Posts Tagged ‘green entrepreneur’

When I look back over the advice given by entrepreneurs featured on NewsonWomen.com in 2009, it becomes clear what entrepreneurs think is important. The number one topic mentioned again and again by entrepreneurs on how to be successful is “people” – who you work with makes the difference.

The second most popular piece of advice mentioned is finding your “niche” and capitalizing on the opportunities it presents. Coming in third for advice on the road to success is the “customer”, and treating your customers well so they become loyal. This is an unscientific study, but interesting nonetheless.

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The new business landscape is truly a game changer. It allows smaller businesses to reach 1,000s of potential customers without huge marketing budgets like that of larger corporations. Viral videos, Facebook, and Twitter are a few of the new tools available to small business.

But, just like any tool, social media tools are worthless unless you know how to use them. Paramount in successful use of social media is to avoid what’s termed interruption marketing. That is, disrupting people with your sales message when they haven’t asked for it.

Instead, people want to be helped. Rather than selling to someone, it is more effective to provide useful information. If someone on a forum asks a question, one should answer it rather than saying “hire me”. By providing help and showing your knowledge, you’re more apt to actually have a follow up discussion involving being hired.

The old days of spending tons of cash for print, TV or radio ads are gone. The new landscape involves being nice and un-solicitous. For more information about the new business landscape, attend New York Entrepreneur Week.

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About the Blogger:

Matthew Weiss is owner of Weiss & Associates, PC, a boutique vehicle and traffic law firm located at 419 Park Avenue South, New York, NY. For more information visit his site New York Traffic Lawyer. Mr. Weiss is also the Global Learning Chair for the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, a worldwide not-for-profit dedicated to helping businesses owners learn and grow.

Lately I have been teaching a uniquely green focused FastTrac Tech Venture program run by ITAC – New York City’s Industrial and Technology Assistance Corporation.

Our class is full of small start-up and early-stage businesses with state-of-the-art green technology business concepts. Super cool ideas ranging from solar panel manufacturers to internet-based companies that measure energy usage of your home and commercial buildings.

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For the fearful, our current economic environment is an obstacle, for the bold, it is an opportunity.

What do companies like GE, HP, Microsoft, CNN, Hyatt and Burger King have in common? They were all started in economic downturns by entrepreneurs whose passion, commitment, and ability to execute far out-shadowed the temporary economic obstacles.

New York Entrepreneur Week (NYEW) scheduled November 16^th to the 20^th 2009 celebrates the opportunities to be found in this economy. Through a series of panels, keynotes and networking sessions, entrepreneurs will learn from over 120 speakers from 18 states and 3 continents the resources available to them and how to launch, grow, and manage a successful business venture.

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Last month I saw a fascinating movie premier, “The Age of Stupid”.

Never mind that it was the first time a movie premier was broadcast live via satellite (from here in New York) around the world on over 550 screens in 45 countries. Or that they had in attendance the likes of Kofi Annan (former Secretary General of the United Nations), Heather Graham and Jillian Anderson as well as music from Moby and Radiohead.. Or that The Huffington Post called the movie launch “One of the most important films of the year (perhaps decade)”, as both a new way independent films will be released and also a way to give additional exposure to the environmental message. Read the rest of this entry »

Green is a hot topic. The September 28 issue of Newsweek published a list of the 500 greenest companies in America with Hewlett-Packet listed as number one. Last April, former President Bill Clinton, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) Chief Scientist Amory Lovins, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Empire State Building owner Tony Malkin, declared a very bold plan to reduce the energy use of the Empire State Building by 38 percent, and save $4.4 million annually in the process.

When it comes to conversations regarding green buildings, there are a couple of concerns that are in the foreground for most business owners: do green buildings really increase employee productivity and what is the cost of building (or retrofitting) within green guidelines?

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People often confuse geothermal and geoexchange technologies and call them both Geothermal. This is a misnomer unless you live near one of the earths fault lines. Geothermal technology is actually a method of generating power through super heated water turning to steam and powering a turbine which generates energy. Geoexchange is a process of using the earth as one big heat sink for heating and cooling a building or home. Read the rest of this entry »