Green Options » advice

Ask Mark: Upside Down Cash Flow

Mark Winstein — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:38:48 +0000

To prime the pump on this “Dear Abbey” style ecopreneur coaching column, I’d like to start with some actual consulting projects, with enough changes to protect the client.

A few years ago I got a call from a cool green company that already had good sales, about $1 million a year. Problem was, their cash flow was “upside down” - they were trying to cover current expenses with money they wouldn’t get until later. They wanted me to help raise money to cover the gap.

At first, it seemed they were all set to receive some financing. I had a lender in mind who specialized in high-risk loans to green enterprises. All the lender needed to start the approval process was an up to date financial report. But as I started interviewing the principles, I learned that the company’s financial books were several months behind. Sadly, even weeks and months later, this situation persisted, making it impossible for the firm to make effective requests for money from anyone other than family members.

“Ask Mark” Ecopreneur Clinic

Mark Winstein — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:29:06 +0000

Dear Ecopreneurs…

Thanks again to GreenOptions.com for adding me to the Ecopreneurist blog team.

My favorite activity these days is coaching and advising ecopreneurs, investors, and green leaders on how to shorten the path to their objectives.

Having founded several green businesses and non-profits over the past 25 years, I’ve accumulated a ton of experience on starting, growing, and capitalizing green enterprises, and producing results via a broad assortment of strategies and leadership paradigms.

For GreenOptions readers, I’m offering my coaching and advice “Dear Abbey” style, for free, via this blog. To get the ball rolling, I invite you to submit your questions or topics to me via email:

Email Mark Winstein

Unconventional Advice for Emerging Ecopreneurs

Lisa Kivirist — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:50:39 +0000

A Tufts senior e-mailed me the other day, attaching her resume and asking for career advice. While that play of events seems typical, her ambitions probably didn’t fit the cookie-cutter mold of most of her class peers. She wanted to run her own eco-retreat center one day, felt passion for the green movement and embraced her ecopreneurial passions.

In short, she blew away the goals and mindset I had back in my twenty-something days, when the only “green” in my world came out of an ATM machine. And frankly, as I’ve been off the mainstream career path for nearly two decades now, I don’t typically have seniors knocking on my e-mail door for advice. So I felt compelled to launch a dash of the unconventional her way — a dose of out-of-the-box career advice for someone heading down ecopreneurial career paths at a young age. Here’s what I sent to her: