 If you’re looking for green business ideas, you’re in luck. There are more and more sustainable small businesses popping up every day, and many of them can be started on a shoestring budget. In this article, we’ll look at 20 of our favorite environmentally friendly ideas to help you start your own business. What is a Sustainable Business? A sustainable business offers eco-friendly products that use sustainable materials and practices to minimize its carbon emissions. The goal of a sustainable business is to have a minimal negative impact on the environment, both now and in the future. This can greatly help to reduce carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Business Sustainability and Green Businesses in 2022 In recent years, there’s been a growing awareness of the need for businesses to operate in a more sustainable way. This has led to an increase in eco-friendly businesses in 2022, which are using renewable energy sources to minimize their environmental impact. Why You Should Start a Green Business Starting a business that follows green practices is not only good for the planet, but it can also be good for your bottom line. Here are five reasons to start a sustainable business:
Best Green Business Ideas for a Reduced Carbon Footprint If you’re looking for a green business idea, you’re in luck. There are more environmentally conscious businesses popping up every day. Let’s take a look at some! 1. Green Business Consultant For this business model, you would help businesses transition to practices that are greener. This could include helping them choose energy-efficient products, implementing recycling programs, or developing sustainability plans. 2. Solar Panel Installation This is a growing industry as more people look to energy sources that are more renewable. As a solar panel installer, you would help customers choose and install the right solar panel system for their home or business. 3. Wind Turbine Installation Like solar panels, wind turbines are also an energy source that is renewable and becoming increasingly popular. 4. Recycling Business There are many recycling businesses you could start to benefit the local environment such as a home pick-up service, a commercial recycling service, or a waste management consulting service. 5. Plant Delivery Service If you have a green thumb, you could start a plant delivery service. You could specialize in delivering houseplants, office plants, or even garden plants. 6. Green Restaurant Owner As a green restaurant owner, you would make sure your eatery is as eco-friendly as possible. This could include using locally sourced organic food and ingredients, composting food waste, and using energy-efficient appliances. 7. Beauty Salon Owner You would be at the forefront of the green beauty movement. You would make your beauty salon more eco-friendly by using green products, recycling, and conserving water. 8. Energy Efficient Appliances Retailer With this business, you would sell appliances that are designed to save energy. This could include energy-efficient refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, and more. 9. Green Building Contractor With the rise in green building, there is a growing demand for contractors who specialize in this area. Green building contractors build homes and commercial buildings using sustainable materials and practices. 10. Farmer’s Market Vendor If you’re a farmer, you could sell your produce at your local farmer’s market and local grocery stores. This would give you the opportunity to connect with customers and sell your produce in an environmentally friendly way. More Sustainable Business Ideas We’re not done yet! Here are more ideas to help you start an eco-friendly business: 11. Composting Business With this business, you would collect food scraps and other organic materials to create compost. This compost could then be sold to farmers, gardeners, or anyone else who is interested. 12. Packaging Design Business For this business, you would create sustainable packaging for other businesses. This could include using recycled materials, biodegradable materials, or even edible packaging. 13. Eco-Friendly Kids Toys You could start a business making eco-friendly toys for kids made from green materials that would be safe for the environment. You’ll also be helping to teach the next generation about being eco-friendly. 14. Wind Farms Wind farms are becoming increasingly popular as a renewable source of energy. You could start a business developing, constructing, or operating a wind farm. 15. Ink Refill Business You could start a business refilling ink cartridges. This would be a much more sustainable option than buying new cartridges, and it would also save customers money. 16. Green Cleaning Service Starting a business that uses green cleaning products and practices would be a great way to help people live a more sustainable lifestyle. 17. Sell Energy Efficient Lighting You could start a business selling energy-efficient lighting. This could include LED lights, CFLs, or even solar-powered lights. This is a great way to help people save energy and money. 18. Recycled Furniture Business You could start a business selling furniture made from recycled materials. This is a great way to repurpose materials that would otherwise be thrown away. Plus, it’s a great way to furnish your own home or office in a sustainable way. 19. Master Herbalist As a master herbalist, you would be an expert on the use of medicinal plants. You could start a business growing and selling these plants, or you could provide consulting services to those who want to use them. 20. Reclaimed Wood Business You could start a business selling reclaimed wood. This wood can be used for furniture, flooring, or other purposes. It’s a great way to repurpose materials and give them a second life. What Makes a Business Green? Any business that wants to be considered “green” needs to meet a certain set of standards regarding energy consumption and sustainable practices. These practices include recycling and composting, using energy-efficient lighting, appliances, and methods of transportation, and supporting renewable sources of energy. What Is the Most Sustainable Business? The most sustainable green business is one that can balance environmental, social, and economic considerations to create long-term value. To do this, sustainable businesses need to have a clear understanding of their impact on each of these areas and how they can create positive change. Source: https://smallbiztrends.com Image Credit: Getty
0 Comments
 There is no value in ideation without execution. Without the intention and action that takes an idea from conception to success, it’s just an idea and ideas are everywhere. Many people have multiple ideas over the course of each day and most of them aren’t put into practice. What separates those who succeed from those who never quite make it is the steps they take to turn the idea into income. Carrie Green is the founder and CEO of the Female Entrepreneur Association (FEA) and author of the international bestselling book, She Means Business. Since starting her first business, a phone unlocking company, at age 20, Green has built one of the largest online platforms for female entrepreneurs, with over 600,000 fans worldwide. FEA’s work helps ambitious women build wildly successful businesses and turn their ideas into reality. Passionate about personal development herself, Green’s TEDx talk, Programming Your Mind for Success, has amassed over 8 million views. I interviewed Green to hear her 12 steps to turn your idea into income. 1. Do your research With any idea, it’s important you start at the very beginning. Before you buy any domain names or talk to anyone about your brainwave, get to work with planning. “First start by defining, validating and researching your idea,” said Green, who focuses on this in week one. She added, “I would be really digging into it, looking on Google, Reddit, on the app store and every social media platform, I'd be researching what's already out there.” Based on what you find, work out how your idea can uniquely add value and progress to step two. 2. Define your idea Next comes defining your idea in more detail and assessing demand. Summarize your idea in a title and a headline. State in simple terms what it does. Green recommended you ask, “Are people already buying something similar?” Are people using workarounds for the problem your idea solves? Ask your friends and ask the internet. She said that if they are, take this as a really good sign that demand exists. It means you are likely to find people who want to buy what you’ll offer. 3. Define your audience After the what comes the who. “Who would be your dream customer and why?” said Green. “Who are they and where are they at in their life?” Find out their desires and struggles or pain points in relation to the solution your product or service provides. Green advised that you, “tap into who they are on an emotional level, so you can understand how your offer is going to resonate strongly.” 4. Share your idea When you know the what and who, the how will start to become apparent. Now it’s time to “immerse yourself in the fact that you are creating something.” Green explained this involves, “building excitement, sharing the concept, talking about your idea with anyone who will listen to you.” At this stage you’ll begin to gather feedback on how your messaging lands with your target audience. She also advised you keep track of whoever you speak to, and “start a waitlist, get people signed up and looking forward to the exciting thing you’re going to launch.” 5. Involve an audience If you have an existing audience, share your idea on a larger scale by bringing them on the journey with you. Green said, “get them involved really early on. Tell them you’re creating something and you can’t wait to share it, then say you’d love their help and ask them questions.” When Green was building her membership offering, she was constantly quizzing people over social media and in emails. Questions about their challenges and what they needed meant Green was “co-creating with my audience.” She then used the answers to build the exact membership platform they needed and by the time it was ready they were fired up to join. 6. Visibility plan Being crystal clear on your offering and priming an existing audience is followed by preparing to launch to an even bigger audience. “What are you going to be doing over the next few weeks to create visibility?” asked Green. Work out how you will “share more about your idea, bring more people behind the scenes, ask them questions, and tap into the knowledge that will help you build out your idea and create.” The more people you know and understand, the more you know the direction your idea should take. Don’t miss any opportunity for visibility and conversation. 