How to Increase Sustainability in Your Small Business

Whether sustainability is the entire focus of your small business, or you are simply wondering whether taking steps to make your business more sustainable is a good idea, this is a practice that can have many benefits. Obviously, if you operate in the industry in the first place, your customers or clients will expect your mission statement to be reflected in your regular practices. However, even if your company is in a different industry, you can save money, improve your brand image, and potentially increase your revenue since some customers will specifically seek you out for this aspect. They may also be willing to pay more for any goods or services that you offer. You may face some costs in revising your business model, but any changes can more than pay for themselves over time.

Increase Your Knowledge

Your first step should be to learn as much as you can about sustainability and what it could mean in the context of the business that you run. You can talk to the owners of similar companies, and there are also many guides online that can help you start to make a shift. Consider the difference in going green versus sustainability and whether there is one at all. Is one concept more about immediate impact than the other? How might you use both principles in your workplace? You’ll also need to shift your perspective and your priorities. It’s not that making a profit is no longer important, but it will have to be accomplished within the context of other priorities that take environmental impact into account.

Identify Improvement Potential

Your next step should be to take a look at places where you can improve. First, start with the basics. Are you currently in compliance with state, local, and federal laws? There may also be guidelines for best practices that are specific to your industry. Your employees and your customers may have some ideas they can share with you. Take a look at both the local and global picture to get further insight and identify ways that your improvements can fit into a smaller and larger context.

Find Opportunities

Look for opportunities that can help you make a good sustainability plan. You may want to look into an Accion Opportunity Fund business loan or another type of loan to help cover any costs related to the changes you’ll eventually make. Consider opportunities for innovation. What could you start to do differently? Examples might include how you dispose of waste and whether you can reduce how much energy you consume.

What’s Your Vision?

With all of the above in mind, your next step should be to create your own vision of sustainability. You may want to choose a particular area for your company to focus on, such as climate change, air pollution, or clean water. Work with your employees to identify how you will contribute to improvements in these areas. While there may be specific ideas that you want to implement as the owner, the participation of your staff will help ensure that they feel some ownership about the vision. Try to be as concrete as you can be about what you hope to do. Instead of saying that you will cut waste or save electricity, name the specific amounts that you hope to reduce.

How to Make Changes

This is the final and most difficult stage, but just how difficult it is will vary based on how diligent you have been about the above steps. Keep in mind as well that this isn’t really an end. As the world changes and the options for sustainability continue to increase and improve, you may go through these processes multiple times, refining your commitment and approach each time.

First, your communication about the changes needs to be clear and unambiguous, and it needs to reach everyone. Give employees the training and tools they need to follow through with the changes you implement. Review your policies, and if they contradict your new approach, revise them to make them consistent. The specific goals that you set, as mentioned above, will help you determine whether your efforts have been successful or if they need more tweaking.

You should invite feedback from customers and employees at all levels as well. Are they encountering any difficulties are a result of the changes? How can you fix those issues without sacrificing your goals? Once you are sure of your process and results, you can start to use data about your sustainability as one element of your marketing.