1.Take advantage of the freelance and temporary workforce
Why not start taking advantage of a temporary team that is specialized at doing whatever it is you need done? Then the job gets done better, and you don’t have to hassle with huge overheads and adding up costs such as: sick leaves, training, vacations, insurance etc.
Having a flexible team working on a per-project or task basis will significantly reduce your business operating costs, improve overall key performance indicators, and will allow you to focus on more important tasks while minor things are getting solved by your dedicated virtual assistant.
2.Start an internship program
Get in touch with a local college and offer to establish mutually beneficial relationships (you get an affordable workforce, and many college programs now require students to participate in an internship program). Win-win.
There are also high chances of discovering true talents to hire after they graduate, before the recruiters snatch them up.
3.Become energy-efficient
Utility bills eating up a large chunk of your income? First, you can opt for compact fluorescent light bulbs. They may cost more, but they function a great deal longer; thus saving you a pretty penny in the long run.
Second, you can switch to using energy-efficient appliances. Again, they do cost more, but you can cut down the expenses with numerous government-sponsored rebates and it may make you eligible for green energy tax credits.
Or you can even go as far as this European company to save a pretty penny on energy costs – save money, save the environment!
4.Keep a virtual office
If any of your team members work remotely (or can), and you don’t have an ongoing need to gather in one place, why should you even bother paying huge rent for office space?
Business meetings can be held at any venue, co-working space or conference hall.
However, you still like to keep things looking professional and earn your credits, right? And occasionally you do need to fax something or print a bunch of promotional materials. If that’s the case, most virtual offices provide you with temporary flat rate printing solutions, VoIP phones with a personal message box, corporate mailing address and even a dedicated receptionist handling your calls – plus a bunch of other cool perks that tend to cost very little compared to what they would cost in a normal office.
5.Barter
Have you ever thought about offering your service or specialty that your business provides in exchange for another service? Bartering is no longer that difficult with a number of B2B barter sites, such as Trade Bank. These services are gaining huge popularity among small and medium sized business owners.
Plus, it’s a great way to grow your business connections and score potential new clients or partners.
6.Go paperless
Do you really think you need all those paper copies for everyone? Do they really even want them? Or will they just end up in the trash anyway? Now look at your monthly printing costs and think again.
Still opting for paper bills and invoices? That’s stone age with so many online payment and invoices systems available at reduced costs. Retain your clients with email marketing and ditch mailing coupons and advertorials by snail mail to cut down the costs even more!
7.Ask for discounts
Take the nerve and ask the retailers directly whether they can give you a discount as a small business owner. Surprisingly, most will say yes if you are shopping for big ticket items. Alternatively, sneak around for coupons and special deals, sign up to retailers’ newsletters to be the first to know when certain items come on sale, plus get a few money-saving apps installed on your phone to receive instant alerts.
8.Invest in self-education
There’s no better investment than education and in the long-run, spending time and effort on learning something new will pay off later on! As long as you have the time!
Ultimately, this can save you money that might otherwise spend on hiring a consultant.
9.Buy used equipment and furniture
Shopping in thrift shops and bargain sales is no longer shameful. It’s trendy. Loads of businesses prefer to equip their offices with shabby vintage stuff costing pennies instead of luxury designer goods (that often look pretty much the same). Businesses claim to save up to 60% costs merely buying used office equipment like computers, faxes and printers. Scroll through Craigslist, check out your local paper classified and online auctions like eBay to get everything you need at least two times cheaper.
10.Cut back on paid software
Nowadays, there is an open-source, free alternative to nearly any product in the tech market. Be wary of software salespeople that try to tell you otherwise! Also be wary of consultants that may partner with paid software, and try to tell you that you need a specific software. When it comes to data, make sure your data consulting guys are product agnostic.
11.Conduct timely technology and service audits
How many paid apps and subscriptions do you currently have? And how many are you actually using? Bet these two numbers differ quite a bit. If you have not used a certain technology or service for the last 90 days, it’s time to cancel your subscription and stop paying for things you obviously do not need. Make it a rule to review all the paid products you have every two months. Moreover, before getting yet another piece of paid software, visit Download.com and try hundreds of software products for free through trial downloads, limited versions, and freeware to make sure that it’s indeed a product you need.
12.Eliminate finance charges
A lot of businesses lose thousands dollars annually on ridiculous things such as: high membership fees on business credit cards, late loan payments and credit-card processing fees. Simply staying on top of bills and paying them exactly when they are due, will save your business a great amount of money each year.
Yes, keeping up with the bills can get complicated, so try to automate as many financial processes as possible by implementing online payment systems and setting up special alerts when bills are due. Also, pay a visit to your bank and ask what better credit card options they can offer you as a business owner.
13.Opt for online advertising
Does your business have a Facebook page and Twitter and Pinterest accounts? Do you have a website properly optimized for mobile search?
In 2016 if your business is not online, it practically does not exist!
Compared to traditional marketing and advertising, promoting your business online is both cheaper, and faster. Start small by adding a blog to your website, offer expert advice, reach out to new media and bloggers with thrilling stories you can share, invest some time and money in social media marketing, and optimize your website properly to get a huge amount of targeted traffic and new customers.
14.Use the power of co-opetition
You can team up with fellow biz owners to collaborate and share expenses when buying new supplies in bulk. You can even share mailing lists and distribution channels with businesses offering complementary goods or services that may interest your customers.
Also, you can exchange advertising spaces on your websites; share each other’s coupons and special deals (for a small fee or percentage from each sale made, also known as affiliate marketing) and occasionally appear on each other’s business blogs to boost your rankings and attract a new audience to your websites.
15.Use Big Data
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