5 Convincing Benefits of Sustainable Business Practices

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Sustainable Business|5 Convincing Benefits of Sustainable Business PracticesThe concept of sustainability in business practices has rapidly gained importance over the years. There is growing awareness about crucial issues like global warming and the overuse of depleting resources among the masses. Consequently, people are actively looking for alternative products and services that suffice their needs with minimum negative consequences to the environment.

Plenty of proactive companies are shifting and adjusting their operations to incorporate sustainable practices. In today’s ever-changing and dynamic world, businesses no longer have the option of taking sustainability practices lightly if they seek to survive in the market.

So, what exactly is sustainability when it comes to a business? It refers to devising practices and strategies that help make the world better for this generation and the next generations. Nonetheless, it is not only limited to environmental changes that are taking place. By definition, sustainability comprises three significant implications; environmental, social, and economic. Therefore, a sustainable business focuses on its financial gains alongside its impact on the world, particularly the environment and society. Companies have plenty of opportunities to ‘go green’ such as reducing wastage and pollution, using renewable energy and biodegradable materials, community volunteering, and more.

Now, let’s determine five advantages you can gain by making your business practices more sustainable.

Improved operations and lower expenses

Sustainable business practices pave the way for a company’s longevity and survival in the market. A notable benefit gained from adopting techniques such as green manufacturing is cost-effectiveness.

For instance, simple recyclable material for packaging helps reduce costs significantly rather than spending tons on harmful packaging materials. The use of renewable energy alternatives is another prime example of cutting down expenses. However, deploying renewable energy and evaluating its costs and benefits can prove challenging. Fortunately, with the help of demand management, you can track your energy requirements and capacity and control costs. Smart energy utilization will enable your business to curb inflating energy costs and achieve operational efficiency.

Enhanced corporate social responsibility

The cruciality of corporate social responsibility cannot be stressed enough in today’s world. Modern-age consumers favor businesses that promote social and ethical values and support the marginalized. It instills the consumers with a sense of affiliation or positive associations with the company, boosting the brand image and customer loyalty. Therefore, it is wise to work towards a social cause that the target market strongly believes in to forge better customer relationships.

According to a recent article, a growing majority of consumers expect businesses to promote initiatives that benefit and support the people, planet, and plants. It’s known as the triple bottom line approach. The latest study by Accenture highlights the rise in purpose-led brands, serving as an indication of consumers engaging with brands that have a socially responsible image. A perfect example would be Google. It occupies the top ranking on RI’s CSR score, majorly due to high energy conservation at their data center and more than $1 billion in investments in renewable energy.

Better relationship with employees

Employees, like the consumers, also want to be part of a company that strives towards the greater good. A business that practices sustainability needs to take the interest of the employees into account. It is especially true when a company is attracting new talent, particularly the younger workforce, as they are more aware and passionate about social causes.

According to a survey, 45% of employees find a company more attractive if it incorporates sustainable business practices. Retaining a valued workforce is thus also less of a hassle if the company has a positive image in the market. Patagonia serves as a good example. The company persuades and empowers its employees to participate in the green programs and become part of the change. As a result, the company experiences only 4% employee turnover.

Rising demand for sustainable goods

The latest WWF research indicates an astonishing 71% increase in the consumers searching for sustainable and green products. The segment, which used to be a niche a few years ago, is turning out to be a lucrative opportunity for market expansion. With rising awareness about social and environmental problems, consumers are actively looking for environment-friendly products. Whether in fashion, beauty, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, or other industries.

Many international fashion brands such as Levi’s have identified that their industry is one of the most prominent contributors to landfill wastage. Thus, they are working towards making their apparel and accessories more sustainable. It helps the company in attracting a wider audience of customers and ultimately increasing its sales revenue. Another major cause of pollution, the pharmaceutical industry, has also invested more towards R&D in making their operations less environmentally damaging.

A survey by Nielsen suggests that this segment of consumers looking for sustainable goods is likely to rise to a value of $150 billion in 2021. Therefore, companies need to be swift in responding to this rising new market by providing them with precisely what they seek and reap the benefits in return.

Increased Profits and Investments

The above advantages indicating improved revenues and lower expenses suggest a substantial increase in businesses’ net profits, their prime objective. Undeniably, it would turn out to be a favorable outcome for the stakeholders of the company. It can also provide resources for more research and development for implementing better sustainable business practices in the future.

Rising profits signal current and potential investors to invest more in the company. Coupled with the fact that the business has long-term plans for sustainability is an added plus as far as investment is concerned. The concept of socially responsible investments has gained immense popularity. Thus, more investors want to put their money into projects or companies with a broader positive impact and higher financial gains.

