Episode 4: The Magic of Tiny Business with Sharon Rowe of ECOBAGS

How do you create an impact in the world and be ahead of your time? How do you shape and evolve your business according to your purpose?

In this episode, I am bringing an exceptional entrepreneur who embraced her purpose and created a huge impact through her tiny business. Sharon Rowe is a social entrepreneur, artist, speaker, and founder of ECOBAGS. She is also the author of The Magic of Tiny Business, where she talks about tiny businesses built on maintaining a laser focus on what is essential by living an intentional life. Sharon has been featured in Time, The Wall street journal, NPR, Entrepreneur, Forbes, and numerous podcasts.

Sharon shares how she came up with her reusable bag business and how her passion for change helped her in developing ECOBAGS. She talks about the challenges of producing reusable bags and where she started to market her products. Sharon explains what inspired her to write her book and how she thinks business can be used to solve environmental problems.

Quote: 

“I just saw a great big problem that needed to be solved.”

“I was mad about all the single-use plastics, but I was inspired by clean air and clean water and the idea that that should be for everybody.”

“I created a brand for a market that didn’t exist and then had to work really hard with showing up basically and talking to a lot of people.”

“The magic of a tiny business is to make a living doing what you feel matters most, and to make it in a way with integrity and as much passion as you can put into it.”

“Understand that you really need to grow profit so that you can be attentive to the needs of the business and the mission, and it’s on your own time.”

“You can make a great living, but you can also make a big impact.”

“You don’t need to touch everybody anymore. You just need to touch the right people.”

“I think of business as just really problem-solving. You’re constantly problem-solving, whether it’s about cash flow or production or customer service.”

“It’s about providing a brand that opens up and sparks a much larger conversation and moves people to act.”

Key Points of the Episode:

• Who is Sharon Rowe and what inspired her to start Eco-Bags?
• Sharon shares some of the challenges she faced during the early years of producing reusable bags.
• How Sharon started from B2B retailers and what she considered as her biggest break in the industry.
• How have Eco-Bags evolved over the years?
• Sharon talks about her book, “The Magic of Tiny Business.”
• What does BCorps certification mean and how does it help businesses solve social and environmental issues?

Connect with Sharon Rowe:

Sharon’s Website: SharonRowe.com

Eco-Bags Website: ECOBAGS

Sharon’s Facebook: @sharonfeldmanrowe

Eco-Bags Facebook: @ECOBAGSdotcom

Sharon’s IG: sharonrowe_

Eco-Bags IG: ecobags_us

Sharon’s LinkedIn: Sharon Rowe

Get Sharon’s book, “The Magic of a Tiny Business”, here:
https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Tiny-Business-Great-Living/dp/1523094788/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510077554&sr=8-1&keywords=magic+of+tiny+business 

Know more about BCorps here: https://bcorporation.net/about-b-corps