The first step in getting started with a new green plan is to set your goals. For most small business owners, the goal is rather simple: to save money. Even if everyone's goal is to save money, however, there are additional steps we need to take before our goals are properly set.
First, we need to be more specific with our money-saving goal. How much do we want to save? If we undertake green initiatives that require effort and discipline on our part, only to discover that we've reduced annual energy costs by $5, is that considered a success? We saved money, didn't we? But some may conclude that the extra effort and diligence required to generate the $5 savings wasn't worth it. So, clearly, we need a better goal than simply saving money.
Second, in setting our goal, we need to consider the longer term. With some green initiatives, we might not see any benefits during the first measurement period. If we simply set a goal of saving money, we risk abandoning an initiative after that first measurement period if we aren't able to show any cost savings. As a result, perhaps we should consider goals that change or grow over time, so that we start with more modest goals for the first period of time and increase our expectations of savings in subsequent periods.
In considering the longer term, the first question is: What would be considered an appropriate time for our first period of measurement? For most initiatives, at least of the variety that we are talking about in starting small, the appropriate measurement period will be one year. If we start with something smaller, perhaps a month or a quarter, we risk skewing the results because there probably won't be enough to data at that point to make a fair judgment about the success or failure of our green initiative. We generally need a full year in order to measure our goals adequately.
Consequently, we can make the following assumptions about our goal setting:
- We are going to begin with a measurement period of one year for most initiatives.
- How far out our goals are set beyond that first year will depend upon the initiatives we adopt. For many initiatives, we will simply repeat the annual measurement period, so that we'll keep measuring annually. For other more ambitious projects, we may adopt a three- or five-year goal.
- We are going to be more specific with our goal setting. We are going to put specific number targets to our goals, such as to reduce energy savings by 5 percent or to reduce the waste we generate by 5 percent.
- We are going to consider staggering our goals, so that we may begin with more modest goals for the first year, that then become more ambitious in later years.
For suggestions on possible green initiatives you could undertake, as well as specific goals you might set with those initiatives, see the following: