47 Life Lessons – Business and Personal

Sunset from my back yard in Northern California

I celebrated my birthday this week and I thought I’d share with you 47 lessons I have learned in life. Some are business lessons and some are personal lessons. They all have impacted my life in a profound way:

1. What people say about you, says more about them than you.

2. When you learn to quiet your mind and manage your thoughts, you will then begin to know yourself.

3. Praise publicly. Hash out issues in private.

4. When leading or helping someone find their answers, it’s important to lead them back to themselves.

5. Never accuse. Always give people the benefit of the doubt.

6. You can’t grow if you are not willing to step out of your comfort zone.

7. Laughter is medicine.

8. Have an insatiable curiousness about the world.

9. People matter more than things.

10. Always set clear expectations and understand what is expected from all parties before signing on the dotted line.

11. Don’t invest in something you don’t understand.

12. If it comes in wrapping with a bunch of words that are hard to pronounce, it’s most likely not a healthy food choice.

13. Take responsibility for the choices you have made in your life.

14. Ignore your naysayers.

15. Surround yourself with people who support your vision, dreams, and goals.

16. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

17. Change is constant.

18. Never make a hasty decision when it comes to business. Always read the fine print.

19. There are always two sides to every story.

20. Understand how your target audience thinks and how they make purchasing decisions.

21. Our thoughts determine the outcome of our lives.

22. Focus on people’s good qualities.

23. Be a problem solver, not a complainer.

24. Don’t blame, judge, or criticize.

25. Don’t let your ego get in the way of doing the right thing.

26. Relinquish the thoughts that no longer serve you.

27. Give without expecting anything in return.

28. You can’t control how others think and behave.

29. You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

30. Just because that’s how it has always been done, doesn’t mean that’s how it should continue to be done.

31. Be inclusive, not exclusive.

32. Ask not what others can do for you, but what you can do for them.

33. Set healthy boundaries in relationships.

34. Dance wildly. Sing out loud. Hug humans.

35. Lift others up and promote their work.

36. Stay Human.

37. Feel grass blades on your feet and the sun on your skin.

38. Take time to do NOTHING.

39. Step into your POWER.

40. Be present. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not arrived.

41. Look deeply into the eyes of your pet dog or cat and connect with them.

42. Be humble. Be grateful.

43. Plant. Grow an organic vegetable garden.

44. Ask the question: What are my intentions?

45. Hug a TREE and feel the energy of Mother Earth pulsate through your body.

46. Just because you don’t understand something does not mean you need to be afraid of it.  Ask questions.

47. Forgive yourself.

Feel free to add some of your favorite Life Lessons in the comments below!

Yosemite Falls

What Yosemite Falls Taught Me About Business

Yes, it was perseverance, passion, and purpose that got me to the top of Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in America.  I recently took a vacation to Yosemite where I hiked 2,700 feet of steep vertical terrain up the Yosemite Falls trail. It was a steep 8 mile and 8 hour round trip hike. The last hour to the Falls was brutally steep. The sun was pounding on my back. My feet were screaming at me and my muscles were beyond tired. To say it was a grind would be an understatement. Did I mention how steep it was? Look, I am not going to tell you that I was holding a VISION of getting to the top. Nor was I using any kind of mind over matter mental strategy. It was just 3 things; perseverance, passion, and purpose. I began thinking how these three words can easily be applied to business:

Yosemite Falls and Half Dome in the background

1. Perseverance

I wanted to give up and turn back.  Instead I took a lot of breaks along the way. In business, sometimes we may need to take a time-out and reassess our game plan. Don’t be afraid to pause and reflect on what you need to do next in order to keep moving forward versus throwing in the towel or worse, taking action with no results. Isn’t that called chasing your tail? Or, throwing stuff at a wall and seeing if anything sticks? Staying the course and focusing on your goal is what perseverance is about.

2. Passion

I was intent on getting to the top, but there is no way I would have made it to the top if I did not have a passion for moving my body within nature. With every step I took I grew weary, but at the same time I became increasingly ALIVE! I was grateful for my legs for propelling me forward. I became aware of my breathing. I felt my life-blood pulsing through my veins. I could see and smell the water fall cascading down the stunning sheets of granite. I was conscious of how nature was dancing all around me. I witnessed the beautiful rhythmic motion of wildlife as I climbed the mountain. Are you passionate about your business?  I believe it’s that passion that will get you out of bed in the morning when times get tough. It’s the passion that is going to motivate you when you feel stuck.

