Eco Friendly House And Garden

Why plant yourself in an office when you can get your work done out in the garden?

Running an eco friendly business shouldn't be separate from your lifestyle, so why should you have to make all your decisions and phone calls in your office?  Why can't you plan your next meeting while you are planting your next crop of courgettes?  Or catch up with your contacts while you are painting your pottery?

Eco living is all about the life/work balance not just remembering to check the page setup before printing anything or ordering those reycled content envelopes!

But Smart Phones Are Bulky?

Well, good job I wasn't talking about smartphones then!  I was thinking about wireless headsets.

Modern mobile gadgets can have their place in an eco friendly office – especially if they replace old-fashioned, energy-consuming older versions – but why still rely on an old phone for your office?

Yes, simple phones with no ansaphone or display features don't use electricity and are still the most eco friendly form of telephone communication – but you can't run a successful business these days without technology – and this includes your phone.

If you were trying to run nearly all big businesses with one landline number, no answering or call divert system and no website – you wouldn't get too far.  So why not take all the gadget world has to offer – but just choose the most eco friendly companies to buy from and recycle all your old equipment.

What Is Out There?

Well, there are many companies out there that can offer a range of wireless communication headsets and accessories – like Plantronics - where you can get the whole set-up you need from the one place.  There are also many types of headsets and bluetooth ear-pieces to choose from

And you could be out there too!  Most businesses thrive on their ability to answer customer calls within seconds and to actually offer a human voice to your consumers – so what better way than to have your landline linked up to a headset that you can wear or carry around your home and garden with you – and never miss a call!

There are different accessories of course, for different purposes.  Ear pieces for when you are in public, or comfy supported headsets for longer use and greater ease of use.  Whatever suit your needs – and wants.

All options keep both your hands free for getting on with the important things in life without having to wedge the phone between your chin and shoulder, muffling your voice or dropping your phone!

Never miss and eco customer and never waste time at your desk waiting for a call!

Think smart – think eco friendly!

Shouldn't being eco friendly be easier than not being green?

Why do so many eco friendly alternatives mean 'putting yourself out' or taking longer to get things done?  When you are a busy mum or are running a tight business – green alternatives should be making your life easier – not slowing you down!

So, I have found a few great eco inventions that could make being eco aware that much easier – and hopefully save you time and money along the way…..

Whole House Switch Off:
Why waste time checking all your plugs and appliances are switched off before leaving the house – because if you are in a hurry – you might not be so thorough!

By wiring up your whole home – or just parts of it – to 1 single 'OFF' switch your life couldn't be easier!  Obviously it won't be linked up to your fridge and freezer, or anything else you need to leave on – but all the lights, TV's and other appliances will switch off until you return home!  Easy.

Power Aware Cord:
If you don't fancy a giant one off switch, then maybe glowing power cables can make it easier to see if things are switched off before you go to bed rather than climbing behind units and cabinets to check the wall switch.

Strida 3 Folding Bike:
Rather than having to carry around your bike seat, take spare clothes to work or wipe oil off your trouser leg – you could ride a tiny folding bike instead!  Gone are the days when a bike was in 1 piece and you needed to worry about leaving it outside.  No more riding in the rain or catching your shin on the pedals when pushing your bike into the garage! 

This neat little bike folds up so easily and is so portable that you have nothing preventing you cycling to work or town knowing that you can still pop inot the shops – or catch a bus if it starts raining!  And they are thinking of making an even smaller, lighter version too….

Eco Friendly Room Dividers:
There are several different eco friendly room dividers on the market that can change the appearance and layout of a room without resorting to stud walls, re-decorating or demolition. 

Either made or felt, wood, eco-friendly plastics or strengthened cardboard and designed in a modular fashion – these 'walls' could be made, shaped or moved to suit your needs – without great cost.  And coming in a variety of colours – they could act as temporary 'wall paper' as well then changed with the seasons being used again and again over time.

Just keep them coming…. We need more like these……

Rather than lock up and leave – why not space-share?

Your local community hall is a prime example of great eco thinking whether you think of it like that or not. It is the hub of the local area with kids clubs, jumble sales, talks and teas as well as countless other sports groups, specialists and aerobics!

All it has are 4 walls and basic amenities – but everyone can have a share in its space and resources – and it is used for most of the day, every day. It only had to be built once, only has one land footprint, only needs one electric and water supply and is well funded for repairs and maintenance.

