Tag: saving money for your business

How To Save Your Business Money

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As a business grows, it can sometimes become difficult to keep track of what’s being spent and what’s coming in as there’s likely to be a variety of incomings and outgoings within the company. Saving your business money is crucial for keeping up its success so here’s how to save your money today.

Streamline Finances

Keeping track of the finances can get more difficult as a company grows. Human error can lead to invoices being lost and outgoings not being tracked. To keep this all in one place, it might be a good idea to streamline your finances into one piece of software. That way, all your accounting team can access this one platform and process all the incomings and outgoings through it. You, therefore, want a good accounting software, UK alone has many to choose from.

Be Wiser With Hiring Staff

Not every company has the funds available to hire full-time staff, so a good way of compromising with this issue is by hiring freelancers or contractors to do the work. Hiring someone full-time is a costly expense, so this is a good way of getting the skills and requirements you need but for a cheaper price. You also only have to pay for the amount of work needed.

Have Extra Budget Meetings

Budget meetings are good to keep track of the expenditures in your business. These extra budget meetings should be included whenever there’s been a growth in the company. That way, you keep track anything that simply could be cut to save money. That way, the extra funds can go towards other areas of the business.

Change To Digital Marketing

Traditional marketing and advertising, in general, has slowly started to shift out of popularity. As consumers, we spend most of our time engaging with content online for free as opposed to paying for it in the form of a magazine or newspaper. It’s also much harder to get detailed analytics through traditional advertising than it is when you do it online. There are now monitoring systems such as Google Analytics which allows you to delve deeper into your audience and who they are. You can find out everything from their geographic location, their age group and even their hobbies and interests. With this information at a business’ fingertips, they’ve got more opportunity to tailor their future content to hit their target audiences. It’s also free to use, which is a bonus.

Go Paperless

As businesses become more aware of the environmental impact that they could be causing, a lot of businesses now are going paperless. Going paperless is not only environmentally friendly but it’s also going to save the company money by cutting down on stationery costs. The less paper you use, the better and now it’s more popular to save documents digitally rather than in physical form. This makes everything more secure, especially when you can password protect documents.

It can be easy to save your business money, you just need to be conscious of where your money is being spent.

Saving On Daily Tasks In The Office And Shop Alike

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Running a business is often its own reward, but the money that comes from it is not something most would complain about. Of course, the amount of money may vary due to factors which you cannot control, like terrible weather and no one going shopping, or seemingly no interest in your product for the week. Things like that just happen, and you should always be mentally and financially prepared for them, being somewhat accepting of the fact that life can just throw them at you anytime. However, one thing that you can do, is not needlessly spending more money on everyday routine tasks than necessary. Let’s go through just a few things which you could do to start saving money on everyday things in the shop or at the office.

Be on the lookout for second hand goods

Need a new printer? Maybe a new fax machine? Maybe even some computer parts? Well, while a brand new and shiny version would be the objectively best solution, we live in an imperfect world and sometimes imperfect choices have to be made. Second hand goods of all kinds can be found in stores or online, with some even hosting dedicated websites to them. If you need a new office PC for all your generic office needs like word processing and accessing emails, consider getting some refurbished PCs. A refurbished PC is essentially a second hand PC that has been brought back to its almost former glory, often boasting low prices  and amazing performance for the price. Before you start feeling too bad about yourself and feel like you are cheaping out on both your staff and yourself, keep in mind, this is all a means of securing stability for your staff and business alike.

Save on routine tasks

There are some things which are almost daily routine in any business but often overpaid for even in this day and age. Things like an internet connection, or even printer paper, often get managed sub-optimally to say the least, and overpaying for a mediocre internet connection is not exactly uncommon. If you have had your workplace’s internet contract for several years, chances are there is probably a better deal by now that suits your needs more, for an attractive price even from the same provider. Even getting rid of rubbish can prove to be an expensive task which can make your pockets feel quite a bit lighter if you do not interest yourself in commercial waste disposal. Like any smart business owner, you should make sure that both your staff and yourself turn off all needless electronics after working hours. It’s actually rather common for people to just leave and say they are done for the day, then leave several computers and appliances still racking up the energy bill when they are getting literally zero usage. Giving your staff a polite reminder to stay a bit more eco-friendly wouldn’t hurt anyone, especially your pockets and the planet. While on the topic of being eco-friendly, try and reduce paper usage whenever you can. Emails exist for a reason, and if your staff still lives in the middle ages where they print their emails to read them, then it might just be time to change that. Printing double-sided can be as financially-efficient as it good for the environment.

Put The Maximum Effort Into Maximizing Efficiency

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Efficiency and saving energy are two fundamental factors that you have to keep in mind when you are running your business. You need to make sure that your business is as efficient as possible for a few reasons. First, and arguably most importantly for you as the business owner, keeping things efficient is going to help you save money. It will make sure that if you do have heavy costs, they are not caused by your energy bills going through the roof. If you think about it, it is remarkably easy for energy bills to grow out of control for companies. For the moment, let’s just consider the possibility of a steel factory. Imagine how much energy a place like this would use every single day. Indeed, bills could range in the thousands so any save that you could make would definitely be worth considering.

Another reason for energy saving would be public perception. It’s fair to say that a lot of people are eager to do what they can to go green these days. Homeowners think carefully about what tech they buy for their property while wondering whether the businesses they buy from really are green. You might have even noticed that a few companies are using green messages in promotions for their businesses.

Of course, there is a third reason why going green might be important, and that’s simply a matter of doing your part to help the planet. It’s no secret that there are serious issues with how much energy we are using as a worldwide population. It is up to business owners to take the big steps we need here.

So, the question now becomes, what can businesses do to go green and be more efficient. The answer is a lot, and this is true no matter what type of business you’re running. Whether you’re working in a factor or operating from an office, you can improve efficiency in a variety of a great and small ways.

Going Renewable

You should definitely think about introducing renewable power into your business model. Renewable power covers a wide range of different energy possibility though arguably, the best for business owners to consider would be solar energy. This is just a matter of investing in solar panels for the roof of your home. Solar panels will provide you with a constant source of energy that you can use to greatly reduce your electric bills.

The main hurdle for solar power is going to be the initial installation cost of this type of technology. It costs thousands to install solar panels on the roof of your business building. Or, to set up solar energy farms if you have space and land to do so. However, there is good news on that front. Governments as well as environmental groups are offering subsidies and incentives for business owners to take this opportunity to go green. As such, it is possible to limit the cost significantly and still reap the benefits from investing in this technology. Once you invest in the tech, you’ll start to see your energy bills decreasing significantly as you’ll be able to provide your own energy to power your business.

Innovative Processes

You can also make sure that any products that you use in your business are going to be as efficient as possible through new, innovative production processes. We can look an example of this in the industry of logistics. Let’s say that you are shipping products all over the world, transporting them by air. Now, since drones haven’t yet reached the level we need them to be to travel across oceans, that means you’re reliant on airplanes, and they use a lot of energy. But what if you could reduce their usage drastically? Well, as it turns out you can. Airplanes are powered by turbine engines, and one of the key ways to make sure that they are more efficient is to allow them to cool down more rapidly. You can do this with tiny laser point holes in the engine itself. So, with custom laser drilling, it is indeed possible to make a plane more energy efficient. While this is a change in the manufacturing industry, a change like this is going to impact a variety of other business models too like logistics. It’s just one example of how a single innovative use of tech can lead to massive energy savings for businesses.

Though perhaps we should set our sites a little lower and look at smaller savings.

LEDs And Other Simple Tech

If you constantly find that your electric bill is sky high, you might want to think about ways that you can save small amounts of energy. There are a variety of ways to do this from using LEDs in the office to investing in new personal tech. Let’s start by thinking about LEDs. LEDs are great, and you are probably already using them to reduce the electrical energy costs in your home. With LEDs, you can get thousands of hours of light with very little energy used. Imagine if every light in your office was an LED. Just think about how much you could save.

For office business, you might want to think about getting rid of those old computer monitors and instead, getting laptops for your employees. Laptops use a fraction of the energy of other larger computers and more importantly can be disconnected from an energy source completely. Modern laptops will last for ten plus hours before they need to be plugged in and as such can save you a great deal.

Recycle For Great Savings

Or finally, you could think about introducing more recycling into your energy model. Recycling is in your best interest as it will limit how much waste you have to take to the landfill each year. It may seem like right now this isn’t costing you much money at all. But governments are starting to take a hard stance on this type of wastage. It is only a matter of time before you start to feel the weight of this cost.

