How to Become an Eco Entrepreneur

culled from:wikihow.com

The movement to conserve resources and commit to green living is becoming more popular as people generally become more aware of dwindling resources and environmental regulations. This creates many marketing and business opportunities for those who run a business or want to start one. Learning how to become an eco entrepreneur can help to revamp an existing business or start a whole new one.

Steps

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Keep up with environmental regulations and trends. Look for markets affected by regulations to find services and products to assist them. Some of the areas affected by regulations and the green movement include pollution, recycling, labeling standards, protection of resources and habitats, and worker safety.

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   Be aware of advances in technology that make it possible to create products and services for less cost.
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   Think about actions that your company can take to assist others in going green. Ideas include creating resources, innovating existing resources, sustaining resources and advocating for resources.
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   Understand your potential customers and their needs and motivations. Customers interested in ecological living are generally younger and more well educated. They have made a commitment to greener living, but still want it to be easy to achieve results; they want to find products at the usual channels they use for shopping and don't want to pay much more for green products. They seek to learn more about green living and struggle to understand all the concepts.
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   Find a niche or a unique target market to differentiate. As resource preservation becomes more mainstream, large companies begin to convert to a more ecological role and competition is more difficult. To compete, you will need a truly different product or a market that is very green. Another idea is to sell products through mainstream retailers instead of competing.
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   Be sincere about your efforts to go green. Communicate openly with customers. Even if you aren't there yet, customers will appreciate your efforts. Be honest about past failures and show the ways you are improving. Improve existing products so that they are more eco friendly.
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   Set up "green teams" in your company. Green teams provide education to employees and consumers. They work to find and implement ways to improve products and production methods.
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   Start small. If you have an existing company or business, work on revamping existing products and processes to be more eco-friendly. If you don't have a business already, there are many that can be started without a lot of investment ( for example a cleaning business or consulting work). Almost any service can be performed in a greener way (think about real estate agencies or fitness clubs) and be marketed as such.
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   Look for business opportunities online if you don't have an existing company. Websites dedicated to green living list ideas. There are also many franchise opportunities that provide training and resources for those interested in learning how to become an eco entrepreneur.
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   Develop a passion for the values of a true eco entrepreneur. They include sustainability, self-sufficiency and conservation.
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    Practice green living in your everyday life. Get involved in community efforts at resource preservation and seek to go green in your home environment.