I get a ton of questions from people who ask me how to choose a good niche.
I’m going to tell you exactly what to do to get it figured out for good.
It all boils down to one very simple thing. 

What’s your promise?

Everything you do in your business is about making and keeping promises to your customers.
 
Seriously, think about it.

• Tylenol promises to reduce fevers and help your headache go away.
• Your TV promises to project moving images for your entertainment.
• Your manicurist promises to help your hands look more beautiful.

What are you promising with your service?

A confused customer always says no
 
Are prospective clients confused by what you do?
  
Here’s a tip: think about the service or product that you provide as a promise. 
 
Instead of thinking of yourself as a massage therapist, what if you thought of yourself as “helping women get totally relaxed in an hour” expert, then you can totally devote yourself to delivering on that promise.
 
Instead of thinking of yourself as a life coach, what if you thought of yourself as a “find a career that fulfills you” expert then you can do what it takes to you have all the tools in place to help people with just that problem.
 
When you can promise what your ideal clients want, and consistently keep that promise you will have more business than you can handle. 

Are you a generalist?

It’s often said that generalists tend to be less successful then experts in a service based business. Simply put, people want to work with experts or specialists.

I’ve run into this challenge myself, because I have the tendency to be a generalist. Here’s my own experience: the more I became an expert in helping you get more clients in less time, the more money I started making.

Because, figuring out your niche (and your promise) is such a common challenge, I’m going to be launching a unique program in a few weeks that will give you powerful tools for CLAIMING a niche that you can be an expert in. I’ll send details soon.

I promise you’re going to love it!

If you are a green business owner, entrepreneur or someone who is even just toying with the idea of green business…
EcoTuesday is one of those unique and innovative networking events that I think has been a HUGE success at building a community of like-minded (i.e. sustainable-minded) green business people.

The next one is THIS Tuesday, September 22nd.

More info on EcoTuesday:
http://www.ecotuesday.com

For those of you who are unfamiliar, EcoTuesday events are held across the country the 4th Tuesday of every month.
Right now you can find their events in the following cities:

Denver / Detroit / Los Angeles / Minneapolis / San Francisco / Seattle / Silicon Valley

If you don’t see your city listed - why don’t you consider contacting EcoTuesday and launching one in your area?

FOR YOUR INSPIRATION

If you’re in San Francisco this Tuesday, you don’t want to miss EcoTuesday since there’s going to be amazing speaker - Marianne Williamson - speaking on the connection between sustainability and spirituality. I’m really excited to see her in person tomorrow.

If you can’t be there, then I’d like to share with you something that she wrote which has been an inspiration to me and many, many others.

For your inspiration, in life and in green business
- Patrick

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“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

- Marianne Williamson

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We did a survey of our Green Business Innovators group on Facebook back in April about your business needs, and we wanted to share some of the interesting results. Take a look at the 2 charts below.

A few things I want to highlight:

• You have questions about a *wide range* of business-building topics
• However, a few key topics clearly stood out from the rest…
• Regarding business growth and marketing - our survey respondents had the strongest interest in having a marketing plan for their business. (Obviously having a powerful marketing strategy and then knowing what marketing actions to take is critical for business owners). After that, people were interested in having web sites that capture clients better and also SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
• As for personal mastery, there was a clear desire to be more focused and to practice better time management. This is such an important point. We frequently hear from our clients that their biggest productivity challenge is to eliminate distractions and “make time” for their priorities. Often when Bill and I work with our clients on their marketing, we also include time management techniques (planning, project management) into the discussion to help with implementation.

Last but not least, we want to thank you for taking the time to take our survey. We know how valuable your time is and we’re grateful that you took a few minutes out of your busy day to share your thoughts.

Have any observations about the survey results? Please share in the comments below.

Question #1: There are many valuable business and marketing tools for generating new clients and more revenue and traffic to your business. Which of these would you have the most interest in learning about for your business? [Please choose ALL that apply.]

businessandmarketing

Question #2: It’s not enough to develop your business. Your own personal development (your “personal mastery”) is critical too.
Which aspects of personal mastery would you be interested in working on? Which would have the most impact for you? [Please choose ALL that apply.]

personalmastery

Jeffrey Swartz, CEO of the Timberland Company

If you’ve ever contemplated this question, then we’d like to introduce you to the musings and insights of Jeffrey Swartz, CEO of Timberland. Under Jeff’s guidance, Timberland has grown from a $156 million company in 1989 to a $1.4 billion company in 2007.

