My Initiative Journey: Exercise 4 – 10 Friends and Family Members

As per my last project update, I’ve now decided on a project, which wasn’t part of the original set of projects, but it’s one I’m much happier with.

Exercise 4 – 10 Friends and Family Members

• Present your project to 10 people and get 3 pieces of advice from each.
• After each conversation, if you got good advice, you can update your project before going to the next person. The 10th person may hear a totally different project than the first. 
• “I wonder if you could share some advice to help improve this?”
• Deflect judgment, politely persist until you get actual advice. Doesn’t matter if they think the idea is good or bad.
• Present with “I’m working on a project for a class in entrepreneurship. I think you could give useful advice on it. Do you mind if I tell it to you and ask for advice?”

End the conversations by asking:

• Is there anything to add that I didn’t think to bring up?
• Is there anyone you can think of you could put me in touch with who could help me with this?

Old Project Problem/Solution Set

Old Problem: Many electric utility customers want renewable energy as soon as possible. Even the most ambitious of electric utilities are aiming for ~2045 100% renewable targets, leaving everyone at the mercy of the utilities to get renewable power. Homeowners may be able to install solar panels on their homes, but it is expensive and is a hassle to deal with. 100% renewable power is feasible right now; renewables are increasing globally, and yet no one is providing 100% renewable energy. What’s more, the utilities are suggesting it will take 20+ years to get there. This leaves more environmentally-focused and climate change-concerned customers frustrated, optionless, and feeling powerless. 
Old Solution: Start a 100% renewable energy power consulting service. In many cases, customers are willing to pay extra just to get their electricity from renewable sources and “green pricing”. The biggest barrier to switching to renewable in many cases is simply that it is annoyingly troublesome to do so. By providing a customer-friendly service that puts customers first, we will examine the customer’s energy usage via energy audit, and that customers unique situation (location, available renewable power) and propose multiple paths to 100% sustainably sourced, renewable energy. If the customer choses, we can assist in the transition. We can eliminate the hassle of dealing with the electric utilities and take care of cancelling and transferring your existing contracts, and provide a mix of renewable energy to provide 100% electricity to customers. 

Advice Conversations:

N.S. 

• How to offload the electricity? How do you distribute it? 
• Who’s going to buy it? Are you contracting with communities directly? Individuals?
• Are you generating it? Who owns the energy they’re buying?
• What entities do you have to work with to get it to the end user? Do they own the lines? Probably not. Who do you need to work with?
• Make it as hassle free as possible. Hassle is what people hate.
• CCAs are the way to go for people who want renewable energy quicker right now. Can you do better?
• Look into SB100 – determines how quickly CA must hit renewable targets. 

M.K.

• Market sizing: how many people want this?
• What is the cost difference? How much of a premium? At what price will most people want to switch over? 30% more? 50% more? The lower the price, the more people will want it. Single digit percentages probably will get great business.
• Needs to be fully transparent: user can see how much power they’re using, where it’s coming from. How do we REALLY know that the power coming in is renewable?
• Target businesses looking to lower their carbon footprint. Consulting fees will be higher and more profitable. Now is the right time to take on this business. Maximize ROI. 
• What’s your value proposition?

J.W.

• Can you actually provide enough power to get a lot of people to 100%? What is the current capacity in the market you’re looking at?
• Is the rate of growth going to outpace the growth of the capacity?
• You need to show and demonstrate that you can actually provide the green energy and that it is actually green. Is there a regulatory structure for this?
• Is there a certification agency for green power?

VM:

• Consulting is not as scalable as software: could you create a marketplace for energy providers?
• Can we add a socially conscious aspect? Like energy star label.
• Find the early adopters. We need people to brag, the social currency. How can your customers market themselves? Instagram filters, email, stickers. Need to build a brand. Social capital.

M&H.B.

• Need to learn about the systems for renewable energy and how they are connected to the grid. MUST you go through a utility?
• People don’t want to do it themselves, but they want to brag about it. Have something they can show off or tell others.
• Have a referral program, so if people invite more, they can get some kind of benefit.
• Company/town/city might be a good target. It’s easier to target a larger entity with a larger budget. 

E.H.

• PG&E already has programs offering 100% renewable energy, but not all utilities do. Find out which do and which don’t. Search: Solar choice PG&E, regional renewable choice PG&E. They can bill into either of those 2 programs. Higher fee, clean energy.
• PG&E offers 100% clean energy, but not all of California does.
• Find places that PG&E doesn’t serve yet.
• Look into community choice aggregators (CCAs), which are clean energy procurement entities. They provide generation from clean energy sources. The power still comes through PG&E, but they ensure it’s renewable.
• What are the smaller utilities offering? It might be useful to find out what they are already doing. Alameda, SMUD, do they have equivalent programs?
• In some cases, you’ll just be encouraging them to participate in programs that already exist. Find a way to go even deeper in your offerings: encouraging appliance changes, LEDs, etc. 
• Utilities in different states are regulated differently. In some places, you can have multiple energy providers. Ex. Texas: you can have 3 energy providers, that give more options for renewable energy.

S.I.

• Need to find out how people get their electricity. Contact government agencies and find out what they’re doing now to get their renewable energy. Need to know how to actually know how the electricity flows and for each locality who controls infrastructure. Are there government entities that need to be involved?
• Need to figure out how to find your market targets. Who would actually want to buy this? Most people are fine with just waiting until their utility provides 100% renewable. Who is going to pay more?
• More than social currency, go for REAL currency. Could have some kind of point system that you could work with other companies that want to ‘green’ their image. They could build up points for their renewable energy, and then spend them at participating stores/etc.