3. Purpose

I  had one purpose in mind. It was not getting to the summit of Yosemite Falls. It was to move my body within nature on a beautiful trail. That day was definitely all about the journey, not the destination. An added bonus was reaching the top, but my main purpose was to connect with nature.  Are you clear on the purpose of your business?  Does your business have some kind of meaning or purpose for you? Yes, we all know that the purpose of business is about making profits or else they cease to exist. Pardon me for stating the obvious, but beyond profits, why are you in business? What is your purpose?  Are you clear about your purpose?

Grateful for Mountain Water Restoring My Tired Feet

Is this your first time reading Hware’s (HumanityWare) Blog? Hi, I am Brenda Tello Horton. I write most of the blog posts for Hware. I invite you to join me by subscribing. I share small business tips and strategies about once a week right here.

Does Your Target Audience Know Your Brand?

Here is a short exercise I often share with my clients about brands:

1. Quickly. Think of a car. What image comes to mind?

2. Quickly. Think of an airline. What company comes to mind?

3. Quickly. Think of a Realtor. Who comes to mind?

Whatever answer came to mind is the company that owns your mindshare. The brands that own the largest real estate (mindshare) in your head are the ones that have been most successful in infiltrating your subconscious mind. Now I am no brain research expert, but there have been thousands of studies done that explain how people make purchasing decisions. Advertising agencies and marketing firms spend approximately 6.8 billion dollars annually on market research.  They use the information to analyze buying behaviors. Have you ever had a musical tune stuck in your head from a commercial?  That’s branding. Have you ever bought something just based on the logo?  That’s branding. Have you bought brand name shoes, accessories or clothes because they were popular? That’s branding.

Perception Realities and Truths

It’s important to understand how your target audience perceives your brand because their perception is their reality and one’s reality is what they believe to be true. Whether their reality is right or wrong, good or bad is irrelevant because you can’t control what your customers will believe to be true or false. In other words, you cannot control what or how your customers think. However, you can influence their thoughts or perceptions of you, your products, services, and your company. It is from their perceptions and thoughts that they will base their reality and formulate what they believe to be true or false about your brand and your business.

Is Your Perception your Reality?

To make the point of perception clear, here is an example.  Ever heard of a guy name Ralph Lauren? He is known for his famous Polo clothing brand. What most people don’t know is that his real name was Ralph Lifshitz. Well, when Ralph was a young man, he had aspirations of becoming a gazillionaire. Understanding the psychology of perceptions and realities, he knew that he’d have a hard time convincing the world to buy anything with the word Lifshitz on it. So, he legally changed his name to Lauren. Well, Lifshitz’s dreams came true. As of 2010, Forbes estimates his wealth at 4.6 billion, which would make him the 173rd richest person in the world. Did changing his name attribute to his overwhelming business success? I think not.  It takes a lot more than a name change to grow a successful business, but I think it certainly helped him along the way.  One thing is blatantly clear about Ralph Lauren. He understood the power of perceptions.  He built an empire from images and ads of affluent lifestyles. Even though his target audience did not represent the super affluent that were portrayed in his Polo ads, they nevertheless perceived a strong a connection with them. Now, I am not here to promote manipulative advertising or disingenuous marketing. We all know that most ads are designed to exploit human insecurities. The point I am making is that if you are crystal clear on the message you are sending to your target audience, then you have a much better chance of building a successful business. Ralph Lauren was clear about his brand. He wasn’t selling clothes in his ads. He was selling a lifestyle that people aspired to live.  In other words, he was really good at influencing the perceptions of his target audience.

What Motivates Your Target Audience To Buy?

