Today – Great Budgeting Tips for a Small Business

 

Great Budgeting Tips for a Small Business

Launching a business from the ground up requires an incredible amount of work, dedication and funding. It’s not for the faint of heart and is likely going to cost you money before you start to make any. That’s not to say it will be impossible, but it’s an undertaking that is definitely going to require a solid plan and strict adherence to a financial budget if you have any hope of making a profit. With some careful foresight, fiscal discipline and some rock solid work ethic, you’ll definitely get there, but it’s also helpful to have budgeting tricks from the get-go to ensure you don’t get bogged down with any unnecessary expenses.

So, in the interest of smoothing out the bumps before they occur, here are some money-saving tips for a small business.

Ditch Third-party Advertisers

With the current internet climate, there’s absolutely no reason why you should be using third-party advertisers to create your advertising paraphernalia or marketing campaigns for you. Instead, go straight to the source. A quick Google search will bring you in touch with a ton of online printers, advertisers, digital marketers and other specialists. Wasting money on someone whose sole job is to liaise with these marketers is incredibly inefficient. If you need a poster drawn up, talk directly with a graphic designer. If you need SEO content, contact a copywriter. If you’re a food truck owner that requires gastronomy printing services for a wide range of products for your next event, order your paraphernalia directly from the printer.

Go Green

We’re talking about saving the environment – and money in the process. Switching to green technologies to power the day to day running of your business is an excellent way to save money as well as improve your business’ corporate identity and potentially draw in more customers. It’s worth noting that this can sometimes be a costly upfront investment, but it almost always pays dividends in the future in the form of reduced electricity bills. Solar panels, for example, are an excellent way to power your office if you live in a sunny area. And with the price of solar panels continuing to fall, it’s a more cost-effective method than ever.

Reduce Your Paper Use

This goes hand-in-hand with going green but it deserves its own subsection. Traditionally, offices have been veritable hubs of paper usage. From newsletters to invoices and everything in between, costly paper printouts continue to be used in offices everywhere. However, it’s hugely wasteful and largely unnecessary. There’s an app or program for absolutely everything. There’s no point in keeping a financial ledger when you have Excel or Microsoft Money at your fingertips. Newsletters to employees and other workers can be sent via email. In fact, going paperless is pretty easy as long as you have a laptop on hand.

Avoid Debt

While avoiding debt is something that should be instilled in us from a young age, it’s something that many people surprisingly still struggle with. In a small business context, debt is positively hazardous and can quickly turn a business en route to profit into sinking ship whose final destination is bankruptcy.

Borrowing and loans can be beneficial, especially during the early startup stages of a business’ development, it’s important not to get carried away and only take out loans that you’re sure you’ll be able to pay back. What’s more, it’s prudent to keep an eye on the interest rate of the loan you’ll be taking. It’s this that will likely cripple you in the long run. Do your research and consult different financial institutions to see which offers the best interest rates.

 

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