Strategies: Here's a good idea that will grow on you
— -- For St. Patrick's Day, I typically write a column advising small businesses about how to be more environmentally sustainable — in other words how they can, ahem, "go green."
I usually detail all the things a business can do to improve their business practices so they can save the environment and money at the same time. I list things like eliminating waste, using public transportation, buying recycled and sustainable inventory and raw materials, and so on.
This year, I've got some new and unusual advice. It's a bit out of left field for a business column: Go out and plant an EDIBLE garden.
Gardening??? That's not exactly the kind of small business advice you expect. But besides being a terrific metaphor for running a business (more about that later), gardening helps contribute to a more sustainable planet, it's good for your physical and mental health, perhaps even opens up a new business path for you.
All this with a garden? Remember, I said an edible garden. In other words, plant vegetables, herbs, fruits. Good, healthy things you can put on your table, make into a meal, share with your staff and friends.
Now, before you write me off as a committed gardening hobbyist, you should know I'm a new and fairly lackadaisical gardener. In fact, I'm the ultimate city girl. But last year my friend Jan and I planted our first garden in our neighborhood park community plot. By the end of summer, we had an amazing bounty of the most delicious tomatoes (a huge variety; we particularly loved the Orange Russian — YUM!), beans, peppers, squash, eggplant and flavorful herbs. We had so much, I even tried canning (but to be honest, I haven't eaten any of my canned stuff yet, I'm still a bit terrified).
But back to the business benefits of planting an edible garden. It:
•Gives you more energy. When you eat right, you feel better. When you feel better, you have more energy to put toward your business. Nothing is healthier than just-picked vegetables and fruits.
•Saves money. Every entrepreneur tells tales of how they saved money on food when they first started their business. For me, I ate a lot of spaghetti. That was cheap, but fattening and not terribly nutritious. Fresh fruits and vegetables are often expensive relative to fast and processed food, so grow them yourself!
•Relieves stress. A garden can be a good, calming distraction from the stresses of your business. Of course, if you work from home, your garden can be too much of a distraction if you let it.
•Helps save the planet. Eating locally-grown food dramatically reduces the environmental impact of transporting food on planes, trains, trucks. (If you don't garden, do buy from your local farmers markets instead!)
And, growing a garden is also a very good metaphor for running your own business:
•It takes tending. You can't just plant a seed, you have to nourish it and take care of it. You have to pay attention.
•It takes time. You have to have patience. It may take many months for something good to ripen.
• It takes a degree of ruthlessness. You have to prune less robust growth to enable the more promising shoots to growth. You have to pull the weeds.
•Not everything is in your control. Unexpected things happen — bugs come, the rain doesn't. It's too cold or too hot. You have to learn how to adapt. And that's something we entrepreneurs are all learning again in this economy.
How about that new line of business that I mentioned earlier? Noted food writer Michael Pollan, the author of In Defense of Food, projects that America needs five million more new small farms in the coming years. We can't just rely on factory farming — we have to grow more healthy food near cities.
So, if you find you truly enjoy gardening — much more than you do running your business – perhaps you'll find a new business opportunity. I can see you standing by your rows of peas now. You can't get much more green than that. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Rhonda Abrams is president of The Planning Shop, publisher of books for entrepreneurs. Her newest book is Successful Marketing: Secrets & Strategies. Register for Rhonda's free business tips at www.PlanningShop.com. For an index of her columns, click here. Copyright Rhonda Abrams 2009.