Conclusion

The future is undoubtedly green. With the rising awareness of consumers, employees, and investors regarding social and environmental concerns, the market dynamics have changed substantially. With shifting trends, a business needs to be proactive enough to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself and mitigate any potential threats.
Sustainable and green practices are, therefore, both an opportunity and a threat to a company. Businesses that do not recognize this opportunity today might be wiped out of the market soon by the competitors. Along with focusing on conventional business strategies and practices to stay relevant, a business needs to invest in sustainable practices for its long-term survival.

Why a Business Coach Is Every Entrepreneur’s Best Friend

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Business Coach|Why a Business Coach Is Every Entrepreneur’s Best FriendThere are certainly a lot of attractive selling points to starting your own business, including increased freedom, personal fulfillment, and an escape from the traditional nine to five career. However, venturing out on your own also carries its fair share of risk. As a result, there are a few key things you need to know before you start a business. Sometimes, getting all of this information can be tricky and time-consuming. You may find yourself bouncing between websites, reading multiple business books, or attending multiple conferences.

Luckily, there’s a simpler way to gather all the knowledge you need: hiring a business coach. Business coaches help entrepreneurs and business owners clarify the vision of their companies. They aid in setting goals and creating strategies for reaching these objectives. Hiring a business coach is an excellent way to streamline your knowledge acquisition process, among other key benefits. A business coach is every entrepreneur’s best friend when they are preparing to start their business. Here’s why you need to hire a business coach today.

Increased Accountability

When you’re in the early stages of your entrepreneurial journey, it can be tough to hold yourself accountable. Since it’s just you, you might be a little too lenient with yourself if you don’t get certain things done on time.

When you pay to work with a business coach, you want to ensure you get your money’s worth. You also don’t want to feel guilty when your business coach checks in on your progress only to find you haven’t implemented any of the strategies you decided on together. In these two ways, a business coach can be an outstanding accountability tool.

Impartial Third-Party

When you’ve dedicated so much time, effort, and potentially money to your business idea, your perspective can get a little blurred. Similarly, because your business proposal is your passion personified, you’re likely going to be a bit biased and view it favorably – even if there are areas for improvement.

A business coach, on the other hand, is a completely neutral, impartial party. They can take an honest and critical look at your venture and complete a type of SWOT analysis, identifying its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. They can then use their unique position to provide some constructive feedback on how you can strengthen your business idea.

Helping You Stay On the Right Track

Building a business from the ground up is a huge challenge. You need all the guidance and resources you can get to help you steer the path and stay on the right track. A business coach can provide exactly that.

While it’s easy to get distracted or overwhelmed by entrepreneurial opportunities, a business coach can help you stay focused and streamlined in your approach. They can consistently remind you of your company’s vision, its mission, its goals, and its strategies for achieving them. With these helpful reminders, staying on track will be easier than ever.

The future of your business is now. With the help of a seasoned business coach, you can get one step closer to making your business vision a reality. Reclaim control over your future by hiring an experienced business coach to back you and guide you through every step of your entrepreneurial journey.

Essential Tips For First Time Business Owners

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Essential Tips For First Time Business OwnersRunning a successful business can be one of the most rewarding endeavors an individual can pursue, both financially but also due to the satisfaction it can bring. With that being said, running a business, be that a small start-up, mid-sized enterprise, or a global brand, managing your business is not easy, especially if you’ve never been in that position before.

Many exciting and budding entrepreneurs see their first-time businesses have to fold year after year, all because they may not have been prepared in some way and, due to that, mismanaged the business. If you find yourself in charge of a business for the first time, here are a few vital tips to ensure that you can excel in the role and grow your business too.

Get An Education

One of the best ways to ensure that you’re prepared for all the different responsibilities involved with running a business is to get an education and understanding of everything you’re expected to do. One of the best ways to do this is through a business degree, as this will give you solid foundations in all departments, such as business analytics, finances, team management, and more.

However, this option might not suit everyone, especially those who have too many responsibilities that they can’t give up to get an education. If that’s the case, the next best thing is to learn as much as you can through online learning and tutorials (LinkedIn Learning and Skillshare is fantastic for this). You can also attend seminars, both in-person and online, and read books from industry experts.


Make Sure Your Business Is Efficient

Time means money within business. This means that if you can perform tasks quickly at a good standard, your business will serve more customers and generate more income. One of the best ways to ensure that your business is prepared and efficient is to invest in automation software. With this type of software, you’ll be able to perform certain tasks quickly, giving you more time to work on other things. Automation software can help with financial management, organize calendars, and so much more. Click here to find out some of the best business software you need.

However, with this emphasis on software and digital solutions, you need to make sure that your IT and computer hardware is up to scratch. Furthermore, as you will be utilizing digital platforms, you need to ensure that you are protected and that your hardware and software are well maintained. This can be hard for a new business to do in-house, which is why it’s a good idea to invest in the small business IT support London companies like Computer Being offer.

Listen From Others

It can be easy, as a new business owner, to dismiss the naysayers and doubters. However, it’s actually a good idea to listen to these concerns if they’re coming from people more experienced than yourself. Understanding why people might not support your business proposal can help you tackle the problem head-on and ensure that your business starts with a more solid foundation.

Furthermore, when you hire your first team members, be sure to listen to them, including their advice, concerns, and ideas. These people will likely grow with you and the business, so it’s a good idea to get their insight, as it can be helpful. There’s nothing wrong with being confident in your abilities. However, you should never dismiss and ignore valid criticism and concerns.

With these tips, you should be more comfortable with the prospect of owning a business and should be in a better position to be successful within it. However, these tips are not the be-all and end-all, and it’s a good habit to continue learning and developing as a business leader, as this will drive you forward and be more successful.

The Future Of Your Business Is Now

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | The Future Of Your Business Is Now

One of the hardest things any business owner is faced with is the task of keeping their business up to date with all the latest technologies. This doesn’t mean you need to have office chairs that have in-built keyboards and fridges integrated into the armrests or anything. But it does mean you need to be abreast of what technology will help your business boom. It may be that your business isn’t interested in having the latest tablet that has all the design features a graphic artist could possibly want because you own a bakery, or an old school sweetie shop. But there is still software that will make your life easier, and your customer’s experience better.

As such, we have compiled a list of tech that will bring your company up to speed with what is on offer. We will bring your business into the 21st Century.

Accepting Payment

Cash is pretty much a thing of the past. Barely anyone carries cash anymore and certainly not Millenials. It’s all about the card these days. Everyone puts everything on cards. May be it is to do with ease, maybe they don’t see it as departing with cash in the same way handing over notes. Whatever the case, your business needs a credit card reader. In addition to this, it’s all about contactless payments too. The tap and go. The ease of it all. Something that has seen a rise in payments through people smartphones.

Slick Websites

No business can hope to succeed without a slick website. A website is the first impression people will get from your business, whatever that is, because once they hear your name that’s the first thing they’ll do. They’ll check out your website. They may even just stumble across it. As such, you need something that is going to be representative of your brand and provide them with all the information they could possibly want from you. It doesn’t matter if you are a plumber, copywriter, IT support company or into digital learning; a website is your best chance at being found and hired.

Blogging

A website is good, but without a decent SEO strategy you may not get discovered. That’s where blogging comes in. Blogging is the most effective way of improving your hopes of getting found on search engines. The best way to do this is to add links to your other blog posts as well as external sources, while always considering what keywords search engines may pick up on. Another great tactic is to link your blog to your social media pages as well, so that every time you post, your social media gets updated too. This will also improve your chances of being shared online, thus bringing in more viewers. The most epic thing that could happen on this front is for something of yours to go viral. How incredible would it be to wake up one day and see that 100,000 people ha liked a blog post that links back to your website and thus your business. Amazing.

How You Can Make Money From Your Love Of Travel

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Love of Travel|How You Can Make Money From Your Love Of TravelImagine how amazing it would be to get paid to travel or share your love of travel by assisting others with their trips. The Internet and digital technologies have made it possible to build a business around your lifestyle, including travel, from anywhere you can get online.

So, pack your belongings and set out into the sunset with these ways of making money from your love of travel.

Become a travel photographer

You do not need to be the next David Bailey to make money with travel photography these days. As long as you have a good eye and an interest in photography, you can probably make some money. Even with a decent smartphone, you can capture professional images suitable for online sales. There are even stock photography firms that specialize in smartphone photography. There are numerous ways to monetize your travel photographs, including:

  • Offering your photography services in a variety of locations. A private vacation photographer is a highly sought-after service.
  • Selling travel image downloads or licensing them for use directly from your website.
  • Selling images to stock photo agencies such as Adobe Stock or Getty Images. It is a good idea to look at their sites to see what kind of imagery sells well and use that as a benchmark.

Develop language courses and tutorials

For a long time, teaching English as a second language has been a popular way to earn money while traveling. It is an industry that has not only withstood the test of time but also continues to thrive. The internet’s brilliance is that courses can be taught online to students all over the world. You can not only offer live online classes, but you can also provide language practice and video tutorials on your website. You might even have other languages in addition to English that you could teach to ex-pats in a particular location.

For example, let’s assume that you are visiting France, and are already fluent in the language. It is somewhere that you love, so you decided to stay there for a while. It is a great opportunity to not only explore the area and immerse yourself thoroughly in the culture but also enable you to make connections with the local ex-pat community. You could offer classes in conversational language while you are there, allowing you to earn some money. Many ex-pats are not just looking to learn in a formal sense, but want to develop their conversational skills.

