Green Business Women

With gas at a high and with a general move towards conservation and thoughtful consumption, it's important to get as educated as you can when dealing with your existing car or potentially purchasing a new vehicle.

Plan out your year with specific "checkins" for your car: if they're scheduled in advance and treated like non-negotiable appointments, you're less likely to skip this much-needed checkin. Remember that without maintenance, you run the risk of losing the opportunity to use a well-functioning car. Keep it running well by keeping it happy!

Are you looking at GasBuddy.com to find the closest gasoline prices in your area? Are you making sure to maintain your vehicle with regular oil changes and to check alignment and general functionoing? Rotated out the tires recently? According to the popular "Fuel Economy" governmental site, here are the top five misconceptions vs. facts for your car.

1. MISCONCEPTION: You have to drive a small car to get good fuel economy.
FACT: Many different sizes of cars can be fuel efficient due to advances in technology and parts. In 2012, 6 of the top 10 most efficient vehicles were midsized cars, wagons, or SUVs.

2. MISCONCEPTION: Manual transmissions always get better fuel economy than automatics.
FACT: The current advances have improved the efficientcy of automatic transmission to be the "same or better" than the manual transmission version of a vehicle.

3. MISCONCEPTION: It takes more fuel to start a vehicle than it does to let it idle.
FACT: Again, with advancements in technology, most modern fuel-injected engines start efficiently, whereas idling can use a quarter to a half gallon of fuel per hour, depending on the vehicle's engine size. Turn off the engine if you'll be waiting a while.

4. MISCONCEPTION: Vehicles need to warm up before they can be driven.
FACT: Modern vehicles can be driven within seconds of being started. No need to "warm up the engine."

5. MISCONCEPTION: As a vehicle ages, its fuel economy decreases significantly.
FACT: It's best to maintain your vehicle properly in order to help it remain efficient. According to EPA tests on vehicles with around 5000 miles on them, "vehicles that are 10 or even 15 years old will experience little decrease in fuel economy if properly maintained." So if you want to keep your fuel economy at the same level as when you purchased the car, make sure to service it often.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_garland/4155291077/

January is always a great time to re-focus on your goals for your green business.

Here are four areas for you to review your existing policies and change any, if needed. I recommend you maintain a laser-like focus on your business and map out your goals on a 12-month calendar, with your mission statement very clearly posted. With the support and networking of other green business women, I'm confident you will find a way to share your model of green thinking with the world.

1) Sustainability - The "New Economy" is built on trust, transparency, integrity, and a deep attention on the triple bottom line. Can you make your business work with the existing strategies and infrastructure? Review your suppliers. Understand your core market. Focus on how you will maintain a green policy, and make sure to post it in a prominent place like your website -- that will be your "Environmental Impact Report Card" that you use to keep track.

2) Finances - Profit & Loss and balance sheet. Have these ready for tax time as well as to get a handle on your incoming cash flow and projected expenses. Plan now for any items that may be changing in the next 3-6 months. Understand your timeframe between billing and recieving payment, and tighten that window if needed.

3) Personnel - How's your team? Is everyone functioning as expected? Do you have clearly laid out guidelines and an employee handbook? What are your review strategies? Are you taking care of insurance, health care needs, and family issues such as maternity or paternity? Focus on the people: your human resources are so important in bringing a happy, productive, engaged, and motivated workforce to help spread your green mission.

4) Policies - Sustainability, social justice, volunteering, sick leave/vacation, and other policies need to be written down and communicated throughout your organization so everyone is on the same page. Make sure you also comply with labor laws and OSHA requirements in your region or state. If you're running an online business, make sure your confidentiality, terms and conditions, FTC disclosure, privacy policy, shipping, returns and other policies are clearly listed.

With an ongoing focus on these issues, you'll improve the "internal business" end of running your business.

Photo by NASA Goddard

Are custom
printed eco friendly promotional
products a smart way to spend my marketing dollars? This is just one of many
things a small business owner needs to think about when it comes to marketing.
The simple is yes, but the longer answer is yes, as long as you're thoughtful
about the type of item you invest in. It has been reported over and over again,
study after study, that the promotional products that are held on to
for several years, and provide your organization with repeated exposure
over those years, are the products that are incredibly practical, rather than
flashy or trendy. Two fantastic examples of popular, practical items are BIC
custom pens, and custom
Nalgene bottles

- these are both winners - they
stay around for a very long time, even the pens, and most importantly people USE
them. Also important is that they are quality products which will reflect well
on your organization.

Green swag can be very
affordable for those with a limited budget - there are many useful items
out there that are well under $1 each, such as pencils, jar openers, key fobs,
pens, magnets, etc. Another thing to keep in mind is the shipping cost - that
will be reduced if you ask your promo product supplier to source the item as
close to your shipment destination as possible, especially when
ordering bulky or heavy items. Lastly, be sure to ask your supplier about
any specials going on in the industry when you're ready to order - there is
always one eco product or another on special, and perhaps it will be something
you think is wonderful. Best of luck, and keep it
green!