As a small business, it can be difficult to spend less than you are making, especially if your company is new. Here are some great ways to save money, cut costs and turn a larger profit.
Barter with Other Small Businesses
Bartering is a great way of getting the help you need with issues such as IT or marketing without having to pay a fortune. Approach companies who may like to make use of your services for free and offer to swap. This could help you to make some good business contacts for the future too. Make sure that you agree on how much help you are going to offer for free, though, as spending all your time working for someone else for nothing will have a negative impact on your business’s profit.
Reduce Staffing Costs to Save Money
You can reduce the cost of hiring staff by posting job adverts on sites such as Craigslist for free. This will cut out expensive agency fees. Think about what type of staff you need. You may want to hire people with a certain amount of experience to do the technical work but for the more general tasks, hiring someone with a lot of motivation who is lacking in work experience will be a lot cheaper and they will be eager to learn.
Free Marketing
You don’t need to pay a lot of money for marketing. There are many sites to advertise free with and this could reduce your expenditure or even negate the need for you to spend money on marketing at all.
Ask Suppliers for A Discount
Don’t be afraid to be a little bit cheeky when it comes to ordering supplies. If you are buying in bulk, it may be in your suppliers’ best interest to offer you a lower price. They can always say no if they want to. Don’t be afraid to walk away if the price you are being offered for supplies isn’t good enough. If you can find it cheaper elsewhere, you could save a lot of money.
Co-Working to Save Money
If you do not need a big office or a storefront, co-working can cut your costs considerably. Renting office space can often offer you an impressive business address and the price will usually include office space and utilities too. These buildings will offer different sized offices, so as your business grows, you can ask to move to a different office within the building or add more space to your existing office.
Budget
Set yourself a budget for all your expenses and stick to it. Review this regularly and there will not be any nasty surprises when the bills start to roll in. Try to include an emergency fund within your budget, so that if a large bill comes in or you need to pay upfront costs for a bigger than average order, you will have it.
Use these tips to save money when you are running a small business and help you to turn a bigger profit.