As you can see then, there are small and large ways you can save energy in your business model. From fantastic innovative ideas to simple suggestions, it is in your power to go green.

How To Cut Costs When Running A Small Business

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When it comes to business, time is money, but, then again, money is also money. If you happen to run out of cash when running a small business, you could be in a lot of trouble, and may even end up going under. Unfortunately, there are lots of hidden costs of running a small business, as well as plenty of obvious ones, so you need to make sure that you save as much money as you possibly can. Luckily, there are plenty of ways that you can do this; Here are a few popular ones for you to try out.

Shop Around

The most obvious way to save money is to actually put some effort into researching where you can get the best rates and deals for the things you need. Often, you can find anything from your electricity to your coffee cheaper elsewhere, so it makes sense to invest some time into getting things for cheaper. However, some things are worth the money. Your insurance is a good example; Never go for the cheapest insurance policy on offer, as this is unlikely to offer you very much protection.

Buy Used Furniture & Equipment

There are plenty of places that you can find good quality office equipment and furniture for a fraction of the price, simply because it’s been sued for a little while by someone else. eBay and Facebook marketplace are two great examples. You can also check out local auctions, car boot sales, and ads in your local newspaper. If you wanted to give back a little, charity shops also stock plenty of great finds.

Rent A Postage Meter

If you spend a large amount of money on postage each month, then you will benefit from renting a postage meter. It will print neat and professional postage for your letters and parcels, which means you can avoid wasting your precious time on trips to the post office every other day. You will likely be surprised how little the postage meter cost is to rent every month; It’s only a fraction of what you’d be paying by visiting the post office to send all of your letters.

Send Postcards

If you’re only sending a short message to your clients or customers, such as about a meeting, a conference, appointment, or sale, then there is no point in you wasting paper and money on posting an entire letter. Instead, consider buying pre-stamped postcards from your local post office. You can then simply write or print your message onto these postcards and send them for much less than you would have had to pay to post a whole letter.

Go Green

Being eco-friendly isn’t just great for the environment, it saves you cash too. It doesn’t matter if the space you use is a home office, a store, or something else, the more energy efficient you can make it, the less you’ll have to pay on energy. Therefore, it makes plenty of sense to go out and buy energy saving light bulbs, instead of keep putting it off. You should also recycle everything that you can; Some recycling centres will even pay you for this. It might also be a great idea to go paperless so that you can save money on paper, printing ink, postage, and much more. Instead, send out emails, and store any important information on your computer, instead of in a filing cabinet (Just be sure to back up your storage!).

Use Own Brand

If you frequently buy something, such as paper, or coffee, then you should look into ways of saving money on this. Shopping around is one way, but you could also try the own brand versions of the products. The box may not look as appealing, but generally, the product inside the packaging is pretty much the same. You won’t notice a massive difference to your savings straight away, but every penny adds up quickly.

Cut Back On Non-Essentials

As well as buying own brand goods, you may want to consider cutting back on a thing or two. If you know that there is something that you definitely need, then, by all means, buy it, especially if it’s necessary for your business to function properly. However, if you’re not sure whether or not to buy something, it makes more sense to leave it for now, and think it through properly before buying it. For example, the carpet in your office may not be in the best shape, but you might not necessarily need a new one, especially if you have all of your important business meetings elsewhere.

Hire Less Experience

It may seem counterproductive to hire employees that have little experience, but it does make a lot of sense. Everyone needs to start somewhere, and if no one ever gave someone that didn’t have experience a job, then no one would have ever been given a job. While someone applying to work for you may not work experience, they may have plenty of knowledge from their education, and a willingness to learn more. Even better than this is the fact that you can pay them less for having less experience, and they will understand this. However, if it makes sense to hire someone more experienced, then you should definitely do that instead.

Get An Accountant

Hiring an extra employee might not sound like the best money-saving technique on the planet, but I assure you that an accountant is absolutely essential, especially if you are looking to save money. An accountant can make your life a million times easier, especially if you don’t have much experience with finances. They can find ways to help you save some extra cash here and there, and will make sure that your taxes are done properly so that you don’t end up with a large and nasty fine.

Running your own small business isn’t easy, and it definitely isn’t cheap, but hopefully, these tips can help you out with running yours. Not everything is going to work for you, but some will work great, so try out a few different ones to see which helps you out the most.