4 Unconventional (and Easy) Ways Your Small Business Can Save Money
As a small business owner, you’re undoubtedly always looking for ways to cut expenses and save money as you grow your company. Unfortunately, for a growing business, this often becomes more difficult–extra expenses keep popping up and it’s harder to monitor what’s going on.
Well, the good news is that there are some simple ways you can save some major money. Identify them and you’ll benefit greatly in the long run.
1. Be Strategic With Office Space
If your business is like most, one of your primary overhead expenses each month is rent. Office space is expensive and it’s imperative that you maximize every square foot. Specifically, you should look for ways to downsize your footprint. Eliminating just a few hundred square feet can slash some serious numbers off your monthly payment.
The first thing you need to understand is that office space shouldn’t double as storage space. Office space is designed for the purpose of carrying out work, meeting with clients, and accomplishing core tasks. If you’re also using your office space for storing large amounts of inventory and physical files, money is being thrown out the window.
Be very strategic with your office space. Move supplies and equipment that you don’t need on hand to a storage unit down the street. You can rent a storage unit space for a fraction of the cost of office space. This tip is a no-brainer.
2. Reduce Business Travel
Business travel is expensive–but it’s also largely redundant in today’s business climate. Whereas it was once necessary to hop on a plane to have a meeting with an important client, you can now handle things from halfway around the world, thanks to video chatting software and other remote communication tools.
So, the first key to saving money with business travel is to avoid unnecessary trips. But what about when a trip is unavoidable? Are there ways to save money on travel without cancelling trips altogether? Of course! You simply must be conscious of where you’re spending money.
“Controlling your corporate travel costs starts with defining what your company is and isn’t willing to pay in regard to travel,” writes Scott Williams of Marv Golden Pilot Supplies. “Policies that define meal allowances and even hotel options will all work together to save you money.”
Saving just a couple hundred dollars per employee per trip can mean major savings over the course of an entire month or year. Identify areas where you’re bleeding money and work with employees to curb unnecessary expenses.
3. Go Paperless
You’ve probably heard about other businesses in your industry going paperless, but do you understand how big of a financial impact this decision could have on your organization?
For starters, going paperless reduces your need for superfluous square footage (which goes back to the first strategy about saving money). For businesses that keep lots of paper documentation on record–such as health-care companies–this can free up a tremendous amount of space.
Secondly, by eliminating costs associated with purchasing paper and printing, you can save a considerable amount of money each month. Give this calculator a try to see just how much money your business could reasonably save.
4. Encourage Telecommuting
The fourth strategy you may want to try involves telecommuting and remote working. While it was once considered taboo, working from home is now widely acceptable–and even preferred–among today’s employees. Millennials, in particular, have an affinity towards this flexibility and actively seek out jobs that allow them to work from multiple locations.
So, how does telecommuting save you money? Well, aside from allowing you to downsize your office, it also lowers overhead, increases employee retention rates, leads to fewer sick days, and decreases travel costs. Not a bad way to save some additional money each month!
Be a Budget-Conscious SBO
As a business owner, you have to pick your battles. In other words, which responsibilities are you going to handle directly and which will you delegate? After reading this post, hopefully you’ll come to the realization that monitoring your organization’s budget and expenditures is something that needs to be handled from the very top.
By being a budget-conscious business owner, you can ensure your organization is operating in peak form. Keep the aforementioned tips in mind and make sure you’re doing everything possible to save money and boost profitability.
