10 Money Saving Tips for New Businesses

The early years of any new business are always the hardest and many new start-ups struggle to stay afloat, even with a great concept or unique selling point. If you’ve recently launched a new business and are finding it hard to maintain a healthy cash-flow, here are some ideas for how you can reduce costs and ensure you’re the leanest enterprise you can be.

1. Buy what you need for your business, not what you want. New startups often end up spending a lot on office space, equipment and other overheads simply because that’s what every other business does. But do you really need them? Making selective purchases as and when your business truly requires something is a good way to keep costs from spiraling out of control before you’ve got going.
2. Ask for a discount. Many suppliers will be prepared to offer price incentives to keep you as a loyal customer so don’t be afraid to ask. The offer you get may well be better than you expected and, if it’s not, name a specific price and see if they agree. However, don’t forget that business success is all about relationship building so don’t haggle too hard with a supplier or you could damage the long-term prospects for your working relationship.
3. Don’t waste money on a big office. Renting a large office space may make your business look important but it can eat into your budget without paying back in profits. Creating a small office-based team with others working remotely will attract a mixture of talented individuals who want different ways of working – it also means you won’t need a big office with lots of desks and equipment.
4. Build a great in-house team. Hire individuals with a mixture of talents that complement each other’s skill sets. Collaborative and flexible teams rather than top-down hierarchies produce better results and happier, more productive staff. Paying your staff properly also keeps them motivated to work hard and help the business grow.
5. Create your own marketing materials. Businesses can spend a fortune hiring freelance designers and copywriters to produce a great looking leaflet or online campaign. However, having someone on your team that knows about desktop publishing or web-based design programs means you can produce your own materials in-house, saving you considerable costs. If you’ve got some spare time and fancy the challenge, you could even do it yourself. That way, there’ll be no creative disagreements over your message!
6. Build efficient business systems. Find ways to save time and money by speeding up day-to-day business tasks. Outsourcing the most mundane office jobs can cut costs in the long run, as will investing in tools to automate repetitive tasks. Learn how to streamline and systematize everything from inventory to customer services. Time is money and efficiency is profit.
7. Reduce postage costs. All businesses need to use mail – as well as online platforms – for marketing purposes but most still spend far more on their postal budget than they need to. Check out the range of bulk rates for businesses to maximise discounts on large mail deliveries. Small businesses with more modest requirements can still make savings by sending post second class rather than first class, or by folding materials and using smaller-sized envelopes with lower associated postage costs. There are also money saving options such as franking machines.
8. Don’t overstock. Having a lot of stock on shelves means more costs for rental space and more chance of having unsold stock go to waste. Keep track of the best-selling products and phase out underperforming items. Your customers will prefer browsing a smaller number of quality goods to wading through lots of excess products there for the sake of consumer choice.
9. Learn bookkeeping basics. Although online accounting software provides all the tools you need to handle your own business accounting, it’s probably not advisable to take everything on yourself unless you’ve got a good head for figures. However, learning as much as you can about business accounting procedures will allow you to work alongside an external accountant, tax adviser or other high fee-charging professional, producing results faster and saving you considerably.
10. Stay on top of your business finances. The best way to save money is to be aware of everything going out and coming in to your company. Keep a close eye on marketing costs to ensure money is being spent wisely and make sure your team is always thinking about the most cost-effective solution to any problem. You don’t need to micro-manage but request regular reports so that you know exactly where your money is going, when and – most importantly – why.

Cutting costs where you can will allow your business to retain vital funds, putting you in a better financial position when you seek to expand later. The leaner your new enterprise can operate without compromising on performance, the better able you’ll be to see off the competition and turn your company into a long-term success.