However, not so for the local business offices.

They are all separate units with separate utilities, separate land footprints and each owner has to pay for all repairs and maintenance; and it is only used for 8 hours a day. That's 16 hours a day it is empty plus possibly the 48 hours for the weekend as well.

Not really an eco friendly building even if it has low energy lightbulbs!

Timetabling:

This new buzz word is trying to make communities and businesses think about sharing facilities. Not only to reduce costs, but also to reduce the need for separate properties and individual expenses and resources etc.

It's a bit like a time share. Rather than you buying a house on an island and only visiting a couple of times a year – you take a turn at living in an island home with another 25 people – making better use of that property and sharing the costs.

You are also sharing in the eco savings!

photo credit: kaiwaisheep

So by drawing up a plan of shared action, you can make a building, hut, hall or office work harder for its money! For example using a school building in the evening for adult education, using a community hall for step classes after the Scouts have gone home, and using a church for WI meetings outside of worship hours.

All these things can reduce the demand for new buildings and new resources.

Sharing Skills:

Obviously to be able to share a workspace, the area – and your equipment – needs to be flexible and easy to move.

If the space is already occupied by equipment that can't be moved or removed, then you have to work around it, but generally if you have flat-pack furniture and large but easy to move storage containers, then setting up and packing away can be very easy and quick. For example, when you go caravanning the space is used very wisely.

The table flaps away, cupboards are wedged into corners, roofs can be raised and beds are created with a few slides of a cushion. The space is very eco friendly – and easy to use.

So why not try to imitate this with a church hall or school building. Having excessive (and lockable) storage is a plus as each group can leave their stuff onsite rather than loading up their car everytime or carrying it down the street.

An Eco Improvement:

Added to this sharing, the act of not having a single use facility also has other eco benefits.

For example with shops and offices, they sometimes have a 'set design', they want everything to be branded and perfect – which obviously leads to its own problems.

Once a new 'trendy' shop has set up and traded for a while, it may want to move on – and then what happens to its furniture and fittings? They will no doubt get thrown out or broken by the next company that move in.

Personalising your own space is very wasteful.

Tastes change, businesses come and go – and resources get wasted. Whereas if you are designing a multi-purpose space with many people in mind, the furniture and fittings are built to last in very simple colours and designs – the 1 size fits all approach.

So, why not plan in the sharing aspect next time you get involved with a community group or are looking for a new site for your eco business.

Not only could it save you money – it could help the whole community.

There is a way to save electricity that doesn’t involve any nagging!

Instead of always ‘reminding’ the kids to turn off that light and to not leave the TV on standby; and your partner to stop using the washing machine half empty and to only boil as much water as they need – nip it in the bud!

There is now an easy way to stop extra electricity being used in your home that could reduce your usage by around 10% without anyone even knowing.

They would be helping to save energy and lower your energy costs whether they left the lights on or not!

photo credit: CresySusy<

How’s That?
The standard voltage in the UK is variable – meaning that you regularly get more into your home than you actually need.

The appliances in your home work on a wide range of voltages – and they all have a minimum amount to get them started.  However, they will all keep working as normal with extra voltage – and you won’t even know they are using more electricity than they need!  

So, if they work at a basic minimum – why let them run on more? More electricity costs more money and releases more carbon……

And it would seem that too much electricity running through appliances all the time can actually shorten their ‘lifespan’ to a certain degree – so you will need to replace them more often – which is especially true for lightbulbs.

So, What Can You Do?
Well, why not limit the voltage entering your home to a standard level?

What if you could fit a special meter onto your power supply to make sure that you never got more energy than you actually needed: I mean; would you pay for 30 litres of fuel for your car everyday if you only needed 25? I didn’t think so…..

Therefore, by restricting the voltage that reaches your appliances and lights to around 240v means that they will all still work perfectly – and you won’t be wasting any energy.

And the beautiful thing is that you don’t have to worry about switches, buttons or stand-by – it basically works behind the scenes.  Once fitted it requires no maintenance, upgrades or alterations.  It just keeps saving you energy!

That way – if you do actually manage to convince your kids to switch off their Playstation – you will be saving even more!

Did you know that the money in your savings account could be destroying habitats?

When you invest your savings into a pension fund or other savings accounts – do you actually know what happens to it?

