Can Making Your Business More Virtual Make It More Sustainable?

Julie Starr • February 23, 2021



Many of us have been working virtually over the last year. Some businesses may choose to go back to normal eventually, while others might decide that a greater amount of remote working is suitable for them. You might be thinking about how making your business more virtual could benefit you, and one of the things that you can consider is how it might help you to make your business more sustainable. Remote working could be used to introduce green practices, from reducing the amount of office space that you use to less traveling required for your staff. So how could making your business more remote make it more sustainable?

Remove or Reduce the Need for Commuting

When you have a remote team, you can make your business more eco-friendly by removing the need for people to commute . Your staff won’t need to drive to work or use other methods of transport every day, before and after their workday. This cuts down on the amount of fuel that they need to use if they drive, not only reducing their carbon emissions but also saving them money. Even for people who prefer to hire a desk or join a coworking space, they can choose somewhere convenient for them that’s easy to get to.

You can help to cut down on travel in other circumstances too. People may not need to travel to attend job interviews, for example. Business travel might be less necessary if people can meet online instead of traveling to meet in person.

Reduce Your Office Space

If your business is more virtual, you don’t need as much space to accommodate your staff. You don’t have to get rid of offices and business premises completely, but you might be able to reduce the amount of space required. While you might still have a warehouse to deal with your order fulfillment, you might not need to have an office for your admin and support staff. Instead, they can work from home (or wherever they choose to work from). If you do ever need to provide space for them, such as for important meetings or team days, you can hire the space you need for the amount of time that you need it.

Less need for office space and other buildings means that you won’t be using energy and other resources for your business. If you work with other businesses that provide virtual services for you, you reduce the impact on the environment by sharing these services with other businesses. If you use a virtual answering service , you know that they are helping you and a number of other businesses instead of having to sustain your own team of people to answer phones. Of course, it’s also important to consider that your employees will instead be using these resources at home, which will cost them money and will be a more hidden way that your business makes use of essential resources.

Cut Down on Waste

Less business space also means that your business can produce less waste. If you don’t need an office, you don’t have to have office supplies . There’s no need to have paper, printer ink, paperclips, pens, or other resources that can be important in an office environment. Everything can be conducted online instead, using cloud applications and other tools to carry out necessary tasks. People who are working remotely also tend to spend more time at home, which means they might make choices such as making their own lunch instead of going out to buy something that produces a lot of waste.

If you digitize your business, there’s no need to do anything on paper. Not only does that save paper, as well as other resources such as printer ink and electricity, but it also means you don’t need space to store all of your paper documents and records. There’s no need for filing cabinets and rooms full of paper documents when you can just keep everything stored digitally instead. You can explore a range of options too, such as having your own servers or making use of cloud storage services, which can enable you to use shared servers.

Create a More Diverse, Sustainable Workforce

Making your business more virtual can also help you to hire a more diverse and sustainable workforce. When you’re able to hire from a diverse pool, you can find people who share the same values as your business, especially where sustainability and eco-friendliness are concerned. As well as creating businesses that are sustainabl e in an environmental way, this also helps to make your business more future-proof. You can offer equal opportunities to a wide range of people, regardless of their background or identity. You are able to offer more support to those who might need it through virtual working.

Use Sustainable Marketing Methods

Marketing is one of the key things that you can think about if you want to use remote working to ensure your business is sustainable. When you take your business completely online, you can remove the need for marketing methods that might be less useful. Sending out direct mail is potentially not particularly beneficial for an online business. Cutting back on marketing methods like this and focusing on online marketing not only helps you to save money but can make your business more sustainable. Use digital marketing methods to promote your business instead of print marketing or other techniques that aren’t so eco-friendly.

Make Your Supply Chain More Efficient

If you sell physical products, you might decide what making your business virtual means that you have more flexibility with how you fulfill orders. You could choose a more convenient place for your orders to be fulfilled, helping your business to cut down on carbon emissions. You can let another company take care of your fulfillment for you so that you’re able to manage everything remotely. This allows you to choose a location anywhere that helps to cut down on travel time between suppliers, fulfillment, and customers.

In fact, you can choose to work with various partners in your supply chain and beyond who are also sustainable. Running a virtual business gives you more flexibility to work with whoever you want to so that you can choose your partners more carefully.

Consider the Impact of Your Reach

Working remotely can allow you to work with people all over the world. It might also mean that you decide to expand your business into different countries. If you’re doing this, you should think about how your actions might have a more global reach on the environment too. Are there any ways in which you might be having an effect on different countries in various ways? Maybe you’re helping employees or business partners in other countries to be more eco-conscious and to make better choices for sustainability.

Provide Support for Employees

Just because you’re not working with your employees in person, it doesn’t mean you can’t provide them with support. Whereas before, you might have encouraged them to cycle to work or set up an office recycling scheme, there are still ways you can encourage them to be green when they work from home. You can still do things like creating an eco-committee , putting on video conference workshops about sustainability, or challenging employees to do certain sustainable actions. It’s also a good idea to form partnerships with other sustainable organizations to provide more support and set a good example.

Your virtual business could be more sustainable than ever. When you work remotely, you can reduce your business’s carbon emissions and encourage employees and business partners to be sustainable too.

