We were unable to send the article.
Lee Porter is a native of Silver Spring, Maryland, who completed her landscape architecture degree at the University of Arkansas and recently earned her state landscape architect license. She grew up in Dallas and was Friar Fred, the mascot for her alma mater Bishop Lynch High School. She moved to Leadville, Colorado, for the skiing and in the summer of 2012 had a chance to bicycle from Berlin to Oslo.
Along with her many adventures, Porter has worked a number of jobs — lifeguard, in a veterinary clinic, florist, coffee shop barista — before moving into the green energy field and starting her Fayetteville-based business in 2018. Her company works with architects, engineers and development teams to plan, design and install green roofs, installing and maintaining 11 in the area so far.
What inspired you to start your own business?
I’ve wanted to design and install green roofs since I learned about them in college in 2009. The idea that green roofs replace the green space and environmental benefits lost on a site due to the building footprint captivated my mind. Since then, I’ve been taking steps to open Ozark Green Roofs. I was awarded the John G. Williams Traveling Fellowship, in which I got to travel Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands to explore what incentives and policies those countries and several other cities have to encourage green roofs. I worked at the Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks, in the sustainability department and the parks and rec department for the city of Fayetteville and for Entegrity Partners working to help buildings achieve LEED certification.
Through those opportunities I was able to observe how green roofs could be developed in northwest Arkansas. In 2018, I had a window of opportunity to make it happen. I feel lucky and grateful to be pursuing my dream during this time of growth in northwest Arkansas.
How has the business/industry changed since you started?
The green roof industry has changed since I started Ozark Green Roofs simply by green roofs increasing in number. The green roof industry is a niche market within the roofing and/or landscaping industries, and with northwest Arkansas growing so rapidly, every green roof we build is growing the industry, through knowledge and example.
What is the No. 1 lesson you have learned since you began?
For me it’s stressful to not have a business background. I know about green roofs, not business, so I am learning as I go. To alleviate those stresses I reach out to people who do know about business (or whatever the topic is that I need to know about) and ask for help, even if that’s just a conversation over coffee or lunch.
Describe life as an entrepreneur in one word:
Tenacity.
How does someone turn an idea into a reality?
You just have to wake up every day and do something to progress the dream. Some days it might be doing something small, and some days you might work for 14 hours on a task. Either way, those steps are progress. Then when you look back at the month or year you’ll see that progress has been made.
If you were starting over today, what would you do differently?
I would have started working with a business coach earlier. I recently started working with Catherine [Corley] from ASBTDC and she has been so helpful.
What advice would you give someone thinking of starting their own business?
To someone who is thinking about starting their own company, I would say make a plan, make sure you have a vision and wake up every day and chip away at making it happen. The details will fall in place if you’re working on it a little bit (or a lot bit) every day.
Who is the most important person to hire first when starting a business?
A therapist.
from WordPress https://ift.tt/hpl1EUj
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment