Lately, being green has had a lot more to do with sex appeal than envy. Everything now has an “eco” option that is conveniently twice as expensive as its Earth-eating brethren, comes in a winsome and recycled package, and makes the consumer feel ever so hip and forward-thinking.  The only "green" things about this movement are the greenbacks lining pockets.

I’ve been trying to hack my way through this fleshy capitalism and heavyweight marketing to get to the bones of this cash cow.  It’s much easier for us to stomach buying new beautiful bamboo flooring than to refrain from flushing to conserve water.  It’s the latter that  does the real good, though, and that’s what this article’s about (real good, that is - not our unmentionables).

As Cogent continues to explore ways in which we can be environmentally conscious without buying the latest "eco-product," I will post new thoughts and ideas here.

Sweat the Small Stuff

 

We don’t feel good about ourselves unless we are making big strides with big initiatives.  America – land of big stuff, big rewards, and big let downs. This is why we have millions of “miracle” diets making lots of revenue but not helping anybody lose weight.  Think of these steps as the small, but significant, lifestyle changes that will eventually let you lose that obese carbon footprint.

1. Don’t pitch those pens! I am a sucker for an office store.  All the pretty colors, the smell of paper, rows of binders, desk organizers.  (Maybe not everyone has this affinity?).  But just because you have the company card and a Staples catalog does not mean you should buy all those shiny goods vying your attention. 
   
   Pens are a good example.  I have a favorite pen – the Uni-Ball Signo 207.  The other day I ran out and went to buy new pens.  I debated for several minutes and decided to come back to it.  Good thing because at the end of the aisle, buried deep in the “nice pen” section, were refills for my beloved Signo!  It’s likely that your favorite pen has an ink refill pack available as well.
   
   
2. Pack a lunch in reusable containers. I love Lock ‘n Locks because they are liquid and air tight – no car spill. Not only is this a great budgeting option but it also saves resources.
   
   If you don’t have time to cook, try to at least have dinner, drink and flatware at the office.  Lots of restaurants, especially coffee shops and locally owned places, will put your food or drink in your own reusable container. Chances are they will thank you for saving them the money!
   
   
3. Running an office errand?  Pack a bag! I just received a Baggu reusable shopping bag in the mail which is my all-time favorite so far.  We are considering making these something special to give to clients because I love them so much.  It doesn’t need to be a new bag, though – if you have any sort of bag that will hold some weight, then even better!  We (Americans) threw away approximately 100 billion plastic bags last year.   Other countries are way ahead of us on this and there’s no reason why we should catch up quickly.  (read more)
    
   
4. Turn off the computer during non-business hours.  Sleepy computers take energy, too!
   
   
5. Lay off the packaged goodies.  Many offices provide snacks or at least beverages/bottled water.  These snacks and drinks are heavy on the packaging materials and light on nutritional substance.  Instead, pack your own snacks in reusable containers and fill up a big container with water each morning (I love the stainless steel Sigg, but any old bottle will do).  Soda machines are notorious for sucking up tons of energy to keep all those plastic bottles full of America’s favorite addiction cold and delicious.  If you need a soda fix, buy some shelved packs at the grocery and stick them in the fridge at work – it’ll be much cheaper anyway.
   
   
6. Don’t use the lights if you don’t need them.  More energy efficient lighting is better (compact fluorescent) than incandescent (some would argue against this – feel free to google the controversy) but no energy is better than energy efficient.  Don’t leave lights on in conference rooms, bathrooms, and other places where people only sometimes go.
   
   
7. Pay online.  Writing a check, putting it in an envelope with a stamp, and having USPS spend the fuel and pollution to take a payment to someone else is silly if you can pay online.  Welcome to the millennium, kids! 
   
   
8. Love your water! If you are washing hands or dishes only get enough water in the beginning to get a nice lather going.  Finish washing and then turn the water back on to rinse.  This simple step can save thousands of gallons of water!

If you're a rule-oriented person, you are probably feeling stressed right now.  Don't worry!  Whatever parts of these little things you can do are a first step and it does add up over time.  Start forming habits and before you know it you'll surprise yourself with your sub-eco-conscious.  

