GoFaxer Blog

I believe in doing what we can to save the environment. I think that sometimes people fail to conserve because the world seems like such a big place and out of one’s control. It’s hard to think that actions of one person can change such a large globe with so many systems involved.

But it’s this kind of thinking that’s destroying the environment. The world is hurt by lots of little people like you and me failing to act responsibly.

Besides, sometimes impossible things aren’t as impossible as we think. When we think that fixing the problem is impossible, failure becomes a surety. So let’s have a little optimism.

And let’s use a little common sense to do our part. It isn’t huge. We don’t need to move next door to Leonardo Di’Caprio in his New York green apartment complex. We just need to make some small but helpful changes. Hopefully those small changes, collectively, will add up to exactly what needs to happen to fix the big problems.

So start by finally switching over to a fax to email account. Don’t print up so many papers. Recycle the newspaper. Change your light bulbs. These things aren’t hard, but on the whole, the whole will be helped by our small actions.

For regular readers of this blog, you know that I’m all for going green. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this whole environmental thing seems to have gained some traction in the hearts and minds of the citizens of the world. I’d call this a real movement.

With all three major presidential contenders calling for caps on greenhouse emissions, it’s gotten to the point where people can either choose to be green or they will soon be forced into it.

So here’s a few suggestions from a recent Entrepreneur.com article that suggests some practical ways to join the movement:

1. Work from home or ride a bike.
2. Go Digital—No more paper.
3. Use recycled paper and print on both sides.
4. Set computers to go on standby or hibernation when you’re gone.
5. Use daylight in your work environment, and when you can’t use LEDs.
6. Have real plants instead of fakes.
7. Ditch plastic utensils and plates. Use real plates and use a dishwasher.
8. Drink shade grown organic coffee.
9. Promote the fact that you’re a green company.
10. Avoid clothing that requires dry cleaning.

These are just a few great examples of how you can do business while being good stewards of your planet. You’ll notice that many of these require an office that is cutting edge in its communication methods. In other words, stop using that environmentally unfriendly fax machine, and embrace the new generation of fax to email. It’s the future my friends.

Many business owners understand the need to “go green.” It used to be that conservation was seen as an obstacle to keeping your business costs low. But these days, many business owners understand that green can symbolize trees and cash.

Simply put, being Energy Star certified as a business can save you money. Why? Because energy costs money. The more that you can use energy efficiently, the more money you can save.

I think that the digital revolution helped facilitate this practical worldview. As many business starting extricating paper from their premises, they realized that there was major money to be saved from saving the trees. This was furthered by the development of systems like fax to email and other web based services.

Then they changed their light bulbs to more energy efficient light bulbs. Suddenly electricity costs went down dramatically. Now we have businesses that are making major conversions, investing in solar power and other energy efficient models.

With all three major candidates for president totally committed to higher environmental standards, many large business leaders see the writing on the wall. If they don’t upgrade their systems to more efficient ones now, they will likely be forced to by government mandate. So it makes sense when investing in new equipment to make the more environmentally friendly move now.

So I guess it’s time to go green.

The environment seems to be on a lot of people’s minds these days. Companies are “going green.” Everyone’s trying to use less energy, if for anything else but to save money.

I’ve been contemplating whether buying or renting office space as a company is really efficient. When you consider the enormous amount of energy that it takes to build and maintain these large office buildings, I can’t help but wonder if they’re really necessary.

I mean, years ago they probably were. You needed access to big expensive office machinery, like enormous room size computers, type writers, copy machines, and fax machines.

But now we all have laptops, email fax, and we work in paperless offices. There’s also conference calling. And video conferencing is a hop, skip, and a jump away from being mainstream. Work can be done from pretty much anywhere with an Internet connection. Everyone has a place of residence. So is the corporate office building really necessary anymore?

I wonder if in the future it will make more sense to eliminate the entire office expense from the equation. Pay people a little more so they can set up a nice office in their house. Let them work from home. Let them set their own hours. It seems to me that it will be a much better use of our natural resources, and frankly, I’d prefer the freedom to check my email in the morning in my pajamas. But maybe that’s just me.

“Okay Wade, you’ve convinced me that my small business needs to be more conservation minded. Where do I start? How do I do this? What do I do?

The questions are endless, I know. The first and easiest thing you need to do is switch to an Internet fax service. Just do it. No more stalling. It’s easy.

The second thing you need to do is go to Energy Star’s website.

This gives you:

• Information
• Technical support
• A “How-to” guide
• Finance Resources
• Energy equipment and service contractors and utilities
• Public relations materials

This site will help you create an energy plan for the future. You will need to make a commitment to hit certain benchmarks for efficiency. You will need to continually assess your performance in relation to those goals. And you will want to recognize your achievements.