Do you think it just sits in the bank you are using earning interest?  No it certainly doesn’t!  Your bank or other company use it to fund other deals around the world to make your interest.

And they may be using it directly: through funding a company or buying that company’s products, or indirectly; by funding other companies who happen to fund that company or buy their products.

Now, what if that company were drilling for oil in the Amazon and had had a few serious leaks over the past 10 years?  What if that company were growing oil palm in Borneo after clearing hectares of prime rainforest?  

Do you know where your interest is coming from?  Has that extra £500 you earned last year cost the livelihoods of tribal warriers in Brazil, or the actual lives of the dwindling numbers of wild orangutans left in Borneo?

photo credit: BlatantWorld.com

Ask Questions:
So, next time you are thinking about what you can spend your savings on – think what they have cost the planet and the animals and people on it.

However, the way to feel good about your savings is to have invested in a suitable eco investment.  Such schemes may well fund replanting of woodlands for eco friendly timber; planting of rare plants and trees for niche industries like violin manufacture; or green oil production.

Find out where your bank is going to be investing your money before you hand it over.  All the while nobody is asking – they will just carry on as usual.  If the returns are calculated purely on financial gain – then your money will probably never be spent on green alternatives.

Make sure your bank is aware of your concerns for their spending – and you may well be part of the crowd that makes them change their funding.

It’s Your Money!
The irony of your investments could be ridiculous if you actually looked into it.  I mean you could be donating £10 a month to an eco friendly charity trying to halt the destruction of coral reefs – yet investing in shipping industries who regularly travel through these delicate waters damaging the coral.

Or you are making sure that you buy sustainable consumer products – while funding the farming companies who are blanketing the earth with monocultures and oil plantations at the loss of the very environments your ethical products are trying to save.

Basically you are funding both sides of the argument.  You are paying for the destruction in the first place and then funding the charity who is trying to ‘fix’ the problems afterwards!

And of course it also means that you are paying twice: once to break it, then again to fix it!

Stop waiting for other people to embrace green energy - use it in your own home!

When most people think about green energy and alternative energy, they tend to associate it with the whole country.  They assume that it is up to the government to make energy suppliers produce energy in an eco friendly way – and then we can buy it from them.

However, eco friendly technologies are becoming so mainstream now that they are lowering the costs of supply and fitting to a price that many homes can now afford – and even offering grants to even more families to help them make the change.

And why should we wait for someone else to make significant changes to our energy consumption when we can easily do it ourselves and rest a bit easier knowing that we have made a serious difference to our impact on climate change.

As it is, enough people are still buying non-renewable energy to make it ‘worth while’ still creating – even though it is wasteful, expensive, non-renewable and damaging to the environment.

However, if we all started heating our homes and water ourselves with solar energy, heat pumps and biomass boilers – then they would soon be running a non-viable company – and would have to make some serious changes to stay in business.

Our Alternatives:
Depending on where you live or where your business is located, you could be supplying yourself with enough energy to heat and/or cool your buildings without having to use a single volt of electricity.  You would be free from the grasp of energy companies – who we all know can change their prices as and whenever they want to!

photo credit: Dave Dugdale

By creating your own energy from solar panels for example – you will not have to pay a penny for your heating or hot water when the conditions are right.  And you won’t have to worry about turning down your thermostat even 1 degree if all your heat is coming from the ground underneath your garden or from the pile of burning biomass in your boiler! 

You can be a warm as you like – and have no huge bills to pay at the end of the month!

Your Next Step:
It is no longer a choice for just eco warriors – alternative energy and self supply are becoming standard fare for most homes and businesses, with serious financial benefits not to be sniffed at.

And of course don’t forget the huge impact of your green business credentials – your eco advantage as a result of producing and using your own green energy.  Especially if you are burning your own business waste in your own biomass boiler!

Yes, there are some installation costs to consider – but the positives far outweigh this initial outlay.  If you are only thinking about the actual cost comparison (installation compared to actual energy savings) - then you are forgetting about the cost of climate change and the risks of energy price peaks.

Yes, you will still need to use electricity from other sources in times of high demand – but you will see huge savings in time, energy and money for your home or business once installed.

The biggest benefits will be for those who take on the most appropriate alternative energy supply for their needs – and do it sooner.

So, consider your needs and consider the alternatives!

Welcome back – and I hope the first 2 eco bathroom tips made sense!

I’m still in this holiday cottage – and in just the bathroom alone I am still finding ways to reduce their impact on the environment by making simple changes to the design and function of their bathroom.  Obviously I haven’t mentioned everything – like having a smaller sink – but I hope to have covered the main areas that could easily benefit your home if you are planning an eco-upgrade!

Needless to say all the little things added together really can make a difference if you think of them in the long term and for the whole community too. I mean 1 extra squirt of sealant in your bathroom might not seem so bad this week – but if every household in your county all went to the store and brought a tube of sealant for the same thing in the next 12 months – then it becomes a serious eco issue!

3) Proper Sealing:
The floor is tiled in this cottage – but the skirting is wood – so there is no waterproofing on the floor for cleaning purposes.  I know that it isn’t a full wetroom, but when you mop these tiles, you are going to get the wooden panels wet and allow excess water to seep down behind them and into the floor – not such a good idea really.

photo credit: Ken Doerr

Why not use tiles as the skirting so that you can virtually waterproof the room by using the same grout as the floor and so protect the walls and ground beneath from absorbing moisture.

Same goes for the sink.  Why not get a sink with a raised protective back that reaches a little way up the wall.  So, rather than the white sealant between the wall and basin holding a layer of soap or toothpaste-filled water and eventually going yellow and rotten or becoming mildew – the sink itself is in one piece so feeds the excess water back into the plughole!

It will eliminate all of the above problems and reduce the amount of cleaning and maintenance needed to virtually nothing.

4) Protect The Walls:
I don’t know about you, but I always hit the wall with the swinging light pulls – the larger the handle the more banging seems to occur! As you can imagine, each bang is damaging the wall.

Also, people can’t always find the string in the dark, so end up touching the paintwork or – as I have done if the pull string is too near the wall (as it is here) – chipped off some paint and sometimes plaster under my fingernails!

As you can imagine, it doesn’t take long for the paint to become patchy or the wall to become a bit dirty – so protect the wall with a tile. If you put a large tile or 4 smaller ones in the area where the most contact and therefore damage will occur, you can save having to repaint the entire wall for just that dirty patch!

A few tiles or a whole tub of paint?

5) More Hanging Space:
There are only 2 of us here, but the hanging space in the bathroom is virtually non-existent – so what do we do with the wet towels?

Well, you have to hang them somewhere, don’t you – which will inevitably be the backs of wooden chairs or over other wooden furniture like the stair rail. (Don’t forget that we are in a little self-contained unit away from home and without a garden so a drying horse or washing line just aren’t an option unless supplied).

Needless to say, the moisture from the towels is now being absorbed by the furniture and the room so as a result this could all be reducing their workable lifespan. And seeing as this property is designed to be used almost continually by family after family it is going to get through furniture a lot quicker anyway.

The Answer?
Well, there is nothing much I can do here as it has already been installed by the owners, but it is certainly worth considering these things when redecorating or improving your own bathrooms.

The future is looking towards sustainability and the longevity of our resources – so why not help by reducing the amount of repair and replacement your bathroom needs!

PS – it’s not quite damage to the bathroom itself, but one other thing they did is certainly a big no no and was very uncomfortable too:

6) Toilet Roll Holder:
They have put it right behind the toilet, so you have to reach right round to pull off a few sheets – but inevitably you pull off way more sheets than you actually wanted as you are bent sideways. But now they are all unrolled and in your hand – you are going to use them all aren’t you.

I mean who but the most eco addicts would leave those extra few sheets to one side and use them later?

By swapping the toilet with the sink in this room, they could have had the toilet roll holder to the side of the toilet reducing the excessive use of this already over-used resource.

Eco design should be a part of your eco living – it’s not just about the individual products.

A chipped tile, damp carpet, loose bath panel: Can all those little things really add up?

If you are talking about continued use, accidental damage, and redecorating – then it’s a great big yes!  I am staying in a holiday cottage at the moment and they have made some big mistakes in the bathroom that could save them a lot of time, money and resources in the long run; and the planets resources!

