I once read somewhere that the biggest problem that most people in business have is that they are experts in their field and novices in what it really takes to effectively run a business.
One of the major challenges is the ability to reduce the cost of business operations. I will be sharing a few tips I have compiled from my study of business articles and publications.
1) Buy only what you need. As easy as this sounds, many people find it hard to stick to their resolve when it comes to purchasing items for business and personal use. Create a list/budget and stick to it.
2) Always ask for discount from vendors and suppliers. It never hurts to ask. If they decline, there will always be other people willing to offer you discounts.
3) Hire Freelancers. Full time employees usually have a lot of idle time which you end up paying for as salary along with their productive hours. Hiring freelancers is more cost effective. You only pay for the hours they work, they are usually experienced, accomplish more in less time and require little or no supervision. An example is a Virtual Assistant. This is your cue to pick up your phone to call me and hire me 😉😊😊(forget the smileys, I ain't kidding).
4) Hire Interns or Fresh Graduates: Not just any intern or fresh graduate but intelligent,willing to learn, smart and resourceful people. This helps reduce the cost of employee benefits and salaries as an experienced employee will require more.
5) Buy in bulk, sensibly though. Buy in bulk only items that have a long shelf life and at night risk of being worthless after a while.
6) Office space. Now get up, talk a walk around your office. Is the space being properly utilized or you have a lot of junk taking up space? Or your office isn't well organized and you are taking up more space than necessary? If this applies to you, do an audit of what you really need and what you don't. Trash the "trashables" and carry out one of the following actions.
a) If you have more space than necessary and you don't need the space anytime soon (say between now and the next six months to a year), begin to search for a smaller office space within your means.
b) If you are a Solopreneur or budding entrepreneur, you have to decide if you can work from home, a virtual office (only when necessary) or an affordable co-working space.
7) Review your expenses, identify leakages and cut down on the unnecessary expenses. Also keep track of your expenses occasionally to ensure you are in line with your new goals.
8) Eliminate charges. This is quite simple. You pay your bills on time to avoid extra charges and fines.
9) Cut out paper. Do you really need to print out all your documents? Embrace the use of Electronic File Storage. Google for different options.
10) Lease equipments if you need them for a short term. That is except you think purchasing will serve your interests in the long run. Also, you can buy second hand products from trusted and reliable sellers. Avoid too good to be true deals.
11) Proper time management. It helps you focus on more productive and money yielding aspects of the business. Time is money, sounds familiar right?
12) Free software. This has helped my business in so many ways as I have to pay nothing or next to nothing for software. You can google for options.
13) Always find a cheaper way to do things
I hope these points have been helpful. It's important to note that you should be careful in implementing any if the above points as it's important that your customers and ability to make profit are not affected.
Please comment below if you have any more useful tips.
