As sustainability gains global momentum, more small and medium-size businesses are beginning to understand that it is in their best interest to implement programs that benefit the environment as well as their bottom line. Many of these businesses are jumping aboard the “green” bandwagon with energy and enthusiasm. However, being passionate about the environment is not enough, according to Jennifer Woofter, founder and president of Strategic Sustainability Consulting. As with any other successful business initiative, you must have a strategy for success.

Woofter uses a modular approach with businesses that want to become more sustainable. “Most clients don’t have a budget. They aren’t ready to sign up for a year to 10 years. They need to take bite-size pieces. What are your employees’ top three needs? What is your carbon footprint? Before we tell you how to develop your strategy, let’s figure out where it’s worth your time and attention.”

Founded in 2005 and based near Washington, DC, SSC has a worldwide network of approximately 450 consultants and also offers webinars, with topics ranging from “How to Conduct a Waste Audit” to “How to Green your IT.” Open to consultants, business owners and anyone else who is interested (I attended “Sustainability Consulting 101″ and SSC’s monthly network meeting for sustainability consultants), these webinars educate and inform as well as lay the general groundwork for the next step in strategic sustainability development.

What that next step may be depends on where the individual or business perceives the most value. “Sustainability is so many things: community involvement, waste management, governance, etc.,” Woofter says. “What are the reasons your business would benefit? Reduced energy costs, brand recognition, less turnover? Each client has key drivers. What would benefit you? Think through that before you spend a lot of money that may not give you the most bang for your buck.”

According to Woofter, there are two ways a company can implement sustainable measures: 1. Put policies in place at a company-wide level–for example, implement LEED standards in new buildings or adopt a formal telecommuting program. 2. Allow employees to make individual decisions that promote sustainability. Make it easy to recycle, to print on two sides of the paper, to telecommute, etc. In other words, look at infrastructure but also consider behavior.

Says Woofter, “More than 80 percent of employees think they are eco-conscious. But that percentage goes down when they are asked, ‘Can I make environmentally conscious decisions at work?’ And it goes down even more when asked, ‘Is my company environmentally conscious?’” One of the goals at SSC is to help businesses reduce or eliminate the dissonance between how employees see themselves and how they see the companies they work for.

SSC also aims to establish a benchmark for clients to develop measurable goals and objectives. The Green Audit is one of SSC’s most popular programs. The process works well for companies with fewer than 1,000 employees (typically, SSC clients vary in size from 15 to 10,000 employees, though a few have 50,000 employees or more). The Green Audit is designed for companies “ready to start but not ready to totally dive in,” according to Woofter.

During this process, an SSC-certified green auditor carries out an employee survey, gathers facility data and calculates the company’s carbon footprint. The auditor also conducts an on-site “understanding sustainability” workshop and a “results and recommendations” presentation. The auditor will also provide a written plan of action with strategic steps for companies to take either in-house or by working with a consultant. The core of this plan is to establish a relevant benchmark.

“Part of the challenge,” says Woofter, “is that there are so many standards out there. There is no issue that doesn’t have three or four ways to measure success. One of the core competencies is knowing what is out there and what is best for our clients. For some clients, it’s ISO standards, for others it’s the Natural Step, for some it’s labor issues.” SSC green auditors have access to a database of more than 75 past clients, divided into peer groups, against which they can measure a company’s performance. The groups include financial companies, nonprofits and office-based small businesses. That gives each green auditor a rigorous and consistent basis for comparison. Companies are measured against their peers to give them a reference point so the numbers make sense. “This puts best business practices into perspective,” Woofter says.

To those who claim that going green is a passing fad, Woofter responds: “Too many people are thinking about this as a feel-good issue. They say, ‘Isn’t this a bit of a green bubble?’ Maybe, but just because there’s a bubble doesn’t mean it won’t have lasting impact. The internet bubble has passed, but it still has lasting impact. Everyone has e-mail now.” In order to stay competitive both today and in the future, Woofter says, companies must position themselves within natural constraints. “This is just about good business strategy. You don’t have to love polar bears to believe sustainability is important and to manage your business so that it will be here long-term.”

