As the pandemic is radically changing the global work environment, business owners need to adapt to the ongoing changes.
Knowing how to save assets while developing your venture is one of the most important skills in the current situation.
If you’re at the beginning of your business adventure, you should apply some practical money-saving tips from day one.
In this article, we’ll show you how to separate your assets and spend them wisely in order to skyrocket your enterprise while putting the money aside all the way.
1) Limited employment
In normal economic circumstances, every SMB-owner wants to constantly grow their business. Accepting new projects and hiring new people is also a part of every regular SMB-agenda.
However, in times of crisis, it’s better to lay low and develop your business with the assets you already have at your disposal.
In that light, hiring new staff should be limited.
The cost of hiring a new employee is much higher than merely the salary you pay to them. You need to take into account the on boarding process, the potential training if necessary, and the security features that new workers need to adopt.
If you’ve only launched your business and have only a few projects, it probably won’t pay off to hire full-time employees.
What you can do instead is turn to freelancers. Your obligation in that type of business collaboration is just to pay them the agreed hourly rates.
Upwork, People Per Hour and other freelance platforms are the right place to look for these people to help you out when you have a high workload.
2) Cloud instead of in-house devices
Buying hard drives for your in-house computers is a thing of the past for most modern businesses. As a matter of fact, startups usually go for laptops, notebooks, and other compact computing machines.
A lot of new laptops come with cutting-edge SSD hard drives which are much faster than traditional hard drives, which improves the efficiency of work. Still, those new machines on average have less storage space than their older counterparts.
For all those reasons, SMB-owners should use cloud storage services. Google Drive should be your starting point here. You get 15 GB of storage space for free, which is enough for your initial tasks.
As your workload and your business needs keep growing, you can buy an adequate amount of storage space on G Drive, Dropbox, or any other convenient online storage provider.
The main benefits of cloud storage space, when compared to regular in-house drives, are:
- Increased security. There’s no risk of in-house data theft. The most prominent online storage providers use cutting-edge security certificates to keep your data safe.
- Better collaboration. Your employees can access, share, and edit all your business data more easily on the cloud.
- Economical features. When you need more storage space, you pay a higher data package. If you don’t need it anymore, you simply switch to a lower pricing plan.
3) Scalable digital services
We’ve already talked about scalability in the cloud-related paragraph. This is only the beginning of the available options in terms of online digital services.
Also known as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), you can find those scalable online features in all niches.
For instance, when you’re choosing hosting services, you can opt for different pricing plans.
Web design services can be adjusted on the go. As explained by the web designers from a Houston web design company, business owners can opt for different types of websites and different features.
As a rookie in the SMB-realm, you should start from basic options that will spread the word about your core business servicesand generate your first leads. You won’t spend a lot of money and you’ll prepare the content for your online branding.
Moreover, scalability is a practical option when it comes to various visual services. For instance, you can opt for different packages of Photoshop and other tools used to edit photographs.
So, depending on your business type, make a list of software tools you’re going to need for work and check out how many of them are available as SaaS-tools, and how scalable they are.
4) Lower office expenses
If you want to keep your overall expenditure under control, it’s vital to reduce your office expenses.
If possible, cancel your office and work from home. That way, you’ll save a significant amount of money on rent.
Still, if your business demands having an office, you can reduce costs in other ways.
For starters, buy energy-efficient devices, especially the ones that have a lot of working hours every day. From your computers and laptops to air-conditioners and heaters, if they’re labeled Energy Star or A-class in terms of energyefficiency, you’ll save some money along the way.
5) Regular monthly savings
Last but not least, if you want to save money as a business owner, you need to put a part of your income aside.
For starters, open a separate bank account for your emergency fund. You could put 5% of every business payment to that account.
Apart from that, you’ll need a separate savings account, as well. The percentage of every payment you’re going to transfer there depends on your preferences and possibilities. Anywhere from 1% to 3% is enough, for starters.
The emergency fund is your safety cushion in the case of lower workload or late payments from your clients.
The savings account is here as a long-term solution that will serve as an additional vehicle for your potential investments and new business moves.
Running a business while saving money is possible, but it includes a fair share of planning and reduced expenditure. If you turn to scalable online services and cloud-based solutions, you’ll be able to control your costs more efficiently.
Moreover, SMB-owners should save money on their office equipment and put a certain amount of money aside from every payment they receive. All these tips will make your business a stable and financially independent venture.
