Being thrifty is a little bit tricky when there’s other people involve and if it’s about your business. There are areas that you have to shell out money in order to earn profit. But taking care of your earning doesn’t stop with getting huge income and big clients. It also involves protecting your earnings by avoiding unnecessary spending that, if not addressed, may affect your company’s stability.
Typically, businessmen only implement cost-cutting measure if the sales are low or when there’s financial crisis. This is scheme can be severe and crucial depend on a business’ status as sometimes the only way to survive a company is to lay-off several staff or move to a small and inexpensive office. You don’t have to experience that if you begin to cut pointless expenses now. Here are the simple tips to save money for your business:
- Be meticulous; check your energy use and bills payment. Most of the time you are paying for high cost of electricity, water, phone, gasoline and even on ink refilling for your printers. Look for ways to lessen your bills by creating measures that make everyone follow. Let’s say pulling the plugs of your employee’s computer when they go home, turn off the light and air-conditioners during break time, and repair faucets and pipes that have water leakages. It’s also recommendable to pay your taxes and bills on time to avoid penalty charges.
- Be practical, move to less expensive but decent office space – Are you paying for place that is fabulous and expensive? It’s true that office space is extra point for your company’s image, but you don’t have to shell out big amount of money for it, particularly if it’s inaccessible and intimidating for your clients. Try to locate another place that’s decent, comfortable and cost-effective or try to negotiate with the owner to lower you renting fee. Monthly rent of expensive place may eat big chunk of your budget.
“If you have multiple locations it’s time to run a geographic income statement to consolidate all the profits and expenses associated with that location. This analysis needs to be a bit more strategic because physical distribution expenses to some profitable locations will be greatly affected if some nearby locations are closed. So take a holistic look at this cost-cutting strategy before taking any action. But it is definitely worth a look,” author and businesswoman Donna Marie Thompson, PhD, posted on huffingtonpost.com.
- Be choosy, select suppliers or stores that give you discounts and better price. Sometimes buyers paying for the sake of name and convenience. Don’t follow that if you like to save money and try to go beyond looking in product’s brand. Choose materials that have quality, good condition and competitive price. Another option is to buy second hand instead of brand new products. Just check if the condition is still good and will last little longer. Still, it’s the quality and service that counts.
- Be open-minded, consider virtual and telecommuting staff. Whether for part time or full time, if your workers work from home you may save a lot. With telecommuting your office become spacious and uses less energy that it’s become extra source income for you to lease your areas. Apart from these, there are also reports that letting employees to work from home may increase their productivity and encourage them to work for you longer.
“Reduced overhead is an obvious cost-saving opportunity of allowing employees to work from home. The costs that can be reduced or avoided include mortgage or lease, utilities, janitorial services, office supplies, coffee and water expenses, office equipment, furniture and transit subsidies,” Entrepreneur’s report about the benefits of telecommuting.
