Published on June 6th, 2008
Walking down the street today, it’s clear that summer is here. Which for many leads to thoughts of road trips, camping, and festivals. All of which likely will involve eating. And unless you’re an ace fire starter, you’ll likely use Sterno, that bright pink goo that you just don’t go there, as far as what it’s made of. What else are you going to use?
You might want to try Ecoflame. Their Warming Gel serves the same purpose, but is made from sugar cane derived ethanol, rather then coal or petroleum based as many conventional options are, and the packaging itself is recyclable, the label made from sugar cane. The first question that comes to my mind is, where does this sugarcane come from? Is it harvested sustainably? Yes it’s a renewable resource, but does it consume more then its fair share of resources to be made?
That said, it’s non toxic, and has no toxic emissions. The same cannot be said for the others, that require ventilation in order to not be damaging to you. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on June 6th, 2008
A recent report from Javelin Strategy & Research found out that customers really like the idea of green banking. Forty-three percent of consumers said they are more likely to do business with companies they perceive to be green. But….three out of four consumers STILL receive paper statements. Hmmmm.
While sales of organic food, eco automobiles and natural beauty products are skyrocketing, for most folks, banking is business as usual. Yes, over 1/3rd of banking customers use online banking, it’s seems it’s hard to let go of those paper statements, checks and receipts.
As you work to make your business more eco, banking may be one place to start. Save time, money and the planet with these easy steps. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on June 6th, 2008
Dear Ecopreneurs…
Thanks again to GreenOptions.com for adding me to the Ecopreneurist blog team.
My favorite activity these days is coaching and advising ecopreneurs, investors, and green leaders on how to shorten the path to their objectives.
Having founded several green businesses and non-profits over the past 25 years, I’ve accumulated a ton of experience on starting, growing, and capitalizing green enterprises, and producing results via a broad assortment of strategies and leadership paradigms.
For GreenOptions readers, I’m offering my coaching and advice “Dear Abbey” style, for free, via this blog. To get the ball rolling, I invite you to submit your questions or topics to me via email:
Published on June 3rd, 2008
Known for generating and then carrying about huge reams of papers, lawyers are increasingly looking for ways to go green. Now there is some help available.The Meritas Leadership institute just released the Green Guide For Lawyers, a best practices handbook that similar to those offered by the American Bar Association-U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (ABA-EPA) Law Office Climate Change Challenge.
This best practices handbook from the Meritas Leadership Institute was designed was a roadmap to help attorneys become more environmentally conscious. The guide is divided into three tiers of initiatives: Sustainability Advocate, Partner and Leader. Each tier contains initiatives that fall into the Triple Bottom Line categories of people, profit and planet.
As more and more companies large and small takes steps to make their businesses greener, they look more toward working with green partners. Lawyers, an integral part of any business team, are following in their footsteps. Some say it is vital to do so. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 28th, 2008
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).
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 21st, 2008
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 16th, 2008
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 13th, 2008
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on April 23rd, 2008
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 »
Published on April 17th, 2008
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 »