How can you go green?

1. Pick the issue that has the most value for you and your company. Companies run the risk of getting bogged down if they try to do too much at once.
2. Build a valid benchmark assessment for your business. In addition to sustainability consultants, numerous federal, state and local programs offer information and assistance. For example, EnergyStar for Buildings & Plants offers strategies and tools, including a portfolio manager and a benchmarking starter kit, for businesses that want to become more energy- and water-efficient. And EPA Climate Leaders offers information on goal setting and reporting to help businesses build wide-ranging climate-change strategies.
3. Take things in bite-size pieces. Develop a step-by-step approach with a set of measurable objectives as well as a timeline for achieving those objectives.
4. Make sure you are on the same page with your employees. One of the keys to success with any program is developing a plan of action that includes employee input. This is especially true when evaluating a “triple bottom line” strategy (profits, planet, people).
5. Market your successes. Be honest, but be sure to let your clients, customers, suppliers and everyone else know that you are going green.  www.sustainabilityconsulting.com

Hello everyone, thank you for visiting us. We are about to embark on an end of year empowerment journey.

We want to help you reach your goals! Alba’s Exclusive Events is bringing you great networking event every month, business tour opportunities, meet and greet sessions, hear exciting expert speakers, and much more.

Come and join us at Alba’s Exclusive Events, very exciting. All entrepreneurs will have the luxury of a great online business community membership with weekly and monthly amenities such as:

* FREE Networking events and Cafe’s

* FREE and discounted admissions to workshops

* FREE resources, tips and articles

* FREE media outlets

* FREE featured opportunities and newsletter subscription

* FREE expert advice via videos on topics of business, finance, lifestyle, media and public relations, health and wealth, and much more.

Stop by and enjoy great networking at Alba’s Exclusive Events, see you there!

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Investing In Women has awarded a $500 “stimulus package” to a woman owned business in New Jersey. This grant is to encourage women to start or grow businesses that will help the economy or improve lives.

Montclair NJ,  November 9, 2009- Investing In Women has awarded their first grant to a woman owned business in the USA.  The recipient of the award is Tanisha Cunningham, founder of The Underground Railroad to Success (www.railroad2success.com). The URS is a non-profit that provides a service to foster children aging out of the system to live independently as adults while becoming an integral part of society. This is great for foster children and also has a positive affect on our society as a whole.

“Aging out” is the term used for children who go into foster care, but are never returned to their families of origin or adopted by others. They stay in the system until they turn 18, or graduate from high school, and for the most part, are left to fend for themselves as best they can.

Tanisha Cunningham started URS in January of 2009. A child of foster care herself, she saw the need for foster kids to have additional support when they were no longer eligible for state run services.  Soon after her foster care ended, she began a career in child welfare “I wanted to stay there because my passion had always been to give back, because I knew the struggles of living in foster care, and the fear of leaving unprepared, not having a place to go or having the skills to obtain a job.”

Investing In Women (www.iiWomen.com) is a free business resource site, grant program and marketing venue for entrepreneurs. The organization plans to offer several micro grants in 2010, including grants that are not awarded based on gender.

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Lynny Brown, owner of SEObyCanz (http://www.seobycanz.com) and co-owner of CANZ Design is a self professed computer nerd and extremely knowledgeable SEO specialist. Lynn has refined her skills as the industry has developed, always researching, constantly growing and adapting as the internet becomes more and more sophisticated. There are many definitions of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but the easiest way to describe the process in non-tech speak is to say she ‘makes websites findable in search engines’.

**She is offering a special deal for members of ‘Investing In Women’ (http://iiwomen.com) that have built own websites; women who have control and want to keep control of their websites. Lynny is now offering women like this a SEO consultation service that includes a full website analysis and detailed instructions on what that owner can do to make their website rank better in search engines for less than half the price she normally charges for this service. This offer is only for women that are members of Investing in Women.

Instead of the usual $3500, she charges for consulting, women who own and run their own websites get this service for $500 deposit, and then 4 monthly payments of $250; a total of $1500, the balance which can be paid over 5 months.