In this interview, Jeff shares candid thoughts, successes and challenges of infusing a business with values - the values stemming from three generations of family leadership at Timberland. You’ll be inspired to re-think what impact it’s possible to achieve through your business.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

• Jeff Swartz expounds on “selling values” (Timberland) versus “selling sex” (other clothing retailers)
• Timberland’s Facebook campaign which mobilized thousands to action
• How Timberland creates positive impact in the communities and countries where its products are produced
• Is Timberland is more like Bono or Al Gore in creating messages for consumers?

LISTEN NOW (press play below)

AMIE VACCARO, GREEN BUSINESS INNOVATORS: This is Amie Vaccaro with Green Business Innovators and my guest today is Jeffrey Swartz, CEO of Timberland.

Jeff has been with Timberland now for over 20 years and has served as President and CEO since 1998. Under Jeff’s guidance Timberland has grown from a $156 million company in 1989 to a $1.4 billion company in 2007. It is an honor to have you here with us today Jeff.

JEFFREY SWARTZ: Thank you; it’s a pleasure to be with you.

GREEN BUSINESS INNOVATORS: So my first question, I notice Timberland is a great pioneer in doing well by doing good in the business world.

So for example, your employees serve a tremendous amount of public service hours, 40 hours a year, with your Path of Service program and your Servapalooza program. You are committed to going carbon neutral by 2010, you display nutrition information on your shoe boxes, which includes information about the manufacturing plant and your impact on the climate and your community impact. And you are starting a green index for all of your products, just to name a few initiatives.

I’m curious, what is the business strategy behind all of these initiatives? Are they good for business?

JEFFREY SWARTZ: Amie, at the heart of strategy, at least in a company like ours, which is a consumer-facing company with a brand premise that is the locus of all value, right? The locus of value in our company is the brand. It is not on the balance sheet, but it is the basis of relationships with consumers in 85 countries around the world. And so either folks believe in that brand and value it, or our efforts are not going to be rewarded. And so for our consumer-facing company with a brand as its premise, I think that strategy has to be a reflection of deeply felt values and beliefs wrapped up in sustainable emotions.

I am not sure about making the physics equation, but I am just telling you the notion of commerce and justice is not a business strategy that is designed from “here is a problem we have to solve.” It is not that we need a new advertising posture to think about how to do business with millennials. Or how do we make people think that this soap is more attractive because in the moment breast cancers are very topical notion, so how do we link those notions? I am not disparaging those strategies. I am simply telling you that for an enterprise like ours, it is a third generation of the family to be involved in it. It has been from the beginning built out from. This is what we believe. It has been built out from the beginning, for this is what we are passionate about.

Read on >>>

Free is ALWAYS good

So, I’ve compiled some great resources that I think that can help green businesses and entrepreneurs.

Take some time, grab a coffee and check out a few of the ones I’ve listed below. I think they you’ll find them really useful

Do you have any great resources that would benefit others? Tell us about them! I’d love to hear what free tools have been useful for you.
Please add them to the comments area below.

• No Country for Old Ideas - Five Essential Tips for Managing Sustainability at Your Organization

Do you manage sustainability projects? Justine Burt, Chief Green Officer for Greenwala.com, will share five essential things you need to know to implement projects swiftly at your organization. Join her for a FREE 30 minute webinar on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at noon Pacific Daylight Time. Here’s how to join this online meeting.

1. Go to
http://tinyurl.com/ceqgjn
2. Enter your name and email address.
3. Enter the meeting password: Burt109
4. Click “Join Now”.

• “The Way of the Radical Business” from Tad Hargrave
This free, 195-page ebook combines marketing concepts you should definitely be thinking about with more advanced concepts and outside-the-box ideas

To get this ebook resource, go to Tad Hargrave’s web site and sign up on the left hand side.

• The State of Green Business 2009
This free report from GreenBiz.com provides an excellent overview of the environmental impacts of the business sector as a whole.

Download the report

Or read highlights from the review on our blog.

• Green Drinks
Too many entrepreneurs try to build their business in isolation.
Check out GreenDrinks.org to find green groups in your area, and join forces with like-minded businesses. There are groups meeting in dozens of countries.

• National Green Pages, from Green America
People frequently ask me, “how can I find other green businesses in my area?”

Check out the green business directory from Green America.
It’s an excellent source of information about green businesses across the US.

(photo credit)

We’re so excited to unveil Green Business Camp to you.

Green Business Camp 2009

Like you, we’ve been to MANY diverse conferences, presentations and seminars focused on green business. And although many of them have been wonderful and very informative we frequently left thinking “did that help me make progress with my business”, or “well, now what? How do I apply this new learning to me and my business?” Plus, we always felt like we managed to meet many of the other attendees; who we’re certain had some great experience and knowledge that we could have learned from.

