Green & Sustainable Business Ventures: For Entrepreneurs & Investors
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Posts by: Scott Cooney
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Scott Cooney in Eco-entrepreneurs 45 days ago
“I hate this job.” Ok, sure. Most jobs aren’t quite this bad, perhaps, but how many people do you know who really dread going to work? One of my favorite movies, Office Space, has a character, Peter, who laments to his therapist that every day he goes to work is worse than the day before,… Read More…
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Bryan Welch, publisher of Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, and Natural Home Magazine, gave the keynote address at Green America’s Green Business Conference in San Francisco. (Take a look at TriplePundit for my 5 articles over the last few days on the hot topics of the conference). His guidelines for a sustainable future are… Read More…
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Ecopreneurist does a terrific job of educating the public about green business, especially startups. My own personal blog, EcopreneursGuide, has a variety of pages that also address this topic, though with woefully less information and diversity, since it is only my blog, and doesn’t have the wealth of writers associated with Ecopreneurist. But the interesting… Read More…
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Economic downturns have historically been times in which there are more startup businesses than usual. This particular recession is a great time to start a green business. One easy place to start, for someone without a great deal of startup capital or knowledge base, would be to start a mobile food vendor business. Sometimes the… Read More…
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The Fourth Annual Sustainable Industries Economic Forum will feature ecopreneur Ray Anderson, founder and Chairman of Interface, a company specializing in sustainable carpets and other industrial products. The event will showcase a panel discussion with rock stars of the green business world, representing a broad swath of green industries. The timely discussion for this year’s… Read More…
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There can be no greater thrill in the world than watching your hard work pay off in the form of a successful green business venture. But how to learn about the world of running a small green business before simply launching in? Try doing a green internship. The connections will be tremendous, the learning opportunities… Read More…
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There may be few occupations that have more opportunity to incorporate sustainable choices into their products, services, and day-to-day operations than architecture. The market for green building has cooled down along with everything else, but it seems inevitable that it will replace its traditional counterpart faster than most other sustainable industries. Organic foods, for example,… Read More…
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Perhaps appearing counterintuitive, one business stategy for green businesses during a recession that your business might consider is to invest in expansion. Expansion can take many forms, of course. There is a great deal of interest in people starting green businesses these days. My personal blog has several pages, and by far and away the… Read More…
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The sales of organic foods have slowed in the last year, after almost ten years of at least 20% growth. The economy has cooled even some of the hottest markets, including organics, but with 6% growth in 2008, the organic industry remains strong and resilient. A terrific ecopreneurial opportunity exists for people interested in helping… Read More…
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You gotta spend money to save money. For energy efficiency upgrades, that saying couldn’t be more timely or accurate. Energy efficiency programs and rebates are getting a real shot in the arm from, among other things, the stimulus package, plus many other federal, state, and local programs. As a result of the stimulus package, energy… Read More…
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A recession such as we’re in can be a rough road for entrepreneurs. Conventional logic says to batten down the hatches and prepare for a long, cold winter. Conventional logic, however, is for conventional thinkers. You’re an eco-entrepreneur. So ride the horse that got you here and think outside the box. In your pool of… Read More…
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The economy is bleak. Everyone is losing jobs. Companies are cutting expenses as fast as their workforce. So your small, green company should, too, right? Not so fast my friend. Try this: empower your employees. Give them even more reign over your company. Task them with righting the ship. Elevate them, during this time… Read More…
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A jolt for the green economy? Perhaps ‘catalyst’ would be a better description for the economic stimulus package signed into law by Barack Obama. Barack Obama won his first legislative battle with the Republican minority in congress and passed the Economic Stimulus package he feels is needed to jumpstart America’s economy. The package includes money… Read More…
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When I interview a green business owner, one of my standard questions is “when marketing, do you target green customers specifically, or do you go for a much broader audience?” Perhaps a better question would be: “Do you give your customers a choice to go green, or do you just force the issue?” The Sustainability… Read More…
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You’re a small business owner and you’ve got your hands full with credit card readers, vender accounts, customer complaints, and advertising cold-callers…and do we even have to mention the recession? Still, you want to do your part to help reduce the impacts of climate change, and you’ve heard that one of the ways your company… Read More…
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The recession deepens. Even Barack Obama is saying that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Unemployment is getting dangerously close to 10% nationwide, a level we haven’t seen in decades. With every cloud is a silver lining, of course, and I think one that we must focus on is that we should be taking this time to… Read More…
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The Greener Gadgets Conference is rapidly approaching on February 27th in New York City. Aspiring social entrepreneurs submit designs to the Greener Gadgets Design Competition in the hopes of being featured at the event and to gain some recognition for their products. I voted for one that goes beyond green. “Fastronauts” are not only green in that… Read More…
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In a recent post, I interview Jack Norris, co-founder of Vegan Outreach, about the environmental impacts of our diets, and how he markets his organization. There is a great deal of similarity between some non-profits and for-profits, and aspiring social entrepreneurs have a choice to make in this regard. There are both benefits and drawbacks… Read More…
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I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Jack Norris, co-founder of Vegan Outreach, an organization committed to advocacy for a lower carbon and more compassionate diet. At the age of 41, and after 15 years of advocacy, Jack could be forgiven a little fatigue, but you’ll find not a single hint of anything… Read More…
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In a previous posting, I wrote about an increasing trend to host parties to generate interest for your green product. I was hosting a book release party for my book, Build a Green Small Business: Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur, and was curious to see whether the event would be a worthwhile marketing event,… Read More…
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An increasing trend in marketing is to host a party to promote your product. Innovative marketers use a party atmosphere to attract a crowd that might otherwise be indifferent or turned off by more traditional uses of marketing dollars, under a thinly veiled ad campaign. Moral? Sure, why not? It’s a party after all, so if… Read More…
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How many of us would love to own a green business but don’t know where to start? There’s the business model, revenue forecasting, capital investment, incorporation documents, potential partnerships, competitive analysis, marketing, insurance, and a whole host of other considerations, including what to name the business. It’s a daunting task, to say the least. For… Read More…
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Book review– 75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference by Glenn Croston, Ph.D This book is a nice complement to Ecopreneuring by John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist, in that while the latter is a lifestyle book, i.e., what would it be like to be a social entrepreneur, this book… Read More…
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Book Review: Ecopreneuring: Putting People and Planets Before Profit, by John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist. “One of the biggest ironies of our growth model is that we’re coming to relize that it has failed to make our society particularly satisfied–indeed, the number of americans who say they’re very happy with their lives was higher… Read More…
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George W. Bush sat just a few feet behind Barack Obama during the new President’s Inauguration address, delivered on a frigid yet sunny Washington, D.C. day. The former President appeared warmly dressed but must have felt a distinct chill in the stern repudiation he was publicly receiving, however eloquently Mr. Obama delivered it. CNN’s camera… Read More…
