Let’s face it: it costs to be in business. As an entrepreneur, your goal is to focus on increasing sales, however, your ability to harness and maintain a high level of productivity is equally important. We’ve come up with five ways to cut back on those pesky overhead expenses while still giving your company that competitive edge:
Create Your Space
One major expense that many small businesses struggle with is the high cost of a traditional office lease or purchase. A great solution for rent-conscious business owners and executives is serviced offices. These offices are designed to offer entrepreneurs convenience, efficiency and affordability for their general office needs. They typically provide fully furnished office spaces, workstations, computers and even reception and administrative services. You can either pay for the time you use or select a package that best suits your needs.
Buy Second-Hand Or Gently Used Equipment
Perhaps you already have your own space. However, that doesn’t mean that you must only buy brand new, shiny equipment. If you’re looking to cut back on those initial expenses, you could buy used items that might save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. From office furniture to computer monitors and other equipment, it’s often possible to pick up barely used items for a fraction of the cost of new.
Use Word-of-Mouth
Depending on your audience’s buying habits, demographic makeup, and response to messaging and sales efforts, you’ll need to come up with an ideal word-of-mouth marketing strategy that will help your company’s bottom line. There are several different options to choose from, such as organic social media conversation and referral programs. You can also pay students to talk about your business’ products and services through brand ambassador programs, as well as social sharing communities, and online review directories, such as Yelp.
Hire Freelancers
It’s much easier and cheaper to hire freelancers and independent contractors on a contractual or as-needed basis. They are best used for one-off projects and ongoing, non-core activities in your business. The great advantage here is that you won’t be expected to provide them benefits such as paid time off or family leave, health insurance benefits, or pre-tax retirement accounts. You’ll only need to compensate them for any work they have completed.
A word of caution though- because freelancers may work for several different companies at once, you’ll have to prioritize hiring those who have a track record of reliability and effective time management.
Substitute Expensive Employee Rewards
If you want to boost morale and build camaraderie, you should still reward your employees for great performance at work. Although you might choose to offer free lunch on a daily basis, the downside to this is that over time, perks like these can affect your company’s profitability.
Look at what you’re offering employees and enable cheaper, social perks instead of costly ones. For example, instead of funding a wet bar in your office kitchen, organize a weekly happy hour where employees pay for their own drinks. Alternatively, reward performance with a voucher for the local coffee shop or a small but thoughtful corporate gift.
You don’t have to sacrifice your business’ productivity when cutting overhead costs. As a small business owner, you’ll need to consider allocating budget to the truly critical expenses. This might mean simply only using what you need, forget about the bling, reward others for just talking about your business, hire on a contractual basis and don’t bite off more than you can chew when it comes to rewarding employees. Over time, we promise that you’ll reap the rewards.