J.S.

• Fix the problem and solution. Too long! More emotional appeals. People feel frustrated, want renewable power. I’m providing a white glove service that gets all the results without the work. Keep it simple. Then ask for details at the end.
• Incorporate that “your neighbors are already doing it”. Add the social pressure. That will motivate people more than anyone else.
• I intend to use an “Elon Musk/Tesla” strategy. I’m going to start with rich people. I’m giving people something that’s worth it. Yes, it costs more. Rich people want to look good. “White glove service”. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be a challenge. But we’re going to be sure that your going to get the best results possible. You’re part of a legacy.
• Contact people that are doing something like it.
• Try to find a community that could go off grid. All they have to do is sign on the dotted line. We’re only starting in places where it works. The tesla model.
• Do it yourself. See how far you can get.
• Give the person who’s talking with it talking points. A card or a plaque: “It’s not where it comes from, it’s where it goes to.”
• Sandy Reisky  – Listen to podcast, google him APEX, generation 180

J.T.

• Need to be aware if anyone’s already doing this. Who is your competitor? Who’s the number 1 in America? What is their business model?
• The awareness now is low. Need to build a brand. Consultants need trust and reputation. When you think renewable energy, you think Eugene.
• Target market shouldn’t be rich people. Should be factory owners. Particularly ones that use a lot of energy. Try to save companies money. if you can SAVE me money, I’m in. If you’re targeting rich people who WANT to pay more money, find out where they live and talk to them. Many people are looking into saving cost.
• Social currency: I wouldn’t bother. Don’t lose focus on the main purpose of the service. A good service will sell.
• Your elevator pitch needs to be simple: “Hi, I’m Eugene. I’m a renewable energy consultant, these are my customers: Sony, Samsung (brands!). I see you have a factory, with solar I can save you this much. I’m here to solve your problems. Let me know.”

E.G.

• How do you provide the renewable energy?
• You need to know what you are: Your concept is “helping a company to find the best path for them that is independent of the solar companies or the utilities.” You’re an unbiased 3rd party advisor.
• You need a templatized process for assessing current energy usage. 
• Your customers are environmentally-minded, have discretionary/disposable income. Wealthy.
• Start out with a single market approach. The utility landscape will be so different depending on the market. Pick your starting location well.

New/Updated Project Problem/Solution

New Problem: People who want 100% renewable energy right now are feeling frustrated and optionless at the mercy of utilities who don’t plan to get to 100% renewable energy until 2045. The switch is possible, but business and homeowners don’t want the hassle of figuring out how.
New Solution: I propose a white-glove service that gets you all the results without the work. A service that will chart your path to 100% renewable, clean-sourced electricity to your home or business right now. We give you control over your electricity by examining your unique situation and showing you the road to clean power, whether it be through Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) or solar panels on your house. Yes, it will cost more, but our customers will be at the forefront of the energy transition. Think Elon Musk and Tesla of renewable power: by first targeting customers that have the resources that are willing to pay more for quality, clean-sourced energy, we build a trendsetting customer base that sets the standard for the future of energy. Switching to renewables should feel good and be something to be proud of, and we want to make it so. Take control of your energy.

Exercise 4 Reflection

• How did you feel about the exercise before starting? How did those feelings change?
• How did you feel during conversations? How did the others feel?
• Did you get advice beyond expectations? Did you learn?
• Do you feel your understanding of the problem and quality of solution improved?
• Were the people you talked to interested in the project? How would you characterize the conversations?

I had already actually completed this exercise once for another project before I switched projects, and I found this step to get easier the 2nd time around. Contacting friends and family and getting them to give advice on my project now is a piece of cake. At the beginning, it was difficult to get people past judgment of just telling me it’s good or bad. But once I learned to engage people and get them talking about my project, it became far easier. As such, the conversations also started a little strained, but got much easier over time. By the end, I think I, as well as the people I talked to, felt very comfortable talking about the project and I think many will be curious to know how it evolves.

For this project, the advice that I got was surprisingly much better than I thought it would be. Friends and family all had very different takes on the project that really helped me to evolve the project far beyond what it had been early on. They’ve also given me a lot that I need to research and learn about if I want to take this project further. The most important thing that I learned was never to underestimate others’ advice. Not being an expert in something doesn’t mean that someone can’t help you. Everyone will know something you don’t, or realize something you haven’t. By combining the knowledge and experience of many, my project has come quite far, despite no one being experts in the renewable energy field. My problem/solution changed a bit, and is now also much shorter and effective at demonstrating what I’m trying to do.

I’m excited but a little worried to get into the next step: finding people who are feeling the problem. My target is people with disposable income who want green energy. I’m not sure I can name anyone off the top of my head, but I’m excited to move this project forward and it feels very much like it is in the area I want to work in.

If you’re interested in taking Initiative in your life…

For anyone else who’s also interested in taking initiative in your life, growing as a person, moving your career forward, or getting your brilliant business idea, be sure to check out Josh Spodek’s book, Initiative and join me on this journey to new opportunities!

For the start of my journey, check out: Exercise 1 – Personal Essay

This post contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.