A Small Business's Accountability to Sustainability | Rosewood Marketing

I have recently been fortunate to work with a small business owner who specializes in the sustainability industry in relation to businesses. This got me thinking about how I, as an individual and as a small business owner, can make my life and the way I do business more sustainable.

Renowned author and speaker Bob Willard is an expert in this field and is currently working towards developing a Future-Fit Business Benchmark. “The Future-Fit Business Benchmark defines a set of science-based performance criteria that describe a company that is fit for the future. The aim of the benchmark is to help business leaders and investors understand the rapid, radical, and necessary changes required if companies, people, and the environment are to have the possibility of mutual well-being and prosperity, today and in an unpredictable future.”

As a small business owner who caters to other local small businesses in a green niche, I feel that this is an important issue not only for myself, but for those I serve and for those I choose to give my business to.

What can I do to increase my sustainability accountability?

Personal Level:

Planting & maintaining my own vegetable garden
Updating outdated electrical fixtures and electronics
Insulating my home to reduce heating and cooling use
Reducing products I purchase with non-recyclable or unnecessary packaging
Buying organic food when possible
Using environmentally friendly cleaners (vinegar/lemon juice works great for most daily cleaning needs)
Choosing to support local business who also follow green initiatives to reduce their negative impact

Business Level:

I currently work from my home which reduces my overall carbon footprint
Reducing the amount of electricity used (turning off lights in unused rooms)
Reducing the heating/cooling use (closing off vents in unused rooms, using natural air flow with open windows)
Reducing overall paper use by switching to electronic documents and filing
Using environmentally friendly materials
Recycling as much as possible

On a more global scale, large corporations are starting to increase their green initiatives. On May 2^nd, UPS appointed a Chief Sustainability Officer to help them achieve their corporate sustainability objectives. The company wrote on their official website ““Our sustainability efforts are focused on doing more to protect the environment, more to enhance the economy, more to develop empowered people and more to connect communities worldwide,”.

This article by Small Business Trends goes on to say that businesses’ focus on sustainability and green objectives is not a passing fad but is actually financially viable and sustainable with UPS being counted as one of the world’s leading green businesses with more than $1 billion in annual revenue directly related to a green/sustainable product/service.

As an added bonus, going green is also good for a business’s reputation with the public putting more and more pressure on corporations to meet their eco-friendly expectations and standards.

Going green is more than a trend, it’s a lifestyle and way of doing business we should all start adapting, even a little at a time. I’ll leave you with the ever-burning question of what can you do to reduce your negative impact and be more sustainable.

I love working with small business in Newmarket and York Region in a Green Niche of Health and Wellness, Fitness and Eco-Friendly industries. If you are looking for help building your online presence with social media marketing, I invite you to contact me by telephone or email, or through Facebook,Twitter, or LinkedIn. I look forward to helping you help our community!

Until next time,

Deanna Simone