1. Figure out what you want.

How do you meet the customer of your dreams? How do you best serve your ideal client? How do you "sort" the right people for your business from the wrong people for your business?

Luckily for all of us who are interested in green living, green business development, and true respect and care for the planet, it is easy to find the "right" people based on the kind of language they use and their stated social and environmental responsibility report. Here are some pointers I've found along my own journey:

SAY YES to ONLY THE RIGHT PROJECTS.
When I was first starting out in web design, my partner and I were anxious to do as much business as possible, and so we ended up saying yes to all kinds of projects --- we quickly found out that this led to three kinds of trouble as we struggled to differentiate ourselves and our process:

1) We had difficulty in discerning the projects on which we wanted to work.
2) We were anxious because many of the people who found us were anxious themselves and it became a feedback loop of anxiety!!!
3) When we were unclear, unfocused, and provided too much of a broad approach, it led our customers to ask for unclear, unfocused, and very broad requests.

Saying YES to only the right projects does mean saying no to what might look like profitable work. However, when you say no to the wrong kind of work, you open up many opportunities to allow the right kind of work to come into your space.

Create a niche and dominate it by saying yes to only the projects, distributors, customers, partners, or affiliates that match what you want to achive.

NARROW YOUR FOCUS.
Narrow your target market and narrow the type of work you do. For example, in my case:

• Instead of creating static HTML based websites, now we focus on content management systems.
• Instead of doing "any kind" of website, now we create highly functional websites that support organizational growth.
• Instead of working with "anyone", we now work with green businesses, progressive organizations, and minority women entrepreneurs.
• Instead of working on "any project", we work with partners who intend to grow their business and who benefit from our expertise.

We're happier because of the changes we've made, and we now have a better sense of when we are a good fit for a project or when the customer would be better served with a referral to one of our partners.

BE EFFICIENT.
As you develop experience and a set of methods and business processes, you'll help everyone involved with your business. Think of your management and staff, your teammates, partners, and customers -- how does your process "fit" everyone's feedback and desired results? As you create your own process and procedures, you'll understand how you best function.

Use "green" guidelines to help you make decisions on where to get supplies or how to distribute and market. When you set policies, you give all the people working on the project a clear "road map" to milestones along the way to your shared success.

SPECIFY, SPECIFY, SPECIFY
Know how to describe your green business in 7 seconds or less. Be specific. As you specify more and more what it is that you value and who you support, it is easier and easier to find the people who share your values and who want to support you. You'll find yourself gravitating towards your "true community" of customers, clients, partners and friends.

ENVISION THE FUTURE-- and CREATE IT
Consider what your successful business (or life) looks like to you. I encourage you to map it out in as much detail as possible, writing it on a piece of paper, or using vision boarding to copy and paste images that match your ideal.

Then, bring your current situation closer and closer to that ideal by saying YES only to the people and projects that match your vision. What will happen is the ideal starts coming closer and closer to you, and you do more and more of the work you love. As your green business thrives and supports others who share your values, our entire community, society, and planet benefits.

SHARE YOUR VOICE
We all need your unique voice-- we need you to share how you believe in your actions and how your green business is a part of the solution. Please share your unique vision of what it is you want to accomplish with your life --- and let us all work together to make it a reality.

List your green business for free in the national directory at http://www.greenbizwomen.com. Follow @monicadear and let me know your green business or connect on LinkedIn.

Originally published by Monica S. Flores at TheGreenGirls.com

As green business owners, sometimes we tend to "think small" and hope that one, or two, or ten, or twenty people will buy our green product or pay us to deliver the green service we offer.

Let's think BIG, ladies!!!

Like Trump says, "I like thinking big. I always have. If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big."

We all have an opportunity to make some major, measurable differences through our focus on the new green economy.

As a great example, Stonyfield Farm is the world's top organic yogurt company www.stonyfield.com. They wanted to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, so in late 2008 started a "Greener Cow" program. Stonyfield had been measuring its carbon footprint for over a decade, and had known milk production was the biggest part of its footprint. The Greener Cow pilot program meant changing the cows' diet to include alfalfa, flax and grasses.

Positive results include:
1) a major reduction in the waste by-product methane, a greenhouse gas (through cow burps) AND
2) an increase in the milk's omega-3 content and decrease in the levels of saturated fats

"Stonyfield Farm has been able to reduce the enteric emissions from the cows by as much as 18%, an average of 12%. If every US dairy were to adopt this approach, in less than one year, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions we could reduce would be the equivalent of taking more than half a million cars off the road!" announced Nancy Hirshberg, Stonyfield V.P. of Natural Resources.

Let's think like this and more.

If 1 million women business owners turned their business operations to be more "green", we'd have a major impact on the country and the planet.

What if 1 million "green girls" pledged to buy from each other, instead of purchaing mainstream, commercial, or conventional options --- we buy products, services, foodstuffs, and cosmetics from other green women in business. We support each other, we grow each other's business, and we help heal the planet along the way.

Whatever level our minds operate on is where we target our business development. Putting it another way, if we want to be more successful as our business grows, we'll elevate our collective mindset to add a few more zeros to the end of our current "numbers".

Originally published by Monica S. Flores at TheGreenGirls.com