It's a Wonderful Business Life Part 2

Read It's a Wonderful Business Life Part 1 here.


Eco-Protective Products opened it's doors (we don't have a store front location so this is purely metaphorical) for business in January 2008. At the inception of the business, we had a proven exterior paint that was eco-friendly in composition and delivered quantifiable benefits in performance (energy efficiency, durability, and longevity) stacked against other paint manufacturers. In 2008, at least at the onset, the building market showed continued growth, albeit not as robust as the early 2000s, and Green Building was proving it had all the signs of a long-term standard not a fad, short-lived trend.

Credit: iStockphoto... no that's not EPP's staff

From day one, the excitement level was palpable. We were poised for unprecedented success, and we already had the right people and products in place to assure that it would happen. The business plan was simple: maintain growth with our existing distributors and expand brand awareness through placing "eco-friendly" ahead of "high-quality" for our value proposition, targeting our marketing efforts to Green Building, updating product names to be inline with said strategy, redesigning product labels, and by aligning ourselves with rising stars within the sustainable building industry. Insert new brand name, new logo, new slogan. Gone was the old website and a new one took its place. We joined the USGBC, attended monthly events, and chatted to anyone that would lend an ear about our innovative paints.


At the time, this marketer was too inexperienced to understand the importance of SEO, too naive to recognize that a website doesn't sell products, people do. But, like I said, ignorance consumed me, and I waited. Waited on the waves of Green Builders to blow up my inbox and voicemail. Surely, before long, Ty Pennington would be soliciting product donations for the next Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I would be on the cover of Southern Living in no time, and by the time I celebrated my first Christmas in the real world, I'd be doing so listening to Jimmy Buffett's Christmas Island album on a boat sailing somewhere in Caribbean. 


Within our first three months operating as Eco-Protective Products, we were hired to supply paint to a high-profile condominium complex in Palm Beach, FL, had representatives meeting with top government officials about EPP implementation into greening strategies, and a building boom that would never end (our biggest markets were Florida, Arizona, and California).


If a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, we had tamed a gaggle of geese and were content. With our connections and website, our products would continue to sell themselves.   Along comes the Great Housing Bubble Burst and the economic free fall of 2008 and 2009. And this is the point where the school of hard knocks begins -- and to continue with the theme of this post, It's a Wonderful Business Life, not only is our business better for the following missteps but I am, too. 


Each Lesson Links to Its Own Page

Lesson 1 - Don't buy into big promises. Trust your gut and ignore the hype

Lesson 2 - Rebranding - not as easy as creating a new logo and catch phrase

Lesson 3 - The common push-back, "well, I've never heard of your product, so because I know everything about energy efficiency and sustainable design, your product must not be good enough" and how to overcome it.

Lesson 4 - Everyone and their brother, mother, and twitter followers want to verify your Green Product but who verifies them?

Lesson 5 - An email can't replace the value of a phone call can't replace the value of an honest handshake

Lesson 6 - Growing through a recession

Lesson 7 - Your business is no better than you are. Remember to sell yourself and buy in

Lesson 8 - There's no right price for the wrong product - When product launches fail

Lesson 9  - Never, never, never, never give up.

Lesson 10 - Lastly, the importance of building a support group of other small business owners & entrepreneurs to share ideas, strategies, laughs, at times, tears, and most importantly to be there to help each other up again when the battles we face each day knock us down. 

Let the Little Things Make the Lasting Impression - Green Garages Help Sell Homes

Trouble selling a home in this market is far from a rarity. Fact remains, millions of homeowners spread across every demographic, representing progressive urban dwellings, traditional metropolitan suburban communities, and rural American towns are still finding great difficulty selling their homes. Economic statistics have begun to suggest that the housing downturn has begun to stabilize indicating that prices may be nearing the bottom. Problem is there are not enough prospective buyers to match the vast surplus of inventory remaining in the market.

What, then, is the difference maker? Why do some homes sell while other persist unsold. Certainly, community characteristics such as schools, household median income, community crime rates, and other socioeconomic factors contribute tremendously to a buyer’s decision.  However, differences in a home’s design, livability and aesthetic appeal play an even greater role in selling because they are the characteristics that YOU have the power to control.

Through cable network channels such as HGTV and TLC, the dissemination of tips, trends, and trade secrets of the real estate community have reached even the novice homebuyer/ home seller.  Enhancing curb appeal by improving landscaping & applying fresh paint, upgrading kitchen fixtures and appliances, and remodeling outdated bathrooms are great ways to improve the chance of selling a home; however, buyers know to look for such improvements, and coincidentally, so do other home sellers on the market. Improving on these areas will certainly contribute to the value of your home, but you still might need an added way to distinguish your home from the rest of the marketplace in order to sell.

So where to make the changes that will deliver the most value to your home, your wallet, and your ability to sell?

Although your real estate agent will undoubtedly lead prospective buyers into your house via the front door to highlight your foyer and entrance way, it could also be in avoidance of your garage.

Whether peeking to catch a glimpse of where they might park the family Mini Van or SUV or the prized sports car of a lifetime of hard work and savings; hide the kids Christmas or birthday presents; help their 16 year old son rebuild his dream car; store the golf clubs, skis or holiday decorations; or just see what will welcome them home each day after work, soccer practice, or a weekend at the lake.  According to an article published by the Wall Street Journal in 2008, 70% of American homeowners and their guests will enter the house through the garage, not the front door.

So while your agent might try to wow potential buyers with your home by taking them through the front, they cannot remove the importance of the garage from the buyers’ minds. There are many, inexpensive and a few cost-free ways to upgrade your garage changing its dynamic from an eyesore and embarrassment to a point of pride and a great selling feature. 

1. Remove clutter – whether you are trying to sell you house or not, be honest with yourself. Many families hold onto needless junk thinking it will serve some unknown future purpose, but when the future becomes the present, more often than not, that item will be outdated, unusable, or simply forgotten

2.  Apply a fresh coat of paint – whether your walls are concrete block or drywall, years of gentle bumps and scrapes against the walls leave their mark. Fixing holes and painting will help transform the garage into the feel of a room instead of neglected space

3. Apply a garage floor coating* – garage floor coatings come in many forms at various prices from the Do it Yourself Garage floor paints and epoxy systems that can be bought at Home Depot and Lowes to high end concrete coatings applied by certified application crews. If a cheap fix is what you want, and you are not concerned with quality, using a store bought paint or epoxy will do. However, these products will not last. Within months of typical wear and use, they will begin to peel, blister, and become more of an eye sore than to plain concrete before. New polyurea systems have come available on the market in recent years, and trained application crews conduct thorough preparation work and product application in less than a day. A garage application takes less than 10 hours from start to finish and generally costs less than $2500 for a 400 square foot garage. Many companies are offering long term warranties on both product and labor for these services, guaranteeing the product for as many as 10 years.

4. Install shelving and cabinetry* - if high-end is the market you want to achieve, then installation of quality cabinetry is a very useful way to appeal to this class of buyers. Whether a homeowner is looking to store crafts and decorations or motor parts and sports equipment, high-quality installations are a must. Full service garage companies are offering these services and the craftsmanship of the products is much higher than that of store bought products.