Bearing in mind they are going to get different people with different lifestyles and ethics, they should make it almost ‘normal’ to be green.  But instead, they have made it quite acceptable to waste products and to allow damage to the fixtures and fittings – and the bathroom itself in general.

photo credit: Sitka Projects LLC

Here is a general summary of the worst offenders:
And by offenders, I mean things that are not being allowed to perform at their best or are being used in such a way that causes them more ‘wear and tear’ than is really necessary.

You might think that some of these might be a bit ‘picky’ for you to consider – like preventing a broken tile in your bathroom – but don’t forget that it isn’t just your bathroom that I am thinking of.  There are probably over 100 bathrooms in the streets around your house, and 100 communities just like yours close by.  Now tell me that saving 10,000 broken tiles isn’t worth the effort! 

1) No Handle In The Bath:
They have opted for the half-bath here to limit the amount of water used (as they could have fitted a full size one easily) – however, it has no side handles.

Now although I am still agile enough to get in and out of the bath without them – I am causing a bit of a moist mess in the process!  I have to hold the side of the bath to steady myself or to get out – and as a result - all the water from my hand and arm is sliding over the edge of the bath, down the front of the wooden bath panel and down behind the wooden skirting that encircles the entire bathroom.

Needless to say, this continued moistening is gradually going to cause damage and the misshaping of the panel front until it all needs replacing.  Unless, like me – everyone who stays here dries off while standing in the bath to avoid the drips!  Which isn’t going to happen…

2) No Window To Outside:
As always, no window from this moist room means that there needs to be an electric fan running all the time you are in there – wasting energy.

They are also very ineffective, I find, over time and so the whole room will be susceptible to damp and mould growth.  And to get the best results from the fan the door to the bathroom needs to be kept closed all the time – unfortunately, this only adds to the problem by sealing it in.

This windowless room also needs a light on all the time otherwise the fan won’t work (as they are seemingly always linked together).  This also means that when you are not having a bath or the room isn’t damp but you need to use the bathroom for anything else – you have to have the fan on as well!  What if you just need to nip in to clean your teeth, or grab your nail clippers from the shelf – on comes the fan for another 5 minutes!

Even a tiny window would eliminate this waste of energy and make the whole place lighter, dryer and fresher.  I mean what creates damage more than a damp, dark, small, sealed room?

Planning So Far:
These first 2 things are so easy to eliminate when planning your new bathroom, but some people only think about working with what is already there for ease – rather than thinking ahead over the lifetime of the room.

By thinking how it will be used for the next 5 years makes eco thinking so much easier.  Yes, its easy to just replace the damp panel ‘for now’, pint over the damp or to leave the fan on for longer – but when you add up the costs of just ‘covering up’ the problem each time rather than fixing it – you are paying more in resources.

I mean, imagine taking painkillers for the rest of your life rather than having a simple filling, or replacing the hallway carpet every winter due to muddy footprints rather than just buy a large doormat!

Take a look at Part 2 of this article for more bathroom money-wasters from this holiday cottage!

Wasted time is the great enemy of an eco friendly professional!

Not arriving at an appointment on time can cause a huge drain on resources, peoples time, money and generally increasing your chances of opting for a more expensive and less eco friendly alternative.

Time is an invented concept that we hope to stick to – but being late can ruin a good day.  Not only for you – but also for the planet.

We all know that being eco friendly needs careful planning – and last minute fixes nearly always mean spending a fortune on a waste of resources!

The Scenario:
Say you are planning to meet a like minded associate to discuss a new product for your eco friendly business to promote.  The appointment is 10am in your city business lounge – to create a good impression.

You plan to arrive 2 hours before the appointment so that you can buy some locally made organic/fair trade/vegetarian food and drink to bring to the lounge for the meeting and to print off some last minute sales figures before she arrives.

However, you take a bit longer getting ready in the morning for no particular reason – but you know that the buses are regular so you plan to catch the next one.  That next one is delayed, so you miss your link on the train and lose another 25 minutes waiting on the platform.

You get a little bit stressed while you are waiting – thinking of what order to do things in now as you have lost around 45 minutes of time.

On arriving close to your lounge – with just under an hour to spare – you now have a new plan – but you don’t have time to walk……

photo credit: ~Sincere Stock~

The figures are more important than the food, so you head to the office in a cab straight away – however there isn’t a free colour printer for another 20 minutes as you missed your slot – so you get a bit more stressed and decide to print them in black and white so you at least have something to hand.