A few years ago, when I started using Twitter, I kept getting the #Follow Friday hashtag on Twitter as the person who is sweet, inspiring, and nice. Well, that was fine, but the problem with that was that no one was thinking of me as the person they looked to for business advice.  As the owner of an online business training company, that was not good. I then realized that I hadn’t really been paying attention to how I was being perceived on Twitter. I just assumed that everyone who was following me on Twitter knew I had an online business training company because it said so on my bio. What that experience taught me was that I needed to change the type of content I was posting on Twitter. I then began to post less of the inspirational and uplifting quotes I loved to share and more useful small business and entrepreneurial related information. Within six weeks, I began to see  much different commentaries for the #Follow Friday hash tag under my name @BrendaHorton. The comments were more in alignment with my online business training company. I knew that my changes were effective when a Hewlett Packard representative contacted me on behalf of their small business division to discuss a product they were launching for the small business community.

At the risk of oversimplifying the psychology behind marketing and brands, I hope you found my explanations relevant and useful to your small business. Do you know how your target audience perceives you? Is your company the first name that pops into the mind of your target audience when they are thinking of buying what they need in your industry?  How can you improve upon your brand?  What are your thoughts on brands, perceptions, and realities?  Please leave your comments below. I’d love to hear from you. If this is your first time stopping by, be sure to subscribe to my blog.  I write a blog post about once a week on business tips and strategies.

Chipolte Margarita in Austin Texas

Hware’s Top Picks: Some Old, Some New, Some May Surprise You.

As an online business training and coaching company, people often want to know where we go for our business resources and who we turn to for advice, tips, and strategies.  While we have been offering business and technology consulting services for over 25 years, we believe in the importance of being students of life. That means that we never stop learning. We have a huge library of online resources, personalities, brands, and strategic organizations that we tap into daily and weekly. It was hard to narrow it down, but we finally came up with the BEST websites to help you build your small business. So grab your favorite drink and check out the  top 15 websites that made the cut! Please leave your comments below and let us know what you think:

1. Altimeter group: A research-based advisory firm.  This is where I go to get a lot of data driven info on business strategies.
2. Chris Brogan: If I had to pick one industry expert on social media and business. It would be Chris Brogan. His book, Trust Agents is a must-read!
3. CopyBlogger: Copywriting tips for online marketing success.  This site has a ton of valuable FREE resources and tips on blog writing.
4. Gena Livings: For inspired living.  My dear friend, Gena Livings is changing the world with her lifestyle modification services. Be sure to download her free e-book. It’s inspiring!
5. Green Festivals: If you are a “Green” business who sells B2C, you cannot afford to not be an exhibitor at this event.  Co-founded by my good friend, Kevin Danaher, Green Festivals is on the leading-edge of bringing all things “Green” to the mainstream. Four events are held throughout the year in Washington DC, Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco.  We have been attending since the first Green Festival and this event just keeps getting better every year, especially the after parties!
6. Mashable: The most popular Social Media News blogs on the internet.  Take your time absorbing the information, it can be overwhelming for newbies. You will want to bookmark a lot of the material and use it as a reference later.
7. Michael Franti & Spearhead: (Okay, this has very little to do with growing your biz online, but I could not resist plugging my fave band. I fire up this music to keep me motivated and inspired for my biz.)  As entrepreneurs, we all need music to keep us motivated, inspired, and happy! We LOVE to dance to Spearhead music! If you ever have the chance to see a live Michael Franti and Spearhead concert, you must GO! It’s life altering!  What’s your favorite music that keeps you going?
8. Mixergy: Andrew Warner interviews CEOs and Founders of successful companies . I love his in-depth questions of business leaders. He is young and bold and he asks really good questions.  I love to go hiking on my property while listening to Mixergy interviews on my iPhone.  I always learn something new from this twenty something year old.
9. Read Write Web: This is a technology analysis news blog.  I like referencing this site because while the focus is on technology, the writing is not filled with Geek and Coder jargon. It’s written for people like us ordinary folks.
10. Seth Godin: One of the top marketers in the world.  I have read many of his books and have had the opportunity to see him speak live. He has a way of making his point very succinctly.
11. Small Biz Survival:  A rural and small business resource blog. We live in a rural area in northern California, and while our business is internet and technology-based, we are nevertheless interested in what’s happening in small town businesses.
12. Small Business Trends: An online news blog with a focus on small businesses trends and over 122,000 subscribers.
13. Social Media Examiner: A guide to social media. This site has a lot of useful “How To” articles on social media, well written content and easy-to-understand.
14. Triple Pundit: As many of you know, our personal lifestyle is oriented towards most things “Green” and “Sustainable.”  We did build a straw bale home many years ago and enjoy living in it. Triple Pundit is a great online “Green” business news resource.
15. Work Awesome: A resource for the worker on productivity, time management and all kinds of other awesome stuff.  I recently found this site and I can’t say enough awesome things about it!

I hope you found great value in our top 15 BEST websites to help you grow your small business. We invite you to add some of your favorite small business websites too, even if it is your own and you feel it will help a small business owner.  Don’t be shy! Go ahead and post!

Couture Cottons designed using eco-friendly fabrics

Go Green Down Under

Earth Day is this week and while the “Green” industry has exploded along with some green washing, there is however the Green Festival that ensures reputable green exhibitors and businesses at their annual conferences. I found such a company a few weeks ago while attending the event in San Francisco. Couture Cottons lingerie — beautifully designed undies using eco-friendly fabrics. Their tag line is Go Green Down Under. I had the opportunity to meet Sandra Castro Richards, the owner and founder of Couture Cottons, from San Antonio Texas. The more we chatted, the more I liked her and her approach to building her business.

The External Cost of Cheap

Most clothes sold in America are made in sweat shops by children and women in third world countries. The wages are low, the hours are excessive, and the emotional and physical abuse is rampant. Costs are kept low so that we can buy the clothes at an affordable price. Unfortunately, there is a huge price tag on affordability. It’s called external costs. The external cost of cheap has everything to do with the inefficiencies and pollution of shipping raw materials over seas, exploiting human labor, then shipping the finished product back to the USA where more oil is consumed by trucking the product to the department stores where it will be displayed along with other petroleum-made clothes. That’s not the case with Couture Cottons. Couture Cottons has turned down contracts with major department stores in the USA because they could not make a profit selling their undies at the cheap price the stores were asking. Couture Cottons provides jobs for Americans. Their undies are manufactured in the USA where people are paid a fair wage and treated with dignity and respect. The organic undies cost a bit more, but the tradeoff is knowing that your money (voting with your dollars) went to support a small business that is not waging harm on the environment and humans. In addition, the undies are made with organic cotton. That means there are no chemicals sprayed on the cotton, which is much safer for the planet and the people handling the cotton. Now that is what I call a “values based” business. Couture Cottons is clear about their core values. They know where to draw the line in the sand. When your values are clear, then your business decisions are much easier.

People Planet Profit

Richards is part of a growing number of business owners who are putting the triple bottom line concept into action — People, Planet, Profit.  The triple bottom line is about building a profitable business, but not at the expense and exploitation of the planet or her people. This trend has been steadily growing over the last decade. I am seeing more and more eco-green business conferences and green business coaches emerge. Many are legitimate while some are just jumping on the “Green” bandwagon.  How can you tell the difference?  Here are a few of my favorite resources to help you decipher. Be sure to sign up for their blogs and connect with them on Facebook and Twitter. Are you a green business or have a green resource to share? Post it in the comments section below. We’d would love to know about it.

Sustainable Industries – A business source for leaders of the new economy.

Bioneers – An annual conference with a focus on sustainability.

LOHAS – Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability; Market segment news focusing on the environment, sustainable living, and social justice

Triple Pundit – Online news with a focus on green business

Global Exchange – Focus is on building the new global economy

GreenBiz.com – Online news with a focus on green business

Presidio Graduate School – Green MBA programs

Green America – A directory of screened and approved green businesses. Hware is a member.

Earthsite.net – Agency for sustainable brands specializing in social media strategy, and web marketing

Thanks to everyone who participated in our HP iPAQ Glisten SmartPhone Give-Away Contest! Congratulations to Michele Schiro for winning!

So here are my thoughts on the Glisten. My experience with technology comes from the end-user side. I am also an iPhone and Social Media Power User.

