Category: Business Ideas

How does one incorporate the Trash to Cash mindset into a working business model, with a local theme?

Making trash, something unwanted, into a desirable resource, is the basic premise behind recycling and repurposing. It’s been done successfully many times over, even at enormous scale. Mrs. Zhang Yin, the richest woman entrepreneur in China, did it with waste paper. She imported paper “trash” from the US by the container-load to China, and repurposed it into usable cardboard packaging material. Her company Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Ltd., is now the largest supplier of packaging material in China, and Mrs.Zhang’s quote is an inspiration to every small business looking for a trash-to-cash business model.

“Other people saw scrap paper as garbage, but I saw it as a forest of trees,” Zhang told reporters in Hong Kong. “I had to learn from scratch. At first the business was just my husband and me, and I didn’t speak a word of English.”

Here’s a successful local business model, in the Pacific USA Northwest. It all happens at Midnight’s Farm, in the San Juan Islands north of Seattle.

Midnight’s receives your “green” trash; meaning trees, tree limbs, shrubs etc… for FREE in an area where burning is restricted and you have to pay for dumping and disposal.

The enormous pile of “green” trash (a resource Midnight’s gets for free) is ground up by an impressive grinding machine into usable and highly sought after garden mulch.

This resulting recycled resource of garden mulch is sold for cash.

Entrepreneurs are often known for creating resources out of thin air; however the real magic here is created by an impressive wood chipping and grinding machine.

Here’s how Midnight’s Farm business model works: 

Trash, in this case green trees and branches, which normally costs the property owner money out of pocket to dump, or time to burn (during the 9 months a year when burning is permitted, to stringent regulations I might add). Midnight’s Farm provides an alternative: haul and dump your green wood trash (for free) year round. This in turn gives them the raw material (free) to make their end product, wood mulch, which people are happy to pay for. How many businesses get their raw materials for free?

The end product is a much sought after garden mulch. The finer variety is twice ground, costs $28/yard, and is quite suitable for flower beds and general top dressing. The single grind is coarser, best used for pathways, and costs $22/yard. Midnight’s Farm will also deliver the material for an additional fee. Both are superior products to what I have purchased at the local nurseries, and cheaper too. I will be using several trailer loads this summer for my own and for client’s landscaping projects. Adding a layer of mulch in the garden saves time removing weeds (if you do that) but more important it saves water by slowing down evaporation after a rain or your irrigation.

Obviously the chipper/grinder machine is an expensive part of the equation, so how did the business get to a point where they could purchase or lease this monster piece of equipment? My take on this is that at first they rented it to create the piles of product just the way they currently rent (for short intensive use time) the mega “sifter” machine, which sifts the mulch combination field manure from the cattle, making it into an ideal natural fertilizer.

Now they have a catalog of three saleable and in-demand products, all created from another man’s trash! Three resources created locally, which I didn’t have before; one is for mulch, the second is for an all- natural fertilizer, and the third is disposal of my brush & tree trash for free. My other options for green trash disposal is to burn it, under the guidelines of a restrictive burn permit when allowed, or to pay cash to dump it! So taking my green trash to Midnights saves me time and money!

I’ve been looking at other situations where one person’s junk is another’s treasure (as the old cliché goes). Here’s another idea that I know has been tried: You have a lawn or a field that needs mowing; the local goat farmer needs to feed his goats; voila! You have GOAT-MOWER.COM!

How have you seen a “trash to treasure” business model work in your locale?

This post was first seen on Designing Success

Article Contributed by Dr. Joey Faucette

I watched a sandpiper scurrying around the beach looking for something to eat. At least that’s what I thought he was doing. But he used most of his time and energy to chase away other birds. If another sandpiper approached his territory, he quickly ran over to chase him off. Then another bird invaded the opposite end of his area and he was off to chase her away. Back and forth that little bird ran, spending virtually no time eating and all his energy chasing away the competition.

