Planning to Start a Green Business? Here Are 5 Ways to Improve Your Chances of Success
For entrepreneurs who strive to start a business with the prime goal of making a difference in society, a green business is the best option to consider. With a green business, you are committing to creating a sustainable future and having a positive impact on the environment and your customers. In this article, we’ll explore five steps entrepreneurs need to take to launch a successful green business.
Find a Suitable Niche
A niche is a specialized segment of a large market that your business can cater to, as reported by Business News Daily. Customers in your niche will have an active demand for the product/service you’re selling. This allows you to channel your resources towards serving them effectively rather than trying to cater to a large group of diverse buyers.
Here are the steps you can take to shortlist possible niches:
Decide whether you want to sell products or services.
Research the existing niches in the green sector, which can include selling eco-friendly products, green landscaping, renewable energy products, and more.
Hone in on the main pain points of customers in your community, which can include limited access to renewables, high price points maintained by existing green businesses, etc. Use these insights to develop product ideas that will have high demand.
Once you have found a niche, create a well-thought-out business plan when starting a new company. This plan should include information regarding your target customers, financial requirements, product offering(s), manufacturing processes, pricing, and marketing strategies.
Find Funding
As a green business owner, you may be eligible for government grants and loans to help fund your venture. However, before you can apply for these programs, you will need to have a good credit report. Lenders will use your credit report to determine whether or not you are a high-risk borrower, so it is important to make sure that your report is accurate and up-to-date.
You can get a free copy of your credit report from any of the three major credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Once you have your report, take a close look at it to make sure that all of the information is accurate. If you see any errors, dispute them with the credit reporting agency. Once your credit report is in good shape, you can start applying for funding.
Commit to Being Paperless
Along with selling green products, you will also need to follow eco-friendly business practices, one of the prominent ones is going paperless. As reported by Docuphase, going paperless can improve staff productivity by 30% and save businesses thousands of dollars a year which otherwise would be spent on buying and maintaining storage cabinets plus documents.
Your business is bound to receive some amount of paperwork in the form of contracts, invoices, legal correspondences, etc. But, your first step should be to scan and store documents on the cloud. Having digital documents leads to seamless sharing of paperwork, minimal waste, and no cost associated with storage.
Market Your Business Well
Having a strong marketing strategy will play a key role in making your business stand out from the rest. Here are two ways to do just that:
Run Digital Marketing Campaigns: Not only is this an eco-friendly marketing medium but also serves as a cost-effective way to reach thousands of customers daily through social media platforms. Additionally, prioritize creating a good website through which customers can learn about your products and make purchases.
Partner with Environmental Focused NPOs: Connect with non-profits in your community and find ways to help them towards achieving their goals, which can be done through making donations, and providing free products.. Helping NGOs is a great way to establish a good brand image both in the community and online.
Choose the Best Business Structure
If you’re confused about the best business structure for your company, an S corp is one of the go-to options for the following reasons:
As the owner, your personal assets and finances will be protected from business-related liabilities.
Issuing shares makes the process of obtaining funding from the market easy and straightforward.
You’ll benefit from pass-through taxation, i.e. taxes will only need to be paid once when you file personal income returns.
As an ecopreneur, you’ll need to maintain a commitment to green practices in all aspects of the business, such as digitizing documents and developing eco-friendly products. Additionally, writing a business plan and choosing a structure will develop strong foundations and allow the business to remain financially healthy in the long run.
~Article by Maek Harris
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