Every small business owner has a dream of growing his business to become next Amazon.com. The sad reality is that there are very few of them who can get there. The key challenge for many small business owners is to grow the business with the limited resources they have. As it is said that it takes money to make money. Whoever can find a way to grow without increasing cost significantly will be the winner in this resource constraint world. So how do you achieve that Holy Grail? Here are few tips you can use to minimise your spending without sacrificing growth.
Company Vehicles
Having a company vehicle can present many financial advantages
- Getting your name out there in the local community using a branded company car is an excellent way to build up brand awareness- ad space is built-in with another company asset. A bonus is that your name will go wherever the vehicle does.
- It’s an incentive to prospective employees and ensures you attract high calibre applicants.
- The government provides grants to buyers of electric or plug in cars like hybrids, so it’s worth considering as an option.
Financing company vehicles is made easy by providers, especially when breakdown cover is offered. Start Rescue are a great place to look for deals.
Energy Costs
The government has drawn up a handy guide for SMEs to follow in order to keep energy efficiency at a good level – which will help you keep energy spending to a minimum. You can make very simple changes to your energy use in an office that can dramatically reduce what you spend on the necessities. Here are a number of small changes you can make that will save your business money:
- Program your thermostat
- Use ‘power save’ mode on all idle machines
- Switch to sensor operated lighting in corridors, bathrooms and hallways
Look into using LED lighting as they are far more cost-effective in the long term, come in varieties of strengths and shades, and last a lot longer than traditional bulbs. - Use cloud storage and create a digital archive for your documents to save on paper and help your workforce stay connected outside of the office.
Outsourcing to Freelancers and Staff Flexibility
Keep aside work that is possible to outsource to freelancers to minimise company spending on extra staff. This way, in-house staff will be able to complete more essential on-site tasks without being weighed down by smaller, less important tasks that can detract from the best quality output. Additionally, your in-house staff may benefit from flexibility such as working from home – this will save on energy costs such as use of office facilities.
To summarise, investing in environmentally friendly and energy efficient power and vehicles enhances your ability to keep business costs as low as possible in the long run. The initial outlay may be off-putting to begin with, but ultimately you will save much more than with non-energy efficient choices.
