Going for the Green©

Going for the Green was the outcome of a research activity in 2006 to help small business in the manufacturing sector green their productivity. It was their brand of choice. The research and the deliverable that followed were jointly funded by Industry Canada and Environment Canada.

In 2007 we launched “Going for the Green: A Manufacturer’s Guide to Lean and Green”. This illustrative guide provided simple things a small manufacturing operation could do to reduce their footprint and save, get or make some money. Success enabled in a time-pressured work environment.

The guide was posted in late April 2007, hosted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). CFIB’s involvement was sought as at least 10% of Canadian small businesses are members and we’re sure many more drop in to find out what’s happening.

Not by plan, but by fortune, the guide got posted without fanfare, without a press release. In the first month CFIB told us there were 3,000 downloads.  And it spread… first quietly across the web…until almost a year after its posting, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce reviewed it and sent an email around to its members.

And something happened. Downloads jumped, making it the second most popular download off CFIB’s site in 2008. Others starting linking to it from the US, Australia, Germany…and we started thinking…what comes next? What does small business want or need?

We went to users of the guide and listened to their feedback. They wanted, needed more help, designed for them. We played hopscotch between the field and the drawing board of what we could do.

Around the second anniversary, roughly 57,000 downloads had occurred. Wow! Either we hit the nail on the head, or we have some incredible friends who spend all day and night right clicking on their mouse.

GoingfortheGreen.net is about to be launched. And like all well crafted business development plans, we have re-written it a zillion times, and what is coming first was not the first thing on our list. But it will knock your socks off. And if you aren’t involved yet, you will want to be. Because there are 2.4 million of them in Canada, and another 136 million or more around the word. Get ready; we’re about to rock and roll.