| Dennis Salazar, of Salazar Packaging and Globe Guard Products recently asked to interview me for his blog, Inside Sustainable Packaging . Dennis has been a great supporter of our efforts here and he is truly devoted to sustainable business and helping other small businesses. His popular business blog is read by thousands of people around the world. Being included was an honor.
At the risk of obvious self promotion, I wanted to share the interview here. I think we covered some useful information that we will be covering in greater detail here over the coming weeks.
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DS: Dave, thank you for the opportunity to introduce you to our readers. We need to talk about your work but probably like most of us living in the "lower 48", I am interested in knowing how you wound up living in Palmer and what it is like living in Alaska.
DA: Both my wife and I grew up in Alaska. We have lived in other parts of the world since, but came back to the North Country some years ago. At the time I was producing safety and training films and worked for the oil companies doing industrial videos. We've always been environmentally aware people and my conscience nagged me each and every day I spent serving the oil giants. It just wasn't a good fit. Since then I have been an educator, writer, builder, and even a haz-mat technician. Living in Alaska has allowed me to gain experience in a lot of different fields.
Alaska is truly a grand place that everyone should experience for themselves. It is also on the forefront of climate change. We can literally see evidence of global climate shift outside our windows here. For anyone concerned about the effects of the changing climate, it can be an amazing eye-opener to come here and see how quickly conditions are changing and how dramatic those effects are.
That said, I recommend coming up in the summer!
DS: Please provide us with some back ground on you and Firestorm Digital Media, the parent company of GreenBusinessOwner.com and what inspired or motivated you to launch this unique site to help the new breed of green entrepreneur.
DA: Firestorm Digital Media still produces informational video products and training materials, though a lot of our business has migrated to consulting and online media. We have the luxury of being able to select projects and subjects that align with our interests and beliefs. We don't do oil industry work anymore.
GreenBusinessOwner.com is a project born out of research that I was doing in planning the launch of a new green business in the Pacific Northwest. As we gathered research on green business trends, information on marketing to green consumers, and various green business opportunities, it became obvious that others were interested in the same information. We also discovered that a lot of other business people had great information that they were willing to share, but there were few platforms for them to offer their expertise. We built GreenBusinessOwner.com to serve as a free repository for ideas, trends, and advice for people who want to increase the sustainability of their existing businesses or launch a new green business. It's taken on a journalism model, becoming a collaborative effort to the benefit of people searching for ways to clean up and grow their small businesses.
DS: Since launching GreenBusinessOwner.com, you have changed the focus of your own business quite a bit haven't you?
DA: Creating the GreenBusinessOwner.com website has been a great experience that allowed us to work with some of the pioneers in the green economy. It has also showed me a real passion that I didn't know I had--green building. I've always dabbled in construction and real estate, but I've recently become a US Green Building Council LEED-AP and completed a professional certification in green building through San Diego State University. I am also working on becoming a Building Analyst through the Building Performance Institute.
DS: Dave, your site is loaded with great content, the type of information I would have loved to have had when I began my own green business. What areas of the green business ownership experience do you think need the most help and guidance?
DA: The big unfilled opportunities right now are in increasing the sustainability practices in existing operations and business models. The traditional view of a green business opportunity is to look toward selling wind turbines or installing solar electric systems. Those opportunities are real, but are not right for everyone. There are niche markets for salons with an organic product emphasis, home painters who specialize in healthier coatings, retail outlets who serve organic gardeners, fitness centers with healthy air and sustainable practices, green printers, the list is huge. There are ways to increase the sustainability and clean up almost all industries, often allowing business owners to address new market segments and offer unique benefits to customers while increasing the efficiency of their operations.
DS: There are people who still think simply placing the word "green" in front of their company name will double sales. Obviously that is a false perception but you do provide a lot of great marketing advice to your readers. Please share some of your insight and experience.
DA: Just about every major corporation jumped on the bandwagon of calling themselves green in the last couple of years. Unfortunately, most of these efforts were little more than green wash. Throwing a tiny fraction of research money toward greener operations or offering a short list of greener products doesn't make an operation a good steward of the environment. Environmentally aware customers tend to be sensitive to greenwashing and very aware of false claims. No one is realistically expecting perfection from any operation, but claims of cleaner operations, healthier products, or environmental concern should be based on reality. False claims revealed can be extremely damaging to the reputation of an operation.
DS: In spite of the economy, it seems most green businesses are doing better than non-green companies in the same field. Would you agree?
DA: Green businesses are doing better in some sectors for a variety of reasons. Many green operations enjoy consumer loyalty that other companies would do anything to attain. Other green businesses benefit from expanded marketing opportunities and channels that are not available otherwise. A lot of green remodeling firms are busy retrofitting homes for energy efficiency because consumers are staying in their houses rather than selling them in this soft market. Still other green businesses enjoy more efficient operations in the first place, so they weather downturns better than more wasteful business models.
DS: There are some who believe the green train has left the station but I think you and I agree there are still plenty of opportunities in several areas of sustainability. Can you tell us where you believe the "hot spots" are?
DA: There are opportunities in sustainability and green business that none of us have yet imagined. The recent emphasis and world interest in the environment has been a game changer. The world-wide economic reset has been yet another game changer. In each of these challenges there is massive opportunity for those who are willing to do the research, devote passion to an idea or cause, and take measured risks.
A lot of people are going to find success in various sustainable niche markets. We will watch trends, research, find those with the right talents to help, and fill gaps in the changing fabric of the economy. Then there will be those of us who are true visionaries--people who look at the two-plus-two equation that everyone else is staring at and figure out a way to make it equal six. A handful of those special people are going to do phenomenal things that we will all benefit from in the years to come.
While some of the glitz and media spotlight on all things green may fade, we are a long way from exhausting the opportunities in sustainable or green operations. My feeling is that we truly have only scratched the surface.
DS: Dave, thank you for sharing with us as openly and honestly as you do on your web site. I encourage all other green businesses whether they are well established or in the conceptual stage to spend some time on your site.
DA: It was a pleasure, thank you for the opportunity.
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