Day one of “Successful Solar Business” course

Day one of “Successful Solar Business” course

25 Sep 07 | General Business, Solar Electric, Solar Hot Water, Training

I am taking the SEI Successful Solar Business course at the Sandy Hook National Park educational center in Sandy Hook, NJ. First of all, this is a great place to have a class. The Sandy Hook National Park is right across the bay from Manhattan, however, it is a different world out here. The educational center is on an old army base called Fort Hancock, which is also pretty cool. This is a great time of year because there are no crowds anywhere and the atmosphere is nice and relaxed.

fairbanks motel seabright nj

I am staying that the Fairbanks Motel and Marina in Seabright, NJ, which is right outside of the gate to the park. The motel itself is a little run down and worn around the edges. Don’t expect a lot of bells and whistles but the rooms are clean, and the staff is nice and the rate are very reasonable. Bring your own shampoo as there is none in the room. If you are taking any classes at Sandy Hook, I recommend this motel. Their number is (732) 842-8450. All of this is right across from the beach, which is where I ate breakfast this morning.

sandy hook national seashore

The first day was very interesting. The instructor, Chuck Marken gave a brief overview of the course then jumped right in. We learned some of the global view on solar energy from Jim O’Hern of PV1. His presentation was basically on how governments are structuring rebates and clean energy credits to make Photovoltaics more competitive with conventional energy supplies.

Then we had and overview of business administration and a question and answer session. Today we will be learning about Marketing. As it turns out, I am staying at the same motel as the instruction. After class, we were sitting by the pool enjoying a Corona and I asked him what the single most important thing is for a start up business. He thought about it for a second and said “Marketing. You have to have a marketing plan, otherwise no one will know you are there.” I suppose this is true of any business. The minimum marketing a startup business should be doing is:

Yellow pages add. Old school but still effective.
Web page, great way to connect to the tech savy crowd, and the point of this website
Product catalog with basic diagrams and information on systems being sold
Attend fairs and home shows
Logo on the company trucks
Small “real estate” sized sign in front of work sites

Of course the best and most sought after marketing is word of mouth from satisfied customers. There are many many more topics of discussion, such a pre qualifying potential customers, dealing with distributors, and so on. Here are a few pictures of Sandy Hook, Fort Hancock and the Motel. More tomorrow.

fort hancock educational center sandy hook national park

This is the Fort Hancock Educational Center on Sandy Hook. It is an old brick building across from the Coast Guard base.

fort hancock officer housing

These are the former officer housing on Fort Hancock. These were built in 1898 when the fort was first established to defend NY harbor. It is really pretty cool to see, most of these are in a run down condition, but it looks like they still could be fixed up if needed. They face out toward the sound (west)

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