Green business ideas are in high demand. Most of us are concerned by or at least aware of the discussion around climate change. This is something we all know we have a responsibility to address. Traditional businesses have to find more and more ways to reduce their carbon footprint and new greener business models are emerging. There is though a modern business model, which is as green as can be right out of the box.
As you might have guessed it’s an internet based business. Running an online business scores a lot of green boxes simply by having no dedicated premises. Most are run from home in fact so require no extra heating or power other than what the home uses anyway. Any steps you take to reduce the environmental impact of your home also affect the business.
Usually there is no direct handling of physical goods (more on that later) and no need to commute to and from anywhere. No carbon footprint there then.
I used to think about carbon footprints quite a lot in my old life as a business development exec for a large Audio Visual Services company. I’d often find myself – the sole occupant of my car – stuck in traffic jams on a motorway en-route to meetings.
Greenest Of Green Business Ideas
Looking around, thousands of pollution spouting stationary vehicles stretched as far as the eye could see. A single person occupied the vast majority, like mine. I’d imagine thousands of similar scenes all over the country and multiply that by every country in the world. This happens every day. It’s crazy.
When my meetings resulted in business that too was hardly green. That business would involve tons of equipment being loaded into vans, trucks or lorries. Those were driven to a venue where they would be unloaded. Some hours later the process was repeated in reverse. For what? Usually a corporate awards dinner.
Now as an online business owner I liaise with customers all over the world without leaving my house. My kind of Internet business is based on the greenest of green business ideas. I sell digital or virtual products like training courses and mentorship programmes. These never leave the digital domain and have precisely zero impact on the environment.
Putting It All In Perspective
Now obviously physical products are also sold via the Internet. The business itself may be home based and therefore very low impact. Nevertheless the goods do need to be shipped by air, sea and road. Quite a lot of e-commerce these days however is done on platforms like Amazon. Like Google, Amazon is investing vast sums in greener forms of delivery. They already deliver lots of small items by drone and have fleets of electric vehicles.
So on balance as green business ideas go I suggest that online is the way ahead if you are looking at starting a business. Ok so E-commerce has those issues around transport and therefore contributes to pollution. The businesses themselves though, as discussed, do not. Manufacturing and transporting the things we need from A to B is a wider issue. Making the initial sale however can be as green as a very green thing when its done online.
As I’ve mentioned selling digital products online bypasses any concerns over the environmental cost of manufacturing and distribution. Someone clicks a mouse somewhere in the world and gets their digital product immediately. No factories, trains, planes or automobiles are involved.
More Than Just Green
There are further lifestyle advantages to these green business ideas. As we’ve seen they can be started very quickly and need little more equipment than a laptop. Online businesses can also leverage a large amount of automation, which provides a great deal of time freedom. A further advantage is the unparalleled power of Internet advertising.
I think that pretty much rests my case that an Internet business offers the best of green business ideas. Hopefully I’ve also provided some insights into the other advantages it offers.
If you have found this compelling – green wise at least – you probably have some questions. You’ll be wondering how to do it. Maybe you’ll want more information about internet business models like affiliate marketing and e-commerce I’ve touched on. Where, I hear you ask can I find, training, products, support, mentorship…….?
I’d suggest you start by subscribing for a free series of video workshops on the link below.
The videos were created by mega successful Internet entrepreneur Stuart Ross. Stuart and his business partner Jay Kubassek founded Six Figure Mentors and Digital Experts Academy 10 years ago to answer all of these questions. Their platform has helped thousands of individuals and businesses capitalise on what they call “The Digital Gold Rush”.
