As a small business owner or an entrepreneur your resources are very limited, which means you have to watch your cash flow very carefully. Every penny saved is a penny earned. Making your money go further will help you stay in the business longer and compete effectively in the market. There are number of ways in which you can save money on your everyday operations. Here are few of the important suggestions you can follow to succeed as an entrepreneur.
Source used office equipment
Don’t spend hundreds on funky office furniture – head to garage sales, Gumtree, even the spring sale at Ikea – to kit out your workspace. If you’re creative, upscale the bargains you find in charity shops or even from a skip! When it comes to office supplies you can save a bundle by buying inkjet cartridges from vendors that are selling them up to 80% cheaper online.
Bring back bartering
Bartering is a great strategy to get products or services without having to pay cash. Talk to friends, associates, old colleagues and neighbours and see if you can’t do each other a few favours. Your hairdresser could accept some of your flyers in return for you posting a good review on Facebook, or you could offer some tax advice in return for some carpentry.
Use free resources for managing daily tasks
Don’t buy pricey management software or sign up to a subscription service before looking at the free software alternatives. You might download the free version of a more expensive programme – ok it doesn’t have all the whistles and bells, but it helps – to tide you over until you’re a bit more flush.
Gmail and Google Calendar offer loads of free tools to help with everything from sending automated emails and remembering passwords. They start off free, and you can buy add-ons as you can afford them.
There’s also free templates online for your business plans, business calculators and financial projections and MailChimp for free email marketing campaigns (if you opt for the freemium version).
If you do use any paid services, pay for a year if possible, as this is cheaper than a monthly subscription. Anything you know you’ll use constantly for a year is worth paying upfront for.
Do your own marketing and PR
You’ll spend either lots of time or lots of money on promotion so you need to work out what you have more of (that’ll be time, then – just). Learn as much as you can about online marketing and adopt the easiest, most effective strategies. YouTube videos can teach you the basics of logo design – maybe pay a designer or design student for an hour to review it and make suggestions.
We live in a world of online forums, as well as plenty of other places on the Internet where you can garner media attention just by turning up and sharing some expertise. Marketing can be cheap as chips, but you also should recognise when you need to get the professionals in.
Think about hiring interns or students
Everyone’s looking for internships to build up their CVs and college applications and students don’t have to go to the power companies to get the relevant experience. If you’re near a college or university, advertise for interns on the noticeboards. Click here for more information on CVs.
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