This is a post aimed towards small businesses but others should find valuable personal finance advice as well. Businesses thrive on efficient utilization of resources and the one resource that needs to be most efficiently monitored and allocated is business’s cash.
For startups, managing and saving cash can make the difference between survival and demise. There are a few clever ways which can help a business save and manage their cash without jeopardizing performance.
Top 8 Money Saving Tips For Small Businesses
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Going with open source platforms
Never invest in licenses for software in the very beginning. There are tons of open source options for almost any office software, which are equally effective in getting the job done.
Use of cloud computing and cloud storage instead of fancy backup and expensive storage equipment can also save you much green.
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Go green to save green
Being energy efficient and taking an environment-friendly approach to running a business, like paperless working environment, will help in saving a ton of cash.
Making your workplace energy efficient will bring down utility bills. You can use roof insulators or roof plantation to reduce temperature naturally.
Also, use solar water heaters, pay attention to your building’s vents, windows, and doors (get tighter seals) and use blinds or curtains to bring utility bills down.
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Time is money
Most businesses, especially the startups, tend to have too much time to meetings. You need to assess the true value of every task, as it is chugging away yours and your team’s precious time.
Employ standing meetings in the morning and during the day to avoid obsessing over long sittings and debate.
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Cut down on medical costs
You need to be prepared for emergencies to avoid extra medical costs. The best approach is to have first aid kits ready and use drug testing kits to test your employees because it’s way cheaper than testing laboratories.
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Stop obsessing over brands
For office equipment and maintenance use generic brands. You might miss fancy packaging and nice advertisement claims, but generic ones will turn out to be equally effective and will provide better value for money.
Brands don’t get your work done, get the right mindset and achieve with what you have. Employ the same tip in managing your household and save some more for your summer vacation.
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Buy used and shop online
You should buy slightly used heavy office equipment like office furniture, printers, scanners, and photocopiers.
The same formula of buying can be applied to computers, as only a few computing tasks might require the latest and fastest processing power.
Opting to shop online will enable you to compare prices, thus increasing your chances of getting a better deal.
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Learn marketing and employ social networking beyond personal use
You and your team know your product/ service the best, so learn to market it. PR and marketing can be learned comparatively easily if you know your product and audience well.
Learn and train your team on the effective use of social media to market your product and connect with clients.
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Pool in your resources
You can pool your resources with similar startups and share office space, utility bills and furniture. This will bring down initial investment by at least 50%. It will also offer the additional benefit of learning from your neighboring business.
It will also offer an additional benefit of learning from your neighboring business.
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