• Initially, it seems like the iPhone meets the Blackberry. It has a keyboard pad with a touch screen
• The speaker on the Glisten is much better than the iPhone
• The AT&T Navigator GPS features were great
• The quality of the screen was nice
• Synchronized well with my social networking sites
• Has a very nice feel in my hands when I am holding it
• Has Flash Player unlike iPhone, which is very important to me because I view a lot of business videos
• Can tether it for internet access from my computer unlike the iPhone (this is important if you are mobile)

I personally went straight from a standard cell phone user to an iPhone user. Having said that, I won’t be giving up my iPhone for the HP iPAQ Glisten SmartPhone anytime soon. However, for people who like the touch and feel of a keyboard or have been Blackberry users or Windows Mobile SmartPhone Users, this phone might be a great transitional choice.

Hear the Answers in the Quietness

It seems that the world of Business Coaching is exploding just like Social Media Experts so I’ve put together 6 Key Questions to ask your Business Coach before you hire him/her:

1. How long have you been a coach/consultant full-time? You want to know how long this person has made a living for himself/herself as a business consultant or coach. While the old business paradigm is melting and new innovative ways of doing business online are emerging, the fundamentals of business, i.e., PROFIT are still relevant. Understanding how well someone has made a living for themselves as a coach will tell you volumes about how successful they have been in their profession. What industries have they coached in? What level? Executive/CEO or managerial? Small businesses, entrepreneurs, start-up and non-profits? What size of businesses have they coached? A $30,000 dollar a year company is a lot different than a 3 million dollar a year company.

2. Will you please provide me with your past and current references? I know this seems obvious, but you’d be surprise how many people don’t call on references. Testimonials are good, but you really should talk to someone who has been coached by this person bestowing their expertise. You also want to know how long the person being coached has been in business. In addition, you want to gauge how profitable they are. Now, this information will be a little hard to extract since most companies are private and won’t release that data. What they are more likely to tell you is how much revenue or sales they generated in one year. The problem with that is revenue only tells you one side of the story. An entrepreneur may have generated 2 million dollars in sales last year. However, if their expenses and overhead were 2.1 million, then they lost money. So, you need to do your due diligence and get creative in extracting that information. You may ask, “What’s your industry’s average profit margin and how profitable has your business been in relation to industry standards since you hired your Business Coach?”

3. How well do you understand technology and systems? There is no way getting around having a successful business today without the advice of an expert on key technologies and systems. Technology and systems are essential to business in today’s digital world. So, when hiring a business coach, make sure they know what they are talking about when it comes to advising you on what technologies and systems are best for your type of business. They don’t necessarily need to be the person implementing the systems and technologies, but they should at least be able to point you in the right direction to experts who can. Miss this question and you will certainly go down a deep rabbit hole of frustration and wasted time and money.

4. Will I be working with you or one of your “Trainers?” With the hyper-growth of the coaching business, many consultants are hiring trainers to help them with their clients. There is nothing wrong with that at all. You just need to be clear on who you will be working with. If it is one of their “trainers” then you will want to do your due diligence on that person as well. In addition, some coaching companies offer membership sites and group coaching. You will want to know how available and accessible the coach will be in those programs.

5. Are you in alignment with my values? Here is an example: Let’s say you are a “Green” business and you value the triple bottom line model, also known as the 3 P’s. Planet, People, Profit. So, would you hire a coach who has an over-excessive lavish lifestyle when you are clearly aware that mass consumption is bad for the environment?   Surround yourself with mentors, teachers, trainers, and coaches who are in alignment with your values.

6. Am I clear on the expectations between us? Having unclear and vague expectations is a recipe for the dreaded two D’s: DISASTER and DRAMA! Don’t ever assume anything. If you are not clear on the contractual agreement or offering, then be sure to ask before you buy. Please don’t buy into a coaching program only to find out that you can’t get out as smoothly as you got in.  Any business coach worth their salt will not make it difficult for you to leave the program. It should be an easy-in, easy-out model. You definitely will want to read the fine print. In addition, some coaching companies make an offer where you have access to a lot of coaching material for a nominal fee and 30 or so days later that fee increases substantially. It is a marketing tactic that is used to get you to try before you fully commit. They charge your credit card a low fee to get you started with the hope that you will find value and stick around. The fee then increases after 30 or so days and your credit card gets automatically charged every month. I am not knocking these campaigns, I just want you to understand the marketing strategy behind these tactics.

