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Considering I've been blogging about green technology and energy for years I thought I'd write a post about a company I just formed this past week with two partners: OrganoGreen, Inc.
Our goal is to produce cost effective aquaponics systems that are managed at people's homes. With that financial foundation as the basis for regular income we're going to sell wind turbines and solar panels. We intend on shooting for low profit margins so we can sell in volume.
The reason most people don't buy green techology is because the markup is way too high and thus the technology is made not cost effective. Besides the emotional desire to be green there's usually no financial incentive since it's cheaper to buy energy via coal-based power plants.
While I'm sure you know about Windtronics turbines and other solar panel solutions I'm sure you're asking...what the heck is aquaponics?
Aquaponics in a nutshell is where you combine hydroponics systems with fish farming. This creates a little self-contained ecosystem that balances out the issues that each system has when separate. Short version is that fish feces produce the food veggies like, the pond water is circulated through the hydroponics system with a 6 Watt pump, and the fish can live off of duckweed growing in the fish tank. Thus ph levels, balancing nutrients in the water, cleaning the tanks, and other headaches are no longer a factor.
Most companies sell aquaponics kits for thousands, not even including the fish, seed, or installation labor. We've created a small aquaponics kit that can easily fit anywhere in a yard. The cost, including labor for installation, is only $800 USD, or $75 monthly for 1 year (for a total of $900) if a person chooses to finance it through us. We also have professional chefs on staff that will travel to your home for $15 an hour onsite and cook you any meal you desire.
The fact still remains that most people don't like gardening. Nor do they like to kill and fillet fish, which can be pretty nasty. My idea was to make a turnkey system. We sell the system at low profit margin BUT have monthly maintenance/harvesting contracts and upsell extras like privacy fencing, solar, wind turbines, etc. That way all people have to do is provide the space for the system and reap the benefits.
We're not only cost effective for the initial cost of installing the system, we're also cost effective in the long term. Our smallest system can handle about a 100 plants and a fish population of around 70 catfish, tilapia, or bluegill. I've seen a head of organic broccoli sell for $8. When add up the cost of the system when split up over 10 years (the estimated lifetime), the cost of monthly maintenance, and the cost of fish feed, eletricity, etc. is included the overall cost is still less than $50 per month. Considering that the supermarket price of organic and non-organic vegetables keeps going up due to inflation, in the long run our customers could be saving hundreds of dollars a year...yet eating green!
We're also following the Mary Kay business model for word-of-mouth advertising. We get people to host Organic Parties in their homes in return for receiving a referral commission every time someone buys a system. As a further incentive we give bonuses to people who sell a large number, with the long term goal being winning a Porsche for selling 500 systems.
Most importantly, unlike multi-level marketing companies we don't plan on charging people for wanting to sell our systems. Nor will there be a tiered system that encourages backstabbing and peer pressure. People will sell our products because they work and customers save money on green living. That's it.
We haven't had an organic party yet, and we've only been in business 1 week, but we already have one customer who will be paying $50 monthly. Our goal for this year is to sell at least 100 systems. To do that we'd have to sell 1 system every 3.65 days. I'm waiting for our marketing materials to come in the mail...feels like waiting for Christmas morning.
Hopefully, a year from now I'll be able to blog on the advances we've made. The Chinese have been developing a new type of fertilizer that will save their agriculture (arable land in China is disappearing a couple percent each year, if you didn't know). I'd like to be one of the first to use that product in the US. I'm looking into some other technologies that may have promise.
I'm excited about the future of this company. In the coming months I'll be sure to blog or tweet on any major updates.
Keep Frosty!
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XRYSTAL 
