When you’re first getting started, starting your own business seems like one task after another. And, although you will always be busy, there are a few steps you can take in the early days to reduce your ongoing burden and ensure that your continued operations align with your original goal of sustainability.

Today, we share a quick post from the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce with tips on how to make your startup stable, sustainable, and scalable.

Planning Ahead

All businesses have a planning stage. This is the time when you sit down with yourself and any potential partners and decide on what you’ll do, how you’ll do it, and where. A few crucial actions to take in the startup phase include:

• Writing a business plan – this will serve as a roadmap so you don’t lose your way on the road toward success.

• Setting your business structure – whether you choose to go nonprofit, LLC, or S Corp, your business structure will play a huge role in how you pay your taxes and handle certain legal aspects of your operation.

• Deciding on funding – you can fund your business on your own, take on investors, or apply for grants specific to environmentally-friendly businesses.

As you are drafting these documents, don’t be afraid to show them to another entrepreneur or business-minded person who you trust. They may be able to help you to articulate difficult choices or ideas, and give you perspective on unfamiliar concepts, like a business budget. You can learn how to edit a PDF online for free and use this tool with this person to give and receive feedback on the documents. The editing tool allows you to add comments, highlight, circle, and add sticky notes directly to the file to work through revisions. And you’ll have a digital record of the process in case you want to revisit any choices along the way.

Ongoing Actions

Even once you get up and running, there are still plenty of things that you have to keep in mind if you want to have a truly sustainable business. Remember, it is not enough that you are a good steward for your products and services; you must also take Mother Earth into account as you run your business. You might, for example:

• Maintain a network – as a green business, Nextdoor explains you are in a unique position to build sustainable partnerships that allow you to do great things, such as holding fundraisers or contributing to community cleanup efforts.

• Stay involved – you can donate to organizations to get better acquainted with environmental issues plaguing your community. This practice will help you contribute where it is needed the most.

• Remember your goals – if your goal is to save the environment, you can’t forget to enjoy the world you live in. Entrepreneurs often find themselves busy, but time in the great outdoors can help you remember what you’re working for in the first place while helping you maintain your mental health.

Purpose and Profits

Even though money may not be your primary objective, you still have to earn a living. Keep these business tips in mind as you go.

• Keep to your budget – your business budget helps you estimate your revenue and keep an eye on your cash flow, which is the money that moves into and out of your business.

• Invest in invoicing software – cloud invoicing software allows you to personalize your invoices, get real-time alerts when they’re opened, and set up recurring invoices so you get paid on time.

• Hire the right people – although you want your employees to also believe in and support your cause, don’t forget to write a clear job description and recruit via a balance of measuring your needs and budget against their experience and to trainability.

• Stay organized – all businesses are subject to scrutiny from many different areas, from the IRS to industry-specific organizations. Make sure that you maintain extensive records that can be found and easily provided to whichever organization needs to see your details. Being organized also looks great to investors. 

Plan and Make Your Eco-Friendly Path

Running an environmentally-friendly business is one way to be a good Earth steward. But, it takes more than a dream. You must define your business and run it as though the world relies on it, because it does. Invite a few business- and eco-minded individuals to help you develop a solid business plan using a PDF editor. Never lose sight of your original mission, but do pay close attention to your budget and network. There are many other things you must do along the way to achieve the most success, but those are lessons best learned through experience.

Membership in the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce offers invaluable benefits to entrepreneurs in our community. Join us today!