Many of the most successful businesspeople from around the world have a story or two to tell about how they saved money when they first started out. In fact, many of them will tell you that they continue these money saving practices even today, as they can add crucial percentage points to a business’ margin.
There is an old adage in business that saving money is the same as making money, and it is our view that this couldn’t be truer.
We looked at ways in which small businesses everywhere could save money and begin growing that all-important bottom line figure.
Credit Cash In
One of the easiest things an entrepreneur can do to save their business money is to use their personal credit card and other loyalty rewards to buy things for the company.
Say you receive 5% cash back on personal credit card purchases, could that perhaps go into a savings account for you to use to make small purchases for your business? Maybe you have a load of Amazon Rewards points that you never use, could your business find them useful?
Consider Your HQ and Systems
If you are just starting a business, it is likely that you want everyone working in the same place so that you can forge team spirit and all get pulling in the right direction. Do you need to hire an office for this, or could you make your business work from your own home? If you do go down the office route, look out for what you are spending on furniture – sites such as Craigslist can be great for picking up freebies.
In addition, keep a look out for free platforms and services that you may need to use throughout your business. If you are a retailer and need a simple point of sale software, for example, then a brand such as Posterita provides a high-quality example of this, which is cloud based and free of charge. Not only is this a money saver, it is a great option for making use of mobile sales options if you are selling on the move.
Being creative and imaginative with regard to where and how you work could save you valuable thousands, and be particularly helpful in the short term when funds may be tight.
Recycle and Reuse….Everything
Anytime you have something delivered in a box or a padded envelope, re-use it. You will not believe the sums of money you will save yourself on packaging for shipping, should the nature of your business involve sending items out to be delivered.
To further lower these costs, look to sign a contract with a delivery company that charges a flat rate for a certain amount of deliveries, regardless of distance and timescale – this will increase your profits as you can still charge variable rates to your customers and clients.
Do It Yourself
As the owner of a start-up, you need to be Lord and Master of everything that goes on in your company. It can be tempting at an early stage to outsource certain things, however you will soon find the costs of outsourcing adding up and impacting on your profitability.
Resolve to do everything yourself where possible, the hard work and long hours will be worth it, and you can then put your business on a sound financial footing where you can outsource activities as you begin to inexorably grow.
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Some small businesses may be better candidates for online crowd-funding than others. I think that may be a better alternative than using credit cards. In fact, I think almost any other form of funding is better than credit card debt to finance a small business. Personally, boot-strapping is my particular method of madness. But it's proving to be a character and revenue building experience.
Hey Nikki thanks for dropping by , these are nice points you have up there
I was definitely looking into saving both time and money when it came to my small business start up. We wound up getting an address printer to save time and cost on mail, Hootsuite to cut back time on social media, and so on. Every small bit added up quickly, and I was able to put a lot more time and money into how the store looked. The customers seemed to appreciate the details I was able to dedicate my time to!