Do you spend most of your daily energy at work defending your familiar turf, chasing away change like this paranoid sandpiper?

If you do, you’ll quickly starve to death in this economy.

Instead of chasing the competition, use these 3 Simple Ways to Positively and Profitably Change Your Business. It’s the same process you employ to wash your hair:

Lather

When you lather your hair, you squeeze out a small amount and work it into your hair.

Applying change in small amounts works best in growing your business, too.

Ask your customers/clients, “What can we do to make your life easier?”

Or, in a team meeting, say, “How can we improve our products/services?”

Or, sit with your vendor/supplier and inquire, “What changes are other businesses making to grow?”

Pick one. Just one.

Work it into your business.

Just like with your hair, the thickness of how you do business determines how long it takes. If your business has lots of systems, it’ll take a while. If not, you’ll work it in quickly.

Rinse

When you finish lathering your hair, then you rinse well. Leaving all of the shampoo in hurts your hair.

Think of rinsing your business as asking yourself about the change you implemented:

“What worked well?” and “What didn’t?”

Wash out what was less successful.

Keep what worked best. Make it a standard procedure in your training and hiring. Integrate it into your sales process. Reward the early adopters, or yourself, every time you do it.

Repeat

Do you wish hair washing was a one-time event? Or, an occasional experience? Oh well…

In the same way, positively changing your business is a regular, necessary part of growth today…and much simpler than you imagine.

Repeating the change process for positive, profitable growth simply means you ask for feedback, listen, and implement with the next group on your list. If you asked customers/clients last time, inquire with your team now. If you discovered your team responses previously, request a reply from your vendor/supplier.

Lather that.

Rinse it.

Then repeat.

You can choose to be paranoid like the sandpiper or proactive and wash your business with these 3 Simple Ways to Positively and Profitably Change Your Business.

Paranoia starves your business.

Proactive washing stimulates your business growth.

Lather, rinse, and repeat—3 Simple Ways to Positively and Profitably Change Your Business.

About The Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), Work Positive coach, & speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they leave the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org.

New Webcomics series brought to you by #entrepreneurfail and GetEntrepreneurial.com. Enjoy!

Epiphanies strike all the time in the entrepreneurial mind. 

I’m sure you’ve felt it.  You may be in the shower, about to sleep, or in an awkward social situation and BAM!  On the surface you may have a fantastic idea – the answer that all humanity has been waiting for.  But then, before you know it, the bubble bursts.  This is an example of an #entrepreneurfail.

What happened?  You may have done some research and realized that Google/Amazon/[insert any publicly-traded company name here] has already tried and failed at that idea.  Or, you may have found that there are just no paying consumers. Or, even worse, you find that there are already 5 copycats in the market, each one undercutting the rest.

An entrepreneur’s dilemma is never about not enough ideas; it’s about filtering the flood of ideas.  If you have a great idea, remember what you need instead is a great “problem to solve”.  Only then can you find the clients and customers that are willing and able to pay for your products and services.  Also, consider scoring your ideas using key criteria such as sustainability, barriers to entry, and competitive threats.

If you are a true entrepreneur, these spurts of idea excitement won’t ever stop. As new ideas crop up, we’ve learned to always do our due diligence, focus on our point of difference, and remember that it’s the execution that really matters.

Have you ever been inspired with an amazing idea, just to be bitten by reality? Tell us about it in the comments below.

This comic and post were originally created by Kriti Vichare for www.entrepreneurfail.com.

When I first proposed this idea, the small business I was helping was horrified “we can’t do that, out competitors will get all the work and we’ll be out of business in no time!” In fact quite the opposite happened. 

Often in a local area several like-minded small businesses depend on the same suppliers. In 2009 when the going got really tough and the suppliers were struggling to keep their heads above water, I suggested to the small business owner to make a list of his competitors in the area, and include their contact information and websites. The list consisted of eight small and a couple of not so small businesses.

