By Derek Goodman

What does green business mean for you? A green business, or eco-friendly business cares about the environment and the people it serves. Often, ecopreneurs invest in non-toxic, fair trade products and focus on how to create sustainable facilities. Before you can begin your journey, you have to determine your readiness. So here are some tips and resources from One Click Advisor to help you do just that.

1. What Do You Know About Business Funding?

There are a lot of business funding options available. One of the most commonly sought loans is the SBA loan. With an SBA loan, the government backs the loan  under certain circumstances. There are also grants available for companies interested in being eco-friendly. Some grants include green communities grants, small innovation grants, and EERE funding. More grants are searchable in this complete site .

Other forms of business funding include private loans, crowdfunding, credit cards, and angel investors. When it comes to finding loans and investors, you need a solid business plan to show them you have a strategy for making money.

2. How Much Marketing Experience Do You Have?

If you do not have marketing experience, you may need help from a marketing team or professionals who understand how to put your company out there. In the U.S., about 80% of all adults use the internet. If you want your green business to reach your local, national, or global market, you have to utilize the tools in front of you. Social media marketing is a popular strategy where business owners use social networking for marketing services and products; and affordable, professional services can get you noticed. Seek out your customer demographic. Think about the age, income, and other details of your potential consumers. Are they likely to use sites like Facebook? If so, choose a Facebook ad template to create a huge potential customer base.

Also, sell yourself as an eco-friendly brand online. Many consumers want to find brands that not only deliver a product they want but trust a company that respects the environment.

3. How Ready Are You to Start?

For extra inspiration for a green business, look at other eco-friendly companies. Patagonia, for instance, pledges one percent of all its sales to environmental conservation. Additionally, they grow many of their organic raw materials. Dr. Bronner’s is another eco-friendly company. They sell organic soaps and body care products. All of their products are environmentally friendly and their marketing reflects that. For example, they only use organic and fair trade ingredients and you can recycle all of their bottles.

In addition to having inspiration, think about your current position. If you have a lucrative business, you may worry that starting your new venture could impact your ability to make money. However, if you have the financing and the business plan ready, you should have a strong setup to explore your options as an entrepreneur. If you don’t have a plan, developing one can be easy…and fun.

When starting a business, you have to take a leap of faith. If you imagined yourself as a business owner, think about what stopped you so far. Once you know your obstacles, you can fight to push past them and become an ecopreneur. 

And finally…

Welcome to One Click Advisor! We would be remiss if we didn’t give you a brief tour of the site and what it can do for you, as an owner of a startup or small business. Your challenges and opportunities can be sorted into one of three areas.

Marketing, because it brings in the customers. That requires the right combination of price, product, promotion and place. 

Operations, because it keeps your customers. A well-run business pleases customers and generates steady and reliable revenue. But to be well-run, you need reliable providers. 

Finance, because it is the scoreboard, and keeps everybody paid. Change the “score”, find bookkeeping help, and find capital. 

The One Click Advisor Business Builder connects you with all the fundamentals. Skip the hours of research and costly mistakes…we have done the work of locating the best small business services for you.