If you are interested in starting a business, have you taken a second to consider starting a conscious company? This is a business that services a meaningful purpose, and has beliefs that span more than just making a profit. Starting a conscious company is a great idea, and if you are someone who wants to do their part for the environment, or help in another way, then this is definitely the oath that you want to be heading down. But, how can you do this?
It’s a good question, and you may well be stuck for ideas, but we’ve got your back. In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the conscious company ideas that we can come up with off the tops of our head, so keep reading if you’re interested in learning more.
An Eco Clothing Brand
Let’s start with something that has become a little more common over the last few years and look at an eco-friendly clothing brand. A lot of people don’t know much about what their clothes are made of, how their clothes are made and more surrounding the fashion that they wear, but ignorance is not bliss. If you know all about this and you are interested in fashion, but also making a change, then starting an eco clothing brand could be a fantastic choice for you.
In order to do this, you need to think carefully about the materials that you will be using, the impact on the environment, as well as the health of consumers everywhere. Sadly, many of the clothes that are manufactured en masse are made in sweatshops across the world, with unfair working conditions and unfair pay being a huge problem. By starting an eco clothing brand and encouraging people to buy from you, you will be helping to eradicate this problem.
As well as this, you can use more recycled materials and fabric, rather than creating more waste. A couple of examples that you could use to create more eco-friendly clothing are plastic bottles, old carpets or curtains, some forms of wood and even fishing nets. To the average person it might seem impossible to create fashionable clothes with these materials, but all you need is a little vision and creativity to make it happen. If you need a little bit of inspiration, we recommend looking at companies like Tentree, and SAYE.
A Non-Profit
If you want to provide some kind of benefit to the public, but you’re not that interested in large amounts of monetary gain, then perhaps a non-profit is a business idea that you can consider. Most non-profits are set up for scientific, charitable or educational purposes, though there are some that don’t fall under this category.
No part of the income of the organization is distributed to its members or directors, and instead goes straight back into the organization to make it the best that it can be, and provide the best to anyone who needs the business. Of course, seeing as you are going to have to take some form of payment at times, you’re going to need to think about the best ways to do this, how to choose a nonprofit payment processor, and anything else related to payments. At the end of the day, a non-profit is still a business, and businesses need money if they want to be successful.
There are many factors to carefully consider if this is the path that you want to go down, the same as with other companies, but it’s worth it to know that you are helping people. In order to see success here, it’s a good idea to first define your mission when starting your non-profit as this will give you direction going forward. From there, work on understanding your audience and start building a list of people you think may be interested in your business. Create your bylaws, incorporate your business, apply for tax-expemption status, and so much more. We strongly recommend that you get professional help and advice to ensure everything goes smoothly.
An Organic Catering Business
If your passion is food, then have you considered opening an organic catering business? Whether you want to open a restaurant or whether you want to get yourself a food truck and travel around different areas is up to you, but either is a great idea. Organic food sales have shot up in recent years, with people being more conscious about the things that they are eating, where they are coming from and so on. The thing about this is that there is still a massive gap for this in the market where catering is concerned, and it’s a good idea to try and fill this gap if it’s something that you may be interested in.
Appealing to nature lovers, animal lovers and everyone in-between, you can cater events as well as enticing people to come and try your food on their own time. Try to offer a range of different options such as vegan foods, paleo friendly foods, free-range meats if you’re serving meat, gluten free meals, and always use locally sourced or organic produce. This will set you apart from the regular caterers in the industry, and give you a leg up when it comes to people who are looking to make more conscious choices going forward.
When marketing your organic catering business, ensure that you are advertising all of the benefits of organic food, and that you do your best to cater to everyone. The goal here is to get your name out there, and as word spreads about your delicious food that is also organic and ethical, more companies will want to hire you for their events. Many people don’t believe that you can make delicious meals out of organic ingredients, so prove them wrong.
An Alternative Energy Solution
Alternative and renewable energy has been a massively important topic over the last couple of years, or more accurately, the last decade. There are some people who have been taking it seriously, and there are others who don’t seem to think it’s a problem and are continuing on with their lives and businesses as though we have an infinite amount of resources. We don’t.
If you want to be part of the solution here, then perhaps you can consider starting a company that provides solar panels for both residential and commercial properties. Of course, you need the right training for this, so ensure that you have the correct knowledge and expertise to be able to start this in the first place. It’s a good idea though, especially if you are passionate about renewable energy.
While this is a fairly basic idea as a business, you can add more alternative energy sources as and when you feel ready for them. Take the time to educate yourself properly before you add any more services to your roster, as the last thing that you want is to end up compromising on quality. Nobody is going to care that you’re trying to save the environment if your work is shoddy.
A Construction Company Focusing On Being Green
When it comes to construction, your mind doesn’t typically go to green, but there is no reason that it can’t. It will require doing a little more research so that you can source materials that will fit this kind of business model. There are also some companies who are now happy to provide recycled materials for use in certain projects, depending on what is needed.
Take your time to come up with this plan, and find a company that you can trust to provide the correct materials for you. Of course, it’s not always going to be possible to use eco-friendly materials in construction, but you should where you can. As long as you are doing your best, and trying to incorporate them in as many different places as you can, this is what is going to matter, and this is what makes you a green business.
It’s true to say that if you were to go down this path, you would be one of only a few construction companies focusing on being green around. There are others, and perhaps you could do some research and see how they operate first to get some ideas, but there is a large opening in the market for a company like this right now, if you’re brave enough to give it a go.
As you can see, you can break into pretty much any industry that you are interested in and find a way to make the startup feel good. If you are conscious about the environment, and about doing the best that you can for the people in the community, as well as even wider than that, then starting a conscious company is the way to go. It might be a little more challenging than starting a regular company, but you know what they say? Nothing in life that is worth having will come easily.
