Owning your own business is an exciting, challenging and expensive undertaking. As a business owner, one of the things that likely haunts you most are the mounting costs that threaten to eat into your revenues. Fortunately, there are some simple and accessible ways that you can cut costs in your small business to ensure greater efficiencies. This post will share five easy ways to do so.
Hire Virtual Employees
Office rent is arguably one of the most expensive line items in your budget. You can help keep costs low by allowing employees to work virtually from home, even a few days a week. If you stagger the days that your workforce is in the office, then people can share desk space, which means you can maintain a much smaller office. Remote working can also enhance job satisfaction, which can diminish turnover rates and reduce onboarding costs.
Hire Outsourced Talent
The main difference between contract and permanent employees is that contract work usually involves a set time frame, with the employer only agreeing to hire a worker for the duration of a project or time, whereas permanent employment is open-ended, with no formal end date.
You can use permanent employees to form the core of your workforce and supplement with contract workers to fill in gaps. By doing so, you are able to save the cost of benefits, payroll taxes and unemployment insurance. It also allows you to scale up your business as needed, which can provide additional cost savings.
Reduce Utility Costs
In today’s day and age, do you really need a dedicated line for a fax machine? In fact, do you even need a land line? VOIP (Voice-Over Internet Protocol) options might be more affordable, or you may find that you don’t need one or the other.
Make sure that you actually require all of your utility supports, and before you contract with a vendor, it is worth shopping around for the best possible prices.
Use Credit Wisely
Make sure that you are using a credit card that provides valuable rewards in return. Travel rewards or cash back can both go a long way to save money for your small business. Once you have these meaningful perks in place, make sure you are optimizing your use of credit to maximize the returns.
Reevaluate Your Marketing Strategy
Print advertising is expensive and it is difficult to track and measure the ROI.
Instead, consider shifting (and reducing) your marketing spend to digital strategies. Social media, pay-per-click, blogging and website optimization can be much more cost-friendly approaches, and the greatest benefit is the fact that you have visibility into the performance of your effort.
All of these strategies can contribute to significant cost savings as you grow your small business.
For more information on how to save money and enhance your business operations, contact Miller Bernstein today.
