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Previous: Chilly Jilly Founder Jill Boehler by Gayle Kesten For me, one bright spot stood out during a segment on Friday's Today show called Silver Linings In A Slumping Economy." People are remembering and learning once again how to save money, according to Matt Lauer (or his teleprompter). "Our grandparents knew they had to save 10 percent because they remembered the Depression," added Jean Chatzky, Today's financial editor. "We never had that and, as a result, we are great at spending money and we are terrible at putting it away. We're going to regain those lessons." Let's hope so. Something lasting and of value will hopefully come out of the current financial crisis. On the flip side, it could be your business' offering that winds up on buyers' cutting room floors. That's why you, too, need to get cracking on your own savings plan. "Businesses need to find every possible way to cut costs -- while, ideally, avoiding morale-busters like layoffs," according to Inc.com. Here are five creative ways it suggests saving money, minus the pink slips: 1. Send Employees Home: Rent and operations costs will decrease if you can cut down on the amount of office space your business requires. 2. Share Your Staff: Rather than laying off people who aren't directly involved in money-generating production or sales, consider dividing these professionals' time with fellow businesses. 3. Get Customers to Put Away Their Credit Cards: Credit cards involve fees that eat into your profit. Realizing that customers like using them for the rewards they receive, some businesses have began similar incentive programs to get customers to use cash or debit cards. 4. Cut Back On Travel: To combat rising fuel costs, some businesses are finding it less expensive to open additional locations than to have their employees on the road. 5. Try Do-It-Yourself Marketing: Tools like blogs are a free way to get the word out about your business. One company got rid of its marketing consultant and offered bonuses to employees to blog. Its payout was far less, and the firm's search-engine rankings improved dramatically. | Comments (12) Comments yes, good points as well! Posted by: Gayle Kesten on October 8, 2008 at 1:03 PM Regarding #3, sure card fees eat into profits but so does slow payers and collection activities that divert time away from profit activities. Find a processor with low fees, a bird in hand is better than…well you all know the saying. Take the money. Posted by: Mark on October 8, 2008 at 1:53 PM That’s nice! That’s a great idea. It’s worth trying Posted by: ojo on October 10, 2008 at 4:35 AM This was very interesting: “Credit cards involve fees that eat into your profit. Realizing that customers like using them for the rewards they receive, some businesses have began similar incentive programs to get customers to use cash or debit cards.” I’ve never thought about credit cards that way. Definitely something to consider. Posted by: Jesse Hines on October 17, 2008 at 3:49 PM Also, use a debit or credit card to pay for everything you buy - no not to ring up debt - but so you centralize your spending in one place and spend less time doing your books. Writing/reconciling checks takes time, and cash is cumbersome to keep track of. Because I use cards I have a view into everything I buy and I can see where I to trim back. Taxis, office supplies, your phone and other utilities (yes they take card payments) etc. - putting this spending all in one place makes your financial life easier to manage! Posted by: Toffer Grant on October 25, 2008 at 10:56 AM I really think telecommuting is going to gain more traction in the next couple of years. This will allow us to see more of our family than we used to. I will miss the bumper to bumper traffic though. Posted by: gareth-mitten on November 6, 2008 at 9:56 AM Hi Gayle! That’s a nice list you got there. Oil price hike should push us to exercise instead of driving. We also need to save time aside from financial cost since time lost also means money lost. Posted by: Vic on November 12, 2008 at 4:17 AM you could also outsource the small tasks involve in your business. You don’t have to spend much for outsourcing, however, what with the advent of sites offering online jobs/work-from-home Posted by: click4credit on November 21, 2008 at 9:20 AM I cannot stress enough the power of just asking. Call all of the company’s you do regular business with. Ask them to lower their rates for services and products. I think you’ll be amazed at the response. I have developed my whole business around the strategy that “If you don’t ask, you don’t get”. I save my clients thousands of dollars every year in their telecommunications expenses. Knowing what to ask for, and actually asking for it, on average has reduced my clients yearly telecom expenses by about 35%. I’m so confidant in my ability to reduce their expenses, that I will only bill my clients if I am able to realize savings for them. What do you have to lose? Posted by: Heather on December 17, 2008 at 6:57 PM I just would like to say that in regards to having employees work at home to save money studies have shown that productivity has increased from people who work at home since they are happier. Also Another tip I thought of why not shop around and see who the cheapest web hosting company is. If you can cut your web hosting cost from $100 a month to say $10 the savings could really add up over a year. Posted by: Matthew on January 22, 2009 at 11:25 PM I don’t think any business that takes credit cards should pay anything! The credit card companies make money on all ends… They put millions of Americans into debt pushing credit people can’t afford with very high interest rates, And because those Americans are found of how plastic is quick, easy, and or fashionable, the small business looses a lot of profits to accept those credit cards. Posted by: Lynn on March 10, 2009 at 3:38 AM |
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Five Smart Ways To Save Money
Great advice. Also, some companies are looking into building 4 day work weeks instead of 5. This might be something to consider also. Also, use energy saving lightbulbs, less paper and recycle wherever possible.
Posted by: Ann Jordan on October 7, 2008 at 1:23 PM