 

Cogent is currently in the relationship building phase of a new project with a local real estate agency. Over the last few weeks I've enjoyed getting to know the leadership of the company and its agents. Most recently, I was invited to attend a company barbecue where I would be able to get to know some of the agents better. I spent about an hour eating and asking questions about the company and the state of the real estate industry. I shared my knowledge of Redfin, a start-up company based in California that has completely thrown out the traditional real estate agency model by replacing do-it-all agents with simple guidance and 6% commissions with customer satisfaction surveys that result in bonuses. I also talked about Zillow.com which is a new real estate search and appraisal tool. The agent I was speaking with was lamenting what she considered to be a failure of the industry to really evangelize the value of a real estate agent. This has resulted in downward pressure on commission rates and what I would describe as a backlash against the more traditional agencies.

Bringing the "A" Game

What I realized during this conversation was that the internet is forcing almost all service related industries to step up their "game" and deliver greater value or risk falling by the wayside. The travel industry may have been the first to be taken out. Fifteen years ago, travel agents were everywhere, but now only a few remain. In my opinion doctors are currently feeling the pressure. Medical advice and diagnostic tools abound on the internet. I often feel as if I could just write prescriptions myself, I wouldn't need a doctor most of the time. Many people I know show up with paperwork in hand from Wikipedia or the like and a diagnosis in mind. And then there are the doctor rating sites that are growing in popularity. I truly believe the era of self-service medicine is around the corner.

Are Web Agencies Immune?

My own industry is no exception. Among the most bountiful information on the web is how someone can use the web to advance their business.  New, web-based tools that allow average business owners to create simple sites appear every day. So yes the internet does make us work harder, but it's a good thing. As the owner of a web agency, and believer in the power of the web to improve businesses, unite cultures, and empower individuals it is crucial to our very DNA as an industry that we must embrace change and always strive to increase the value we provide to our customers or risk becoming obsolete like the travel agent of days gone by.

This article assumes that as with all relationships there are times when partners butt heads and you wish you could just fire the person at the other desk, but maybe after reading these 5 reasons, you’ll decided to at least wait until tomorrow to go all Trump on them.

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As a father and the primary bread-winner of our household I often find myself trying to balance my duties as a father, husband, full-time employee and PixelProfit partner with little success. As a full-time employee I’m expected to be at work for at least 40 hours per week and although being a web developer means that technically much of my job could be done from anywhere I have a computer and internet connection, my employer really wants me at my desk as much as possible. In the early days, before the wireless internet, I use to joke that if you didn’t see me at my desk that no work was being done. Today if I'm away from my desk and all the distractions of the office, it’s likely that more work is getting done. As my daughter grows older I feel, as I’m sure many fathers do, that I’m missing the best parts of both of our lives sitting behind my desk. This way of thinking has led me to a vision of a future workforce that looks drastically different than the workforce of today. Several new technologies are coming online that may make this vision a reality sooner than later.

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I am always saddened seeing businesses around me spending hard earned money on poorly designed web sites that don't meet companies' needs. Just recently I asked a service company that has done work on my property here in Greenville, SC if they had a web site. The owner was so excited to tell me that a local firm had designed a site for them and it was going to be released soon.

I checked it yesterday, and much to my dismay the site broke just about every modern web development guideline there is. All text were images, making load times slow, preventing copy and paste, making text edits maddeningly difficult, and disabling search engines from crawling their content. It's absolutely pointless to create a web site with the purpose of drawing customers in, and then make it impossible for the search engine to find you and list you.

Not only were all of the text images, but the background was a 1000×1000px image, the navigation was comprised of images (again, unsearchable), and the whole design was made of images. I have a very very fast computer and a higher end cable connection, and I got so frustrated waiting for it to load that I closed the window. It was probably better that way -- I couldn't have brought myself to look at the code. If you are a web designer please, please be responsible and participate in continuing your webucation. No one deserves a web site circa 1999.

If you are in the market for a web site, you don't have to come to us. But please think hard about the qualifications of the person you are hiring. You could even contact us and we'll give you a free and completely objective evaluation of the company's past work. There is plenty of web work to be had -- we are not in the business of stealing work from other companies -- but I do want people in my community to be entitled to great web design. You wouldn't buy a house without inspecting it, or a car for that matter -- why would you spend thousands on a web site and not evaluate how it is crafted?