With Earth Day approaching, going green is at the forefront for many businesses and individuals. Some people don’t know where to start. It seems as if you may need to completely change the way you do business to even make a significant change. This is not the case, though. Every little change that you can make will be a benefit to the environment in the grand scheme of things. You don’t have to make some huge long-term investment in solar panels or wind power to make a difference. This post will go over four ways that you can go green now without putting your business out of business.
Go Paperless
This is a pretty obvious one and also a pretty easy one to implement. Most of the time, we are printing things out just because it’s what we’ve been trained to do. You can just as easily read something on your screen as you can read it on a piece of paper. This is especially true of the types of content we come across in doing business. Emails, invoices, newsletters, marketing messages, NDAs, proposals, and even contracts can all be done electronically. Microsoft Office is one option that will make sharing and collaborating on documents simple.
Work From Home
According to Energy Star, working from home or running a home business can reduce energy costs by about 30 percent. Of course, this depends on the specifics of how you run your business and exactly what type of investment you’re able to put into going green. Bottom line is that you won’t be adding to commute pollution.
Involve Your Clients and Customers
Part of going green as a business is helping communicate and spread the same types of ideals to your customers, clients, and employees. Work with your clients to see if getting rid of paper is acceptable for them while working with you. Instead of always meeting face-to-face, see if some or all of your meetings could be done by phone or maybe via Skype. Outlook with Social Connector can help in keeping in touch.
Turn Stuff Off
Something so simple can make a lot of difference. Many people and companies as a whole don’t even bother to shut down their computers and other office equipment at the end of the day. This wastes loads of energy. Back in the day, many businesses and a few individuals ran their own servers at home. While some still do, it’s just not a necessity anymore. The cloud makes all of your data available 24/7 to you and your clients without the need for your personal computer to be on. When you shut it down for the day or turn in for the night, give your electronics a rest as well.
What have you done to make your business greener?