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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Mike Otto
August 2008

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Use influence to green up your firm and others

Mike Otto,
Mike Otto Construction Inc:
612.825.4568
www.moconstruction.com

EACH AND EVERY business can be green not only in how it produces its product, but in how it runs its business.

What would happen if every small business held its suppliers and vendors accountable to be green? What if your own business instituted green practices?

The impacts and benefits will be more than just environmental. They may even mean greater economic growth, a healthier work force and workplace and leadership recognition from the wider community.

As a business owner, you have the opportunity to influence many people on a daily basis. You can use that influence and have a bigger impact on the environment by making purchases from suppliers who can demonstrate they have an effective recycling and environmental program in place.

How to start

To become a green business, take simple steps. Change in any organization is best done gradually so as not to interrupt things too much.

Start by recycling. Look at your recycling again. Can you reuse anything before recycling it?

Many times, boxes can be used to hold archived files (empty paper ream boxes are useful for this). Paper used for reports can be reused as scratch paper.

Now look at the natural waste in your office, indoor and out. Most food garbage, lawn clippings and leaves can be composted. Purchase a composter that will compost this material into compost in 10 to 15 days. It is easy and will produce high-grade potting soil.

Next, consider self-hauling your recycled goods. This will save you money because paper, cardboard, plastic water bottles, cans and glass can be taken directly to recycling centers. They are often happy to have someone deliver it right to their location.

There is no cost to haul it to one of these places other than the mileage and the time for one of your employees to do it. Soda cans can be collected and taken to a recycler for cash. Think of it as a way to create an employee lunch fund.

It’s taken years to put some legal muscle behind discarding old computers, televisions and so on, but now by law you’ve got to dispose of these solid waste items in the proper areas throughout the metro region. Use  www.greenguardian.com to find out where they are and learn more about what you can do to be a greener business and a better conserver of resources.

Look next at the byproducts of what you are producing. Can it be recycled?
Probably. As a construction company, we are able to recycle 60 percent of what we take out of a house and 80 percent of new construction waste. It just takes a little planning to figure out what can be recycled and how to do it.

Don’t forget air quality

Indoor air quality is a big issue today, and in many ways is a bigger problem than poor outdoor air quality. Because buildings are being built more and more airtight, the air inside a building is likely to have up to six times the pollutants that outdoor air would have! Most of this indoor air pollution comes from the things we put in our offices such as paint, office furniture, flooring, insulation, fabrics and so on.

There are cabinet and furniture manufacturers who now make their products with low or no formaldehyde. Paints containing volatile organic compounds (VOC) can readily create poor air quality. There are many good low- or no-VOC products on the market; search the Internet to help you green up the air and detox the office.

Synthetic carpeting and upholsteries are also sources for toxic fumes. Find carpets made from natural materials; wool carpeting is a good choice and holds up very well. You might also consider switching to an alternative flooring choice. Marmoleum, cork tiles, wood and tile are all smart choices.

On the energy front

It might be a good idea to conduct a blower door test at your office or workplace. A blower door test lowers the air pressure in the building and with the help of an infrared camera will allow you to see where the building may have air leaks.

If the building is very leaky, you may want to consider additional nontoxic sealing and insulation. This will save you money on energy. On the other hand if the blower door test reveals that the air in the building is not being completely changed out once every three hours, then you may want to invest in an air exchange system.

A blower door test for a residential type building is about $250. Many times the local energy supplier will provide you with a blower door test at no cost.

Radon is another serious problem in Minnesota. It is a colorless, odorless gas that is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. A radon test costs about $5 at Home Depot and another $20 to have the test sent into a lab for analysis. Remediating radon is not often a substantial cost.

Renewable energy is a hot topic because of the price of oil. Energy costs will only be going higher. Lower your company overhead and increase your profits by considering geothermal heat and photovoltaic (solar).

Geothermal heat has been around for quite some time. It was primarily a new building feature, but it is now becoming very popular for existing buildings. In addition, technology now allows the systems to be installed in very compact areas (less than the size of a small city lot).

Photovoltaics may work well with your building depending on the location of the building and the amount of sun it gets. This system will probably not replace your existing electrical supplier, but it may help to reduce associated costs. You will want to do a cost analysis to see what the benefit and the payoff is.

Don’t forget rainwater runoff. Place rain barrels at the end of your gutters and capture the water running off your roof. Plant a rain garden to capture runoff where it first falls.

As more surfaces are paved and covered over, water runoff is becoming a bigger and more costly issue, especially if flooding is the end result. Cities such as Minneapolis are already taxing some storm water runoff based on the hard surface area of a lot. Use the water in the rain barrels for watering the trees or flowerbeds.
Put all these things together and your company can be looking like the green giant we all need to be, regardless of size or industry.