Reaching Higher for Green Cred

The water crisis sounds like another media creation, like Y2K. But Y2K was only solved after the hype scared businesses into looking at the situation. They managed to fix most glitches and were prepared for the date change. But the specter remained. And the media loves a good specter. And so the hype lived on until New Year’s Day, 2000.

Can business also solve the water crisis before it goes too far? That remains to be seen, but like Y2K, the clock is ticking.

In the U.S. we use water for everything from drinking and farming to washing vehicles and watering lawns. At the same time, costs for utilities are going up and everyone from homeowners to major conglomerates would like to spend less on it. But it’s tough to break bad habits.

Low-hanging Fruit

Much of the low-hanging fruit is gone. We have the low-flow fixtures in place. Even retail spaces like business offices have gotten a handle on it due to a mix of fighting for LEED certification and trying to save cash. Reclaimed water for landscaping maintenance? It’s being carefully drip-irrigated outside your window right now.

Reach Higher

So that leaves us with the fruit that isn’t low-hanging. Rainwater capture could be interesting. It works well for Bermuda, where all the roofs are designed to catch and contain rainwater for home use. Water flow as well as water treatment issues would need to be addressed. Get some ideas with these classes:

Water and Plumbing Basics

Storm water harvesting

Storm water treatment

Biofilters

These can be used to filter out pollutants before water hits a wetland or groundwater table. Wetlands are an important defense against a storm surge and are often regarded by local governments as protected areas. Groundwater, of course, leads to aquifers and other bodies of water where the majority of our drinking water comes from. Polluting either can result in fines, not to mention bad karma. Check out these classes for a little help:

Biofilters  

Wetland Basics

Groundwater Contamination

Groundwater Hydrology

Drinking Water

Sure, you have that little filter on the sink for your water, but wouldn’t it be nice to skip that? Or to be able to stop buying those jugs of water at the supermarket? Learn what’s up with RedVector drinking water classes:

Disinfection of Drinking water

Filtration

Arsenic Anyone?

Gray water, rain harvesting and more

Clean water is something we take for granted right up until we don’t have it. We know that municipalities are on the lookout for polluters and hefty fines can be incurred through mistakes of omission. Keep an eye out for mistakes with training from RedVector.

Small Business Survival Skills

There’s an old axiom that bemoans how it isn’t fair that we take our best standup comics and make them sit-com stars. They got famous being great standup comedians. And now we demand they do something completely different? It’s proven with every failed Margaret Cho and Jeff Dunham show.

Small business people often feel the same way. A contractor gets where he is by building things. By knowing lumber and codes and LEED certifications. But then he starts out on his own and has to learn things like sales, billing, W-4s and marketing, plus do all the stuff he usually does.

It can easily get overwhelming. Luckily, RedVector has your back.

Marketing: 101

Don’t fall for the old “I see it so everyone sees it” marketing strategy.

You see lots of media every day, including TV, billboards, newspapers and radio. Just because you listen to 70s Rock doesn’t mean your customers rock out to “Freebird” on the local station. In fact, if you sell high-end homes, all your customers might only be on satellite radio.

No, put the SiriusXM contract down; my point is that you don’t have the bandwidth to research all that. Gut instinct is great, but don’t rely on it. Use it when testing new media, not when you are betting the farm that it works.

Start slowly and take a class. RedVector has them available—from public relations to putting together a marketing strategy. Just type “Marketing” into the course search online.

To get you started:

• Effective Public Relations: http://bit.ly/W3ca7v
• Marketing: http://bit.ly/X7PNwP
• Another Marketing: http://bit.ly/101g8Dg

Small Business Survival Skills

So let’s say you start out and you get a few contracts. Then, you need to hire employees to do the work. But you need more work coming in to keep those paychecks going out. And your business builds.

Best case scenario? It has a dark side. Payroll taxes. Benefits. Morale. You’ll need leadership and juggling skills. If you’ve come this far, you probably have all the building blocks. Hone your skills by stopping by SmartTeam. A sister to RedVector, SmartTeam specializes in getting your small business on its feet. Your sales guys can get trained to sell. Your human resources person can get the basics. And you can take a class on staying stress-free.

SmartTeam can even keep you out of legal hot water.  There are ethics classes to help you spot where a business venture might be getting a little shady and compliance classes to show you the way out of shady territory. There are safety classes that help keep everyone off workers’ comp. And there are professional courses that could head off sexual harassment cases.

And so on. We can help teach you computer skills, health and wellness and so much more. And suddenly you might just realize that you have gone from a crazed small business person to someone who is taking care of business.

Have you visited www.SmartTeam.com? It's built just for small businesses looking to step up their game from the receptionist up front to the back office. Try out the 7 day trial for free.