Greenie2Steps is bringing a whole new theme and story to a child’s room near you. With the help of Greenie, the eco-friendly elephant, kids and parents alike are discovering the benefits of a green lifestyle. Of course, the fact that the art can easily be peeled off the wall, leaving no residue, then stuck back on without losing any adhesive is a plus.

If you ever believed the saying that “two heads are better than one”, then you can only imagine what three minds will come up with. There are exactly three women behind the creation of Greenie2Steps, Cynthia Laidlaw, Nancy Serafini, Joanne Coughlin, and each woman has played an important part in creating this innovative company.

Tell us a little about Greenie2Steps.

Greenie2Steps is a company that produces eco-friendly, whimsical wall art for children. The company was started by three Boston women. Nancy Serafini, an interior designer, Joanne Coughlin an artist / animator and Cindy Laidlaw, an advertising executive. Their collective goal is to create high quality children’s wall décor that is beautiful, educational and eco-friendly. The collection uses original art by Joanne and includes oversized prints, giant cut-outs or “Stickups”and wall murals up to 20 feet long. They feature the company’s “spokeselephant” Greenie and her friends, Taj the tiger, Lenny the lion, Geraldine the giraffe and Greenie’s brother Garrett the gray elephant. The art is printed on an eco-friendy fabric canvas, is washable and very easy to install thanks to a non-toxic backing that will not damage walls.

An important part of the Greenie2Steps company mission is to allocate a portion of profits to charities that support children, education and the environment.

What inspired the three of you to get together and form such an interesting business?

Nancy Serafini and Cindy Laidlaw have worked together for the last eight years in an advertising agency/client relationship. Cindy, the owner of The Laidlaw Group, an ad agency in Boston, designed the Web site and marketing materials for Nancy’s interior design business.

Joanne Coughlin met Nancy at the 10-year anniversary of the Art For Kool Kidz program, a charity co-founded by Nancy at Children’s Hospital in Boston. Joanne, a renowned muralist and former animator at Warner Brothers in Los Angeles painted a mural for the hospital that was unveiled at the Anniversary party.

Nancy, Joanne and Cindy met at the right place, at the right time, and Greenie2Steps was born. They have created a company that they consider to be a perfect blend of creativity, imagination, education and fun.

Who is ‘Greenie’? What are some the adventures and stories your characters have to share?

Greenie is a pink elephant from the far away isle of TelleyGreen. This magical island is where Greenie, her brother Garrett and their friends Geraldine the Giraffe, Lenny the Lion and Taj the Tiger thrive in a healthy environment surrounded by clean fresh air, crystal clear water and an abundance of flora and fauna. Greenie’s adventures began when she looked up at the sky and saw a leaf floating in the air. It was an unusual leaf, unlike any that grow on TelleyGreen. She wanted to know where it came from. So began her quest.

She travels the world in her eco-friendly pineapple plane built by her brother Garrett, an inventor. Along the way she meets new friends, discovers new places and learns new lessons about how to make our planet a better place to live.

Your wall art is eco-friendly? What are some of the ingredients used?

We use eco-solvent based inks and water-based coatings in the printing process. Our fabric canvas substrate is made primarily from wood pulp, the naturally occurring primary structural component of green plants that is a renewable resource. The materials we selected to produce our Whimsical Wall Art collection are an eco-friendly solution for consumers that are demanding green products for their families and their homes.

It was mentioned that your art uses a glue that makes it easy to unstick and restick the art on the wall over and over again, without leaving any residue. How does that work?

In fact, there is no glue in the production of our products. The fabric canvas is paste-free, self adhesive/removable and repositionable and can be placed on any flat surface. It has a soft-tack backing that never dries out or becomes permanent. This backing retains its elasticity for hundreds of applications. It will never mar walls, peel off paint or leave residue.

Nancy, Joanne, and Cindy, you’ve each got your own unique background and experiences. Would you mind telling us a little about your background and how it helped you co-found this business?

Nancy:

When I was 8 years old I knew I wanted to be an interior decorator. Today, I have an interior design business with work featured in publications such as House and Garden, House Beautiful and Traditional Home. As a way of giving back, I started the Art for Kool Kidz Program at a hospital for children in Boston which allowed me to see first hand the healing qualities art has on children. I wanted to make art more accessible to children everywhere and help them learn about the importance of taking care of our planet.

As an interior designer, I always liked working on children’s rooms and tried to find wall art that was whimsical, educational and eco-friendly. It didn’t exist, so I decided to make it myself by co-founding Greenie2steps.