7. Build and nurture your audience Step seven involves building up your core audience and nurturing people so that when you launch it’s really powerful, “even if there is only a small handful of people.” Green believes that “all of us can go out there and connect with 5, 10, 20 or 3000 people. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest give us the ability to connect for free.” Start small, aim to make a personal connection with one person at a time, keep track, build your waitlist and see your audience snowball. By now, you understand the desires and pain points of these people, so you know how to talk about what they care about. 8. Plan your creation With your audience building nicely, here’s where is gets real. “There's going to be laser-focused creation.” This is where you plan your product, your website, your launch strategy. Everything you’ve learned from quizzing and chatting to your audience goes into this. You plan your timelines, write your checklists and set the wheels in motion for production, which is the next phase. Green wants you to have “full understanding of what you’re creating, who it’s for and what you need to do to bring it to reality.” 9. Focused creation Now you know what you need to do, step 9 is where you do it. Green recommends you make use of deadlines. “Give yourself a really short timeframe, for example two weeks.” She warned against dragging your idea out for months or years and is sure “if you’re really focused with your time, you can create something amazing in two weeks.” During that two-week period, sit down at your desk and don’t move until you’ve made progress every day.” Be disciplined and focused around creating your course, your downloads or products. By the end of that two weeks, you’ll nearly be ready for customers to buy. 10. Prepare for launch Now your idea has been created into reality, it’s nearly time to launch. Prepare for launch by “writing your sales page and email copy, set up your sales page and automation,” said Green. “Now is where customers should be able to actually buy from you.” Test this process from the point of view of your audience. What will they think, where will they click? How much does your process resonate and how simple is it to complete? See it through their eyes before pressing go. 11. Launch your product When your ducks are in a row it’s time to launch. Green said this is where you, “talk about your product to even more people, share the posts you already wrote and click send on your first email. You could do a live workshop. Put your creation out there and give people the link to the checkout.” If you’ve laid the groundwork, they’ll be waiting for it to arrive. Put the link in their hands and tell them it’s ready. 12. Assess and keep going While you’re launching, have an idea on the numbers. Look at how many units you sold on launch day and during launch period. Then, said Green, “plan the next 90 days to 6 months so you know where your focus should go next.” Green recommends your 12 steps happen over a 12-week period of intense focus, then you’ll have a product, metrics, cash in the bank and you’ll know what to do next. Green believes that, especially If it’s a digital idea, it “doesn’t need to take a really long time to take your idea and get it out into the world.” 12 weeks and 12 steps to turn your idea into income is doable if you set yourself the challenge and commit to its completion. Having carried this process out many times herself, Green knows the hardest part is overcoming doubt and fear to keep moving forward. Her final words of advice are to, “keep taking tiny, tiny little steps, keep learning, and keep surrounding yourself with the right people.” You can do this. Source: https://www.forbes.com Image Credit: Carrie Green  Taking up a side hustle has become increasingly popular and easier to achieve in the modern digital age. While there are countless side hustles people can take advantage of, there may be a few opportunities that are more lucrative than others. If you're looking for your next side hustle idea, it helps to get inspiration from individuals who have successfully launched and grown businesses themselves. Below, members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one side hustle they believe will be popular in the coming years and why each one is such a good opportunity. Young Entrepreneur Council members suggest lucrative side hustle ideas. 1. Virtual Assistant Services The world is moving toward virtual work and businesses, meaning there will be a need for online assistants of all kinds. With so many people working from home, there is a growing demand for help with administrative and organizational tasks. We even have many online courses that focus on training virtual assistants for different industries such as health, education and digital marketing. For those looking for a field to transition into freelance or a side hustle while still employed, this area holds the promise of an upward trajectory. Virtual assistant work will be lucrative because every industry will soon feel the need to hire virtual help. - Tonika Bruce, Lead Nicely, Inc. 2. Data Analysis Data analysis will grow in popularity in the coming years as more companies become data-driven. Collecting and storing data is just one part of being data-driven. You also need to be able to crunch the numbers and turn them into usable information that can be relied on to make business decisions. Demand for those skills will grow every year in the future, but