The greenest printing is no printing at all, but sometimes you have to have a business card or brochure to give to potential clients. So, if you must print, print green! Printing for Less has covered a wide scope of green printing practices from FSC certified paper, vegetable based inks, wind-powered facilities and more. I have always highly recommended them to my clients.

This month PFL is offering new customers $100 off their first order of $300 with coupon code Affiliate100 (exp 10-1-2011). Visit PrintingForLess to take advantage of these huge savings! If you have a smaller order and don’t meet the $300 balance, no problem. Use my referral code for $50 off your first order of any amount. Use code RP1D6SEJM at checkout, there is no expiration.

These savings are huge and my clients have always been very impressed with the final product. So, print green & save green on your next printing project!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Green Printing $100 OFF for September

The holidays are coming up quick and it’s time for Eco-Office Gals to get in the giving spirit. Many of you will have printing needs for the season. Christmas cards or holiday catalogs may be on the holiday horizon. At Eco-Office Gals we promote paperless, but we know that’s not always possible.  So, in cases where printing is a must, consider printing responsibly!

Printing For Less offers several aspect of responsible printing services including:

• FSC Certified Paper
• Chlorine Free Paper
• Vegetable Based Ink
• Water Based Coating
• Wind Powered
• Land Preservation
• Natural Light
• and so much more!

PFL prints Holiday cards, business cards, note cards, catalogs, stationery, brochures and more. While treading as softly on the earth as possible. I have worked with PFL on several client projects and they have all been impressed with the quality of product delivered to them and the Customer Service is top-notch!

So, what does this have to do with my gift to you? Eco-Office Gals is offering 1 hour of our services free* for every $100 of printing services you purchase through our affiliate link. So, whether you need a business card designed, WordPress updates, a Facebook Fan Page set up, or any of our other services, you get an hour free per $100 spent at PFL. Additionally, PFL has some wonderful coupon codes to help you save! Including $50 off your 1st order of $100 or more! User coupon code MC5008 during checkout!

So, let us know how Eco-Office Gals and Printing For Less can help you print responsibly this holiday season.

* free service hours only apply to purchases made though the Eco-Office Gals affiliate links provided. Offer is valid through Dec. 31, 2010

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Free Services to Green Your Holidays!

Yes, I just said the “P” word — Paper.  I have no use for it.  I still don’t have my printer hooked up and have no intentions of doing so.  Eco-Office Gals has no letterhead, no business cards, no paper contracts, we won’t do any job where the end result is paper – it’s just that simple.

However, what options are available if you do have to print? Using recycled materials, FSC certified paper, or tree free paper is always a good direction. Eco-Office Gals has found a few companies out there that have taking the steps necessary to provide you with the most eco-friendly paper solutions.

• Printing for less: This company provides business cards, brochures, catalogs and stationery for your business needs. However, their paper is FSC certified, and they use vegetable based inks. It doesn’t stop there either, they’re wind powered, the building is carpet-free, they use open architecture, natural lighting, and have 25 acres of preserved wetland on their property. PFL has done their homework! Take advantage of the following coupons to place your order:
  20% Off Your First Order, Promo Code: NC2010 Expires: September 30th
  $50 Off Your First Order Over $100, Promo Code: NC50AN Expires: September 30th
• The Check Gallery: Melissa, owner of Naturally Good Soaps, contacted my a while back inquiring about green checks. I had to look around a bit and I finally found one. The Check Gallery checks are printed on recycled paper using vegetable-based ink. So, if it’s time to get new checks consider ordering with them.
  Get 20% Off and free shipping and Handling with coupon code GWF 859
• EcoPaper: EcoPaper produces tree-free & acid free paper products. They use alternatives such as banana, hemp, mango, lemon, coffee and sugar cane to produce their products. Their line includes, reams of paper, journals, envelopes, stationery, sketch pads and cover stock. Take advantage of everyday low prices on office and school supplies at Ecopaper.com!

