize if numerous actions are important and time-sensitive? 

Still struggling to find that one out. 

Currently, I have to apply for financing, onboard a new co-founder, keep routine actions running, launch actions like our eco-anxiety quiz, etc. 

All actions are crucial, making it very hard to differentiate them. 

I have the feeling I am a firefighter and always running behind. 

💪 How I will try to overcome it: 

I just started to test a new system. 

• I write our monthly plan for what we need to do
• Then, I create action cards in Notion
• At the beginning of the week, I add time boxes to my calendar to get the areas done that move the needle the most
• With a timer tool, I keep checking if I really work on the stuff I am supposed to

Let's see if it will work. 

3. Linkedin Posts.

Lately, I have not been happy with my LinkedIn posts. I can't really pinpoint what it exactly is. I feel something is missing, or I talk too much, or they don't provide enough value. 

So, if you have noticed something or have some feedback, please hit me with it! 

💪 How I will try to overcome it: 

• Go through some of my old posts & see if I lost something along the way.  
• Ask you for your feedback 

🎉 3 Victories:

1. Eco-Anxiety Quiz launched

We finally launched a new tool to help you understand eco-anxiety better. I had no clue what was going on with me for a long time because I lacked the words to describe it or didn't know what to google. 

I hope this will help others better understand themselves and start their eco-anxiety -> action journey quicker. 

167 people tried it already, and 70% found this reflection exercise helpful. 

Showing that we have something there that can help people, now we need to improve it even further. 

💡 What I learned: 

 Look around what currently exists in our industry/sector, etc. & try to give it a new spin.

Invest in good tools; the benefit is much bigger than the cost.

Make your content engaging and fun, even if it is something as serious as mental health. 

Make sure you stay on Brand with everything you publish.

Building valuable stuff takes time; put in more work because it will set you apart. 

2. Finding the unicorn

We finally found our tech co-founder. Wow, that took longer than expected. I will soon share who it is, but for now, I just celebrate that we found him. 

I was dancing around the entire past week because finding a matching co-founder was the biggest challenge of my ecopreneur journey so far.

Get ready because the app will finally get the updates & new features you deserve!  

💡 What I learned: 

Don't give up. Clichee, but if you really believe in your idea, keep looking.

Set a deadline. Ours was the end of January; you cant endlessly keep on looking; sometimes, you then just need to find a way around it. 

Keep building. If you don't find the right match, keep building in public; sooner or later, your work might catch their eye. 

Talk a lot about it. This is literally the most impactful action you can do, so keep oversharing it, so that people connect you with others.

3. Help post

2 weeks ago, I opened up even more that I am currently overwhelmed and that I need help. 

You overwhelmingly offered your guidance, connected me with people, or just asked how I am doing. 

You can't imagine how much this means to me. I didn't expect people to dedicate some of their lifetime to helping me out. 

It showed me again how incredibly privileged I am.  

💡 What I learned: 

Be transparent. You don't have to fix the world alone; ask for help; you would be surprised how many people will show up for you.  

And that's 13 months. 

Big thank you for some inspirational conversations that I had this month. I gained fresh perspectives from each one of you. 

In February, we will work mainly on the Wildya app to ensure it will become your best ally to transform eco-anxiety into action.

P.S. I tend to talk about work too much and not reveal much about my personal life. So once a month, at the bottom of this reflection, I will share something, let's call it, unique about me. 

I am a massive football fan. I play & watch all the matches of my club, Hertha BSC. 

But I get a bit too emotional with it, so sometimes I need to take a break from it because it is emotionally draining to support a club that sucks 😂

💬 Let me know in the comments what your challenges were this month and how you overcame them. Through this, we can crowdsource solutions for our obstacles.