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5 Simple Money Saving Tips for Small Business Owners

By Sustainable PF

If you’re a small business owner, you’re probably looking for smart ways to save a few pennies here and there. Running your own business isn’t cheap, and if you can save on operating costs, you’ll be able to ensure your profitability – and the continued success of your company.

How? Here are just 5 of our top money saving tips for small business owners. See how you can use each one to save big on operational costs, loans and more!

Make Use of Cheap (Or Free) Advertising

 Advertising is necessary to expand the reach of your business, but this doesn’t mean you have to pay an arm and a leg to reach customers. A few great ways to get free or cheap advertising include:

  • Staying active on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
  • Putting up flyers and posters in other businesses
  • Sending coupons with invoices or giving them away at the point of sale
  • Asking for online reviews to help with word-of-mouth marketing
  • Promoting sales by partnering with other nearby small businesses
  • Optimizing your website for SEO (Search Engines)

Cut Costs in The Office

 Looking to cut down on office overhead? Here are a few great ideas.

  • Buy a laser printer, as they cost much less to run, compared to inkjet printers
  • Buy used office equipment, furniture and other such basic necessities
  • Make sure you have a system in place for controlling employee use of office supplies, to avoid excessive use or theft
  • Buy generic office supplies, such as pens, note cards, sticky notes, and paper to save
  • Go paperless! Try to minimize the use of paper with online collaborative and digital tools

Shop Around if You’re Looking for Loans

If you’re looking for small business loans and want to expand your company, make sure that you look for a loan from several different lenders, to ensure that you get a great rate, and can afford to repay your loan.

 Get Professional Tax Help

 Small business taxes can be very complicated. And if you file incorrectly, you could miss out on quite a few great tax deductions – or even get in trouble with the IRS if you’ve misclassified an employee, failed to keep proper records, or otherwise made a mistake.

It’s best to hire a professional CPA or tax attorney to prepare your taxes. It’s not cheap – but you’ll pay less in the long run and maximize your tax savings.

 Make Sure You’ve got the Right Insurance Coverage

 Similar to the above point, you need to make sure you have the right insurance coverage for liability, workman’s compensation, and any other coverage required, especially if you work in the service industry or own a restaurant. A lawsuit can cost you a lot of money in legal fees – even if you win the case. You don’t want this to impact your bottom line, so make sure that you have proper insurance coverage.

Follow These 5 Tips – Ensure Your Business Can Continue to Expand!

While there are many other tips we could give you about running a small business and saving money, these five are easy to implement – and can be used by just about any business owner. Think about how you can benefit from one or more of these tips and start using them at your company.

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3 Ways to Save Money During the Holidays

By Sustainable PF
  1. Start by Building A Budget for Holiday Spending

This is one of the most important tips we can give you. During the holidays, it’s easy to get caught up in the spirit of things, and start overspending – from Christmas meals, to decorations, gifts, donations, and more.

We get it. It’s not very fun or festive to sit down in front of a spreadsheet and determine how much you can spend on gifts for family, decorations, and other holiday essentials. But doing so is a really good idea.

If you build a budget for holiday spending, you’ll be able to track each purchase you make, and ensure that you don’t spend more money than you have. Although using credit cards or cash advances for your holiday spending is a viable option, you’ll save a bit more money by not overspending in the first place.

 

  1. Look Out for Sales – But Don’t Buy Something Just Because It’s A “Great Deal”

 Holiday sales can be the perfect opportunity to save big on essentials and gifts for the entire family – from clothing, to electronics and gadgets, home goods and more. This is particularly true if you do a lot of shopping during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

But don’t get taken in by a great deal. Make sure that you only buy items that you need, or that you know that your gift recipients will want. You don’t want to buy something you don’t need just because it’s a good deal – if you think about it, that’s just a waste of money!

So yes, you should use blowout sales to your advantage. But beware of overspending and buying items you don’t need – this is a trap that’s blown the budget of many holiday shoppers!

 

  1. Make Your List, Check It Twice, And Know When to Stop

This is somewhat related to the above point. Early in the shopping season, you should be making a list of the gifts that you’re going to give to your loved ones – and once this list has been completed, do your best not to stray from it. Sure, you can adjust here and there – but if you built your list based on your budget, you don’t want to change much. This also lets you take your time when shopping and look for the best deals.

You also need to know when to stop shopping. Don’t just head to Amazon or go to the shopping mall to “see what they have”. If you’ve got everything on your list, you’re done. Don’t shop any more.

Follow These Shopping and Budgeting Tips to Save During the Holidays!

With the proper approach to shopping and budgeting, you can make sure that you get all of the gifts and other items that you need – without breaking the bank! Take another look now and think about how you can use these tips while shopping this holiday season.

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