Green Irene Eco-Consulting

Rosamaria Caballero Stafford - Green Irene Co-founder

Ophelia Ramirez - Green Irene Eco-Consultant

Glenn Croston (GC): When was Green Irene founded and what led you to start it? Are you greening your lives at home?

Rosamaria Caballero Stafford (RCS): I'll start with a Kenyan proverb: "Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It was loaned to you by your children”. We certainly believe this and are doing our small part each day. We hope to magnify our efforts through the work of thousands of Eco-Consultants helping clients who in turn show others ways they are living a more sustainable life.

PJ is an entrepreneur and after selling our last business, he realized that he wanted to create a business that is about improving the world we live in, not about satisfying a fad or trend. The "lightbulb" went off when we realized how difficult it could be to do something as simple as swap out the bulbs in our apartment to CFLs. After all the visits to Home Depot and the buzzing and flickering results, we realized we would have gladly paid a green expert to come in and tell us what to do and how to do it!

And then after many months of research and planning, we founded Green Irene in late 2007.

So we started it mainly because we saw there was a gap in the information available about greening one’s home and the fact that few people seemed to be doing it in part because it almost needs to be a hobby to do all the research to identify good products. Even though they want to go green, most people don’t have enough time to make “going green” another time-consuming hobby.

We also started it because we love helping people start their own small business and be a force for green change in their community. Our Eco-Consultants not only earn money through consulting and product sales, but they also can be the person pushing for the new school to have green, toxic free and energy saving features built in, or the person at the City Council meeting making a case to tax plastic bags so people finally carry reusables to the store. This has the potential to be more than helping someone make a part time professional income.

GC: What is the market you are targeting? How do you reach clients?

RCS:  There are a lot of homes that need to go green. Anyone who doesn’t think we are entering a time where we have to change our wasteful living habits and adopt more sustainable ways to live is in denial.

We have a national market and a direct sales model (think Avon) as opposed to a franchise model (Subways).

GC: Do you recommend specific contractors for installation of products and do you vet the contractors prior to recommending them?

RCS:  We are slowly developing a sustainable contractor network. As you can imagine, most contractors are local businesspeople so we count on and encourage our local Eco-Consultants to develop relationships with local contractors
that they can refer clients to. We are establishing more formal arrangements with regional and national vendors such as solar panel providers and sustainable landscaping products and services.

We rely on our local Eco-Consultants to develop local relationships in the green services community. Toxic free home cleaning companies, landscapers that use native plants that use less water and few chemicals, certified energy auditors, etc. Initially most of the folks are handymen, electricians, plumbers, etc who may help with installation of thermostats, new low flow toilets and similar items since we don’t sell installation services.

GC: How do you test products prior to selling them?

RCS:  When we initially identify products, we research the product, seek out reviews, editorials and commentaries, and then we talk to the manufacturer and get clear answers to questions about specifications and ingredients to ensure that the products will meet our eco-consultants' and our customers' critical green eye. On many products such as the CFLs, low-flow showerheads, toxic-free cleaners and detergents, we try and use the products ourselves at home to make sure that we believe in and can honestly recommend the products.

We rarely offer more than one product in each category. We offer two low flow shower heads because the aerating and laminar technologies have such different feels to achieve a full shower feeling with just 1.59 gallons per minute (vs a normal 3 gpm or more shower). We feel people have enough choices to make and don’t need the stress of 10 choices across 30 or more categories of products.

We also are looking for products with good value, though not necessarily the least expensive.

GC: For training your eco-consultants review several hours of training material. Is there additional on-going training, or communication about new developments and products?

RCS:  I would say that research and communication are at the heart of our business. We provide online training that is designed to initially take about 16-20 hours, complete with quizzes and additional reference materials including videos. The training covers topics including energy efficient lighting, water conservation, energy conservation, toxic-free living, indoor air quality, reduced waste and recycling and emergency preparedness. Our Eco-Consultants have ongoing access to the training and we encourage them to use it as a resource. Additionally, the online training is regularly updated and supplemented with new information. We can tell how many slides an Eco- Consultant has viewed, if they passed the assessment and, in general, know if they are doing the training.

