3 ways to run a business on the cheap side

Money obviously has to be a major concern of many business people. If you are one of them, you could be eager to make more money to either help get your small and not long-established business off the ground or take an already successful company to the next level.

You can increase the amount of money at your disposal by trimming your outgoings – and doing that can be a pleasantly surprising case of “easy once you know how”. Here are details of various methods of cutting those expenses.

Make phone calls cheaply

Regularly communicating with people could be vital to your business – and much of that communication could take place over the phone. Phone calls don’t necessarily have to take a massive chunk out of your business budget; however, it could be a very different situation if you often reach out to global markets in a bid to win more business.

This reaching-out could become seriously problematic due to how expensive international calling can be. Want to phone a United States-based company to strike an overseas partnership? The call’s per-minute cost would be 30p with BT. Making a BT call to a potential customer who is in South Africa would set you back 60p each minute. Fortunately, the respective costs would be just 1.5p and 2p if you used an international calling account from Planet Numbers.

Market cheaply

You can expect your company’s progress to hit a wall if few people are even aware of its products or services. This begins to clarify the purpose and usefulness of marketing, but how can you engage in that when competing companies have bigger advertising budgets? Couldn’t they stay ahead by just outspending you? Not quite; you can’t simply buy space in potential customers’ minds…

In an Entrepreneur article, the investor and consultant Kc Agu insists that you can achieve better market penetration than rival companies by offering a better product. He insists that “if your product/service is not solving a problem in a more efficient way, all the money in the world will do you no good in the long run.” A great product/service, however, “can literally sell itself.”

He also refers to his own practice of reaching out to influential bloggers and asking them to review his business or a specific product. Agu notes that such “figureheads” who review products as they hit the market are widely trusted; publicity from them can thus take your marketing money further.

Reward employees cheaply

Workers naturally like to feel appreciated – and, indeed, why shouldn’t you go beyond the call of duty in rewarding them for their efforts? Good employees can be vital to a flourishing company. Nonetheless, how can you reward them without lavish expenditure on your part?

Two business people talking

Business owner Rhonda Abrams has provided a list of some example methods on the USA TODAY website.

These techniques include giving each employee a paid day off on their birthday. If the birthday will be on a weekend or a working day when you just couldn’t be without their help, that “birthday” time off can be on a different day.

You could also regularly name an “Employee of the Week” – and, no, you wouldn’t have to do this strictly every week. You could just occasionally do it whenever an employee has done something special. The recognition could do wonders for the self-esteem of that worker, who you could also give a small physical gift, like a chocolate bar.

As you should now see, running a business does not have to be excessively punishing on your bank balance. Many simple procedures can add up to significant savings.

2 Comments

  1. Hello,

    I have just come across your site, trying to research if Macdonalds have legally issued me a PCN for no right turn, offence High Road Leytonstone E11
    In the past I was able to exit MacDonald’s car park and continue around the one way system. Thus continuing my journey.
    The car park exit has been closed and therefore I now have to exit the way I came in, turning left, go into traffic all around the roundabout to come back on myself and continue the one way system in order to travel down Leyton High Road.

    The PCN issued by London Borough of Watham Forest was a staggering £65.00 I would like to know when this no right turn was installed and why has macdonalds closed the exit. I am assuming people used this as a cut through to avoid the sitting at the lights? No right turn cant fathom out.

    • Hi Jacky

      Thanks for your comment. From what you said, it seems very strange that you received this PCN from London Borough of Watham Forest. I would contact the Borough and ask for more details about what they think you did wrong.

      I hope this situation is resolved favourably for you.

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