Of course if someone wants a crash course they are welcome to pay the full amount. The skills you learn will be specific to your own website and should not be transferred to other sites, as often these techniques could be detrimental to another website it was not specifically designed for. Good SEO is developed for one website as each site must be analyzed with appropriate methods applied to it.

There are three rules for this offer.
1. You must be a member of Investing in Women. Sign up at: http://iiwomen.com/FAQ/index.htm.
2. You need to have owned your website for at least 2 years (show commitment)
3. You need to sign a contract stating you won’t try to become an SEO yourself with the skills you have learned. (non-compete agreement)

Since Lynny has a personal limit of only 10 clients at a time, there are only 3 openings at present. Write to Lynny at
Lynny@canzdesign.com or give her a call at 619 269 5372 between lunchtime and midnight.

Lynny Brown’s Bio

Lynny’s internet career has been a long progression of self taught skills based upon her fascination with the way websites and search engines work; beginning, as many of us do, with a homemade website that no one could find. That was the beginning of her always evolving solution to solve the puzzle; how to make a site visible, have people find and use what was online and available.
History

A computer changed Lynny’s life. She was confined to a wheelchair and bedridden (a result of a broken back injury), when she got her first computer. Her first project was a locally marketed cook book made up of recipes from her own kitchen and contributions from a few friends. Next: a personal web site which was the start of a lifetime passion.
2001 was a focal point for Lynny Brown; 3 things happened that would change her life.

She bought a digital camera, her life partner Kym, traveled from California to New Zealand (CA-NZ) and together they begin their first online business, which appropriately was called CANZ.

The first Canz (http://canz.biz) was a stock image bank they developed to market the thousands of photographs she and Kym took while traveling throughout New Zealand. Within a couple of years this small shoestring enterprise grew to become the second largest image bank in New Zealand offering upwards of 50,000 photographs and graphics from artist all over the world. Lynn’s fascination with search engines grew as she began optimizing and marketing the website that now contained upwards of 50,000 pages.

During this period of time they begin building professional websites for other small businesses and the second Canz (http://CanzDesign.com) was off and running. Quickly the newly developed skills of web design and SEO techniques was divided between the two business women; the design handled by her partner while Lynny utilized all the knowledge skills she acquired in her specialty: Search Engine Optimization, marketing and strategy.

Soon there was a third Canz: SEObyCanz (http://SEObyCanz.com) a site developed to focus on the growing clientele that had use of Lynn’s specialty Search Engine Optimization for web sites.

In 2008 Lynny and her partner moved to the United States where she soon met a chiropractor who fixed her chronic back pain, enabling her to do many of the things she could do before her accident 17 years ago. She built that chiropractor a website that is search engine friendly and optimized for the services her chiropractor offers.

While researching chiropractic websites and internet marketing for that specialty she became aware that many chiropractors where in need of SEO and internet marketing advice. Because of her interest in the field and the way chiropractic treatment has helped her personally she began focusing on SEO for chiropractic web sites.

Lynn Brown, herself a gay woman that operates a full time online business, has a keen interest in woman owned and operated businesses. She has helped several women to get their websites ranking well in search engines and producing results that make money.

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Here is an excerpt about the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society from the NY Times.

“It is no coincidence that the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society in many ways echoes the World Economic Forum in Davos, the famous and still male-dominated gathering in the Swiss Alps.

When the women’s forum founder, the French businesswoman Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, 59, sought to go to Davos a few years ago but failed to get an invitation (or a response to her request), she decided to set up a separate networking hub for women. This year, leaders including Melanne Verveer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women issues, and Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive officer of the nuclear company Areva, rubbed shoulders with women activists from Afghanistan, Burma and Iraq.”

CLICK HERE to read the full article.

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. – The Indianapolis chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-Indianapolis) will honor women business owners and their advocates at its sixth annual awards and holiday luncheon, Celebrating Women presented by American Family Insurance.

The 2009 luncheon is Wednesday, December 16, at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, 350 W. Maryland Street, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with one hour of networking beforehand. NAWBO-Indy presenting the 2009 Visionary Awards – Avatar of the Year, Indianapolis Choice, NAWBO-Indy Member of the Year and Woman Business Owner of the Year – to those who have made significant impact on the success of women business owners during 2009.