5 Everyday Items That Can Quietly Boost Your Brand

By Julie Starr • July 17, 2025
The best branding doesn’t always come from big campaigns or expensive graphics. Sometimes it’s the smaller stuff that leaves the biggest impression. Things people actually use, touch, or carry with them. That’s where your brand can quietly make its mark without needing to shout about it. If you’re only focusing on social media and business cards, you’re leaving a lot on the table. Here are five overlooked ways to get your name out there that feel natural, useful, and more personal. Thank-you slips If you’re already sending out orders, there’s no reason not to include a short thank-you slip. You can easily get these made through any decent online print shop , and they’re usually pretty cheap to run off in small batches. Just a simple note that says thanks, maybe with a reminder to follow you online or a cheeky discount code for next time. It’s quick, thoughtful, and makes the whole order feel more finished. Customers notice that kind of detail, especially when everything else they buy online comes with zero personality. You don’t need a complicated design either. Just something clean with your logo, a message that sounds like you, and maybe a social handle. The point is to give them a reason to come back or remember your name without it feeling forced. Branded zip pouches If you sell physical products, offer services, or run events, small zip pouches are surprisingly effective. Think of the kind you’d use for stationery, receipts, or travel bits. You can get your brand printed on the side and hand them out with purchases or include them in welcome packs. People keep them because they’re actually useful. They get tossed in handbags, school bags, or glove boxes and your logo just keeps turning up. Cleaning cloths for glasses or screens This one works brilliantly if you’re in tech, health, beauty, or anything involving screens or eyewear. A simple microfibre cloth with your branding on it can go a long way. Everyone needs one. Whether they use it for glasses, a phone screen, or their laptop, it’s something they hang onto. It’s not the kind of thing people throw away, and that means your name sticks around too. Receipt envelopes You might already use little envelopes to hand over receipts or business cards. Branding those envelopes is a small change that makes a big difference. Instead of someone getting a scruffy bit of paper in a plain sleeve, they’re handed something that feels a bit more finished. You can even add a message inside. Doesn’t need to be anything dramatic. A simple “thanks for visiting” or “see you next time” is enough to add a personal touch. Wet wipes or mini hand gels If your business is in hospitality, food, or anything hands-on, branded wet wipes or pocket-sized hand gels are surprisingly popular. People actually use them, especially at festivals, food stalls, pop-ups, or kids’ events. They end up in handbags or cars and stick around longer than you think. They don’t scream “marketing” either. They’re practical, and when done right, they make your business feel thoughtful. That’s what good branding does, it shows you’ve thought ahead.

How Student-Led ‘Energy Audits’ Are Cutting School Costs (and Lighting the Way Forward)

By Julie Starr • July 14, 2025
What happens when students stop waiting for adults to fix things and start conducting their own energy audits? Money gets saved. The lights get switched off. Data gets analyzed. And a quiet revolution in sustainability begins—inside schools that once overlooked their own inefficiencies. Across the globe, student-led energy audits are proving that change doesn't always need to come from a policy shift or a major capital budget. Sometimes, it begins with a clipboard, a spreadsheet, and a group of curious minds asking: Why are the hallway lights on at noon when sunlight floods the building? The Energy Detectives These audits aren’t science fair projects. They’re rigorous investigations, often done in collaboration with facilities staff, local environmental nonprofits, or even engineering mentors. Students go from classroom to classroom measuring electricity usage, checking for phantom loads , and identifying where heat is escaping in winter or air conditioning is leaking in summer. One high school in Ontario saved over $12,000 a year after its Grade 11 physics students ran an energy audit and suggested simple changes—LED upgrades, motion sensors in bathrooms, and smarter heating schedules. They didn’t just propose ideas. They pitched them with spreadsheets, thermal images, and payback timelines. It worked. Learning That Pays Off—Literally Unlike textbook learning, these audits blend real-world math, environmental science, economics, and persuasive communication. Students aren’t just learning about sustainability. They’re doing it. And the savings add up. From dimming overlit hallways to reprogramming HVAC systems that run all weekend for empty buildings, students are surfacing blind spots that administrators often overlook. In some districts, their findings are influencing energy policy. Elsewhere, the audits have inspired school boards to hire sustainability coordinators—often alumni of the student programs themselves. There’s something poetic about a school funding new books or laptops from money saved by students who found out the vending machines didn’t need to be plugged in 24/7. Why This Matters More Than Ever With education budgets tightening and utility costs rising, every dollar saved is a dollar that can go back into classrooms. And here’s where it gets interesting from a family finance perspective, too. If you’re a parent setting aside money for post-secondary savings, every bit of school efficiency helps. Fewer energy costs might mean more programming, better STEM facilities, or even bursaries. That raises a broader point: when families save for their children’s future, they often look into RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans). And many wonder—is a RESP deduction available on my taxes? While contributions themselves aren’t deductible, the gains grow tax-free, and students often pay little to no tax when they withdraw the funds during school. A Movement Worth Replicating These audits aren’t just an exercise in environmentalism. They’re leadership labs. Students learn how to spot inefficiencies, speak up in board meetings, and make a business case for change. They don’t just flip switches—they shift mindsets. And they carry these habits into adulthood. The result? A generation growing up not only with climate anxiety, but also with tools to tackle it.