The next step was particularly hard for my small business owner, which was to contact his two main suppliers and have a dialog with them, along these lines:

“I understand we are all going through a rough time, especially now with the economic downturn, so I’ve made a list of my competition, who if they are not already your customers, very might well become so if you contact them. I’m happy to recommend you if anyone on the list contacts me”. Needless to say, the two suppliers, who were not competitors between themselves, were both extremely forthcoming with their thanks to my business owner for the comprehensive and helpful list he shared with them.

So what happened? My small business owner started getting recommendations for jobs. His potential customers were also the customers of his suppliers and these potential customers would ask the supplier who could do the installation, and of course my small business owner was at the top of the recommend list. He had been helpful and shared his resources, in this case a list of his competitors. And what is more, he became the go to business, at the top of the recommend list.

In addition, several of the others on the competitors list also increased their business via the suppliers; a win/win for the economic development of the area.

What does this tell you? In our sharing economy of today, even sharing a resource, which consists of a list of your competitors, can pay off. It also tells you that if you are a small business with very limited marketing dollars, without a budget for local ads, direct mail or social media, you can get many of the benefits of a much bigger marketing budget which brings new customers and lucrative jobs.

All you need is to think of an innovative approach which benefits the people you do business with, in this case your suppliers, and indirectly, your competitors.

2010 was a good year for the small business owner who shared a list of his competition with his suppliers; ten lucrative installation jobs and positive cash flow! No small thing considering the economic times!

Article Contributed by Doug Barden

During times of economic hardship, it can be difficult to keep a business afloat, let alone find ways to expand and grow. In some business sectors, long established companies are struggling to keep going and many are going to the wall. But it is possible to find ways to help your business to grow and prosper and there are many enterprising entrepreneurs flourishing despite the recession. So what can you do to help your business survive during a recession?

Adapt to Change

The most important thing you can do when a recession is beginning to bite is to understand that your business will need to adapt in order to survive. When times are good, the marketplace is a prosperous place and it is easy to make money, but consumer habits change during a recession and although there are still opportunities available, businesses need to adapt to suit the changing demands of the global marketplace. By continuing to provide the same services, you run the risk of losing custom in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Evolution is the Key to Growth

Some businesses falter during an economic downturn whereas others thrive. It is important to work out where you are on that scale and if you can take a sideways move into a more prosperous area, then go for it. Be willing to think outside the box and look at which areas have growth potential. It may be sensible to expand a more successful sector of your business whilst scaling back on another. Businesses that fail to adapt to the market conditions will suffer as a result whereas those that are willing to change are more likely to flourish.

New Start Ups in a Recession

It probably seems like the worst idea ever to try and start a new business during a recession, but it is possible to build a successful business despite the tough economic conditions. The important thing is to find the right business opportunity and to stay positive that things will improve.

Take Advantage of Business Opportunities

There are plenty of ways to make a killing during a recession if you are looking to expand your business. Assets such as machinery and stock can be picked up cheaply from companies going out of business and there are likely to be a far higher number of qualified staff looking for new positions. You may also be able to purchase failing companies in the same niche for a rock bottom price if you are looking to gain a bigger foothold in the market.

Cut Expenditure to Create a Leaner Business

In order to survive and grow during a recession a business needs to trim the excess fat. If your business is feeling the pinch, look at where you can save money and cut costs. Renegotiating contracts with suppliers and moving to cheaper premises is a good way to save money, but there are more, so talk to your accountant and see which areas are ripe for a cost saving exercise.

All businesses can survive and grow in a recession as long as they are capable of adapting. By treading the same worn path, you are at risk of succumbing to the challenging conditions, so instead of sticking your head in the sand and ignoring the signs your business is in trouble, look for new ways to grow and evolve.

About the Author

Doug Barden is a managing partner for Beech Business Services, a company that offers a bespoke and tailored service to businesses for all accounting, payroll and book-keeping needs.  For more information visit http://www.beech-business.co.uk.