From BarCamp to Green Business Camp

With this in mind, we decided to create our own event based on the creative spirit of BarCamp (a pioneering “user-generated” event born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment). We’ve created a mashup of BarCamp, green business, added a few additional tweaks …. and Green Business Camp was born. We’ll bring you the same powerful environment of creative, collaboration, and knowledge sharing, where you’ll make new business contacts and friends.

Let us tell you a bit about what Green Business Camp is …

Green Business Camp is a participation-oriented, entrepreneur-driven, one day “unconference” in the San Francisco Bay Area dedicated to the growth of green business. It will be taking place at the Greenv Sustainable Center in South San Francisco on Thursday April 30, 2009 from 8 am -5 pm.

This event will give you the opportunity to network, collaborate, and share knowledge with 100 top green business owners and entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ready to attend? Check out our registration page.

Never been to an Unconference?

Then you’re in for a lot of excitement!

Green Business Camp isn’t your typical conference filled with PowerPoint presentations. Instead, in our innovative event program the participants themselves will create and lead event sessions. This will bring out the best ideas of the group and allow everyone to share knowledge and resources with other green businesses.

This video gives you a taste of what an unconference is like. (One difference will be that their attendees are giving short pitches on their new startups, we’ll have breakout sessions for group discussion and brainstorming on topics selected by event participants.)

Have a topic you would like to lead a discussion on? Want help with a business challenge you are facing? Or, perhaps you want feedback on a new idea or venture? Submit a discussion topic and get your own brainstorming team to help you.

So what’s the agenda?

Most of the agenda will be created by participants during the first hour of the event. We’ll be pulling topics from the above document or you can bring business topics for discussions that you want to lead or participate in. All of these topics will be voted on and organized into a schedule and from there you will choose which you want to attend.

From there, the topics that were voted on will be discussed in a 45 minute breakout session of approximately 20 people.

By the end of the day you will have attended 5-6 of breakout sessions where you’ll have met a few dozen other interesting green businesspeople.

A good start and a good finish

The day will kick off with a special “Art of Networking” workshop to give you tools and techniques to more easily make new business contacts and future business partners during the event.

We’ll end the day with a nice and relaxing wine tasting reception.

OK, now join us!

In recognition of the current economic challenges, Green Business Camp has implemented a “pay what you can” pricing model. Secure your place at Green Business Camp for only $25. At the end of the event, you can pay what the event was worth to you and ONLY what you can afford to invest.

Want to hear the latest event news? Sign up for our newsletter and get on-going updates that will keep you informed.

See you at Green Business Camp.

Recently Joel Makower, executive editor and chairman of GreenBiz.com, and his team of editors unveiled the second annual State of Green Business Report. The report looks at data behind 20 indicators to find out how companies are doing in creating changes in environmental issues. It’s an comprehensive report with invaluable information for all businesses. If you haven’t yet, be sure to get your copy of State of Green Business Report.

“This year’s update is a mixed bag of encouraging and discouraging news,” says Joel Makower, the report’s principal author. “But on balance, despite a growing chorus of corporate commitments and actions, we’re less optimistic that these activities, in aggregate, are addressing planetary problems at sufficient scale and speed.”

The report shows that despite the slumping economy, green businesses have continued to grow. On the flip side, environmental improvements being made are still low, which is cause for serious concern.

Some statistics/trends I found interesting:

• Our continued love affair with our cars. According to the report the number of solo commuters has inched down from 77.8% in 2003 to 76.1% in 2007
• Consumers’ distrust of companies offering sustainable alternatives despite their desire to lessen their carbon footprint
• Our inability to deal with our e-waste properly and in a sustainable way
• We have decreased our packaging use (as slight as it may be) using less aluminum, plastics, cardboard and other materials per dollar of GDP
• We have decreased our paper use by 27% less paper per dollar of GDP over the last decade and increased the amount of recycled paper - also by 27%
• We are steadily increasing our energy efficiency.

I know how much work goes into a report like this, so I sincerely appreciate the efforts of Joel Makower and his team at GreenBiz.com.  I look forward to what we can do with the info in this report NOW - and how this effort will influence the 2010 report.

Innovation is nothing new to this Danish company

Amazing customer experience every step of the process is becoming even more important in our current business environment.  HEMA, a Dutch department store has taken this to the next level.

I’ve never seen anything like and have just emailed this out to all of my colleagues.