it won’t make sense for every company to hire one or more full-time data analysts. Instead, this is a skill set that data experts can turn into lucrative side hustles or full-time freelancing roles. In fact, they can use their skills to fill a variety of roles from building data sets to delivering analytical reports and interpreting data. The ball will be in their courts, just like it is for developers today. - Jonathan Prichard, MattressInsider.com 3. Digital Art One side hustle that's growing is creating digital art and selling it on nontraditional spaces such as social media platforms and in the form of NFTs. I think this will continue to be popular because it's a way for people to show their creative side. Another reason why this is a growing side hustle is that it's a new and decentralized way to sell art, which offers more opportunities and control for the artist. Lastly, I think it will be popular because it's a fun way to make some extra money. - Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner 4. Website And App Testing A lot of people are getting into the online business model by creating their own websites and apps. I believe that website and app testing will be a very popular side hustle in the future. Business owners would want to spend their time strategizing on how to grow their business rather than go test the links and push all the buttons. This is where testers come in; they can test the site or app for them and get paid in the process. - Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms 5. Self-Sufficiency Activities Return to basics like agriculture, do-it-yourself and crafting. The pandemic taught us to rethink our free time and to appreciate the freedom we had. People appreciate more what they built with their own hands or grew in their gardens. It might be a lucrative opportunity as they have the opportunity to be self-sustainable and provide for their community. - Alexandru Stan, Tekpon 6. Online Streaming One side hustle that I predict will be popular in the coming years is online streaming. Many people already use it to watch their favorite shows, but now they are starting to use it as a means of earning money. There are many reasons why streaming could be a lucrative opportunity for some people. For starters, it’s an easy way to make money while doing something you enjoy. Additionally, if you have a large enough following on social media or YouTube, you can make extra income from your content by partnering with brands and other influencers. - Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC 7. Social Media Content Creation I represent a lot of business owners, and we all have difficulty coming up with content for social media posts. These people, myself included, would pay an arm and a leg for creative types to come up with regular, engaging content, and to help us post the various versions of it across all the major platforms. It's a lot of work, and it needs to be done by someone working closely with the visionary so that posts are "on-brand." I've seen a lot of creative entrepreneur types making very profitable side hustles out of this. They have regular meetings with the CEO, pitch various post topics and content, film and create the content and then schedule the posts. Most CEOs don't have the kind of time available, much less the expertise, to do all of this, so they're willing to pay a lot! - Jonathan Sparks, Sparks Law 8. Tasking A side hustle I see growing is tasking. Taskers are people who can perform a one-time or multi-time task for others. Tasking was starting to grow before Covid-19 hit, but many companies went out of business when lockdowns happened. Many similar companies are sprouting now. Taskers are going to be big because you don't have to hire a company for an extended period. There is a one-time commitment, but you could also hire the same person for other tasks if you like them. This means you can hire someone to come clean your home rather than hire a cleaning service regularly. You can hire someone to clean out your garage or help you move a large piece of furniture. Many can pay for a one-time work event when they just need something done quickly. - Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure Source: https://www.forbes.com Image Credit: The Individual Members  With summer fast approaching, it’s time to think about potential business ideas that could work for the season. Summer tends to be a better time to launch a new business since people are more likely to spend money on seasonal businesses and new businesses. This article will explore how to get started with a small business idea that you can launch in the summer. What Is a Summer Business? A summer business refers to local businesses that primarily operate during the summer season or where a majority of their income is earned during the summer months. Why You Should Start Your Own Business This Summer Summer can be a great time to brainstorm and launch small business ideas for beginners because there is a lot of potential for success with summer business ideas. Here are some reasons to consider launching your own summer business venture:
Best Summer Seasonal Business Ideas There are many excellent small business ideas that you can consider when starting a business for yourself. You can create a profitable business based on area needs, what tourists/travelers are looking for, and other seasonal factors that lead to high demand for particular services or products. We’ll look at some of the best business ideas to get you started 1. A pool cleaning business A great business idea is to offer pool maintenance and other services to pool owners in the area, particularly around summer when pools are being used more often. Most pool owners are looking for additional help during summertime, making it easier to get clients in. 2. Summer camps A summer camp is an excellent idea for small business owners looking for a purely seasonal business. A summer camp can be a lucrative business idea to keep kids occupied and having fun during their summer vacations. You can rent sports equipment and plan other activities to keep children busy while creating a cool summer experience for them. 3. Souvenir business If you’re looking for a low-cost business idea, starting a small souvenir business may work for you. It’s relatively inexpensive to purchase cheap souvenir items in bulk, and you can set up a small store during the summer as a flexible business model. 4. Local event planning and setup For areas with lots of local events during the summer, you can offer event planning and/or setup services. This could include planning the event itself, from inception to setting up the day of. Depending on the business opportunity and available resources, it could also involve setting up events, including transport, equipment set, dismantling, etc. 5. A food-based business Food-based businesses are a great summer business idea that tends to become popular, especially if it’s cold food quickly. If you’re looking to make a small investment rather than go all-in on a restaurant, consider starting a food truck such as an ice cream truck. Costs are relatively lower, and food trucks have a more straightforward business structure to manage. You can find more information online, including whether a business license is needed and how to start your own ice cream truck business. 6. Open a local retail store Seasonal retail stores, such as a local grocery store, could be an easy business to start in the summer, especially if the surrounding area lacks options to create more opportunities for customers for seasonal items. 7. Start a farmer’s market If your area is known for local produce and products, or residents have a need for fresh produce, you could start a small local organic farmer’s market by working together. The farmer’s market could operate by renting space and become a weekly event. It can be a great way to bring more awareness to residents and tourists around what the area offers and a way for residents to access fresh produce. 8. Original crafts and art Special skills such as art and crafts are another avenue for making money over the summer. For example, you can set up an original arts and crafts store and sell your goods with relatively low startup costs for materials and goods. Selling arts and craft goods is a perfect business idea for women entrepreneurs looking to monetize their formal training and skills. You can also run workshops and day events to teach kids, as it’s a great way to make money and keep kids busy during the summer months. More Summer Business Ideas for Students and Entrepreneurs If you’re looking for more business ideas, here are some other ideas for small businesses that do well during the warmer months. 9. Photography business If you’re looking for additional income, a photography side business can help generate money. This could include working with commercial clients such as local businesses or doing event photography such as weddings and graduations. 10. Transportation services If transport is lacking in your area, consider a business where you could offer transportation services. Services could include taxis for personal travel and group travel, bus transport from one area to another, or carpool services for the busy summer months. 11. Car wash business Car wash services are great for the summer months since it’s easy to purchase all the tools without initially spending a lot of money. You can start with offering car wash services to locals and neighbors and expand out in the area based on demand. 12. Miniature golf course If you’re looking for something quirky or unique, consider starting a miniature golf course. For example, you could create a pop-up golf course for the summer or rent space and start your own business by designing a permanent mini-golf course. Create fun marketing materials for the course to entice customers and offer summer deals to generate more business. 13. Cleaning services Cleaning services are in demand year-round and are easy to start if you know how to get cheap and good cleaning supplies. A cleaning business could include house cleaning, business or office cleaning, window washing, and even landscaping services for lawn and garden cleaning. What Businesses Thrive in the Summer? Many businesses make money in the summertime, especially when positioned as summer businesses. These include:
What Business Is Best for All Seasons? Some options are well suited for a year-round business as they will always attract customers. These businesses could include:
Source: smallbiztrends.com Image credit: Envato Elements |
Membership is open to businesses and organizations interested in increasing visibility and brand awareness in Westchester County and surrounding areas.
Archives
September 2022
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
Photo used under Creative Commons from La Grande Oregon Economic Development
