Ecopreneurist

I often think about how ‘feel good’ a one-stop shop online would be if it could really answer my call for style. Just imagine…..eco-friendly cosmetics, jewelery, clothing, all the things every girl looks for, under a single cyber roof. Folks I have good news: Eco Zen Boutique, a socially conscious, Arizona based green fashion boutique owned and operated by eco-preneur Tandy Stepp, has recently opened a new online store at ecozenboutique.com.
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Last week I shared the triple bottom line adapted from our ECOpreneuring book. The triple bottom line encompasses people, planet and (some) profits. Since people run a business, I started by examining how the DNA of a Green Business Starts with People, touching on customers and employees (apparently not highly valued at the now defunct Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns).

The other two People bottom lines are vendors/suppliers and investors (if your business has any), addressed below:

(3) Vendors and Suppliers

How a sustainable business chooses and interacts with vendors and suppliers, so-called business-to-business transactions, that provide the supplies and services the business needs to run is one way ecopreneurs are helping grow and magnify our impacts. We seek out like-minded vendors with whom to do business. Co-op America’s Green Pages (greenpages.com) is often our first stop to look for products our business might need, since it lists thousands of socially and environmentally responsible businesses.

A growing number of small businesses are perhaps inspired by the Amish and their collaborative sense of community and shared economic prosperity. Rather than working alone, many Amish provide goods or services to each other, working together on projects that on the surface may benefit only one farmer, but on the whole end up benefiting the entire community. As author Bill McKibben writes about in Deep Economy, there’s greater comfort and security from community membership than individual ownership. This idea is reflected in the business-to-business commerce mushrooming on the Internet and in small businesses, especially the nanocorps, or new forms of interlinked commercial websites, like Sohodojo.com.

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It’s no secret: businesses who build durable internal systems breed long term and sustainable profits.

In fact, the rule on the street, and this applies to enterprising green businesses who are past their mainstream ‘breaking point’ and are now swimming with the rest of the so-called ’sharks’, is often ‘automate or perish’.

But automation (business speak for “doing it better and faster”) is hardly a Darwinian one-way street – eco-minded companies are benefiting more than just their own bottom line by developing or partnering to develop software that automates green decision making: they are greening entire industries.

And, the three who are doing it – Green Printer, Workforce Software and Sustainable Minds – have a lot to share on what it takes to get there. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been coming across some devastating statistics on office paper waste in the U.S. Did you know:

• The typical office worker uses about 10,000 sheets (20 reams) of paper per year.
• A typical office discards almost 350 pounds of paper per employee each year.
• About 1 trillion sheets of paper are used for digital printers and copiers in the U.S. each year.
• The average document gets copied 19 times.

The waste of time and money is mind boggling. But, there are several easy, free ways to use less paper in your day-to-day printing and copying.
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For those of you who don’t read the LA Times, here’s a green products article you’ll want to catch. Today they featured a detailed story about green chemistry–the companies developing green body care, house cleaning and home building materials and the challenges they face. And, oh ya, also about the multi-millions in revenues they are earning and consumers learn more and care more about what goes into the bodies of their families.

Writer Marla Cone points out that the green products available today are not perfect, but the article is encouraging for the prospects for green businesses. And although she is focused on big companies that are going green, she also gives some good case study material on green companies that have gone big.

More on green products from Ecopreneurist:

Attack the Ingredient Not the Brand: Is Burt’s Bees New Campaign on the Right Track?

Organic Lotions Go Glam and Luxurious

4 Questions to Ask Before You Launch a Green Product

Arnold Creek Productions new release takes a look at ecopreneurs and what makes them tick.

“Naturally Successful” is a 78-minute program about how a new type of entrepreneur is changing industries and the world at the speed of business. It features interviews with some of the country’s top business consultants, educators, authors and speakers who are inspiring entrepreneurs worldwide, such as Hunter Lovins, Van Jones, Mark Albion and Michael Shuman.

They offer insights on entrepreneurship, with a focus on building a values-driven business, providing meaningful leadership, achieving results beyond profits, serving customers, thinking long-term, seizing opportunities in new and existing markets, creating a thriving business and embracing a new type of capitalism.

We wrote about this before…now you take a look and tell me: Does this capture the spirit of Ecopreneurs? Tell me what you think?

Related Posts:

Triple Bottom Line: The DNA of a Green Business Starts with People

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Social Entrepreneur?

Naturally Successful: Inspiring Videos for Green Entrepreneurs

Book & DVD Review: Building with Awareness

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Debco - one of the larger manufacturer’s of promotional items in North America - recently posted a new all green catalog. The catalog is available on their website at www.debcosolutions.com under the downloads tab.

One of the things that Debco did in this catalog which I wish more manufacture’s would do is they produced a glossary of terms.

Thought it would be useful to reproduce that glossary here for our community.

Glossary of ECO Terms

Corporate Sustainability: implementation of strategies that meet business needs while concurrently seeking to protect, support, conserve and enhance the human and natural resources needed in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

Think for a moment, if you wanted to make the maximum impact in greening one product area, what would it be? Cars may come to mind first, but that requires a significant commitment and investment by the buyer.  While it can and will make a positive impact, there’s an area that’s much more ubiquitous and may not even register on the radar for some - office supplies.

Think about how much you use. Think about how much a company of 50 uses. 500. To use supplies that are less impactful, or perhaps even eliminating the damage they typically do, has enormous potential.

It’s this thinking that led Gil Yaron, once a lawyer focused on shareholder activism and socially responsible investing to create Vancouver based FrogFile in 2006. In his work leading up to this, he saw that many companies were interested in greening their office operations, but they didn’t quite know how or where to do that. Then once they did know what they wanted to do, there wasn’t a place to get what they needed.

FrogFile seeks to be a remedy for this quandary. And yet, you might say, green office supplies seem to be everywhere these days, both online and in office supply stores large and small. What does FrogFile contribute, and how do they stand out from this growing chorus? Read the rest of this entry »

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

OK, the name is a little cheesy but these signs are a great idea for businesses that need eco-friendly signage which still shows a professional edge.

Primarily constructed of bamboo, the Panda Stand is an environmentally friendly retractable banner stand for the exhibit, display and graphics markets. The unit is made from 90% renewable resources (bamboo casing and pole) and designed to maximize visual impact.

The Panda Stand’s eco-friendly style helps to emphasize your message while contributing to a greener planet for us all. In fact I would say the stand itself contributes to your message.

The manufacturer - Megagraphix - is working on using a 100% recycled solution for the banner itself as well as printing the unit using 100% vegetable based dyes.

This sturdy and premium portable display unit offers the same high performance attributes as other retractable displays. Its precision-engineered retraction system makes it easy and quick to set up virtually anywhere - simply unwind the graphic stored in the bamboo base and insert the support pole. Read the rest of this entry »

Greg Christian, Chicago ecopreneur bills himself as “Chicago’s Conscious Caterer™“. Trademarked and promoted on “Da Green Show”.

Not bad.

Related Posts:

Green your next seminar and skip the “Nice. Plastic forks”.

Five Tips to Keep Local Foods the Honored Guest at Catered Events

Plant It Green: Five Tips for Mixing Sustainable Foods into Your Next Event