Starting your own business requires money but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on some easy ways to save. Here are some tips to help you stash away the cash.
Stop the Paper Rush
You know how quickly paper and printer ink can lead to lots of money being shelled out of your pocket. A good idea for your wallet and the planet is to stop using paper in the office. This will not only diminish your printing costs but also storage costs while keeping your office uncluttered. Try to read emails on-screen and scan and share documents, which also saves time.
Save Energy Costs
Your electricity bill is a huge source of money just waiting to be saved. You can lower your electricity bill by shutting down computers, printers and other office equipment when not in use, and using LED lights instead of regular ones which have the benefit of lasting longer while producing less energy.
You should also be careful about heating and cooling. Although you don’t want to freeze or boil, you also don’t want to rack up heating or cooling bills. Only warm-up or cool the sections of the office that are being used. Before you start using heating fuels for your office space, it might be prudent to browse through related heating oil Q&A. Doing so can help in providing better solutions on how to save the bills.
Lowering your office temperature by just one degree during winter and making it one degree higher in the warmer months can decrease the amount of power you’re using by up to 10 percent. Also, do not forget that faulty heating and cooling devices can increase electricity bills. A damaged AC unit or heating duct can swing your utility bill by as much as $50 or $75 per month. Perhaps, it would be a good idea to hire a technician from firms like A Quality HVAC Services LLC (you can check out their website here) for repairing the faulty appliances as soon as possible. By fixing your appliances you can both reduce utility bills and save energy, which could possibly contribute to a greener and sustainable environment. That said, fixing the appliance might work only if there’s some minor issue with the system. If there are too many issues, you may have to spend a lot in repairing the whole thing and if repairing is not an option, you may want to look for an Air Conditioning replacement in Manassas, VA or wherever you’re based as a new appliance can work better than an old one and it may significantly reduce the energy bills.
Free Up Your Meeting Calendar
Do you really need to have lots of meetings? These take up huge chunks of time in your day where you and your employees could rather be working and earning money for the company. Meetings cost your business productivity, especially if you consider that employees are spending hours to prepare for them – this is an average of four hours a week, which is a further loss by the fact that up to 67 percent of work meetings are not fruitful.
Start Bartering!
Saving money in your small business sometimes comes down to joining forces with other people. It’s a case of one hand washing the other. How this can work is that you could network with other business owners to see if you could fulfil each other’s needs. For instance, perhaps you could promote each other’s Facebook pages or you could ask a clued-up friend to help you purchase a life insurance policy that will protect your business in exchange for used office equipment they’ll put to good use. It’s really endless what you can achieve that will help you save money.
Equip the Office at a Discount
Buying computers and other office equipment that you might need doesn’t have to be as costly as you think that it does. You can still get the best specification products at much cheaper prices if you shop around a little. This doesn’t even necessarily mean that you need to buy second hand or compromise on the quality of your gear, it just means that you need to consider brands that you wouldn’t have considered otherwise. Try checking out some computer and accessories reviews before you start shelling out a fortune for products that perform the exact same as lesser known brands that would cost you a fraction of the price. It’ll help you put more money into programmes and other expenses that you might incur going forward with the company.
Get Money Apps
There are many apps out there that can help you to keep track of what expenses you pay for and show you how you could, perhaps, cut some cost corners. For instance, Hello Expense offers a quick yet efficient way of keeping your expenses in check so you can see what is leaving your business on a daily basis. This can definitely help you save more money in future.
Market Your Business Online
There are loads of opportunities to do a bit of DIY marketing for your business, what with online advertising and blogs. These activities can save you on costs while also being a great way to connect with new customers. Don’t forget about social media while you’re at it: a study of 170,000 people found that we spend approximately 30 percent of our daily internet activity on social networking! So it definitely pays to create a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram page to get the word out about your business.
There are simple yet effective ways in which you can save money as a business owner. Keep your eyes opened and be creative!
