building a business during climate change

Opportunities In Disaster

In my part of the planet,
we usually have a lot of snow
over winter.

This year,
we had snow stay on the ground
for less than a week
and that snow didn’t reach
the top of my running shoes.

This is a climate disaster.
Spring crops will struggle
due to lack of snow pack.
Vegetation and animals
will suffer.
Owners of ski resorts
are in financial distress.

But we’re business builders.
Of course, you and I
also
see the many opportunities
in having no snow
over winters.

There are ALWAYS opportunities
in disasters.
The house that burned in a wildfire
has to be rebuilt.
People displaced by a flood
have to eat.

But we should also remember
that it IS a disaster.
People are scared, sad, mourning.

Approach the opportunities
with empathy and tact.

Plan For Heat

In my corner of the world,
Cadbury doesn’t sell chocolate
via Amazon
during the summer months.

They can’t assure
the chocolate won’t melt
in the increasing heat.

A buddy runs
a small clothing business
in Arizona.

She closes her physical store
during the height
of the summer
and focuses on online business.

Her physical store
has air conditioning
when the grid is functional
but people arrive
quite sweaty.
And trying on clothing
during heat waves
often renders any not-purchased clothing
unsellable to other customers.

Climate change is happening.
The heat will continue
in the future.

Plan for it.

Issues On Repeat

You will hear
me mention
both the pandemic
and
climate change
often
here on client k.

There’s a reason for this
– climate change
and the pandemic
will drastically shift
how you and I do business
and how we build businesses.

Neither COVID
nor climate change
are over.
And they likely won’t be ‘over’
in our lifetimes.

Because,
buckle up, beyotches,
we’ve merely started
to see
the impacts
of both of these issues.

Will all the impacts
be negative?

No.
There will be opportunities
created for nimble business builders.

But there WILL be impacts
and I’d be doing a sh*tty job
if I didn’t mention
what those impacts
might be.

COVID and climate change
will alter business
going forward.

Stay informed.

Climate Change And Business Building

COP27 has ended
and the best case scenario
for the planet’s climate
has quietly shifted
from 1.5C of warming
to about 2.4C.

This has an impact
on those of us
who are building businesses.

Coral reefs were dead
at 1.5C, for example.
2.4C means they will be dead
sooner.
As in, within the decade,
sooner.

If your business is located
close to reefs,
losing those reefs will impact
your foot traffic.

You might wish
to find alternative sources
of prospective customers.

Glaciers will also shrink
and/or disappear.
As will the polar ice caps.

There will be more natural disasters,
more drought,
more water and food shortages,
and all this will happen sooner.

Insurance coverage
for our businesses
will become more and more key.

As will ensuring
we have supplies.
If we can buy supplies
in advance,
we should likely
factor the cost of doing that
into our start up expenses.

Climate change WILL
change the way we do business.
We should plan for that.

Extreme Weather Days

When crafting my schedule
for the upcoming year,
planning my book releases
(project rollouts),
I’m accounting for
extreme weather days.

They’re becoming
increasingly common.

The rain is too heavy
to safely drive.

Blackouts happen
during heat waves.

It is too hot
to ask customers or employees
to go outside.

In my area,
I am currently planning
for 1 extreme weather
working day
a month.

If those extreme weather days
don’t happen,
I will have free days
to push ahead of schedule.

Plan for extreme weather days.
Then hope you don’t need them.