Cindy:

As the owner of The Laidlaw Group, a Boston advertising agency and a true entrepreneur, I have worked with many clients who have had ideas and have come to us to help turn those ideas into powerful brands. I have over 20 years experience working with clients that range from small start-ups to Fortune 50 corporations. I have learned to recognize and develop the potential of a great idea. Greenie2Steps is more than a great idea, it’s on its way to becoming a recognized brand.

Joanne:

I learned traditional animation in Los Angeles at Warner Brothers Feature Animation studios. While there , I worked on award winning animation films including Iron Giant, Space Jam and the Tigger Movie. It was an amazing experience . Eventually I returned to Boston and started my own children’s mural painting business. Every year I try to donate one mural to a children’s organization which led to several projects for Children’s Hospital where I met Nancy and began my involvement with Greenie2steps.

Now that we know what makes you so different, what similarities helped bring the three of you together?

Our similarity is a simple one – a shared passion for art, teaching children how to live “green”, and building a successful business. Of course, it helps that we all have strong backgrounds in art and design.

What are some of the lessons you have learned from your business up to this point?

Pick partners with complimentary skill sets. Ours combine business, art and sales and marketing . While we each are strong in our own professions, it is the sum of our combined experience that makes the company work. We’ve also believe that everyone benefits from living on a healthy planet. And we’re learning how much fun it is to hand business cards to two year olds.

As a relatively new business, having just launched at the end of July, I know you haven’t had much time to reach any major milestones yet but what goals do you hope to reach before your first anniversary? What are a few of your long term goals?

Our immediate business goals are to increase brand awareness, expand the product line, establish our affiliate and retail programs, and generate a consistent revenue stream. Our long-term goal is to become a household name by licensing our brand for apparel, home furnishings, accessories and more.

Do the three of you have any advice that you would like to share with any would-be entrepreneurs that might be reading this?

First, love what you do and believe in your ability to succeed. Second, make sure you work well with your partners and have complimentary skill sets. Third, have a professional legal contract. Finally– do your homework.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

A staple of backyard barbecues and summer time snacks, watermelon is also a promising new source of renewable energy.

According to a new study, leftover watermelons from farms’ harvests could be converted into up to 9.4 million liters (2.5 million gallons) of clean, renewable ethanol fuel every year destined for your car, truck, or airplane’s gas tank.

Agriculturally, watermelon is a peculiar fruit — each year farmers across the country leave between 20 and 40 percent of their crop to rot on the ground. These are the ugly ducklings of the lot; though perfectly fine on the inside, the misshapen or blemished melons simply won’t sell at the grocery store.

Across the United States, it’s estimated that 360,000 tons of watermelons spoil in fields every year.

Photo by sofijab.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

A new breed of eco-designers are reimagining the everyday detritus of our lives and crafting clever solutions that will divert tons of waste from landfills.

Most people bury the greeting cards they receive in drawers, but you can bury Garden Greetings in the backyard and watch them sprout into flowers or herbs. Embedded with seeds, the cards are “tree-free” — instead, Botanical PaperWorks uses 3.5 tons of paper waste a year. The cards retail for $5 apiece at specialty stores such as Paper Source.

“The next wave in eco-awareness is compostability,” says VerTerra chief operating officer Josh Parker. VerTerra steams, heats, and pressurizes fallen palm leaves, processing 10 to 12 tons a month into high-end disposable dinnerware. The plates, bowls, and trays aren’t just compostable but also biodegradable, and they’re the china of choice in tier-one luxury boxes at the new Cowboys Stadium. They’re also being rolled out at Whole Foods for just $6.50 for eight.

Every year, 3.5 billion wire hangers and 8 billion plastic ones rack up landfill space. “It’s hidden,” says CEO Gary Barker, “but they’re just a tremendous burden on the environment.” Barker’s primary goal is to replace the disposable hangers of dry-cleaners, hotels, and retailers, and he has won design awards for the pressed-paperboard hanger he created exclusively for Adidas’s Slvr stores. Growing consumer demand for the hangers, which hold 20 pounds, has led him to sell 10 for $15 via Amazon, and Bed Bath & Beyond commissioned its own 10-pack ($10).

Americans “use a pizza box for 30 minutes and then throw it away,” says ECO chief executive William Walsh. We toss up to 2.2 billion boxes a year. Walsh’s idea: more mileage per box. By adding perforation marks to divide the top into four plates, he eliminates additional waste. And the bottom can be folded into a fridge-friendly leftover case. Walsh is talking to the top pizza chains to make his to-go alternative box populi.

