The Importance of Taking Your Biz Carbon Negative

Yesterday morning I was listening to Al Gore on CNN being grilled on all the hoopla around climate change:

Is it really man-made? (Today less Americans think so than a few years ago.)
Are environmentalists hypocritical for changing their position on nuclear power?
What about ClimateGate? (The recent stolen e-mails from scientists in regards to climate change.)
And as you probably well know, the reason these questions are so hot right now is this week started the UN's Climate Change summit in Copenhagan, Denmark. Over 90 heads of state will be attending and putting in their special interests, including Obama's next week.

In the interview today Gore did well keeping the conversation focused on the core issue: excessive carbon in the atmosphere has already started cooking us. Little credible scientific evidence disputes this.

How does this relate to small business?

Simple: when we can demonstrate how to make money removing carbon from the atmosphere, there will be a stampede of entrepreneurs heading for 'dem hills!

To do this will take carbon negative companies.

Examples of carbon negative companies here in NYC:

Alive Structures - green roofs and walls as well as ecological and container gardens.
Gotham Green - Urban rooftop farming using hydroponics (just water, no soil.)
re:char - bio fuel and fertilizers using biochar and pyrolysis technologies.
Rooftop farms - Urban rooftop vegetable farms.
These green technology companies are really state-of-the-art.

I have personally met with and/or worked with these guys and some have been successful raising substantial dollars from outside sources to get their businesses to the next level.

Yet the early adopters that jump on board and mold these technologies to today's market are the ones that are most likely to do extremely well.

A sustainable carbon negative company takes:

a) Profitability (or for non-profits, financial stability.)

b) Carbon sequestration-the conversion of carbon into oxygen, via photosynthesis, or its long-term storage in biomass or underground or underwater.

c) A program for taking care of your stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers, community, etc.)

d) A plan for reducing your business' carbon footprint.

While this can be technical stuff and is just now starting to be done, already some are showing very promising results.

Meanwhile, back in Copenhagen, I, along with many others, have a beef. The agenda is reviewing some fairly complicated and somewhat convoluted suggestions for dealing with companies that are belching out carbon into the atmosphere.

Cap and trade, which includes carbon credits, trading and offsets is the key model being considered right now. But it has some serious flaws and most likely will not be successful.

To learn the basics on Cap & Trade from an excellent brand new video, check out The Story of Cap & Trade by Annie Leonard.

A model I (as well as many others) feel would be much more successful is a simple one: to tax carbon emitters. All of them/us!

So the leaders are in Copenhagen along with their financial experts trying and figure out how to manage the carbon crisis. And I prefer to stay here in NYC helping small businesses build a solution from the ground up.

My two companies, BEST Coaches and The Shift Group are launching a pilot program The Green Business Mastery Program for early next year. We will be working with green companies, helping increase their revenue by $100,000 and get fully funded while going carbon negative.

We intend to produce Unreasonable results much faster than what is expected to come out of Copenhagen.

Action Steps for the Week

Review your business model. Calculate your carbon footprint (the amount of carbon you are producing)? Even if you have a service based company. And then how to reduce your carbon.

Next, look to see how you can actually convert carbon into oxygen. As mentioned above, you can best do this using photosynthesis (live, green, leafy plants and trees). How can you build this up in your home, office and community?

Perhaps you can make it a mission for your business to do this on the side? If so, how can you then leverage it to gain attention to your commitment to carbon reduction on the planet?

Perhaps you can partner with a company to help you do this program. Who can you contact for this...

...today?

Do You Worry About a Bus Crashing Through Your Yoga Studio?

A number of years ago, a story appeared in the Los Angeles times. It seems a man was sitting in his living room one Sunday afternoon, feet propped up, watching TV, eating chips and drinking a soda. Totally relaxed, thoroughly enjoying his day. Not a care in the world. Suddenly, without warning, the wall of his living room explodes into pieces as a Los Angeles city bus crashes into his home before coming to an abrupt stop. The man is unharmed, still sitting there with his feet up and a corn chip in hand. But now with a look of utter disbelief on his face as he stares into the tall glass windshield of the bus which is now facing him from where his TV used to be.

Some of us are prepared for such occurrences - we anticipate they will happen and we are sure to build walls that not even a bus can penetrate. "That's ridiculous. What is he talking about?", you ask. You see, many of us spend hours of our days (not only while awake, but also in dreams), worrying about anything and everything that can possibly go wrong. Okay, so maybe planning to deal with a city bus crashing into your studio is a bit much, but think about all the things that you worry about which may not be as extreme, but still hurt your business. (More on the bus story in a minute) I know studio owners who say things like:

o I won't hire anyone new because they might not work out and then I'd need to fire them. (I'll stick with the mediocre staff I have - at least I know their weaknesses)

o I don't want to implement an auto-renew program because someone might not like it and tell all their friends that they didn't know they were on an auto-renew program and then no one will come to my studio anymore.

o I don't want to sell merchandise (even what we use in class), because then I'd need to figure out what to do if someone didn't like what they bought and returned it. If this happened a lot, I could lose money. I'd better not sell anything.

o I don't want to put out an email newsletter because if I write about a student and make a mistake they could complain and even sue me.