Another key component to our research and training is the newest resource we have created called The Ask Green Irene Greenbase. This new tool helps our Eco-Consultants stay on top of the latest Green information and helps them build their local business by being the Green Expert their clients expect them to be. We are aiming to make this an incredibly comprehensive resource of information to help our clients green their lives as well as for our eco-consultants to grow and manage their local Eco-Consulting practice. Researchers are adding content to the Greenbase daily and we encourage our Eco-Consultants to email material to us as well.

We communicate with our Eco-Consultants regularly to let them know about updates to training and to our Green Home Makeover Checklist and Report as well as to introduce them to the new products we add to our offering.

GC: Are your products also available on-line or only through your
eco-consultants?

RCS: The Green Irene-recommended products are offered online, but only through our Eco-Consultants' individual Green Irene websites as well as in person during their Green Home Makeover appointments and Go Green Parties. We've done this to support our Eco-Consultants' efforts in establishing their own client base and wanting to help them establish and maintain these ongoing relationships with customers that consider our Eco-Consultants their local Green Expert.  Our goal is not to compete with our local Eco-Consultants but to help them build their local business.  

Later I also spoke with Ophelia Ramirez, who started recently as a Green Irene Eco-consultant in San Diego. 

Glenn Croston (GC):  How did you get started with Green Irene? 

Ophelia Ramirez (OR):  After moving to San Diego from the San Francisco area, I found that my husband and I had to reinvent ourselves again.  The more I read about global warming, the more I believe that even if we make small changes in our lives they can add up to a meaningful difference for our planet.  You don’t have to make huge changes to make a big difference.  So looking around for opportunities I Googled “green jobs” and saw an ad from Green Irene.  Working as an eco-consultant is not a 9-5 job.  I work as an independent contractor, in control of my own time, which I like.  And after emailing and talking with the co-founders and getting to know each other I found that they have the same mentality as me, that small changes can make a big difference. 

GC:  How are you meeting clients and contractors who do installation of green project?   

OR:  I’m going to networking events, and talking to friends.  Green Irene provides the foundation for the Eco-consultants, but it’s up to the consultant to build a network of vendors and clients.  So far I’ve identified a handyman, a landscaper, and an energy efficiency auditor who I met and interviewed.  With time people in this network can help each other with our businesses.   

GC:  What type of client are you working with? 

OR:  People who are in the beginning stages of living in an eco-friendly way.  The Eco-consultant gets the process started, and from there it can go in many different directions.  If they want a deeper level of work on energy efficiency in their home, for example, they can work with the energy efficiency auditor in my network who gets more technical, doing the blower test for example to look for leaks in the building envelope.   

GC:  How has the training helped you? 

OR:  The fact that they offered training was a big plus, and the training is very good.  It’s comprehensive, easy to understand, and easy to learn, with quizzes to pass as you go through it.  They also provide on-going training, a personal website for each consultant, and phone support. 

GC:  What kind of products are sold through Green Irene? 

OR:  The CFLs we sell are a reasonable cost and high quality.  We also sell green cleaning products, air purifiers, water conservation aids like flow restrictors, a kitchen composter, and they are constantly adding new products.   

GC:  How do you like it so far? 

OR:  I love it.  I love being around people and talking to them, and being a part of their education.  It’s not about wanting people to feel guilty.  Its about saying “Whatever you want to do, let me help you.”  I’m at the forefront of education, talking to people and answering their questions.  I would recommend it as a wonderful opportunity to be a part of doing something for the planet, while working at your own pace.  For the mother who wants to develop her own income stream, on her own schedule, for example, it’s ideal. 

To find out more about Green Irene and the potential for being an Eco-Consultant, you can check them out on the internet:

www.GreenIrene.com

www.BeAGreenIrene.com

Or their toll-free number 888-212-GREEN.

To contact Eco-Consultant Ophelia Ramirez:

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

www.GreenIrene.com/Ophelia 

760 455-2224

And mention that you saw them on Starting Up Green!