Then you remember the food – but now it’s too late to get to the local store – so you call a small scale catering company that the receptionist recommended and order whatever they can make at such short notice and deliver it ready to eat.

With 10 minutes to go – the colour printer becomes free and you know that this will create a better company image so you print all your figures again in colour just in time to collect the food from reception and get to the lounge before your colleague.

When she arrives, you offer her a drink and some food.  She asks if its vegetarian, and you sheepishly admit that you don’t know – so she declines.  The office coffee isn’t fair trade either, so you get her a plastic cup of tap water in the mean time – and pay reception to run out and get a suitable drink.

She asks for your figures and you pass her your file without thinking as you are still whirring from the stress, and she reads your black and white print out, and likes what she sees – however, she then finds your colour printouts of exactly the same figures underneath……..

The Result?
A complete waste of resources – just piling up higher and higher throughout the morning.  And eco friendly anything (apart from public transport) went out the window!

Planning ahead is an essential part of being eco friendly and running a successful business.  We all know that problems arise that are unavoidable – but when you really analyse everything that has caused you delays in the past few months – or even days – I bet it all just comes down to bad planning.

Those reports that your assistant didn’t get to you on time – did you really give them enough time to do it in the first place?  Did you really give your partner all the information you could have before asking them to make that important decision? 

If you used that software upgrade instead of inputting data by hand – could you have got home to see your son/daughter/nephew/niece/partner/parent in that sports day/one-off performance/school or college assembly/conference/graduation/any other achievement or anniversary?

Think about it – and think ahead.

Forget meeting associates in a pub and collecting your mail from a PO Box – get yourself a ‘hot office’.

These days sharing things is the new green alternative to buying your own everything!  Just like hiring the church hall rather than building your own one – you can hire an office space that is already where you want it – and is the right size for your needs.

These new business schemes for small businesses could really be the way forward for your green business!

The Best Space:
If you hire your own office space, you are stuck with it for the length of your lease.  Do you go for the smallest you can find, the largest you can afford or whatever you find that happens to be in the right place?

Then you are stuck with an office that it too small to grow into, a ginormous space to heat and power for just you or an odd shaped space that isn’t really ergonomic or even suits your growing needs.

photo credit: jcortell

So why not consider a scheme that allows you to choose the office size you want on a session to session basis or a scheme that allows you to have an office in the location you prefer but that will suit your needs.

Sometimes your meeting room, business lounge or mailing address can be all the difference between appearing professional or staying small!

Time Saving:
Needless to say, if you only use an office for the important meetings and conferences then you may find yourself organising your work more effectively to suit those days – and getting all your non-important work done at home on on the road.

Also a scheme that lets office space will usually also offer mail sorting and telephone services as well.  This way, someone else will be sorting and forwarding your mail and fielding all your calls – perfect for saving you time sifting through junk mail and endless customers who just want your opening hours/returns policy/prices/website address.

If someone else is doing all the basic time-consuming things for you – then you have more time to focus on the really important things for your green business.

Eco Savings:
And it’s not just time you will be saving – it will be the environmental costs of running an office you might only spend a few hours a day in.  I mean if you have rented that space and you work in that office for an average of 40 hours a week – that means there are 128 hours a week where your office will be sitting empty.

You will have to secure this unit, clean this unit, power this unit, supply water and toilets to the unit, heat and cool this unit and maybe even furnish and repair this unit – all just for you.  Your assistant will be using all their own resources too if you have one.

So thinking big – if your office block or industrial unit has 30 other small businesses in it – that all adds up to a lot of land, resources, costs and wasted time to keep you all in business.

However, 1 single office unit with these 30 businesses rotating office space to suit their needs and their working hours would save so much energy and resources.  Now add on a central reception area where all these businesses have their mail sorted and their calls answered (possibly with just 2 or 3 permanent staff) and you have saved so many resources that it might seem difficult to call your company ‘green’ if it didn’t use this service!

Conclusion:
Whether you are starting a green business or just trying to make your business more green – perhaps you should pretend that you have 30 offices to run instead of just the 1 – then see whether you are still green then.

I know everyone wants to achieve different things – but by scaling up your efforts you can see whether you would still be green if there were 30 of you doing the same thing.

We all have offices, phones, desks, windows, kettles, chairs and heating etc regardless of your business type – so thinking big can sometimes be better.

So before you sign that contract – think big!