Take a look at HEMA’s product page.  Make sure not to click on anything until the action begins on the page and turn up your computers speakers.

By the way, you don’t have to be a young company to be innovative. HEMA’s first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands.

How can you create an experience for your potential customers that will have people talking about you?

Journey to Sustainability

[Many thanks to Rachel Botsman of OZOlab for providing this insightful guest post showing how to make progress on the journey to being a more sustainable business]

We are awash in “green” articles that highlight examples and best-practices of companies such as Patagonia, Stonyfield Farm, and Timberland-businesses that have had sustainability as part of their DNA from the outset.

But for large multinational brands (especially suppliers of packaged goods) that are dependent on energy-intensive supply chains and high volumes of raw materials, a different approach is often required.

For such brands, the journey to a more sustainable business usually starts with the entry question of “where (or how) do we start?” - particularly in the case of those brands for which, to put it simply, “selling more stuff” (and more than their competitors) has been the prevailing internal mindset and the business priority, up until now.

This article focuses on leading global brands that are making the transition from treating sustainability as a hot “green topic” to embracing it as a true business strategy. It includes US and European companies that have identified “hotspots” in their supply chain where their environmental impact can be reduced, relatively quickly and inexpensively.

Viewed in isolation, some of these steps may seem minor. However, viewed against the total volume of transactions, their cumulative impact is undeniable.

These seemingly small changes are not quick fixes or marketing makeovers but true sustainable strides that have entered the mainstream marketplace. They also reflect successful collaboration between marketing and operations departments that have worked together to implement genuine environmental changes vs. marketing half-truths that consumers are starting not to believe. These brands recognize that sustainability should not be viewed just as a cost saver but also a sales driver, and that products and services embedded with sustainable practices are attracting more publicity and increased brand loyalty-and in many cases they are selling faster.

A common theme that emerges from the examples that follow is the need to challenge old assumptions around products and packaging, and the processes that link them, in order to deliver rule-bending innovation. While it is true that groundbreaking sustainable innovation that results in totally new business models is still rare, it’s also true that brands are starting to move along the eco-innovation spectrum and out of the obvious incremental changes such as carbon offsets and recycling programs-toward looking at the total picture and the rich opportunities environmental challenges can create.

The following six examples from M&S, Wal-Mart, UPS, Unilever, Boots the Chemist, and Whirlpool have been selected because each highlights an innovation across a different part of the sustainability spectrum, from design and packaging, to product formulation, to waste and transportation.

Read on >>>

Xavier Helgesen, Co-Founder of Better World Books

Buying Books with Heart and Soul

Next time you’re buying a book online – you may be able to help people around the world learn to read.

Better World Books is an online bookstore that supports nonprofit organizations with literacy programs such as Room To Read and Books For Africa ($3.1 million contributed so far) by donating a percentage of its revenues. In the process, Better World Books has saved 8,170 tons of books (millions of books) from landfills.

Co-Founder Xavier Helgesen explains how a business started by college students has thrived in the online marketplace ($21 million in revenue in 2007) while staying true to its triple bottom line mission of creating positive social and environmental impact in addition to financial value.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

• Why Better World Books targets the mainstream audience, not just the “green” consumer
• How to decide whether your mission-led venture should be a for-profit or nonprofit
• An innovative strategy for offering books on numerous e-commerce web sites at the same time
• How Better World Books overcomes the challenges of a rapidly growing business

LISTEN NOW (press play below)

AMIE VACCARO, GREEN BUSINESS INNOVATORS: This is Amie Vaccaro with Green Business Innovators. My guest today is Xavier Helgesen, co-founder of Better World Books. Glad you could be here, welcome.

XAVIER HELGESEN: Great to be here, Amie.

GREEN BUSINESS INNOVATORS: I was looking through some of your marketing materials, and I see that you describe your business as a self-sustaining, triple bottom line company that creates social, economic and environmental value for its stakeholders. And as far as I am concerned that is kind of the ultimate company, and I would love to hear you kind of explain that and explain your business model in that context.

XAVIER HELGESEN: Well, we are a stakeholder driven company; we are part of B-corporation actually, which is the network of about a 130 companies where management is obliged, not just to the shareholders to maximize profit but to the stakeholders to create social, environmental and economic value. So we focus on our triple bottom lines.

Our social mission, in particular, is to channel the book buying power of all of us out there. People will buy about $20 billion worth of books in the US alone this year. And if we can channel just part of that money to funding literacy programs, we can make a huge dent in the fact that 1 out of 7 people in the world cannot read, 1 out of 7 adults, and not to mention the next generation coming up.

Read on >>>