I manage a small business, and far as I can tell, I am pretty darn good at it too. But where I really excel is saving overhead costs.
I am not very stingy myself, but when you have to run a small business in contemporary troubled times, you can’t help watching pennies. In the last quarter alone, I roughly saved around 40 percent of my running costs and overheads.
Soon as the first quarter set in, I switched to stingy mode ‘cause that’s what I had resolved to do in the beginning of this financial year. By the time second quarter was up, I had pretty much figured out the key areas I would be trimming costs in.
First up were the rent, utilities, and electricity. Shifting to a cheaper location was out of the question, so what I did was I fixed up with a business acquaintance of mine who was looking for a few cabins to put his expansion activities in gear. He moved in a couple of his staff to our premises and ended up going 50-50 on rent and electricity charges with me. I couldn’t have asked for more. It was just a tad bit inconvenient, but it was worth it. Likewise, you can also be on the lookout for similar fix-ups.
Next, I cut costs on office supplies. Whenever possible we bought in bulk (by ‘we’ I mean me and that business friend of mine), and that got us handsome discounts from the suppliers. Instead of a few pens, we bought a couple of packs; paper we bought in multiple cartons. Same for the printing cartridges.
Speaking of cartridges, printing is another area you can cut costs. Instead of going to expensive printing shops, you can always take advantage of printers online. These printers take orders online through their websites, execute them strictly according to customer requirements, and ship the finished job to your door. Too easy, wouldn’t you say? One of the best ones I know is PsPrint, which is a leading printing company that prints business cards, stickers, postcards, and more.
Then, instead of business ware suppliers, I made it a point to buy from discount warehouses like Sam’s, Costco, and BJ’s; these stores offer better discounts than the office supplies stores. Going to trade shows will help you further. Supply companies offer very attractive discounts if you buy on the spot.
Next up, I saved good amount of money on office furniture as well. All I did was I bought used furniture, instead of brand new, which loses 25 percent of its value in the first year itself anyway.
All up, I ended up saving, like I told you before, 40 percent of my overheads in the last quarter. And money saved, to borrow a thought from that saying, is money earned, guys.
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