So if you have to print or use paper for your business, choose responsibly! Do you have a company you recommend for it’s responsible printing and paper practices?

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Eco-Options: Paper

Yes you heard me right.

An analogy for you: I had an ex-boyfriend that would order steaks from Denny’s and then complain every time about how terrible their steaks were.  If you want a good steak don’t go to Denny’s, go to a steakhouse. Go to Denny’s if you want a yum breakfast or piece of pie at 3 am. Likewise don’t hit up a steakhouse if you’re looking for fast food…. get my drift.

Your Virtual Assistant should have a specialty or a niche as the VA industry has seen fit to call it.  That one area they have become the “go-to-gal/guy“.   When I connected with Cristina Favreau on Twitter and saw her bio “I help VAs find their marketing voice, define their niche, get clients! Master at brainstorming.” I knew she was a sure follow.  She not only got the concept “If you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one” she had made it her specialty!  If you are a VA still struggling to find your place I recommend you check her out.

So, What about Eco-Office Gals? We are a Green Virtual Assistant Service. We strive to not only to provide your small business with administrative needs, but we are always looking for the best ways to make us all a little greener. We try to give your small business eco-alternatives to everyday administrative needs. We encourage electronic communications, e-signed contracts, and other earth friendly alternatives. Above all we are paperless. The best you will get out of us print-wise is designing a business card to print in a responsible manner.  We will create a blogsite, an e-newsletter or other e-publications, draft an email or design web advertising for you. If you need letters drafted, hard copy publications, fliers etc. Eco-Office Gals is not a good fit for your Virtual Assistant needs.

Do you have to be a green company to work with Eco-Office Gals?  Not exactly.  However, if your company has no desire to move in a sustainable direction chances are we will not make a good fit from the start and our partnership will be short lived.

So, while you do want your Virtual Assistant to “know it all”… don’t expect to find one that is willing to do it all. If you want a steak cooked to perfection… find good steakhouse.

Grow Green,

Jen

Image courtesy of Dallas Steakhouse Restuarant

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Don’t Pick A Virtual Assistant that “Does It All”

One of the daily tasks that small businesses of all kinds must do is writing. This writing may include content writing for your website or blog, writing for promotional materials such as brochures, drafting of legal documents and business plans and many other types of writing that go into the launch and maintenance of a business. Because we do so much writing for our small businesses, learning to be greener with our writing is a key way to become a greener business overall.

Here are some top tips that you can follow to green your writing:

• Add a green note to the bottom of all of your writing. The easiest thing that you can do is to put a note at the bottom of all written communication (whether email or printed) stating your goal to be a green business. This helps to remind people that you care about being green and they should as well.
• Write promotional articles about green issues related to your small business. The fact that you are an eco-friendly business is marketable. One way to promote your business is to write about the green issues facing your industry. Submit this writing to blogs and magazines. You gain attention for your business, reduce the amount of other promotional printing that you may need to do and spread the word about green issues at the same time.
• Feature green articles on your site. Create a specific area of your site where you write about green issues. This may be a category on your blog or a section for articles on your main site. Write regularly to keep informing others about eco-friendly issues that matter to you. Promote these articles through eco-friendly groups on sites like Facebook and Mixx.
• Recycle your paper and buy recycled paper. The first thing that all businesses should do is to recycle all of the paper that is used in the office. Ideally, you will re-use some of this paper. It can be used as scratch paper or turned into homemade paper which can then be used for special cards and gifts. Shredded paper can be used for packing. Alternatively, it can be sent to the recycling plant. Also be sure that you’re buying recycled paper for everything from computer paper to business cards.
• Recycle ink and printers. Much of the writing that we do today is done by computer and printed out in-house. Be sure to always re-fill or recycle your ink cartridges. When the printer itself needs replacing, make sure that you use proper electronics recycling practices.
• Learn about green computing practices. If you haven’t already started implementing green computing into your small business then now is the time. This means using an energy-efficient computer and turning everything off when you leave the office. A good trick related to your writing is to save all documents to be printed at the end of the day and keep the printer off the rest of the time.
• Don’t print out your writing unless you have to. You would be surprised how many people still print out hard copies of drafts they have on their computer to edit them by hand then enter the changes into the computer and re-print the document. Stop printing out your drafts, do your editing on the computer and print out only a final copy as needed.
• Use eco-friendly writing utensils. When you’re not using a computer, you should be using pens that are green. Plastic ballpoint pens are bad for the earth. Old-fashioned pens like fountain pens that can be re-filled when the ink runs low are a much better option to use for your writing.
• Add a green donation button to your blog. If your business has a blog then you can add a donation button there to support a green cause of your choosing. People can donate to you through PayPal and you can turn around and donate that money to your favorite green charity. Every time that you blog, you’ll be spreading the word about another way people can be green.
• Hire green writers as needed. If you outsource any of your writing to freelancers then you should make the added effort to hire writers who specialize in being green. These writers work to reduce energy and paper waste in their in-home offices and to support green businesses with their writing. Root for Green and A Little Greener Every Day are two examples of green writing service providers.

