For new businesses starting up, there are obviously going to be some budgeting concerns in the early days. Many companies will spend a lot of money when they are first starting believing that they need to have everything from day one. Very often, they will spend money on things that they will never actually need.
You might not have a great deal of money to throw at your new business venture, but if you have the drive and the people to help you, there is no need for this to be a hurdle. You can start your business by making some unconventional decisions on where you are going to spend any money that you do have.
By creating a lean business start-up, you will be able to enjoy the benefits of a stripped-down company that only functions on spending that it needs. You will avoid creating a culture of waste, and you will be able to maximize your potential for profit from the start.
Don’t Run Your Business From An Office
One of the biggest overheads that many businesses have to deal with is renting office space. Putting a roof over your heads may seem like a basic need for your business, but do you really need to work from an office?
There are plenty of ways that you can carry out your business by having to have a physical place of work. By having a team of employees who are able to work from home or in the field, you will save the need to give them all a desk.
The way that technology is, means that you no longer need to all be close at hand to be able to communicate or pass work to each other. You can instantly share documents that you can collaborate on in real-time, and from across the globe if needed.
By using apps such as Slack, you can control the workflow of your operations from anywhere. That means that you could run your business from your own home.
You will need to make sure that you know How To Run A Business On The Go before you start. If you need to meet with clients, you might want to consider doing this in coffee shops, or even at their offices.
If you need to have your post sent somewhere, you can have a virtual business address set up.
Go Paperless
Paper is a massive waste. When your business prints out lots of documents, it has a massive environmental impact. It also makes for a messy workplace, as well as the need to file it all away.
There really is no need to keep paperwork though. With secure cloud storage, you can safely keep a back-up of any document or invoice filed away in order. If you ever need access to this information again, you can get it within seconds.
One of the best things about going paperless is that it will save your business a lot of money. Not only will you be saving on the cost of the paper, but you will also be reducing the need for printer ink and toner. You won’t need to service your printer constantly, or even repair it or replace it when it stops working.
This environmentally sound decision can save your business a considerable amount of time and money while making sure that the desks are nice and tidy too.
Reduce Travel
There are lots of reasons that you and your employees may need to travel around. You may have to go and visit suppliers or stop in on other members of the business who are working elsewhere.
But again, travel is both bad for the environment, and of course, very costly. Minimizing the amount of travel is not only going to reduce your spending, it will save you and your employees time which you can spend on other things, and you will also be helping to reduce the carbon footprint of your business.
In the days of 5G, our internet connections are so fast that there are so many more things that we can be doing online. You can easily set up video conferences between yourselves and your suppliers or business partners overseas.
Where travel is unavoidable, there are obvious savings that you can make in these expenses. Many companies will just book the first available train or flight, and only use one hotel booking service. By shopping around for tickets, and finding the best hotel prices, it is possible that you can make considerable savings in these areas.
Buy Used Equipment
When setting up, many businesses will rush to buy all of the equipment that they need without really shopping around and finding the most cost-effective solutions.
One of the first things that you should do is work out exactly what you will be doing with the equipment. If you need laptops for your employees, how much processing power do they really need? If most of your information is going to be stored on the cloud, you may not need the biggest hard-drive. There are ways that you can save money by only buying the technology that your business actually needs.
You could buy many of the machines that you will need to get started second-hand. Find a company that specializes in refurbished devices and stock up in this way.
Again, there are added environmental benefits from not buying your devices from new. You may be saving these items from being thrown away. By using a computer or phone for its full lifespan, you are making sure that it is not needlessly sent to landfill.
Use Freelancers
You may need a good team working for you, but in the early days, it can be hard to maintain the workload to justify full-timers being on the payroll. During this time, you could either employ people on a freelance basis or use temporary contracts.
Be upfront and realistic with employees who are hired in this way and understand how best to motivate them.