Here is a bonus tip on hiring a business coach/consultant. It is one that is unfortunately oftentimes overlooked: Listen to your intuition and instincts. Your inner voice is your guidance, your compass. It’s there for a reason, so get quiet and listen to it. If the coach resonates with you, then go for it!

This is not an exhaustive list of Questions and Tips, so if you have some insight on hiring a business coach/consultant, please feel free to add more on the comments below!

Brenda Tello-Horton is co-owner of Hware, an online business training and software company. She can be reached at info@hware.com

Not having a Social Media Plan is like going for a long Hike in the Mountains without any Food and Water.

The point is that you may survive, but it will be a very challenging and frustrating experience that could have otherwise been avoided. In my last post, I wrote about how planning starts with a VISION. In this post, I want to emphasize the importance of PLANNING. When most people think of planning, they yawn, BORING! Who wants to get boggled down with details?! “Let’s just go for it, make it happen and we will adjust along the way. Besides, it’s more fun and adventurous to have some spontaneity in our lives!” I swear, I used to say that and believe that with all my heart, and I still do in some areas of my life, but NOT when it comes to business. Unfortunately, I have had to learn through too many failures to understand why PLANNING is key to a successful business. So let’s dive into some key factors that are fundamental to having a solid social media plan. For the purpose of this blog post, I will be referring to small businesses:

• Know your target audience – Who are you selling to? Who’s attention do you want? Let’s narrow it down further. What  is your buyer persona?  That means, what are your buyers’ preferences, tastes, likes and dislikes. For example, my company, Hware sells software tools that help small businesses. Therefore, I look for entrepreneurs, and Work-at-Home folks to connect with online and try to make myself useful to them. I am laser-focused on the kind of person I want to interact with online. It’s  not that I don’t or won’t engage with anyone other than my ideal client, it’s just that I am very specific and clear about who I need to be talking to online for my business. More importantly, if your target audience is not online, then you are wasting your time being online. You need to be where they are. That’s where market research comes in.
• Spend some time doing some Market Research – It is crucial to find out where your customers hang out. Are they on Twitter or LinkedIn? Are most of them not using social networking sites and still prefer e-mail? The point is that you need to have a clear understanding of where they are so that you can communicate with them.  Occasionally, I enroll my online audience in surveys, which gives me insight into what they need. I then provide them with the results of the polls. By engaging my audience and asking for feedback, I gain tremendous knowledge on who they are, what their challenges are, and how I may better serve them. Here are a few online survey tools: Poll Daddy,  Survey Monkey and Twtpoll (for Twitter). The surveys need to be short, simple and convenient for the participant, otherwise, they will be reluctant fill it out.

• Know your online STAG: I call these your Strengths, Talents, Attributes, and Gifts. You must find and own your STAG and become like the beautiful statuesque male deer I live with here in the foothills of Northern California. They know their own power and beauty.  They grace the land with great ease and confidence. When you know your STAG, you will attract, engage, and be like a magnet to your online Fans, Friends, and Followers. When you are clear about your STAG, it will show in your energy, your presence. We all feed off of each other’s energy and your customers are no different. They will know if you are moving with ease and confidence and when you are putting their best interests first and foremost. (I will write more about STAG in future blog posts.) An example of using your STAG is let’s say that you are better at talking than writing; then perhaps you may want do more vlogging (video blogs) than blogging. The point is that you are playing to your strengths and when you work from a place of strengths, it always much easier.
• Remember that your Social Media Plan - should come under the umbrella of your marketing plan and your marketing plan falls under your business plan and your business plan should be part of your long-term strategic plan, (which I will write about in more detail another time.) So many people get overwhelmed with social media, but it is important to keep things in perspective. Social media is just one aspect of your overall business and as an entrepreneur/self-employed, you wear many different hats – social media is your marketing hat.

On my next blog post, I will delve into more detail about social media planning. I will be writing about some specific automation tools to help systematize and simplify your online presence.

Brenda Horton is Co-owner of Hware, a software company that designs business planning tools for small businesses. She will be hosting a FREE and LIVE Webinar on Social Media STRATEGIES for beginners on September 2nd.

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On 7.1.09 Sierra Adoption Services is becoming Sierra Forever Families. Sierra’s mission… We transform the lives of children in foster care by building and nurturing permanent families. This is a great non-profit organization, check them at sierraff.com.

