I’m delighted to bring you another example of social entrepreneurship and enlightened marketing successfully solving real-world problems and how your fans, followers, and influencers will gladly carry your message to every corner of the planet. This time I want to go BIG and share a truly world-changing vision, message, solution, and movement – The Ocean Cleanup project by Boyan Slat.
Boyan Slat’s vision for cleaning the plastic out of our oceans inspired a collective effort to see it happen – from the $320 million donated that allows him to turn this idea into a full-fledged business and real-world working solution AND the star-studded list of people who are helping him spread his message across the planet.
The first ocean cleanup system is scheduled to be deployed in 2018.
Watch the full unveil here: https://t.co/RdYMFGP7c2 pic.twitter.com/pgu7wqGE5B— The Ocean Cleanup (@TheOceanCleanup) May 16, 2017
Why The Planet (And Your Business) Needs Enlightened Marketing
You may have heard me talk (on numerous occasions) about how we collectively have the intelligence, skills, and resources to solve any problem the planet faces.
But it requires the time, space, focus, inspiration, and community support to make it happen and sometimes people never get their ideas off the ground because they’re exhausted from being in a dead end job where their unique talents aren’t appreciated.
I’m delighted that I’m not the only who feels this way, it looks like Boyan shares a similar perspective:
The question should never be whether something is a technological problem – the question is whether something can be made into a technological problem. A problem of human nature is hard to solve but a technological problem is solvable.
— Boyan Slat (@BoyanSlat) January 8, 2018
Well this, my friend, is exactly what I’ve been talking about and it’s a great example of how enlightened marketing works:
– your VISION inspires your movement
– your message gets people talking and they start spreading that message to every corner of the planet
– together, we start solving some of the planet’s biggest problems
– without living like starving artists
Back to Boyan Slat and his vision of a plastic-free ocean:
Boyan was swimming in the idyllic waters of Greece when he saw a problem – the scary amount of plastic that’s piling up in our oceans – and decided to tackle it.
He had no reason to believe it would work, but he cared enough about his vision and his own abilities, to give it a try.
And he was willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING else to go after his dream. Gary Vee would be so proud…
According to an article on Mother Nature Network:
“I finally decided to put both university and my social life on hold to focus all my time on developing this idea. I wasn’t sure if it would succeed, but considering the scale of the problem I thought it was important to at least try,” said Slat.
Did he do this on his own? Hell no! He inspired a movement and that movement worked together to make this happen.
Other people felt inspired by his vision (Element #1 in the Enlightened Marketing for Revolutionary Businesses ebook: your Rally Cry ~ aka your VISION for the world) and donated $320 million to help turn this idea into reality!!
Now people like Marc Benioff, Joe Rogan, Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg, and other globally known influencers, are helping Slat spread his message (and funding) to every corner of the planet.
Visionary Leaders Leverage Today’s Success For The Next Big Thing
My favorite part about this is a plastic-free ocean, but my second favorite part is how Boyan is leveraging all this attention towards what they’ll do with the plastic they recover. He’s using social media to generate interest (asking what products people think they should turn this waste into) which will inevitably lead to a highly-profitable side business!!
Key Takeaways And How To Implement This In YOUR Biz
Now that you’re inspired and fired up, let’s look at a few important lessons that you can implement as an aspiring genius world-changer yourself:
- None of this happened overnight. Boyan spent 4 years developing the idea, 2 years testing it, and he anticipates it will take 5 years to successfully collect 50% of the plastic out of the ocean (and that’s assuming the funding continues to pour in to keep building these floating recycling centers).
He had no idea if this would work. He gave up school and social life to try anyway. He went years without guaranteed results. And now, now that all that sacrifice is done, now he looks like the hero and overnight sensation.
- He’s not talking about what he has already accomplished and the results he’s gotten. Yes, he’s done the research and there are super smart people who believe this will work. But the main thing Boyan is marketing is a vision of the future. A vision of what he wants to change and how he’s attempting to succeed at his goals.
Think about that for a moment.
The next time you get swept up by imposter syndrome or feeling like you’re not worthy of marketing your gifts to the world, remember Boyan. He’s 23 years old, hasn’t finished college and hasn’t yet freed the oceans from plastic. His success is built on a vision of how he’d like the world to be and millions of people across the planet are following his progress.
YOU can do this too! You can inspire the world with your vision, get people talking about your message and spreading it to every corner of the planet, and you can build a movement with social media, your community, your fans and followers.
If Boyan can do it, you can too!
Read more about this amazing project and watch it’s progress as it rids the ocean of 50% of its plastic trash (some of which is over 40 years old!!!) here:
Article About Boyan & The Ocean Cleanup project on Mother Nature Network
Article on Fast Company about Boyan & The Ocean Cleanup project
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