Like many small businesses, The Green Perspective began from a hunch.
Todd Baylson, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., and The Green Perspective’s owner, knew that he wanted to become involved with the green economy. As an urban planner with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Baylson wanted to contribute to the environment in a different way by owning his own business.
“I went to classes with some friends, ranted and raved a lot, drank a lot of coffee,” said Baylson. “I wrote a business plan to open what would have actually been a hybrid retail and wholesale store.”
Baylson had expected to own a company that would be “BMWs in the front and pick-up trucks in the back.” As he began to assess the start-up costs of his plan, however, Baylson realized that an alternative product might have to be sold for The Green Perspective to ground itself as a successful and sustainable company.
Useful Products, Less Packaging
A friend suggested considering corporate gifts with a green twist. With less of a start-up cost and an existing market-base, green gift baskets provided a high-demand product that had less packaging and more useful products than the traditional corporate gift basket. Four months later, in August of 2008, The Green Perspective was up and running as a green gift basket provider.
The Green Perspective offers a variety of green gift basket options, from their “Green Essentials” basket—reusable shopping bag, compact fluorescent bulb, reusable travel mug—to the more elaborate “Green Your Kitchen” option, which includes environmentally-friendly cleaning products, bamboo utensils, and green recipes.
Each gift basket is shipped through the United States Postal Service (USPS) and comes ready to use with minimal packaging. Baylson cites the USPS’s cradle-to-cradle certification as one of the “most stringent” and green certification programs available for shipping.
Baylson acknowledged that the idea of green gift baskets might seem like “fluff.” While selling green gift baskets may not seem like the most direct form of change, Baylson believes that it can be a small step towards raising awareness about the consequences of traditional consumption.
“There are environmental costs to the status quo,” Baylson said. “[This is] part of a broader movement towards sustainability.”
Potential For Growth
Although Baylson sees The Green Perspective as an “intro” business that will eventually change overtime, the experience of starting the company last year and running it during a tough economy has helped him to understand the challenges many small business owners face.
“Now that I know exactly what it’s like to take risk with my own money and own my own business,” said Baylson, “the most important thing is revenue.”
The Green Perspective did well during the holiday season of 2008, according to Baylson, but 2009 has proved to be more challenging. The company has had to get creative with reducing advertising costs and targeting already interested consumers to maintain profitability. In an effort to reduce production costs, the company may also be heading towards wholesale rather than individual orders.
Despite the challenges provided by the lagging economy, Baylson believes The Green Perspective has the potential to continue its growth.
“I think that at the end of the day, despite the recession, the important thing is having a brand, providing good services, being responsive, being flexible,” said Baylson. “Those are the things that endear you to returning customers.”
One business owner whose products are featured in many of The Green Perspective’s gift baskets agrees. Lisa Long, co-owner of Bag the Habit, a New Jersey company that creates reusable totes, says her overall experience with Baylson and The Green Perspective has been “great.”
Of The Green Perspective’s owner, Long said, “[Baylson] is really easy to work with. He seems to be really hands-on with his company and he has a focus on quality that’s nice to see.”
