Starting a business can be very expensive! Overheads can be huge and, in the early days, income can vary greatly. Increasing sales is one way to boost profits, but so is saving money.
Luckily, there are lots of ways you can reduce these costs and create a financially healthy business without compromising on quality or your customer’s experience.
Here are some simple ways to save money when running an online business:
1. Use a website builder
Your website is probably the most important aspect of an online business. It’s where your customers and clients will go to check your credentials, and to browse your catalog.
Because of this, it’s essential to make sure your website is professional, attractive, and easy to use. However, web design services can often be costly.
If you want to save money, a great way to do it is to build your own website or online store. This is much cheaper than hiring a developer, and tools like Squarespace make it really simple.
Or, if your business is selling products, building an e-commerce store with a platform like Shopify is a great option as it provides lots of solutions for online businesses.
2. Avoid office space costs
Thanks to technology, so many online businesses can now be run remotely. This saves loads of money without it affecting the quality of the business operations.
If you do need office space, you can still save money by sharing with another business, using an office part-time, or converting a space in your home into an office space.
3. Hire contractors and freelancers
Another major cost for businesses is paying staff. Full-time employees are a huge expense, which isn’t ideal for smaller online businesses.
Using freelancers or independent contractors can be a big money saver. You can avoid onboarding and training costs as they will already be experienced in their field.
Additionally, you only need to pay contractors for tasks that need doing. When hiring employees, you need to pay them regardless of how busy you are.
4. Take advantage of automation
Time is money! Wasting time on simple or repetitive processes means you will probably end up spending more than you need to.
Although there are a lot of business tasks that do need to be carried out manually, you can avoid paying someone (or spending time yourself) on some of them.
Automation can be used for basic tasks, such as social media posts, proofreading, computer backups, data entry, and email marketing.
Not only will these tasks be completed to a high level of accuracy, doing this also frees up time. This time can be used to deal with more challenging parts of running a business.
5. Utilize free online tools
Although paying freelancers and using automation do work well, there are still lots of tasks you can complete yourself without spending too much time or money on them.
There are plenty of online tools available, such as:
Build your own logos using LogoCreator.io
Create your own graphic design work using Adobe Illustrator
Make infographics using Piktochart
ColorStory can be used to edit photos
Create your own artistic text using Wordswag
Send professional email marketing campaigns using WordChimp
Manage your business accounts using Quickbooks
These are just a few examples, and there are many more available!
If you want to maximize your business success and get the most out of your budget, it’s important to consider costs, deadlines, and your own skills.
There will, of course, be occasions when you will need to pay a professional to do your work. But, if you’re on a budget, using these tools is a great alternative to save money!
Post provided courtesy of Tymon Walker.
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