What is your name, title and the name of your business?
Jessica Jensen, CEO, Low Impact Living
What service does your business provide or what does it sell?
We help Americans learn how to make their homes and lives more eco-friendly. On our site we cover everything from the high end of full solar systems to the daily and mundane of reusable grocery sacks. We also have the largest directory of green products and service providers online.
What is it that makes your product/service green, eco-, or just plain better for us?
We provide great educational information on all sorts of green living topics, but we also look for and review hundreds of green products and services every month. If it doesn't provide a net benefit for the environment, you won't find it on our website. We're kicking the green tires so you don't have to. We also have a household environmental impact calculator that tells people what their impacts are and how they can live the low-impact life. The calculator is at: http://www.lowimpactliving.com/scores
What were you doing for work prior to starting this business?
I was in management consulting for a while and then I ran marketing for a stock market newspaper. Finally I saw the light and said, "Wait a second--the more papers I sell, the more trees die unnecessarily in the futile support of financial journalism!"
When did you start your business?
April 2006, but we launched the website in November 2006.
What was the impetus for starting your eco-business?
My husband, Jason Pelletier, and I started the business together. A few years back we realized that to be able to sleep well at night we needed to dedicate our professional lives to protecting our planet. We had also gone through the overly challenging process of trying to green our own home, and realized how few good resources there were online. So we decided we had to fix that problem. Hopefully we're saving people a lot of time and head-scratching!
Who are your target customers?
People who live and breathe on this Earth.
Where are you located and/or what areas do you service?
We are based in Los Angeles but our website serves the world. In terms of our product and service directory, it currently serves the US, but we are hoping to add Canada soon.
What would help you grow your business?
You mean aside from a $5M investment? Well we'll settle for great media exposure. And a federal solar and wind energy incentive program would help a lot too.
What is your biggest challenge with your business?
It's a freaking ton of work, but it feels so great to be working on something important. There are plenty of little challenges--but no insurmountable ones.
If you could meet any entrepreneur, who would it be?
Oprah--we don't have enough strong women entrepreneurs and she has built a killer empire! I want to give her a big, "go on girl."
What is your public contact info?
Jessica@lowimpactliving.com or (323) 965-9100
What's your favorite donut, and why?
Apple fritter. Warm, with organic free-trade coffee.
My 2 Cents:
Aside from Jessica being a hilarious human being, she is one smart cookie who has orchestrated the onerous task of gathering invaluable information that can help all of us lower our impact on the earth. The Low Impact Living site is beyond worth a bookmark! If you're anything like me, you'll find yourself referencing their content at cocktail hours... over organic, adult libations, of course!