CLICK HERE for more information!

I would like to introduce you to Gazelle Simmons, a strong independent woman business owner.  She is a true entrepreneur,  both a virtual assistant and an accomplished author!

Since 1998, Gazelle has been a Virtual Assistant specializing in data entry, presentations, word processing, database management, editing, proofreading, mass mailings, thesis and manuscript processing as well as other clerical services.

Coming from the corporate world with over ten years of experience as an Administrative/Executive Assistant, she has the skills and knowledge necessary to accomplish many tasks.  This experience prepared her to work unsupervised on projects, assignments and daily tasks as well as working until the project is completed.

Her clients have been and continue to be small business owners, independent contractors, website owners, financial advisors, photographers, realtors, writers as well as individuals looking for administrative assistance.

Connect with Gazelle online at Woman Owned, Ryze http://www.ryze.com/go/gazellems, LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/gazellems, Twitter http://twitter.com/gazellems, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/gazelle.simmons,  Soflow, Marzar, Plaxo, and Meetups.com.

Gazelle is also working with a health and wellness company that has been in business for the last 24 years that made over $889 million dollars in 2008. They provide plenty of things we need for daily use such as over 350 products for your home and family-wellness products just for kids, a complete line of superior skin care and cosmetics, natural bath and body solutions, even higher-value pharmaceuticals (no side effects). All are carefully crafted with high standards of quality and performance, and with the safety, health, and wellness of your family in mind.

Recently becoming an author of the e-book “What is a VA and how you can become one?” You can view a free preview of this book at http://vatools.frugaladnetwork.com/index.php/book-preview .  She also wrote a novel “That which does not kill us makes us stronger” (TWDNK) is filled with triumph and tragedy with the heroine of this saga overcoming abuse, depression, adultery, single motherhood and Hurricane Katrina as she keeps the faith with her true warrior’s heart.  Come see how one woman survived it all to continue to rejoice on the other side.

TWDNK will make you weep, laugh, shout for joy and remember why life is so precious.  You can preview this e-book at http://gazelle.simmons.googlepages.com/twdnkpreview

Call Gazelle at 678-423-3187, email at help@admnsrvcs.com or view her website at http://www.admnsrvcs.com for more information. Open Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm, EST.  “My tagline says it all.  “Let me help you grow your business! – Gazelle Simmons.

Two great resources, the SBA (Small Business Association) and Count Me In ( a Womens Economic Program) have joined together to offer education, training and counseling.

Just like Investing In Women, they know of the power collaboration has to grow a business.

From Earth Times.org:

“The alliance between SBA and CMI will help to strengthen and expand small business development opportunities, particularly those to women entrepreneurs. The alliance is intended to promote collaboration on the development of resources and information to benefit the needs of the small business community, and of women-owned small businesses. SBA and CMI will develop a joint podcast on business start-up and financing, as well as a Web chat on small business issues affecting women entrepreneurs.”  CLICK HERE To Read the Full Article

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If you scroll down to the right side of your screen, you will see a widget that says “Help Me Support – Dress for Success” .  When you click on that, you will raise funds for this wonderful organization.  There is no cost to you, just a minute of your time!

The Mission of Dress for Success is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. http://www.dressforsuccess.org/

It’s not the fifties anymore, women do not have to put their husbands and childrens lives before theirs!  Just ask our First Lady Michelle Obama!  The below excerpt is from the Associated Press, CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE

“Throughout my life, I’ve learned to make choices that make me happy and make sense for me. Even my husband is happier when I’m happy,” Mrs. Obama said in her first interview with the women’s health monthly. “So I have freed myself to put me on the priority list and say, yes, I can make choices that make me happy, and it will ripple and benefit my kids, my husband and my physical health.”

“That’s hard for women to own. We’re not taught to do that,” she added. “It’s a lesson that I want to teach my girls.”

So the next time you are freaking out because dinner isn’t ready, your hubbies in a bad mood, and your kid’s late for soccer practice……. slow way down and make sure you are not creating more stress for YOURSELF!