Photo by DittoHangers.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Most people seem to be in agreement these days that simple ideas often offer the best solutions. Here’s an invention that fits the bill perfectly. Prepara has invented NASA-technology enhanced at-home plant growers that don’t need soil. Which, if you have a black thumb and an incurable love of plants like I do, could be a godsend.

“You’ll see the simplicity of the power plants growing technology allows you to be bug, worm and dirt free,” says the site. “It sits discreetly on your sunny window sill, is very low maintenance, grows quicker and fuller plants and takes the guesswork out of growing.”

This is especially appealing because for people who don’t use chemical fertilizers or pesticides, apartment gardening can present it’s share of problems. (Specifically, bug infestations in pot soil—to which I’ve lost many a plant.) This eliminates that, and the black-thumb conundrum.

It might not be for everyone, and it might not have the same aesthetic appeal as good old terracotta planters, but it does seem to mean idiot-proof herbs at your fingertips.

Photo by Prepara.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Start a home business gardening service that fits your skill set. There are a wide variety of home business ideas for gardeners. Use your green thumb to teach others how to garden.

Help seniors with their gardens or simply sell your own produce. Use one of these gardening business ideas or come up with your own.

Garden planning
Many first time gardeners may wish to do the work themselves but haven’t a clue where to begin. Start a home business working as a consultant to show them where, when and how to plant their garden.

Use your knowledge about combative and companion vegetables, sun and shade plants and other growing tips to help them plant and maintain their first garden.

Garden Construction
Preparing garden beds for planting is back breaking work. Not everyone is physically up to it. Raised bed gardening is becoming quite popular.

Physically handicapped gardeners might appreciate a home business that constructs this type of accessible garden.

Continue Reading: “Home Business Gardening Service Ideas”

Photo by Mr.Thomas.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Christina Ip-Toma, the founder of citizenpip and a mom, knows first hand how much trash it can all amount to. Those little plastic bags were everywhere, in her kid’s lunch and in the car for snacks. When Christina set out to find a better alternative, she came up with a business instead. Her lunch kits are easy to use, stylish, and very earth friendly.

Tell us about citizenpip.

citizenpip offers convenient reusable lunch kits to make it easy for busy families to pack a waste-free lunch.

What inspired your reusable lunch kits?

With three boys, our familiy packs at least two lunches each day and I constantly carry food around for my son who has food allergies. One day, I noticed all the plastic baggies I was using every day and I just thought there has got to be a better way. I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for and I figured a lot of other people might switch to reusable if they could find an easy alternative, so I decided to start citizenpip!

How many patterns/styles do they come in?

We currently have three lunch bag styles – which we call Eat, Yum, and Tasty.

What is included in a kit?

We offer three convenient kits and many individual items. For kids who are all about sandwiches, we offer the Square Meal kit which includes an insulated lunch bag, sandwich and snack sized airtight food containers, a stainless steel water bottle, and a set of five cotton napkins. For more lunch options and packing flexibility, the Soup to Nuts kit comes with everything in the Square Meal kit, plus an insulated stainless steel food jar and stainless steel flatware. And for those who already have a beloved lunch bag, we offer the BYOB Kit, which includes everything you need to pack a waste-free lunch except the lunch bag. Since all products can be purchased individually, families can pick and choose just the items they need, and also purchase spare parts to avoid washing the dishes everyday!

What separates you from the competition?

First, we offer kits that include everything you need to pack a waste-free lunch, including napkins and flatware. All items have been carefully coordinated and have been tested to the same high standard. Second, citizenpip lunch kits are designed to be flexible. Our lunch bag can accommodate many types of containers. We all have food containers in our cabinets already – and I wanted to be able to use any type of container with the kit. Lastly, and most importantly, all citizenpip products are what we call “muck-free”: they have been tested by a CPSIA accredited lab to be lead-free, phthalate-free and BPA-free.

Do you have any goals that you hope to accomplish within the next year? Any long-term goals?

We have lots of great ideas about adding new products to make it easy for families to go green! In the next year, we would love to add more fun designs. Working with schools has also been a great way to engage and rally entire communities around reducing waste, so I plan to grow our school program where we give a percentage of sales back to partner schools.

What are some of the lessons your business has taught you as it has grown?

I’ve looked at this whole process of launching a business as one big learning experience! There can be a lot of challenges to starting a business, but I’ve learned to look at these as learning opportunities instead of hurdles. More than anything, starting citizenpip has taught me that there is always a solution to a problem!

What are some tips or tricks that you have used to help you balance your time between business and family?

This is still a work in progress! Starting your own business is a lot like having a baby. You think about it all the time, you worry about it, you want to nurture it and see it grow. But while I’m thinking about the business a lot of the time, I have the flexibility to be with my kids at their various activities throughout the week. Also, I try to dedicate weekend days to family activiities. I tend to work a lot at night when everyone is asleep.

Do you have any advice for parents that are trying to build a business of their own?

Go for it! There are definitely challenges (see above!) because starting a business is time consuming and one thing most parents do not have enough of is time! But having your own business allows you more flexibility to spend time with your kids during the day. It is also a great opportunity to really focus on something you feel passionate about and share this passion with your kids.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

With cycling gaining ground as a regular mode of transportation, flat tires and broken chains are on the up, too. Which creates an opportunity for bike-loving entrepreneurs: mobile bike repair shops.

In the Netherlands, for example, we’ve spotted companies like Fix Fiets and Bikemobiel, both of which do house calls in vans or trucks outfitted as mobile workshops. Service is even more mobile (and emission-free) in Cologne and Berlin, where stranded cyclists can call a ‘Radambulanz’—a cycling mechanic with a small trailer containing tools and spare parts for fixing flat tires and performing other common repairs.

While some mobile repair services tack on a small trip charge for coming to a customer’s home or workplace, rates are generally comparable to those charged by brick and mortar bike shops. And although they’ve been popping up in Europe over the past few years, mobile services are far from commonplace.

Time to launch a well-branded Geek Squad of bike fixers?

Editor’s note: In the US, AAA will begin offering roadside assistance for cyclists in Oregon and Idaho.

Photo by bikemobiel.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Fortune Small Business:

Some people need a kick in the pants before they change course. For Carlos Salgado, 41, it took a knock on the head.

In 1998, the art handler and sculptor was working at the Guggenheim Museum SoHo in New York City. One moment he was disassembling a 400-pound steel sculpture by Italian artist Fabrizio Plessi; the next he was lying on the floor. Part of the massive artwork had fallen on his head.

By the time he’d healed from the accident, an entrepreneur was born. Salgado got together with fabricator Bart Bettencourt. Together they hatched a plan: Turn salvaged scraps into sophisticated furniture.

The partners called their fledgling company Scrapile. In 2003 they unveiled their laminated-wood creations at two design shows before they even had a business plan. When orders started piling up, they had to develop an efficient production strategy, and fast.

Last year Scrapile brought in $80,000 in revenues. Now the company hopes to expand by repurposing waste streams from manufacturers of crystal, ceramics and glass.

Photo by Scrapile.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Offering an alternative to traditional cardboard boxes for moving, Frogbox, a Canadian contender that currently serves the Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., areas.

Frogboxes are green, industrial-strength plastic containers that are available in standard and wardrobe sizes. Consumers simply order the boxes they need, and Frogbox drops them off at their home using its biodiesel delivery truck.

Pricing is by the week, and the company also picks the boxes up once the moving is all done. Moving dollies and packing paper are available as well. Frogboxes can be used hundreds of times before they get recycled, says the company, which thoroughly cleans them between uses.

A one-bedroom bundle of 25 Frogboxes and one dolly is priced beginning at USD or CDN 79 for one week—the company charges in the customer’s local currency—plus a delivery fee that ranges from USD or CDN 30 to 50, depending on the address.

In much the manner of Save Your Logo, Frogbox donates one percent of its gross revenues to frog habitat restoration.

Cardboard and paper waste make up an estimated 18 percent to 26 percent of landfill material, Frogbox says, so it’s nice to see the spread of reusable plastic alternatives. The company is planning an expansion across North America; time to introduce “frogs” to your neck of the woods…?

Photo by Frogbox.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Wading through the morass of information on green business grant programs can be challenging, particularly for small businesses that don’t have the expertise or staff to manage grant writing.

1. Call your utility company and ask about the grants and rebates they offer.

2. Scour the web for grants, rebates and other incentive programs related to your project goals.

3. Sign up for listservs and email alerts for sites from which you want updates on new programs and deadlines.

4. Make sure your idea or project closely matches what the grant is trying to accomplish.

5. Have a management team in place to run the project.

6. Read the entire grant application before you start and do exactly what it says.

7. Don’t give up.

Photo by agthabrown.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.