6 Green Business Concepts You Can Start Today

When you start a business, you need a strong concept and a set of guiding principles that will serve as the foundation of your efforts. Without this, you’ll likely flounder as you struggle to establish your niche and identify your target clientele. One of the most popular business concepts to emerge is green businesses. If you want to be an environmentalist and an entrepreneur, starting a green business is a great way to do both. Here are some great business ideas you may love owning and operating.

Green Hospitality Businesses

1. Open a sustainable restaurant. Most of the unused food in a restaurant is disposed of. This illustrates just how wasteful eateries typically are. You can fight against this trend and establish a restaurant that focuses on sustainability. In addition to minimizing waste, you can opt for locally-sourced ingredients, thus minimizing the carbon emissions associated with transportation.

2. Establish an eco-friendly bar. Restaurants aren’t the only service establishments that can go green. You can also establish a bar where sustainability is the main focus. Just as you would serve local foods at an eco-friendly restaurant, you can serve local beers at your green bar. You can also replace plastic cups and straws with reusable ware and make purchasing choices that minimize your carbon footprint.

3. Start an eco-friendly bed and breakfast. Short-term rentals are all the rage, but there’s certainly room for improvement in this industry. Many Airbnb and VRBO rentals only prioritize profits, much to the detriment of the environment. You can create an eco-friendly alternative by renting out an extra room and using eco-friendly practices to do so.

Green Retail Businesses

4. Offer green products online. If you want to help other people go green, you can start an e-commerce business dedicated to selling green products. These items may cost more than cheaper, non-environmentally-friendly options, and startup costs for green businesses are often slightly higher. Still, entrepreneurs like Andy Dunn — the founder of Bonobos — prove that online green businesses can be profitable.

5. Start a green marketing firm. Do you have marketing expertise? If so, combining this skill set with your passion for the environment could be lucrative. Marketing for green businesses should always minimize waste, and it should be centered around a memorable logo design. The right logo can increase brand awareness, and you can create your own with an online logo maker. Get creative with fonts, colors, and designs.

6. Offer consulting to other green businesses. Perhaps you have business consultancy skills that you want to put to use. If so, you can help other green businesses build business plans or secure funding. There are many grants available for eco-friendly businesses.

You can also help businesses find ways to minimize waste — for example, cut down on paper waste. You can do this by digitizing documents and converting them to PDFs. If the scan is the wrong orientation, you can fix this using a free online tool to rotate a PDF.

Register Your Business in Wisconsin

Whether you choose one of the above suggestions or come up with your own idea, registering your business with the state is an important legal step. There are several business entities you can choose from, and they all have their own unique benefits. An LLC, for example, offers you protection of your personal assets from business legal matters, and you will enjoy a few tax perks. A Wisconsin S corp, on the other hand, gives you savings on self-employment taxes and the choice of claiming tax deductions on your business losses.

Carve Out a Niche in Green Business

Starting a green business or acting as a consultant to other green businesses is a great way to make positive change in the world. As you work to reduce waste and minimize your carbon footprint, you can also make a profit and put your skills to good use.

Join the Baraboo Chamber of Commerce to connect with resources and partners that can help you take your business to the next level of success.

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