In this economy, it isn’t easy for businesses to save money. Here we present several methods that small business owners can implement to increase their savings. While not likely to net gargantuan savings on their own, taken together these ideas can net sizeable reserves.
Internet Strategies
- Your website or online store does not have to cost an arm and a leg. You can begin by selling items at auction sites like eBay to reduce overhead. You can also enjoy a relatively inexpensive “website in a box” that provides you with an affordable, customized web presence. You may not have all of the bells and whistles, but at this stage of the game, those aren’t necessary. Your focus is improving your bottom line.
- Join newsgroups tailored to your target demographic and start chatting. This is free self-promotion that costs only your time.
- Get your website address on anything you can, from company letterhead to employee uniforms. Make sure it is visible wherever potential customers are likely to see it.
Location, Location, Location
- Don’t think you have to maintain a full-time executive suite from which to run the entirety of your business. Consider those aspects that can be run from a modest home office and maintain a bare-bones suite for private mail and/or a receptionist to answer and forward calls.
- A permanent retail space can be rather costly. Consider going mobile with a kiosk or cart. Upfront investments for these can range from $2,000 to $10,000 for monthly to yearly leases versus the more than $100,000 spent on multiyear leases for static premises. This makes it easy for business owners to come in and try out their business idea for relatively low cost, shifting to new a product line if things aren’t working or pulling out entirely and changing locations.
Lowering Overhead
- Consider buying recycled printer cartridges for your printing needs.
- Instead of investing in customized forms from your local office supply store, try looking online for the many types of free forms that you can download and customize yourself.
- Not everything needs to be new. Consider buying used or refurbished equipment such as computers, copiers, and office furniture.
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Insurance
- Be prepared. Know up front the types of insurance your business needsand get them. This can save a lot of money right out of the starting gates versus not having adequate insurance and trying to recoup losses yourself after a catastrophe.
- Raising your deductible can save you money on monthly premiums, and the more money spent is still likely to be less than you save.
Employees
- Leasing employees from an employment agency can save you a lot of money on employee benefits.
- Maintain a skeleton crew to handle business when slow and consider hiring temporary workers to handle surges in business.
- You can give back to the community, in part, by hiring inexpensive or free interns from local colleges and letting them learn the ropes of the business of the world.
- Similar to leasing employees from an employment agency, you might look into hiring independent contractors for whom you don’t have to pay or withhold taxes on payments.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Bring your own device policies are an increasingly popular practice among large and small businesses alike. In short, a BYOD policy allows employees to bring with them to work their own mobile devices from which they are permitted to conduct business. This saves businesses money in that employees are furnishing the equipment themselves (or with a small stipend from the business) versus the company having to pay for the entire data infrastructure itself. Moreover, employee productivity tracker are likely to upgrade their devices in a timely manner which ensures that the company is utilizing the latest technologies available rather than second or third generation products from the IT dungeon.
There are of course no limits to the ways a small business can save money, but these are some of the more easily implemented. So consider some of these options and start saving your business money today.
