Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Great idea SUN, this forum can truly make a positive impact on the environment. The small business owners of today are tomorrow’s big business leaders, and by establishing green practices in your business core values at the beginning you ensure your business will be set up for success later as you grow.

Truth in Green

Running a green company is not as difficult or as expensive as you might think. The trick is embracing:

Reduce – i.e. Energy usage, by using energy efficient bulbs

*For companies working with food as we are, this is where buying organic, Fair-Trade and local ingredients come into play. All of these goods reduce the negative impacts on the environment and improve the quality of life for the people that produce them.

Reuse – i.e. Eliminate note pads, and replace with scrap paper

Recycle – i.e. Use your local recycling systems, and purchase items that feature the recycled logo.

When all three of these categories are fully utilized your cost of doing business should be about the same in most circumstances.

The Right Reasons

Sure being known as a green company does have its marketing advantages, but that is not the reason to do it. If that is your only motivation, you will probably do the bare minimum and your green buying customers will see right through it, hurting your business.

We also believe in not buying green for the sake of being green. There are more than a few inferior quality green goods out there, avoid them. Offer the best quality goods to your customers…period. If your business is unable to compete in your market because of inferior quality or price point then you aren’t helping anybody.

“Search out the best quality products and then try to find them in environmentally conscious ways”

             *excerpt from the core values of Chokola’j®

Make being green a part of your core values, always looking to improve.

Running your company in an environmentally conscious manner is just the right thing to do. Just about everything for business is made today with a “green option”, it just takes a little searching. We pride ourselves in running Chokola’j® as green as possible, and always looking for ways to improve. We will post tips here on ways to run green periodically, and hopefully find ways for us to improve as well.

- Daniel

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Inspired artisan chocolates-www.chokolajchocolate.com

daniel,

thank you for your leadership and time invested in helping us all understand green business a little better. we look forward to future contributions on this.

quick question: what are the signature aspects of Chocolaj that make your business green?

rich


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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

Hey Rich,

Glad to help, the key green areas we decided to focus on are best represented with this excerpt from our About Us page:

Every purchase we make is an opportunity to make a positive impact on the environment. Together we are making a difference by supporting organic producers, sustainable agriculture and local businesses. We also use recycled goods for most of our day to day business needs including packaging, paper and plastic supplies. Feel good about it!

It’s a start, and we look forward to improving our Green strategies along with the SUN community.

Talk to you soon,

-Daniel

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Inspired artisan chocolates-www.chokolajchocolate.com

Dear Rich, I am new to this website and am just jumping in on the exchange. I was curious as to how you support the ag businesses. I grow earthworms for the castings they produce. It`s a niche market for the organic grower as the castings not only enhance plant growth but are also a natural insecticide. The enzymes in the castings are just something the insects don`t like. I have contacted a large organic market in Denver that will carry my product next spring when they get their floral dept going. Do you have any suggestions or ideas who would like my product now? I have sold to 2 nurseries and am slowly growing a following. What`s difficult is I have another job and it`s all I can do to do both businesses so marketing with me is not as consistent as it should be. That`s why I am interested in learning more about you. Judy

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Hawkeye

Hawkeye,

Sounds like a great product, almost a mini-bio-diversity hot spot. Most states have a Dept. of Agriculture website, on that site there should be a list of local farmers markets. At those farmers markets you will find most of the organic producers in your area, and you can pitch your product.

Consider a trade show, the Dept. of Agriculture also usually hosts one or two a year that have a low cost.

Just a few ideas,

-Daniel

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Inspired artisan chocolates-www.chokolajchocolate.com