Greening your small business writing practices will benefit your business in a number of ways. It will reduce your waste, save you money and improve your ability to be eco-friendly in the office in small ways. It’s a great area to start with if you’re working on expanding your green office practices.

Guest post by Kathryn Vercillo. Kathryn is a writer for Promotionalcodes.org.uk which gives away free voucher codes (like this Travelodge promotional code) and also publishes a frugal blog.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Guest Post – How to be Green with your Writing

One area of your business that is easy to overlook when growing green is your business cards.  There are so many cheap, or free options these days. I have been quick to slap some images and text on a template and check out without a second thought of what kind of paper or ink is being used or even the shipping method used to have them brought to my door.

As an ecopreneurists, your most ideal option when going paperless in your office is not to have business cards at all.  Personally, I have not ordered business cards for Eco-Office Gals and since I am a 99.9% virtual business, I don’t miss them.  Yet, that .01% of the time that I find myself in the “real world” and someone asks what I do, I could kick myself for not having some to hand out.

So, what are your options when paperless is not an option? Here are a few companies that have been recommended or I have come across with a little background from their site:

PrintingForLess – (Use code RP1D6SEJM for $50 OFF your first order, no expiration) This company seems to have taken great care in covering every aspect of sustainability! Beyond being FSC Certified and 100% Wind Powered (from the site)

• Our paper is milled Elemental Chlorine Free. Trees are a renewable resource, but dioxin (used to bleach paper white) is forever!
• Our inks are vegetable-based, primarily soy, which is both gentle on the environment while producing bright, high-quality images.
• We package our products with biodegradable padding materials instead of those that are annoying and harmful to the environment, such as petroleum-based foam “peanuts.”
• We use water-based aqueous coating to protect your printed pieces. It provides a high-gloss surface that deters dirt and fingerprints and is more friendly to our environment than UV coatings.
• We are focused on reducing waste. By using top-grade paper with highly-trained press operators, we have considerably reduced the number of test or “make-ready” sheets needed to run through the presses as we set up your printing project.
  

Moo.com – Is a fun twist on the business card and they have a 100% Recycled Fiber, Totally recyclable and biodegradable & Totally Chlorine Free (TFC) paper option.

Your business isn’t like anyone elses, so why should your cards be? With MOO, every card can be different, allowing you to show your product range, your portfolio or your full list of services.

US Business Cards – Eco-Office Gals really loves the idea behind these Cereal Box Cards!

Breakfast Cereal Boxes – Precision cut by guillotine paper cutter. Sharp, clean edges. Randomly cut from popular cereal brands such as Wheaties and Cheerios, plus colorful ones like Fruit Loops. Standard size is 2″ x 3.5″. Printing is on the blank side.

So, next time your business card supply runs low, consider some of the above “greener” options.  Additionally,  check out this post from Reencoded for fun ideas and design your own green business cards!

Grow Green!
Jen

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Eco-Options: Business Cards