It’s scary how much we spend on the business and how little we actually get in return. The most obvious problem is the business expenses; it’s not enough that they are expensive, but they are also difficult and time-consuming. What we need to do is to find ways of cutting business expenses so as to reduce our overheads and improve customer satisfaction. Just because you’re a business owner doesn’t mean you must spend every dime you make. There are ways to cut costs without compromising quality. Lucky for you here are 30 amazing ways that can save the average business owner thousands of dollars each year. Let’s get started without wasting any more time.
1. Work from home
Working from home can be a really effective method for business cost-cutting. You can save a buttload on workspace expenses. No need to rent on have a private office. Easily work from the comfort of your home. There are many benefits of working from home, such as better control of work/life balance, the ability to work whenever you like, and still be able to take care of your responsibilities at home.
2. Hire people who can work from home.
When comes to hiring people who can work from home, I say do it! There is no better way. If your business can do without having people coming into your workspace every day, and most of the time it’s just them working from their computers, they can easily work from. And if you’re worried this might degrade the quality of work, let me assure you, it won’t. Moreover, you save numerous expenses. Like electrical expenses, stationary expenses, food expenses (like coffee, if you provide that), other utilities, and huge taxes. Not just that it also saves traveling expenses, giving you more time to increase your productivity.
3. Hire interns.
If your business doesn’t require higher qualifications or some special expertise and you just need them to manage a few things, this is a great way to reduce your costs. Interns are mainly looking for some experience to kickstart their career and here’s the good thing, they don’t charge too much. No, they don’t degrade the quality of work too, in fact, they try to do their best because they require good recommendations. In my experience, it’s a two-way street. Not only do they help you in your business, but you help them too by providing all the knowledge they need to move forward and create a good first experience for them. What an experience to remember it is! Do you remember your first internship experience?
4. Hire professionals
You might be wondering about how I just mentioned ‘hire not so experienced interns’ and now I’m saying, hire professionals. Well, there’s a reason behind this. Hiring interns reduces your costs, but you can only hire them for some basic stuff, you cannot entrust huge responsibilities upon them directly. Because most of them are just starting out. On the other hand, professionals have great qualifications and experience. And we can say with no doubt, they know better than us, in fact, they might even know better than you do. Now you might think ‘don’t they charge way too high?’ Yes, you are correct. But in exchange, they do provide you with high-quality work too. Let me explain this with an example. Did you know, you can do your accounting, bookkeeping & taxes on your own too? Yes, you heard that right. But there are some drawbacks to that. You might not know the exact process, systems, and softwares, and instead of lowering your taxes and gaining the maximum returns, you might end up losing a few bucks. However, this does not happen when you hire a professional accountant. tax expert or bookkeeper. They can easily save you thousands of dollars.
5. Reduce your marketing costs.
Is she crazy? Isn’t marketing important for every business type? That’s true. But over the years, marketing has changed big time. Earlier, we used to follow the traditional method of marketing. We had advertising done via newspapers, magazines and all such things. It cost thousands of dollars and not everybody could afford it. So a lot of people didn’t opt for it. But with changing times marketing has to its digital form too, just like everything else. With the digital method of marketing, it costs little or almost no cost at all. Most of the basic marketing tools are free and the premium versions are cheap too. And oh the discounts you can get on top of that, I can’t even!
6. Be aware of your office and utility expenses and create a budget.
As a business owner, you basically know where you spend, what you spend, and how much you spend. All you have to do is keep a track of your expenses and eliminate the unnecessary ones. And while you note them down, try creating a budget for all your expenses. It’ll really help you see where your business stands and help you gain a greater insight into the financial side of it. I promise you with a budget at your hand you won’t spend more and even if you’re tempted to you’ll try to minimize it.
7. Get better prices from your suppliers.
If you have a product which you get from some supplier, try asking them for better pricing. Try buying from them in wholesale. Buying in bulk helps you in reducing all the loading and transportation costs and also helps the supplier in providing you with better pricing and discounts. Win-win for both, isn’t it?
8. Use cloud-based or cheap business software.
You don’t always have to use the best quality software. If you’re a small business just starting out, cheap softwares and cloud-based ones might just be the right thing for you right now. Don’t invest in highly-priced softwares right in the beginning. Get to know everything about your niche/domain, marketplace, and audience first, and then decide. I’m sure you will find good cheaper options!
9. Find investment-related opportunities to reduce tax expenses.
Here’s a few options for you!
- 5-year tax-saving fixed bank deposit
- PPF (Public Provident Funds)
- National Savings Certificate
- ELSS Funds
If you want I can help you with these, I’ve worked with multinational companies and I know what are the secret techniques they use. Head over to my website https://secretstoaccounting.com/and book a free consultation call in the schedule section. Looking forward to seeing you there!
10. Outsource tasks that don’t generate income.
I know you are looking for ways to reduce your costs and outsourcing might not be what you’re looking for but trust me there’s a reason why I’m saying this. Outsourcing tasks that don’t really help your business but you have to do it for legal reasons helps you pay less attention to unnecessary tasks and takes them off your to-do list. It helps you focus more on the main objective which is growing your business and increasing sales.
11. Cancel all sorts of unused services.
Admit it, we’ve all subscribed to services which we’ve never used. And we are still subscribed to it in case it might come into use in the future. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you’re not using it, cancel your subscription from them, you are just adding unnecessary expenses to your business, and trust me you don’t wanna do that! If you ever need such services you can always subscribe to them and again, chances are they might have a better offer for you then.
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Carol Chin Accounting Services is a full-service accounting and bookkeeping firm serving businesses and individuals.