As Internet marketers, we own and operate several businesses on the Internet. Who better than a business owner to understand loyalty and caring. And because of this, we have learned that there is actually a lot we can do to preserve soil, water and air. We believe that even the small steps we have taken make a difference.

You see, we believe we are at the beginning of an important shift in the way we treat our world. As parents as well as entrepreneurs, our family embraces the concept of caring for our world and all who live here on earth. We believe through conscious effort and simple behavior shifts, we can contribute to the preservation of our environment.

As business owners, here some of the initiatives we now embrace to ensure that our impact on the environment is reduced today... and for the future.

Business paperwork:
We reduce the amount of paperwork we generate and do not print email message. The printing of business papers require an enormous amount of paper products for email, invoices, receipts, estimates, agreements, documents and white papers. So does storage and the boxes to store the paper goods in.

Paperwork solution:
We discontinued use of out-dated office habits. Among other changes, we went digital for invoice/receipts and pdf documents online.

It's worth it to help save hundreds of trees per year and eliminate the pollution that would result if outdated stored paper goods and boxes were sent to an incinerator.

We provide the online email management system, which tracks email thread history so it is not necessary to print email messages to keep track of conversations.

Business partners:
We work with our network of business partners to cut down on the amount of paper goods and packaging used on certain products in our industry.

Less plastic, paper and Styrofoam translates into less waste in our landfills. Less weight for freight companies means less fuel used, thus cutting down on pollution. Less waste in the manufacturing process helps keep both our air and water cleaner.

Working with many of our partners, the use of separate pull sheets, packing slips and invoices has been reduced.

By using 1/3 less paper per order (multiplied by 4,000 orders a year and more), many trees are left standing, and there is 2/3 less waste that ends up in our landfills or gets burned in incinerators.

Conservation:
Finally, in our office today, light bulbs used are long-life, florescent bulbs. We recycle file folders; cell phones are sent to our troops; and we wear sweaters in winter to save energy by not running the heater and take similar steps in summer with the air conditioner. We reuse paper clips, use digital notepads, a digital calendar and calculator rather than battery operated or paper versions of these office tools. We now also use a digital planner and task master.

These may seem like small contributions to the environment, but the benefits are larger than they seem: Brighter lights mean more accuracy when processing your inquiries. Since the light burns much cooler than incandescent lighting, less energy is used to cool the office, meaning lower energy costs - which means lower overhead costs passed to you.

The same and similar environmental savings occur with other small steps. In fact, as a result of these and other savings steps we take, we can offer an affordable investment in products and have not raised our creative and support fees in over three years.

There is more we can do, and we continually come up with new ideas, but even these small steps make a difference.