Costa Rican Ecovillage

When this Costa Rican ecovillage (name withheld) hired me for “help with a spreadsheet,” I quickly discovered they had no business plan and a seriously broken financial model that left their investors open to major risk as they moved rapidly toward expansion. I helped them flesh out their business and marketing needs, accurately capture their income and expenditures, and create a working financial model to present to potential investors. I also helped out with marketing, SEO and social media recommendations.

Participation

• Worked closely with business stakeholders to understand daily operations and plans for expansion at the ecovillage
• Created detailed questionnaires to help ownership understand and fill in the gaps in their plans
• Created a 7-year financial forecast, including profit-and-loss, overhead expenses, detailed sales forecasts, staffing projections, and expenditures for building and facility improvements
• Provided detailed demographic information to help management better understand their ideal customers
• Provided high-level marketing recommendations, to allow them to pursue the most profitable avenues for promotion post-fundraising
• Performed full website audit; made content marketing and SEO recommendations