Category: Business Ideas

Protecting the environment is a mission everybody should be involved in, to an extent. Businesses need to take the lead with green technology and other energy conservation methods. When entrepreneurs decide to start a green business, they are setting themselves up for success. A variety of technologies, policies and programs can be used to ensure your business doesn’t leave a carbon footprint.Of course, it’s easier for some businesses to “Go Green” than it is for others. Partnerships with companies such as Vivint can help you achieve a better business, while looking after the environment. With automated software and convenient tools, you can keep your energy usage to a minimum. You don’t have to run on strictly solar or wind power to run a green business and it doesn’t need to be expensive.

Three Ways to Go Green With Your Business Today 

1. Partnerships

Businesses get to choose who they use for different services every day. If you choose to partner with other green companies and companies that offer green products, your company will become more environmentally conscious. For example, partnering with Vivint will allow you to manage your energy usage from anywhere in the world. This can help you turn off lights, the air conditioning and other things if you forget or you know that nobody is in the building.

Another great way every business can help protect the environment is to choose a hosting company that’s at least 100% green. Hosting companies offset their power usage with the purchase of wind energy certificates and those that offset their entire usage are 100% green. Some companies actually offset more than just the energy they use and those companies may advertise more than 100% green products.

2.  Suppliers 

Some businesses need office supplies, products and other supplies to run properly. They need to be able to count on their suppliers. Choosing suppliers that will take back packages for reuse and those already using recycled materials will also help your business run smoothly, while becoming green. When you get ready to choose your suppliers, ask what they do with the packaging and whether they use recycled goods or not.

3.  The Basics 

Every business can help to do their by doing some of the basics. These include turning off lights and anything using energy, making sure faucets don’t drip, installing displacement toilet dams, using energy safe light bulbs and many other simple things. You can also eliminate as much faxing as possible, encourage clients to communicate through email and make double-sided copies to help cut down on paper usage.

If possible, recycle within your office, as well. You can even designate someone every week to help with the task. They can collect all the bins and take it to the actual recycling company in your area, if they don’t service your area. There’s always a way to recycle and it’s just a matter of putting a plan in place to make it happen.

It Starts With Small Steps 

Small steps can help a business get on track with their green movement. When you want to implement new policies, you don’t want to roll out huge changes all at once. Make small changes to help everybody adjust and as they start to take effect, you can add another change. Putting together a full plan and spacing out your new green policies will help your business become green and adjust to all the new things.

If you are starting a business, you can implement many of things from the beginning, but if you are already in business, you need to start with small steps. It may take a little time for your employees to understand what’s going on and really help, but when they do, they will be more than willing to help make your business green.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

It can make good marketing sense to partner with a nonprofit or a cause.

Consider what my marathon friends did when they were raising money to participate in the 3-Day Walk (you walk 60 miles in 3 days to promote breast cancer awareness and raise money for research). They approached a local restaurant called Backburner, which was famous for their cinnamon rolls. For a week, every time someone bought a cinnamon roll, they donated $1 to my friends for their walk.

I personally hadn’t heard of the restaurant, but when I found this out, my husband and I went and had breakfast there (complete with a cinnamon roll of course!)

So this turned into a win-win for everyone. My friends won because they were able to get donations for their walk. Susan G Komen wins because they get more money to donate to research. The restaurant wins because they get additional promotion and good will helping out a good cause. And I won because I got to eat a yummy breakfast and discover a new restaurant. (We’re ignoring the calories I consumed here.)

More than ever before, consumers are socially minded. In many cases they want to know the businesses they patronize are also socially minded. Connecting your business to a good cause is more than just making you “feel good” it can also make good business sense.

So what are some ways to start? (Other than writing a check.) Well, here are a few ideas you can use:

1. I’m participating in a teleclass summit to help raise money for St. Jude’s Children Hospital. Why not put together your own telesummit and have proceeds go to a good cause?

2. Or if a summit is too much work, just do one teleclass, charge a low fee and let people know proceeds are helping support a cause.

3. Have a sale and let people know a percentage of proceeds are going to support a nonprofit.

4. Offer to give a product of yours for free if people donate. Or put together a special teleclass only for people who donate. (I would put a time frame around this if you do this, for instance they have 48 hours or a few days to donate.)

