How Small Business Owners Can Save Money

As a small business owner, I am always looking for ways to save money in my daily operations. In addition, through meeting new people, I find ways for people to save money in different types of operations. I have put together a small list of the things that I think will help most of you keep some extra money in the bank and allow your business to continue to grow.

·         Contract Workers or Work from Home Employees - depending upon your business, you may be able to take advantage of some tax laws that enable you to employ contract workers. If so, you will notice a significant decrease in the payroll taxes you have to pay. Even if you cannot hire contract workers, allowing your staff to work from home often results in lower salaries, since they have no travel costs. Explore both of these options if available.

·         Office Share - do you really need a full time office? Renting a space can be very expensive and for many business owners, it is a complete waste of money. If you are only bringing clients into your office occasionally, consider splitting an office with another business or using a company like Regus that allows you to use an office only when you need to but also provides a very professional set up when the office is in use.

·         Advertising - you would love to have a commercial for your business, but you cannot afford it. Have you ever considered doing a YouTube commercial instead? You can promote it in on your social media channels and it will help in your overall rankings! 

·         Vendors - if you are physically buying products, your vendors can provide significant savings in several different areas. For instance, they may offer a discount if you buy in bulk. If you are able to get terms, you may be able to purchase products that you can sell rather quickly but would not normally be able to front the money to purchase. Even if you make a smaller percentage on the sale, it is found money because you were not even able to offer the product before! In addition, vendors will sometimes help with advertising and marketing if you are highlighting their products in the campaigns.

·         Buy in Bulk When Possible - look for items that you use all the time, like paper, ink, etc... When good deals come up, buy these items in bulk when you can. For instance, an office supply store offers 100 percent rewards on up to five cases of paper. You use about one case per month, but you will eventually need to use this paper. Why not buy the five cases now and get all of your money back in rewards points? Now you have all of the money you usually spend on paper to spend on other supplies or perhaps boost your advertising efforts.

When you own a small business, you need to get creative when it comes to the monthly budget. Take a hard look where you are spending your money each month and there are surely more than a few areas where you can trim the budget or use some of my suggestions here to save money. 

*Photo Courtesy of 401(K) 2012 via Creative Commons License