20 WAYS TO SAVE MONEY
FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
If you own a small business, there is no doubt that you want more money for less capital. There are over 30 million small businesses in the United States and that statistic is likely to grow especially after the economy is opening up in a post-Covid world.
If you’re wondering about the many ways you can save up on your Small Business, then here they are:
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Make sure you Advertise!
If you’re finding opportunities to shamelessly plug your product in fliers, handbags, posters, and signages on your trucks and vehicles, then do so! It’s a great idea to be aggressive – NOT sleazy in your marketing. Brand awareness is 100% paramount and it ensures that people will be aware of what you have to offer!
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Network, network, meet people!
It’s a great idea to meet people, really befriend them, and let them know what you have to offer. In fact, if you’re opening a Hash Brown restaurant? Hang out with other restaurant owners, donut shop owners, coffee shops, and foodservice providers! You don’t want to plug your product all the time but you want people to know about your offerings.
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Happy Customers can Market You!
Have you closed a successful deal and had a happy customer? They can also market for you! If you own a power washing company for example and you’ve just had your first 2 customers, encourage them to tell those who may need their concrete or their homes sprayed and washed! Getting your customers to engage through telling others is truly advantageous.
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Use Social Media to Your Advantage
People virtually live on Instagram and Facebook! Gone are the days of traditional billboard advertising. Of course, you can still use those methods of promoting your services, but using social media to boost your presence on the net is indispensable. And it can help you reach people you otherwise would not have through social networking.
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Offer Free Advice for People
People will want to purchase from you if you have something of value to offer. Otherwise, it won’t wash. This is why offering advice goes a long way in reaching others and prompting your potential customers to ask you for more. If they ask for more, that’s when you can offer up your flag ship products or services.
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Online eCommerce through Social Media
You can cut costs on your eCommerce through using existing online selling platforms like Amazon or you can drop ship through other providers. This way you don’t have to spend for a website initially and you can have a viable channel for selling and getting paid while at the same time advertising your brand and the rest of your offerings on online selling websites.
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Go Paperless
Using paper can waste a ton of time and money, not to mention printing fees and your carbon footprint. Going paperless can allow you to leverage most of your transactions in real time and not worry about having to make mistakes because you can correct them and make changes impromptu.
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Organize your payroll systems and pay periods
If you have a number of employees already, it’s time to consider payroll. How do you plan to outsource your payroll? And what pay intervals are you going to use? Sometimes, you may also start to deploy a pay stub generator along with your fundamental tax forms such as W-2’s and 1099’s so you don’t fall back on remittances.
Click here to learn more about the best practices of Remote Payroll.
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Find office space you can afford
If you’re just a startup there’s no need to be extravagant. If you can settle for an office that rents as low as $400 per month and it suits all your needs, then go for it! Or work from home. Or you can outsource through a reliable offshore staffing provider so you can create a global team without burning money locally.
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Stay on top of taxes
You must learn to stay on top of your taxes. Learning to compute your payments and your federal and state taxes on time is vital. Fortunately, a free online paystub generator can help you with those computations and it’s much faster since the deductions are automatic. Working with your taxes can also give you much more freedom at the end of the year when it’s time to file your W-2’s every 31st of January.
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Use your own equipment
You don’t need to buy an iMac or a MacBook Air to get started if your Windows 10 is running fine! You can work from your phone if you have to! Just don’t use a really crappy version of Windows XP. The point is, when you spend, make sure it actually helps your operations and sales and it doesn’t hurt it.
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Spend on quality employees, not on quantity
If you’re going to outsource in the States, spend money on quality employees. If you have to spend $14 per hour just to get a really decent personal assistant or $20 when it’s time for an accountant, then go for it!
Again, you have the option to choose outsourcing in an offshore country, but that is up to you. But pay your employees well and hire one who takes ownership of the job because employees who care are those who will be able to boost your sales.
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You are your own workforce
If it’s too expensive to start hiring workers, just know you are your own workforce. Be willing to get up early, mop your floors, clean up your windows and even do your toilets at the office. If it’s just you and your accountant, then make sure you do the brunt of some of the tasks which they can otherwise use in their own time focusing on what you hired them for.
If you’ve started down the path of the entrepreneur, know that you may work twice as hard than you were employed and sometimes without any pay.
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Hire temps if workload is intermittent
If you get peaks and troughs of workload, then maybe you can hire on call or contractual workers. If hiring a local employee full time is too expensive, plus your workflows don’t necessarily dictate that much output, then hiring temporary workers is ideal. Contractual workers aren’t paid as high and they don’t work as much either.
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Corporate Social Responsibility – Show up, sincerely.
If there are times when people may need donations, assistance, or temporarily using your building or foyer because of a calamity, a fire. Or if you can donate, food packages to front-line workers and firemen, or if you can help in your local sheriff’s election that’s great.
Don’t bleed yourself dry, but make it a point to also show that you have corporate social responsibility. Through this, you may gain free advertising, and if your products or services fulfill a niche, then you will have made a sale.
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Choose Office space with Great Lighting
You want an office that’s well lit and illuminated at any time in the day. You may want to use shutters and dampers if it gets too bright. But saving up on electricity because you work naturally when the sun is up can give you a great, great boost in terms of overhead and not having to spend that much on electricity at all.
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Post jobs on Social Media or Hire through Word of Mouth
While if you’re hiring full-time workers, you may want to use legit job sites like Monster, you can simply use Facebook if you already have an expanded network to start hiring your employees. If there are specifics of an employee you want, you can ask friends for word of mouth and tell them the quality you require in hiring a local employee.
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Take time to choose banks
If you’re going to choose a bank, choose those who can work within the parameters of the payroll and remittances you’re going to dole out every month. Make sure you also perform some research on other things such as the minimum required balance, this will give you so much more time to use your account without having to worry about hefty banking fees and charges.
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Never spend your revenues
It’s not a good idea to spend your income. Your revenues should be redirected towards investments and payments but never spent in a way where you use it for personal gain. If you have revenues in the first quarter of your business, don’t overspend. Stay within your means. Because this is the way you grow and scale.
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Use the power of Internet Marketing - Create your own eCommerce website
If you’re ready to spend, then put up your own website with your own payment gateway and perhaps your own personalized apps. It’s the only way your selling presence is going to be maximized online. Creating a good eCommerce website with customer visits and potential hits you can monitor, will help you learn more about what services you can offer and what things are still lacking in your small business practice.
Key Takeaways
If you own a small business, the principle is to spend $1 and earn $2. Never spend more than you’re earning. Using these principles, and other methods you have of cutting costs without sacrificing quality can give you the results and the revenues you’re looking for.
Your small business can also benefit if you conduct your operations legitimately, stay on top of taxes, show proof of income, and pay your employees on time.
Happy employees, smart spending, and a completely authentic way of managing your operations will give you results in no time.
In fact, you can start by generating a pay stub if you’re ready to begin your small-medium payroll practice.