Social media is an excellent tool for connecting with locals and offering your services. You can continue to provide your services after you leave by offering online classes, practice videos, and virtual social gatherings.

Sell travel-related products

Because you enjoy traveling, one of the best ways to profit from your hobby is to sell items that make travel more convenient for the traveler. Dropshipping is one of the simplest ways for the traveler to accomplish this. You might want to narrow your focus and decide on the type of traveler you want to target. Once you have determined your market, select products that meet their travel requirements.

While there are many different types of travelers, they can generally be divided into three categories: business travel, leisure travel, and adventure travel. Full-time travelers have created their own culture and often have their own ways of doing things. You could sell neck pillows for airplanes, suitcase organizers, travel laptop cases, and other items to business and leisure travelers. Backpacks, head torches, and hiking boots are common items for adventurers.

The greatest feature about this particular travel commercial venture is that dropshipping allows you to sell products without having to physically have them, allowing you to continue with your own travel adventures and dealing with orders from your smartphone or internet device. Dropshipping companies will ship your products to your customers directly. All you need to do is promote them online.

Become a travel agent or consultant

Over the last few years, major travel agencies have struggled to keep their heads above the water, especially given the COVID-19 pandemic. However, that does not mean there are not customers out there who could use some assistance in planning their vacations and finding the best deals. If you are a seasoned traveler, you are likely to have some valuable knowledge to share with other travelers. As a result, you could offer those services as a travel consultant. Alternatively, train as an independent travel agent and make money by booking travel for people. Your own personal recommendations and advice will be a valuable asset.

Become a translator

You might be able to start a business as a translator if you have had the opportunity to travel to different countries and learn other languages. In a variety of languages, you can translate anything from books to documents. And that is often something you can do remotely, allowing you to work from anywhere.

Look at public speaking gigs

If you have valuable expertise in a particular field and the ability to share that expertise at various conferences and events, public speaking can be a lucrative job. You can offer your speaking services to people all over the world and then use those encounters to travel to new and exciting places.

Start a travel blog

If you want to be a travel blogger, having a passion for travel is a must. You can start your own blog about all of your travel adventures or put together guides and tips based on your experiences to start a travel blogging business.

Become a freelance travel writer

Travel writing and blogging are alike in many aspects. The distinction is that in travel writing, your articles are sold to another magazine or blog. There are numerous magazines, both online and offline, that will not only pay for your piece but may even cover the cost of your trip. In addition, some publishers hire writers to write travel books. The most difficult aspect of becoming a freelance travel writer is finding work. Because this job, like most freelance writing jobs, has peaks and troughs, you may well have to adjust to a feast or famine lifestyle. In addition, you must follow the wishes of the editors, which may differ from your own.

Work on a cruise ship

Working on a cruise ship is a dream job for anyone who enjoys traveling. You make a living by traveling the world while receiving free food and lodging. There are opportunities for people of all backgrounds to work on one of these floating resorts, whether you work in the restaurants, a shop assistant, a cleaner, or a performer in the cruise’s entertainment squad. It is a great way to see lots of the world, get paid, make friends and have lots of fun.

Become a tour guide

You should live in or near a tourist destination if you want to work as a tour guide from home. However, your tour service does not have to be limited to history. Ghost tours are available in many historic towns. Alternatively, if you have beautiful outdoor areas, you can organize spectacular scenery hikes or bird tours. Food tours can be organized if you know the best places to eat.

Set up online courses

You can use the internet to teach people almost anything anywhere. You can create online courses in departments such as business and social media. You could also get more specific and teach people how to save money on travel. Even if your chosen topic has nothing to do with travel, you can set up and manage your online courses from virtually anywhere that you can get an internet connection.

House or pet sitting

Many people would rather have someone look after their homes or pets while they are away. So, if you want to travel while earning money, you could offer your services as a housesitter in all of the places you want to visit.

Online freelancing

Do you want to live as a digital nomad, traveling around the world and working? It is much easier than you think, kudos to freelancing systems like Upwork, People Per Hour, and Fiverr, where you can apply for jobs from clients across the globe. All you need to start is a provable skill in a coveted area. Winning projects can be difficult, especially if you do not have a solid history, but after a few jobs and positive reviews on your profile, you should be able to find a continuous trickle of work. Web design and development, internet research, data entry, graphic design, content writing, and translation and editing are some of the most financially rewarding freelancing fields.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways that you can make money and capitalize on your love of travel. A sense of adventure, the wherewithal to take risks, and an internet connection can mean the world is quite literally your oyster.

Do you have any ideas to add to this list?