My question to you is this: Where in your own life (business or personal) do you spend time and energy worrying about things that might possibly go wrong? How much emotional energy does this take each week? How much time?

When we focus on what might go wrong, we defeat ourselves. First, we use up time and emotional energy. Next, if you follow the law of attraction, we attract into our lives exactly what we don't want. Also, if you devoted all this time and emotional energy to achieving something that you do want as a part of your studio (or of your life), imagine what could you achieve?
There is a big difference between playing at life to not lose and playing to win. Virtually anyone in history who make any kind of a difference in the world played to win. Think of Gandhi, Mother Theresa, The Dalai Lama, or whomever you personally admire.
Henry Ford once said "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eye off the goal."

So, how do we choose what to devote time and energy to? I often recommend a simple model, called the Circle of Influence. Imagine there is a circle around you. Inside the circle is everything in your life that concerns you AND which you have a reasonable degree of influence over. Things like the friends you have, what you eat for lunch, what you spend your money on, what type of work you've chosen, etc. Outside of this circle are all those things that you care about - maybe very deeply - but which you have very little or no influence over. This might be national or world politics, the weather, what choices most other people make in their lives, etc.

Now you get to make a choice. Once you've made this distinction, you may choose to focus nearly all of your time, energy and resources on those things within your circle. Sure, you care deeply about those things outside of your circle, but spending time worrying about them won't improve them. On the contrary, often when we focus on things inside our circle, it expands. Soon we find that we have more influence in the world than we did before.
What things in your studio - and in your life - fall inside your circle of influence, and what falls outside of it?

The bottom line is this. Spend nearly all your time, energy and focus on the goal you want to reach. Only deal with those potential obstacles that clearly lie ahead in your path.
As far as the guy with the bus in his living room goes, it turns out that the bus was stolen. In fact because it was stolen, the city refused to take responsibility for the damage. In the end, you can't prepare for everything. You can waste a lot of time trying, but there will always be the chance that a bus drives though your living room. Deal with what you need to and trust the rest will work out. If I might make a request: What is one area of your studio that you stress about, but which you could realistically let go of and be willing to just let go of worrying about? Okay, now do it - I know if feels like a giant leap sometimes, but remember, many great souls have already proven this path for you. Go in peace.

Namasté,

Al Lipper

Coach Al Lipper

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What Level of Indemnity Do I Need?

When it comes to Motor Trade Insurance we're often asked what level of cover, or indemnity as it's referred to, do I need? Well that depends on what you do in the trade. A mechanic, for instance, may need a totally different level of cover from a valeter. We're going to try and help you decide.

First off, if you've only got a cheap run around yourself it may be better to split your indemnity. i.e A car jockey (with a £3.5k Mondeo) could have £5k of cover on his own vehicles and £25k for customers. This works out a lot cheaper than just having £25k of cover for both his own and customer's vehicles.

Then it may depend, lets say if you're a salesman, on what type of cars you specialise in. Do you need £20k worth of cover if you generally sell 10yr old Fiestas? Probably not, and remember if you start out with a low indemnity you can always increase it later on in the year if you need to.

On the other hand, a Ferrari valeter would probably want a very high level of indemnity. You may find that some customers require proof of suitable comprehensive cover before they allow you to take their pride and joy. Specialist policies can extend road risks cover to £100k and over in certain circumstances. These policies, though, can be a little bit more expensive than the average because of their nature.

Some may just need Third Party Only. A motor trader who specialises in breaking cars and salvage vehicles might not need anything more extensive. Their only real risk would be for the vehicle they were driving as the vehicles they collect or dismantle might not be worth much and would be on the back of their truck - also for this type of motor trade business a lot of trade insurers will only give Third Party Only.

Purchasing a level of indemnity is a calculated risk on your behalf. Unlike a private car policy the responsibility for how much cover you want rests on your shoulders. An example - you're a mechanic and you drive people's cars. One day you crash a customer's vehicle (your fault) and do £8k worth of damage, but you've only got £5k of cover. The insurance will only pay out a maximum of £5k so what about the rest? Who pays the £3k leftover? That's right, you!

Remember, a good broker can help and advise you on what levels of Motor Trade Insurance you need. They should be able to find you a policy that fits your needs, rather than make you fit the policy. If in doubt always seek professional advice.