Sierra Forever Families Home Page

In recognition of Earth Day this month, April 22nd, I am honoring all the Green businesses who have dared to make our planet and her people a better place to live. This blog post is for you!

I have always been intrigued by anything and everything Green. I grew up in Austin Texas where Whole Foods is headquartered. I remember when the store was just a dinky co-op on Lamar street in the early 80′s. It was the first place and time I had ever seen a White person with dreadlocks. I was fascinated! Noticing food from a bulk bin was a new experience for me. I immediately absorbed the energy in that tiny space.  I allowed it to fill my curious senses. I bought my lunch quite often there because I went to the college nearby. Whole Foods radically shifted the way I thought about food. It opened a whole new world of very cool people and organic food for me. Little did I know at the time that all great movements begin at a grassroots level. Back then, the term "GREEN" had not yet gone mainstream. Today Green is not only mainstream, it has evolved beyond the environment and now includes social responsibility. How grateful I am to have been introduced to organic food at such a young age. It’s no wonder I love talking about food and wine so much.

Triple bottom line

For the purpose of this blog, let’s define what a Green business is. According to Wikipedia, a Green business or a sustainable business is a business that strives to meet the triple bottom line.  Traditionally, the bottom line is what has been used to measure a company’s success and that bottom line was called PROFITS.  The early adopters of the Green business movement wanted more for their business than just profits. They not only had a much bigger VISION for themselves and their businesses, but for their communities, and their world as well.

People Planet Profit

These Green pioneers saw how multi-national corporations were making huge profits at the cost of the planet and her people. They saw how people were being exploited and how our planet was being polluted all in the name of profit. So they stood up, went against the status quo, and started a new TRIBE. They said, "This is not how we want to measure our success. This is not the legacy we want to leave behind."  They then came up with a new definition for measuring the success of a business. It is called the triple bottom line; where not only the financial performance of a company is taken into consideration, but the ecological and social implications are as well. This new way of measuring the success of a business was coined PEOPLE, PLANET, PROFIT, hence the Triple Bottom Line.

VISION

The Tribal leaders followed their instincts, they listened to their inner-voice and today the Green business industry is a multi-hundred billion dollar industry and growing. The Tribal leaders created a new VISION. The followers showed up and together they started a revolution of doing business a better way by not only being profitable, but by caring for the PEOPLE and her PLANET.  The next time you buy something, I want to encourage you to make an alternative choice by choosing a Green product or service. And whether or not you are a green business, I want to encourage you to build the Triple Bottom Line into your business model. It just makes good business sense.

My love affair with Green

On a more personal note, my love affair with Green has led me to build a Green and sustainable home up in the foothills of Northern California. It is a solar powered straw-bale home www.hware.com/sb

Our Solar Powered Straw-bale Home	Our home at night

Resources on Green

www.greenpages.org – Find a Green business

Green America – Our mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.

SustainableBusiness.com – provides global news and networking services to help green business grow, covering all sectors: renewable energy, green building, sustainable investing, and organics.

Greenmaven.com – is your gateway to the Green Web. We’re a search engine that focuses on green and sustainable websites. Use the search box above to search the green web!

yes! – Dedicated to supporting people’s active engagement in creating a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world. Stories of new ways of life that foster community and harmony with the earth’s ecosystem.

Green Business Camp – The UnConference for Green Business Growth and Collaboration

Green America’s Green Business Conference – Green America builds the marketplace for green businesses by connecting like-minded business visionaries at our Green Business Conference

Books on Green Business

Mid-Course Correction – Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The Interface Model

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

The Ecology of Commerce – A visionary new program that businesses can follow to help restore the planet.

Examples of Green Businesses

Interface Inc. – is the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet

Wholefoods Market – selling the highest quality natural & organic products

Cliff Bar & Company – As a food company, we know that we have a responsibility to help create a healthier food system. We are committed to adopting practices that support sustainable agriculture, move toward zero waste, reduce our climate footprint, and conserve and restore the natural resources and ecosystems that we depend on

Gaiam – Gaiam invites you to live the life of intention you’ve envisioned. From yoga & fitness DVDs to non-toxic cleaners, we give you the green shopping options and healthy living products to help you live your best life