Growing a Green Business in Hawaii- Lessons Learned at O’s White House Leadership Project
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
I was thrilled to have been one of 80 women chosen from over 3,000 applicants nationwide to attend the WomenRule! O’s White House Leadership Project training in New York this past June. The training was conducted by The White House Project. The White House Project is a national organization with a goal of advancing women’s leadership in all communities and sectors.
I began my professional career 20 years ago in green business consulting and I was ready to come full circle. Throughout the last year, I have been the Business & Sustainability Manager at Volcano Island Honey Company, a great example of a green business in Hawaii, and I was feeling ready to take some of what I have learned combined with my ideas to a wider client base. My winning business vision is to green business and government in Hawaii through coaching, consulting and education. (As you can see from my website!) The WomenRule! O’s White House Leadership Project training gave me the confidence boost that I needed, a deadline to work towards (the magazine release), and some practical tools to jump start my business. This is a series of articles on what I learned from all of the amazing woman presenters at WomenRule!, beginning with Susan Sobbot, President & General Manager of OPEN from American Express.
What I learned from Susan Sobbot
Focus on what only you could do and let others do the rest.
Know yourself: do what you do best and hire others to do the rest.
This is excellent advice. This really helped me to focus in on what my strengths are and to partner with other people to provide a wider range of services. My strengths are as a strategist and communicator- as a coach, trainer, strategy facilitator. I am also a good consultant, but this aspect of my business was strengthened by partnering with Tracy Solomon. Tracy is the Sustainability Coordinator at Kona Brewing Company and has brought green business practices in Hawaii to a new height. She dives deep into all of your kilowatt hours and gallons of water used- driving towards concrete environmental results. My other strategic partnership is with Mary Traynor of Akamai Promotions. Mary has been a huge help in designing and implementing my online and print publicity strategies and will bring those skills to the table for my clients as well. There is designing and implementing your green business strategy and then there is communicating it to your customers- that is where Mary comes in.
I am Super Woman and I know you are too (or you may be a SuperMan), but we really don’t have to do it all!
Ask yourself these questions:
