It Isn’t Easy to Create a New Business Category

But no one said it would be. If they said anything, it was usually the opposite: It would be hard, if not impossible.

Truth in advertising. It’s a thing. Who knew?

The truth is, when I started Sustainable Exchange eight years ago, I didn’t know what I was doing, and still don’t in many respects. I certainly still don’t know where it’s going. I knew only a mashup of fair-trade goods and near zero waste modern essentials looked like a good fit. And I thought, add in local artisans wherever able, keep it all broadly delightful, objectively affordable, and authentically net bio-benign - in that order -  and maybe, just maybe, other people will like the mix as much as me.

Turns out, more than one thing can be simultaneously true.

I’m learning so much from the experience.

The truth is doing my part to help create a new business category, as in a Sustainable Store, is hard, near impossible, and a lot of people like it.

The question now becomes: how to scale the category so more people have access to a store like mine.

One way is to open more. A whole network of them, and go toe-to-toe with other franchise stores to provide a true alternative.

To which people say it will be hard, if not impossible, and I say yeah, and a lot more people are going to like it when it’s done.

So wish me luck, and better yet, start a franchise with me, add your efforts to mine and others, and let’s together build more good local stores that are doing some good for all Earthlings.

Because this planet means the world to more than us.

Sustainably Yours,

Dan Maher