You became an entrepreneur to change the world right? Well, here is your big chance. The best trend today in business is the call to action for professionals to do their part in making this world a better, brighter place.
Do not discard the concept of an Eco Friendly Business just because it is trendy. This is one trend to stand behind. Not only can helping the environment improve the world, but it can improve your business and make you a more profitable venture.
1. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. The best first step is to find out about environmental laws. They are normally very simple to find and follow in your local area.
2. ADVERTISE ONLINE. Recent studies show that online advertising is the second best way to reach consumers (next to TV) and the most specifically targeted way. In advertising on websites, you are not only reaching new customers but preserving print ad space. Yes, someone will probably replace you in print but they are losing out and you are helping the cause.
3. TELECOMMUNICATION. After the first meeting with clients and associates, face-to-face is not as necessary as some may think. Try speaking over the phone, IM, email, and Video Chat. Creative flow is not completely tarnished in these mediums and in most cases it is free and easy (especially with a Mac built in eye sight).
4. TELECOMMUTING. If meeting is necessary or you just need to go to the office everyday, try carpooling. Not only will it save everyone gas money but it will build a more personal bond between those in your organization.
5. OUTSOURCING. Instead of hiring a full time staff of employees, hire freelancers. The benefits are great. Energy consumption will go down in your office, you will not have to pay out the benefits or taxes attached to employees, and people will bid for your work.
6. SIMPLIFY SHIPPING. Making an effort to do your shipping locally with local distributers saves time, money, and effort. This and using recycled packaging material can play a small role in cutting back expenses and becoming more Eco Friendly.
7. TRACK CONSUMPTION. Just as you track your inventory and finances, track your resource output. It may (probably will) surprise you how much you are consuming. When you have it in mind, you are more likely to be conservative on what you are consuming.
8. RECYCLE. Setting up simple recycling bins that separate your trash is a great way to keep total consumption down. With very little effort you will be preserving resources and you may even get a little cash back for your efforts (not much but something).
9. MAKE ONLINE PAYMENTS. Instead of receiving your bills in the mail and sending them the same way, save the paper and pay online. Not only is the transaction much faster but it is free as well (and can be automated, saving time).
10. ALLOW CUSTOMER PAYMENTS ONLINE. You can set up your website to allow customers to pay you online. PayPal is safe and easy to set up.
11. EMAIL MEMOS & DOCUMENTS. Instead of sending out memos and other documents within your company and to your customers on paper, send them in emails. It the most efficient way to do it and saves paper in the process.
12. OPEN WINDOWS. In the spring and other times of the year when the weather is mild, opening windows instead of using central air is a great money saver. Less consumption is key. It also provides a breath of fresh air for your business (literally).
13. ELECTRONIC PRESENTATIONS. During presentations switch to a projected powerpoint as opposed to text documents in front of all your audience members. As long as you use large text, which all your presentation visuals should have anyway, it will be easily readable by the viewers.
14. CHANGE YOUR LIGHTS. By changing your lights bulbs to compact flourecent bulbs, you will save energy any time your lights are on. The bulbs also last longer so it saves mantenance costs.
15. MAKE ECO FRIENDLY PRODUCTS. If you are a product company, take small steps to make them more green. Research the various materials you can use and go more natural.
16. GET EVERYONE ON BOARD. Get your team pumped up about your energy saving, money saving, world saving goals with speeches and incentives. The more your teams is conforming to your green policies, the more you will save.
17. COMMUNITY SERVICE. Also, do some community service. It is a way to clean up your community and and make a good impression on the people around you. Public relations can go a long way for your company.
18. PROMOTE GREEN. Make an effort to promote cleaner, more environmentally friendly business. It is very easy. Add a link on your website to an Eco site, add in a bit about your efforts in marketing materials. You will spread the word and make your venture appear more respectable.
19. GO BLACK. Most websites have white backgrounds. This causes the screens they are shown on to produce a lot of screen brightness. This uses more wattage power. By using a black or dark background for your website, you can save energy for all your visitors and collectively, the planet.
Making your business Greener has so many benefits. You save money with cost cutting, you look respectable and attract more customers, and you become part of the solution–instead of the problem. It is not hard to do and you can always get creative and come up with new ideas to help the cause. These 19 above are great starting points that you can do now to generate a better, stronger, cleaner business.
Got any other ideas?
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Awesome article. Some great tips here. This is one of the goals I have for 2008 so there’s some tips here I’ll take with me this year.
quick sidenote: you might want to put the “comment” link at the bottom of the posts. I read the entire post and then have to scroll back up to click “comment”
[…] Changing the World. People with in an organization can all do their part but to truly make a difference in the world you need to take the risk and create something all it’s own. A business, as an entity is the […]
[…] Greener - The main reason we switched to primarily dark colors is to do our small part to help the environment. The brighter the colors in a website, the more power the screen uses. It seems arbitrary and […]