Ecopreneurist

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This is the final post related to Strategies of Abundance for green business ecopreneurs. The first two addressed how banks have a stranglehold on our lives (Part 1). Part 2 addresses the KISS principle (keep it small stupid), relocalization movement, and thriving on natural capital.

Following are a few more strategies we’ve employed, like many other ecopreneurs.

Strategy # 5: Enough Is Enough

A key facet for many small business ecopreneurs is the recognition of living within our ecological and financial means. By exiting the rat race and crafting our own business at a level we can manage, we can commit ourselves to our Earth Mission. A key step, however, is to let go of the idea that we must own a new car or new stereo, go on lavish vacations or in myriad ways keep up with the fictional Joneses. Many Europeans have known this for years.

Strategy # 6: Be Creative and Innovative

“Of three precious resources in life — time, money and creativity — the only unlimited one is your creativity,” writes Ernie Zelinski in The Joy of Not Working. “Make creativity your number one resource, and time and money won’t be as scarce.” Ecopreneurs sometimes thrive in a service economy where there are not products or in a durable economy where there is no waste. After all, who really wants to “own” carpet. I, for one, will be the first in line for an affordable service contract for a computer (famous for their obsolescence in less than three years).

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This is the second post related to Strategies of Abundance for small business ecopreneurs. My first post addressed why paying the bank is often an unwise decision.

Strategy # 2: KISS Principle: Keep It Small Stupid

While the mantra today might be get big or get out, be a millionaire or — for the more socially responsible — “getting to scale” without losing the values the business was founded upon, we’ve discovered the more human-scaled our operations and practices, the more we can accomplish in terms of reaching our Earth Mission.

Size matters not. It’s what and how we operate. Do the best we can in whatever our priorities and live without regrets. It’s a qualitative measure of success, not a quantitative one. Not bigger, but better.

There’s a small mart revolution going on, proclaims Michael Shuman in The Small Mart Revolution. It echoes the “power of one” worldview; we are the world. We don’t underestimate what a nation of ecopreneurial proprietors might collectively accomplish. Perhaps that’s how we view scale: a nation of ecopreneurs. However, we also respect the decision of those ecopreneurs whose fire in their belly lead them to become household names or lead to the sustainable transformation of their communities.

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Like all entrepreneurs, those in the eco-sphere need to spend their ad dollars wisely. While big advertisers can afford to make big mistakes, small advertisers can only afford to make small ones. Green entrepreneurs can ruin their business without a carefully thought out campaign.

And so, as I mentioned in this post, Recession Proof Your Green Business, before you even consider embarking on an advertising campaign, you need:

….to ensure that you have a strong unique positioning and are promoting that differentiation at every opportunity.

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This is the first of several posts describing “Strategies of Abundance” for ecopreneurs and green business owners.

Even in financially tough times, these Strategies of Abundance reflect interrelationships between personal finance and business, especially for small business owners. The key for ecopreneurs is how they use their business to make the world a better place. Profits from a green enterprise are the catalyst for ecopreneurs to achieve their Earth Mission, whether to restore ecological integrity or make photovoltaic systems affordable to all.

STRATEGY #1: Stop paying the banker.

The longer you hold a mortgage, the more you work for the bank and the more profitable you make them. For comparison, below is a chart from our book, ECOpreneuring, reflecting how interest can pile up on a $100,000 mortgage at 7 percent interest for terms of 15 and 30 years. While the monthly payment is less for the 30-year mortgage (the primary reason many of us choose it), we end up paying more than double for the use of the same pot of money.

By accelerating our mortgage payments on our 30-year fixed mortgage by paying down the principal when we could, we have the ability to earn less income to pay the bank than if we did otherwise over the long-term. Prepayment on principal is usually acceptable and completely legal. Every time you pay down the principal, the remaining interest and balance is recalculated, meaning that more of your regular monthly payments go to the principal and not interest payments.

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The more income-producing and complementary projects my wife and I have in our ecopreneurial business, the more stable and secure we feel, careful to not let work override quality of life considerations.

After all, we, like many ecopreneurs we’ve interviewed or met, don’t live to work. Instead, we find our livelihood and the businesses we navigate deeply satisfying as we make the world a better place through the green businesses — for profit and non-profit alike — that we own or direct.

The key to our approach to ecopreneurship is looking to nature for inspiration. Our green business is both diversified in enterprises as well as the products and services we offer, filling economic niches in much the same way as plants, animals and fungi fill ecological niches that create sustainable, interdependent and healthy ecological systems. For example, there are thousands of bed & breakfasts in the U.S., but only a few that specialize in serving vegetarian (or vegan) organic breakfasts with ingredients mostly harvested a hundred feet from their back door, like we do. That the Inn is completely powered by the wind and sun and welcomes children as guests, serves as additional niche experiences we offer our guests who we generally refer to in our ECOpreneuring book as “conserving customers,” not consumers — but more on this in a future blog. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of my discussion last week with Patty Calkins, VP of Environment, Health, and Safety at Xerox, focused on her company’s efforts in the realm of sustainable business… so, not necessarily “ecopreneurial” material. As “document management” is a concern for any business owner, small or large, I made sure to address entrepreneurial issues with her. Specifically, I gave her a scenario: I’m the owner of a green start-up, and want to implement as many sustainable practices as possible while watching costs. How do I balance these priorities in terms of printing, paper use, and the energy costs that come with them?

