How You Can Cut Costs and Drive Growth At Your Small Business

The desire to drive down costs is present at nearly all businesses. There are those startups blessed with venture capital money that can be more relaxed with spending. Not all companies are blessed like this so driving costs down has to be a priority of at least one member of senior leadership. The founder of a business might want to cut office rental costs by moving all employees to remote positions. Others might want to move their business to a city with a higher population and lower cost of living. The driving down of costs should not be synonymous with a drop of quality of products or services. Savings should only occur when there are no noticeable drops in quality. The quality in customer service should also be a priority as today’s world is more consumer-driven than ever before. 

Consider Remote Positions 

Most businesses are not going to be able to allow all employees to work remotely. For those that can, this should be considered as it could reduce the space needed in an office. The elimination of the office is possible if all work can be done remotely and it is not a client-facing business. Remote positions can attract top talent as a number of people want to work from home permanently. This also opens up hiring opportunities as a company is not limited to one geographic location. 

Outsource Various Departments 

The truth is that there are going to be options to outsource certain areas of the business to save money. Outsourcing does not mean that you need to sacrifice quality of work. Saving money is possible as hiring a marketing agency for a fixed price can be lower than in-house labor costs. Make sure all outsourced work has a payment structure rather than a performance-based fee structure. You don’t want a marketing agency charging more for a successful marketing campaign as that is what they were paid to do initially. Consider outsourcing accounting or managed IT services as these are expensive to staff in-house. A small business is going to need a little support in these areas but not a giant expensive package of services. 

Freelancers Can Help Take On Huge Projects 

There are businesses that have influxes of work then slower periods. Hiring for these types of businesses can be tough as you want all employees being productive but they simply might not have enough work. Freelancers can be used to help during the busier times of the year rather than hiring in-house. Using freelancers as they are needed can help save and keep work consistent during holiday periods. Freelancers do not have paid time off or vacation days so a number of them work during the holidays. Freelancers can take a huge part of a project during the holidays without worrying about missing important deadlines. 

Driving costs down is going to be a huge priority for a business with personal funding or a small financial nest egg. Take time to list out quarterly and monthly expenses to see where they can be reduced. There might be subscriptions or other expenses that can immediately be cancelled resulting in thousands of dollars saved. 

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.