When you’re running your own business, cutting costs quickly becomes a priority. When you’re able to spend less on necessary business expenses, you’ll free up more funds to invest into business growth and development. But oftentimes, it can feel like there’s no way out of essential business expenses.
While you may never be able to get your monthly business expenses down to zero, the good news is that there are plenty of strategies that you can take to try and reduce them. We’ve put together some of the best ways to save on small business running costs.
Lower Office Space Costs
Depending on the commercial market situation in your area, you might be able to take advantage of lower office space prices and move your business to less expensive quarters – or if you’re renting, you could negotiate better terms with your landlord. Or, even better – if you don’t really need commercial premises from which to run your business, you might want to consider operating from your home or going mobile instead.
Shop Around for Utility Costs
If you can’t save money by scrapping a physical business premise, then another way you can reduce your expenses is to shop around for utility costs. Using business utilities comparison sites like Utility Bidder can be an ideal way to make sure that you are always getting the best deal on things like gas, electricity and water rates. These essentials can often be subject to heavy price fluctuations, so it’s worth shopping around on a regular basis and switching whenever you can.
Cut Staffing Costs
Think about whether or not your small business actually needs to hire full-time employees – in many cases, you might realise that full-time staff aren’t necessary at all. Depending on the type of service that you provide or products you’re selling, you may be able to work with contractors or freelancers instead on a per-job basis, allowing you to save a significant amount of money, plus choose from further talent around the world as many freelancers will work and collaborate with you online rather than coming to your business premises.
Buy in Bulk
When it comes to supply costs, every penny that you save is a penny earned. Thankfully, there are several things that you can do to cut supply costs, particularly buying in bulk as many suppliers offer deals when you buy several of the same items. If you encounter financial problems, you can seek purchase order financing to cover supplier costs and be able to capitalize on growth opportunities. And, constantly monitor supply costs by checking for discounts. Investigate alternative services regularly, too – this gives you the option to either switch from your current supplier, or ask them to price match if you have established a strong relationship with them.
Take Advantage of Free Advertising Methods
Advertising doesn’t have to be the biggest cost for your business, especially these days with tools like social media that you can use to spread the word about your brand at no cost. Take advantage of any free of charge marketing methods available to you; encourage happy customers to leave positive reviews and use word-of-mouth marketing, and ask your family and friends to spread the word about your company in any way that they can. And, make sure that you are using social networks to their full potential – have strong, active and engaging profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn and post regularly to ensure that your business is in front of the large audience available.
Invest in Accounting Services
Hiring an accountant is an extra expense for your business – but it’s certainly worth it to save yourself some headache, and potential further costs down the line. Minimizing your tax bill can be one of the most beneficial things for your business in terms of saving money. Work with a professional accountant who can make sure that everything is above board in order to ensure that you don’t get hit with unexpected tax expenses, and get into the habit of tracking all business expenses by saving receipts and recording your vehicle mileage whenever you travel for business.
Switch to Cloud Storage
When it comes to storing data, the cloud has many benefits; not just when it comes to saving money but also in terms of security, ease of access and more. A good cloud computing service will cost you less than physical storage and will allow you to access business data on the go whenever you need it. And, there’s no need to worry about losing data in the event of gadgets breaking or going missing, or if your premises is subject to damage – you can access it in the cloud from any device.
When it comes to saving money for your small business, these are some of the best strategies available.
