Whether you’re a successful business owner or you’re only starting out, it’s natural that you want to save costs as much as possible while not compromising on the potential success of your business. After all, running a company – even a small one – is all about earning money and not losing it. To do that, you need to pay close attention to your costs. And we’ve got some ideas for that.
Outsource – Pay Only for What You Need, When You Need It
Even if your business is your brain child, you are the founder and the principal stakeholder, you still need to accept the fact that success comes as a result of a team effort. You will not be able to do everything yourself.
One of the keys to success is knowing how and when to delegate, knowing how and when to handle tasks or duties yourself and how when to outsource those tasks or duties to a qualified person or agency.
Outsourcing, when done effectively, will free up your time to allow you to focus on other matters. It will also allow you to benefit from someone else’s skillset, experience and expertise.
Furthermore, when it comes to cutting costs, outsourcing allows you greater flexibility in your payroll. Instead of hiring an assistant or an employee, you can pay for only the services you need when and only when you need them.
Some of the tasks and duties you should consider outsourcing are:
- Content creation and SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Accounting
- Marketing
Shop Around – Implement a Diversified Shipping Strategy
Many companies, especially small to mid-sized companies, find a shipping service they like and use that service for all their shipping needs. While that can make the shipping aspect of the company simpler, there is an extra cost associated with that kind of strategy.
Each shipping company has their own strengths and weaknesses. And while one shipping company may be good for one particular kind of shipping service – be it parcel size, shipping method, or shipping location – it is simply not feasible for them to be the best at all forms of shipping.
In order to save costs, consider using various shipping services for the variety of shipping needs your company has. That way you’ll get the best service and the lowest price each time. Check out this site to help you with parcel comparison. Shop around. Chances are that the most cost-effective solution is a diversified solution.
Hire Interns – Lower the Cost of Staffing Your Business While Providing Enriching Work Experience to Young Workers
Staff or employees represent a significant portion of the overall cost of running a business. You can minimize this cost while helping out young people who are looking to gain experience in the workplace – hire interns.
You will have to find the right balance between confiding tasks that don’t require a high level of experience and a well developed skill set while still being interesting enough so that an intern can learn from them. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to this, but if you are clear in your expectations upfront and maintain an open dialogue with your interns, it shouldn’t be long before you find the right balance for you and your company.
By hiring interns, your company will benefit from low-cost resources and your interns will get a chance to develop their careers. It’s a win-win situation. However, there’s one catch – interns usually come with no previous experience. Therefore, you’ll have to provide them with the necessary training and guidance. While this does require time and effort on your part, the reduction in your overhead should make it well worth your while.
Go Remote – Eliminate the High Cost of Renting Office Space
While going remote – meaning you and your staff don’t work from a dedicated office but rather each from their own home – does come with its disadvantages, in many instances the savings you make in not renting office space will greatly make up for them.
Having your staff work from their homes can be attractive to them as well. In fact, many highly qualified workers only look for jobs that are done remotely. You will, however, need to ensure that you provide them with the necessary tools so that your staff can work effectively as a team. There are many good coworking platforms and collaborative tools on the market designed specifically for this, and many more are being developed every week.
Some tools you should consider are:
- Project management software – such as ProofHub or Basecamp
- Communication platforms – such as Slack or Troop Messenger
Hiring remote workers also has the added benefit of allowing you to hire workers from all parts of the world. This will expand your talent pool and, in many instances, allow you to propose a lower salary (since many of these prospective employees live in areas with a low cost of living).
Conclusion
Reducing your overhead can also significantly reduce the stress you can experience when running a business. A lower overhead means if or when profits take a dip, your business won’t suffer as much, you’ll be in a better position to absorb the loss in revenue and you won’t stress over it nearly as much.
Diversify your service providers, confiding them with only the tasks or services they can provide in a cost-effective fashion. Hire interns for some of the basic duties of your company and eliminate the high cost of rental space when possible.