I was faced with a choice this week: Continue running First Page Fitness as a niche SEO company, or commit myself to Gaiam as a long-term full-time employee.
Maybe the industry overall is doing well, or maybe people recognize good work when they see it. Either way business is good and I did not have enough time to commit to Gaiam and continue taking on new clients at the same rate.

Since announcing that I am dissolving First Page Fitness as an SEO company, I have received a few emails from friends, family and clients who all say the same thing:
“Why not just quit Gaiam and do First Page Fitness. You could make more money!“

They are correct. I probably could make a lot more money. But let me tell you something about Gaiam. It is the kind of company that has the potential to change the way the American economy works. It is the kind of company that is run by DOers, rather than SAYers. It is the kind of company that pays its employees to watch An Inconvenient Truth, and take hour-long yoga classes. It is the kind of company that goes against what traditional “corporate America” says is wise, such as selling $8,000 bio-diesel fuel processors to 35-year old men on the same website that sells $17 yoga mats to 40-year old women. And if I can help this company succeed by getting it in front of more eyes online, I will.

The problem with corporate America is that companies are no longer working in the interest of consumers because - by law and definition - they are required to do their best to make profits for stock holders.

Where once a single owner or group of owners could make the choice to take a loss in profits for their ideals and morals, “managers” and “executives” are required to ignore their ideals and morals in the name of the almighty dollar. To do otherwise is fiscally irresponsible and, in some cases, illegal.

But here is what happens when you build a business around the concepts of health and sustainability:

Consumers expect your products and services to be healthy and environmentally conscious. That’s what attracted them to your brand in the first place. If customers see that your products and services are no longer healthy and eco-conscious, they leave. So, from a purely “corporatist” point of view, it looks like this:

Unhealthy, Environmentally Irresponsible Products = Unhappy Customers
Unhappy Customers = Lower Profits and Lower Profits = Unhappy Stock Holders

Whereas, the opposite and desired effect is this:

Healthy, Eco-Friendly Products = Happy Customers
Happy Customers = Higher Profits and Higher Profits = Happy Stock Holders

By basing its brand on being healthy and environmentally conscious, the founders of Gaiam were able to transform the traditional dynamics of a corporate economy. They are not the only company doing this, of course. Gaiam is a large piece of a much larger global trend. They just happen to be the one I work for.

On the VERY rare occasion that I read a criticism of Gaiam, it usually says that the company doesn’t go far enough, that it caters too much to the upper middle-class suburbanite, that it is more “eco chic” than “eco friendly”.

Do you want to know why we are in so much trouble, yet nobody seems to care? These same critics have put it into the American psyche that in order to be environmentally friendly you have to live in a commune, not wear deodorant, eat rabbit food, and work behind the counter for minimum wage at a coffee shop or record store. Do they actually think a 40-year-old mother of two in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio is going to adopt that lifestyle? No! Yet, she represents the majority of Americans who really do care about their health and the environment, but are unable to exercise their ideals in the face of fast food chains, strip malls, corporate mega centers and sprawling suburbia that surrounds them.

Companies like Gaiam recognize this, and are able to provide healthier, eco-conscious products and services to the American people without scaring them away. Maybe the suit-and-tie wearing corporate executive who buys a few chemical-free household cleaners today will decide to get a backyard composter next year. And perhaps the year after he’ll actually buy a solar kit for his house or - much to the surprise of his corporate buddies - a peddle-powered boat for their weekend fishing trips.

It takes small steps toward a sustainable future for corporate America. Gaiam took the first steps almost ten years ago, and I am proud to be walking with them today.

This has been a late-night rant by Everett Sizemore. This is only a rant. If this had been an actual blog entry, you would have been instructed to contact us for further information. We now return to your regularly scheduled First Page Fitness.