It turns out (fortuitously … I didn’t know this up front) that Xerox was planning to release a series of tips on this topic this week in anticipation of Earth Day. That information was released today:

• Cut paper use. Make two-sided prints and copies using the “duplex” function, print multiple images per page, and print only the quantity you need at the time you need it. Saving paper also saves energy: Environmental Protection Agency estimates say it takes 10 times more energy to manufacture a piece of paper than to create another print or copy.
• Recycle the paper you use, and use recycled paper. Install bins in several office locations to make it easy to collect paper for recycling or for reuse as notepaper. And commit to purchasing recycled paper – it can meet the same performance specifications as non-recycled paper. Read the rest of this entry »

A recent article in Business Green discusses several ways of classifying the green consumer and the issues related to reaching them. Though demographics, the tried and true way of sorting out consumers into groups by income, age, education, etc. works well in some categories, it’s not as helpful in segmenting green consumers.

Enter Psychographics, often used by niche marketers, it can be an effective tool for eco entrepreneurs.

• Demographics looks at characteristics of people that include age, income, education, occupation, household size, home ownership and home value, among other factors.
• Psychographics delves deeper into people’s lifestyles and behaviors, including their interests and values.

While segments of green consumers vary according to the source you use (check out this hilarious post that outlines some of them) I’ll use the Natural Marketing Institute’s labels for LOHAS ( lifestyles of health and sustainability) consumers.

• LOHAS — very progressive on environment and society, looking for ways to do more; not too concerned about price (16%).
• Naturalites — primarily concerned about personal health and wellness, and use many natural products; would like to do more to protect the environment (25%).
• Conventionals — practical, like to see the results of what they do; interested in green products that make sense (e.g., save money) in the long run (23%).
• Drifters — not too concerned about environment, figuring we’ve got time to fix environmental problems; don’t necessarily buy a lot of green products, though may like to “be seen” in Whole Foods to enhance their image (23%).
• Unconcerned — have other priorities, not really sure what green products are available, and probably wouldn’t be interested anyway; they buy products strictly on price, value, quality, and convenience (23%).

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The goals for a businesses - nonprofit organization partnership or cause-related marketing campaign are generally one or more of the following:

1. Branding – Associating with a good cause
2. Awareness – Getting the nonprofit organization to promote the business among its supporters
3. Promotion – Incenting consumers to buy from a business in a particular time frame, such as by donating a certain percentage (or a fixed amount) of sales to a charity

Businesses need to beware that the effort to create a unique program with a particular nonprofit organization can be very labor-intensive, even if the program seems “cheap” in terms of cash expenses. In order to limit the time and effort needed to run a cause-related marketing campaign, many businesses opt to participate in third-party programs such as 1% for the Planet. Member businesses pledge 1% of sales to worthy causes and receive networking and promotional benefits in addition to the recognition (via a logo on their website) that they are a member.

Unique Programs May Stand Out More and Can Get You Press

If you have a PR budget for your business and some time to develop a unique marketing partnership, you can get some extra mileage from a creative program. No member of the press is going to write a story about your business joining a standard program. However, you might interest the press in a special event or a program with unusual features.

Make Sure the Marketing Program Relates to the Audience You are Trying to Influence

Face it. If you are a business owner, you are creating a marketing partnership with a nonprofit to boost your business. You want your customers and potential customers to appreciate your efforts.

Say, for example, you are Banana Republic, and you want your brand to be more green. How do you associate your urban and Read the rest of this entry »

As a blogger and freelance journalist, I receive several to many press releases a day, promoting all sorts of products, web sites and events. As a marketing consultant, I write press releases for my clients and struggle with the time and energy that goes into creating something which, well… often isn’t read.

Silicon Valley Watcher, Tom Foremski puts it nicely:

Press releases are nearly useless. They typically start with a tremendous amount of top-spin, they contain pat-on-the-back phrases and meaningless quotes…

Press releases are created by committees, edited by lawyers, and then sent out at great expense through Businesswire or PRnewswire to reach the digital and physical trash bins of tens of thousands of journalists.

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For most people, shipping something quickly internationally boils down to a small bowl of alphabet soup: DHL, UPS, or FedEx. End of story. It’s just how things get done. But for an increasing number of people, they’re aware of the fact that airplane flight plays a major part in contributing to global climate change. But most only know part of the story.

In a conversation with Justin Brown of First Global Xpress, I began to find out: All the major international shippers use a “hub and spoke” system to distribute packages. In a case of bureaucracy overriding logic, a package sent from New York to Europe may first go to New Jersey, then go several miles in the wrong direction, to Memphis Tennessee, then back overseas, taking in the sights at several major and regional sorting centers until it arrives. Why? It defies logic, in terms of efficiency, ecology, and economy.

And get this: according to Justin, 30% of jet fuel consumed is during take off. So, add up those extraneous miles, plus the fuel consumed each flight, and you’ve got an enormous carbon footprint here, an unnecessary one.

What to do? Enter First Global Xpress. Read the rest of this entry »