This site has all of the tools and resources you’ll need to create and execute a plan. It’s got a really impressive Energy Program Assessment Matrix which will help you and your managers compare their practices with green standards. It’s got Cash Flow calculators that will help you approach this entire project from a financial perspective.

I’m just scratching the surface on what is available. This site has everything you’ll need. Check it out and good luck on moving toward a new and exciting attitude of conservation within your small business.

A recent article at BusinessWeek.com by Amy Barrett outlines some really great opportunites to small businesses for “going green”:

“Many utilities and states offer rebates on energy-saving equipment, with some also providing loans at below-market interest rates for small businesses to finance upgrades. All told, there are about 250 financial incentive programs offered by federal, state, and local governments and utilities.”

And the financial benefits can be rather dramatic. It may be possible to reduce costs by 30% through adjusting your means of lighting, heating, cooling, as well use of other office equipment. Show me a business that doesn’t want to reduce costs by 30%. That goes straight to the bottom line my friends.

The fact of the matter, is that smart conservation within your company, whether it’s making sure that you recycle, using Internet fax, encouraging good paperless practices, or even completely revamping your entire heating and cooling system, can have enormous financial benefits that you’ll see immediately.

Environmentalism is no longer a cultish attitude. It’s an attitude of conservation that will simply improve our business performance as well as our way of life. in fact, it really isn’t about doing without. It’s about cutting what we don’t want in the first place.

You know, a few years ago I remember hearing that the company my mother works for, a very large and well known computer company, was going paperless. This concept almost seemed magical to me. Were they really going to get rid of all paper?

Nowadays, this term of paperless, has come to be understood as the standard operating practice of any modern business. But with the buzz gone and the standard in place, I’m starting to wonder if we’re as paperless as we think we are.

How often do you print up an email? How often do you print up that proposal to present to the marketing manager? How often do you print up the proofs to an ad?

I still see desks these days with a lot of pieces of paper on them. I still see too many people jotting down notes on pieces of paper. I still hear the gentle hum of the printer in the distance all too often. And too many businesses are still using old-fashioned fax machines rather than Internet fax.

So maybe it’s time to recommit ourselves and our businesses to that elusive dream of going completely paperless. Maybe we can challenge our employees to go an entire week without using a single piece of paper. The practice will be good for our businesses and good for our world.

I think that environmentalists have approached the entire issue of global warming in the wrong way. They’ve used an emotional appeal to their audience, trying to rally the crowd through inspirational, almost pseudo-religious jargon. They lay guilt trips on us for not being better at recycling and driving an SUV.

The best approach to environmental issues is to focus on our pocket books, expecially those of businesses. Every employee in almost every business in the world is focused on two things: Increase sales and decrease expenses. Whether it’s creating a new sales promotion that increases over-all revenue, or switching to Internet fax to save money on paper, this is what businesses do. They try to make and save money.

The fact of the matter is that saving energy saves businesses money. It also has the added benefit of saving the environment. But to focus on the esoteric, way long-term benefits of changing your light bulbs will not inspire the world to change it’s energy habits. But I guarantee that a frank conversation with your CFO about the financial benefits of going green will get the job done in about ten minutes.

Amy Barrett at BusinessWeek.com tells this story:

“Frustrated by rising energy bills, Larry Tinkelman, president of Kevin’s Wholesale, replaced 100 light fixtures in the company’s Scranton (Pa.) warehouse with energy-efficient fluorescent units. That seemingly ho-hum fix saved $2,600 a year.”

So maybe we should all become fiscal environmentalists. This approach might actually work.

This week I’ll be discussing how Internet fax, and other good business practices can create an attitude of conservation within your small company.

The immediate association that we make with the word, “conservation” is the environment. This is of course become a very big issue in the last couple of years in particular, as scientists have united into a strong and forceful voice of warning. The simple fact of the matter is that humans are not taking care of the planet, and the planet is seeing dramatic effects from this neglect.

There are very big reasons that small businesses can think globally, especially as it relates to the environment. Of course, with “going green” humming along as the new buzz word, it’s not going to hurt your public relations to be known as an environmentally friendly company either.

But conservation goes beyond energy use and world weather patterns. It’s also a money issue. It’s an issue of how effectively you’re business is using your resources, capital, and time. Do you have systems in place, a company culture ingrained, and a corporate-wide attitude of conservation of your resources? Whether it’s money, paper, or time, a company with the right attitude about these resources has laid the groundwork for a successful business.