5. Put links to your favorite nonprofits in your newsletter or on your website. (But don’t make it so prominent you encourage people to click away from your site and not support YOU.)

6. Give away your time. If you’re a service professional and you find your client pipeline has slowed down or dried up, donating your time to a nonprofit can be a good way to jump start your business. The exposure can help you find new clients plus you can make it known you support their cause. (And don’t forget to get a testimonial.) Now, be careful with this strategy, I’ve used it myself but make sure you don’t go too crazy donating your time or you could end up getting really stressed out when you client work picks up again.

But whatever you do, make sure this is coming from the heart. People can sense if you’re not being sincere, so make sure you truly do believe in the cause if you’re going to publically help support it.

A career in photography or design is a great way to turn a passion or hobby into a financial opportunity. While it is everyone’s dream to find a job doing what they love, developing a career that facilitates creativity will also take some hard work.

Successful photographers and designers know that it takes more than just passion to develop their skills. For this reason, going back to school can be a great way for a person to learn the technical skills that they need in order to develop a rewarding career in the exciting field of design as it can help them in the following areas:

Establish Credibility

One of the most challenging aspects of pursuing a career as a creative artist is finding a way to establish your credibility. Whether you want to open your own photography business or desire to find a position within an established company, it will be necessary to present yourself as a professional.

This can be done by developing a portfolio that is stocked with samples of your work, establishing a customer base of people who can provide references to your quality and by enrolling in a design school that has a reputation for turning out graduates that enjoy a high rate of success following the completion of its program.

Perfect Your Technique

Photographers and designers know that only through practice can they develop a technique that will result in high-quality products every time. However, there is only so far that a person can go when trying to learn new techniques on their own. For this reason, photography colleges can be the perfect place for aspiring designers to connect with instructors who can show them new ways to accomplish their vision.

Additionally, a quality school can help you to learn ways to interact with a variety of media in order to stay current on how the latest technologies can be used to enhance the quality of your designs.

Business Management Skills

Although every photographer would like to focus solely on their creative work, the truth is that there will still be general business tasks that must be taken care of in order to run a successful business. These skills must be learned through a reputable skill as they often do not come naturally.

For this reason, enrolling in school can be the best way for you to learn how to market your services while managing the financial and commercial aspects of your photography and design company. Additionally, a design school will also help you to learn the basics of entrepreneurship so that you will be successful in your endeavors.

A love for photography and design can lead to a rewarding career for creative artists. However, it is important to make sure that you learn everything you can about this exciting field in order to be successful. Therefore, a enrolling in a quality school can help you to establish the credibility and business knowledge that you need to work with an established company or to open your own business.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Most people want to be their own boss. The appeal of being a master of one’s own destiny, combined with increased pay, offers definite advantages. The problem is that, all too often, it is not possible to start a small business without exposing oneself to a large amount of risk. Moonlighting can cause one to get fired or, alternately, do two jobs poorly instead of one job well. Additionally, starting a small business tends to be very expensive, and thus it is difficult to get enough credit to start one. There is also the massive financial risk should you fail.

Therefore your best option is to go into one of many tried-and-true small business models which minimize both your financial and time investments. This will give you time to learn the business and the nature of the market in addition to minimizing risk. The best way to do this is to invest in businesses which are coin operated and revolve around machines, since this eliminates much of the need to deal with customers and employees.

One of the most solid coin-operated businesses is the laundry. Every person needs to do their laundry on a regular basis, and many rental houses, apartment complexes and other properties are not have on-site laundry facilities. Additionally, by slightly under-pricing the machines in nearby rental properties, you can draw business towards you. Laundries require regular cleaning and maintenance, but with proper care and solid efforts to satisfy your customers, the business will succeed and expand.

The somewhat hands-off nature of the business also encourages multiple small investors to join up and participate jointly, since it ensures no one can be accused of “shirking” their duties while still enjoying profits from the investment. You can even increase the profits of your laundry by adding a few video games, vending machines or other coin-operated devices.

Another solid coin-op business is the car wash. Many vehicles are too big or too complex to be easily washed at home, or require special and expensive equipment to wash it right. Coin operated car washes, which are either fully automated or self-serve, require more maintenance than laundries (and also have various environmental concerns) but offer potentially more profits. Like laundries they can be distributed among a pool of investors who work together to maintain it and collect the money, and it requires a minimum of employees. This makes it a good first investment.

One last coin operated business that is useful is the leasing of vending machines. It is very easy to buy vending machines online and they can be delivered right to the location where they are leased, thus eliminating much of the need for storage space. Vending machines need to be reloaded and have the money removed on a regular basis, but often it is possible to do this yourself or with very few employees. Most companies no longer own and stock their own vending machines but lease them instead. This offers substantial profit potential while minimizing overhead and initial investment, since you can start with a dozen or so machines and then expand over time.

Article contributed by Jenna Smith

Article Contributed by Danielle

When you hear the word entrepreneur, you typically envision someone with a bright new idea, a great way to use a new technology, or a person with a game-changing invention that is about to turn the way we live and work upside down. When we think of entrepreneurs, we think of Steve Jobs. We talk about Mark Zuckerberg. But in a surprising turn of events, the most successful entrepreneurs today are those in the construction business. In 2011, about 24 percent of all entrepreneurial work was in the construction industry — and this during a year when business creation dropped by about 6 percent.

This may seem like an unlikely industry for start-ups, especially when construction was one of the hardest hit industries during the economic slump that has been dubbed The Great Recession. However, there are several reasons why the construction industry has become the hottest one around for aspiring entrepreneurs.

5 Reasons Construction Start-Ups Are Successful Today

1. Construction start-ups are focusing their business primarily on additions and remodeling, a unique concept to the industry. Previously, construction companies primarily focused on building new homes, as evidenced by the thousands upon thousands of subdivisions that popped up in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, today, the average homeowner is putting more money into updating their current home rather than buying or building a new home.
2. As the push to go green continues, the construction industry is finding out that these green initiatives are benefiting them. Construction start-ups have found that it’s profitable to use electricity systems that ultimately reduce the power they use. Not only does this save time, it also saves energy — so it’s a win-win for everyone involved.
3. Another big reason for the increase in construction start-up businesses is the fact that many construction workers found themselves out of work after the housing market (as well as the rest of the economy) collapsed during 2007 and 2008. These same skilled workers decided the next best step was to head out on their own, and now with the economic upswing, are finding themselves to be successful in their entrepreneurial endeavors.
4. The American public has made it a lot easier for these start up businesses to survive as well. As the economy has slowly but surely picked up, Americans have taken to spending a little bit of their extra cash again. According to the National Association of Home builders, spending on remodeling homes is up $4 billion in 2012 — in 2009, people spent $112 billion on home renovations and remodels and in 2012, that number had increased to $116 billion. The fact that more Americans are decided to make major changes to their homes and spend some of their disposable income is helping construction start-ups pick up steam in their early days.
5. These start-up companies have also found success due to the fact that construction workers have a broad range of skills and can work on a variety of different job types. For instance, a road construction worker who was laid off during lean times also has the knowledge necessary to perform home improvements and other construction jobs. This diversity in skills within the workforce itself has helped the construction companies to become stabilized in these slower years. Companies that picked up odd jobs here and there are now finding that their name is becoming knowing throughout the community and their profit margins are beginning to increase.

Across the board, the Great Recession has inspired many Americans to get creative and find their own entrepreneurial spirit within themselves. The construction industry is no exception, but it also hit a stroke of luck in that it has also been highly successful.

With so many new business owners throughout the United States, resources are popping up everywhere to help people with start up businesses get off the ground. For the construction industry, there’s Greenstart. Greenstart is a San Francisco-based business incubator that aims to help start-up companies that promote green technologies in certain industries become successful. Industries that Greenstart works with include construction companies, transportation companies and utility companies. It was established in 2011 and is now working on promoting and growing its second set of clean tech companies.

So whether a person is interested in beginning an energy efficient construction company, or she is hoping to start up a business that specializes in home renovations, the time is now. As the economy begins to pick up steam again, Americans are looking to get moving — literally. And while it may seem surprising, all signs point to the fact that if you are going to start up a business in 2012, you will want it to be a construction business.

Danielle fancies herself a technology geek and obsesses over trends in start-up culture. Read her work at suitsandladders.co.uk.