Operating a small business involves paying attention to the little ways that money enters and leaves your business. Being financially savvy could be the difference between running a thriving company and one that has more to lose than gain. If you’re looking for easy and practical ways to save money in your business, here are five. They’re also strategies that you’ll barely feel!
1. Cloud computing
Using cloud storage e can considerably reduce your business’s IT costs. Instead of spending funds on servers and the hardware associated with them, which often needs to be upgraded or supplemented with more, using cloud storage is a cheaper alternative that is simple, easy and efficient.
2. Bartering
It may sound a little out-dated, but whenever you need the product or services of another business, ask yourself if you have anything to offer in return, in the form of your own product or service, instead of paying a stipulated amount. This is also a great way of working out discounts and building the kinds of business relationships that can foster growth on the sides of both parties.
3. Take marketing and PR into your own hands
Doing business in the digital age has vast benefits. With most things have shifted to the online space, the costs of marketing and PR have the potential to be reduced dramatically. Instead of paying a marketing company to push your brand, head to social media and start curating your image, engaging with your audience and branding yourself online. This is also ideal because who knows your brand better than you do? Doing your own PR can happen in the form of spreading the good word about your own company, and networking at every chance you get. Draft newsletters that you can send out every now and then, and come up with new ways of creating a stellar image of your business.
4. Choose an office with natural light
Seems strange, but getting an office space with ample natural lighting means that you’ll spend less on electricity because you’ll need fewer lights. In addition to that, employees tend to have longer productivity hours in rooms that let in natural light because when you’re sitting in an office for hours on end, in front of a computer, natural light has energizing effects. It’s science!
5. Negotiate everything
Most things can be negotiated. Make sure to try and strike a good deal on products and services that you need to run your business. Don’t be afraid of it either, an entrepreneur is always trying to make the best of their situations and operations, and the worst that could happen is a “no”…