Home Advice For The Young At Heart 6 Ways For Startups And Small Businesses To Help Reduce Cost

6 Ways For Startups And Small Businesses To Help Reduce Cost

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by Regan Billie, Social Media & PR Coordinator at Fleetmatics

There are two ways for a business to increase its profits.  The first is to bring in more revenue, whether it’s by raising prices or just selling more of a product or service.  Another way is to decrease cost.

When running a business, specifically a startup, it’s easy to get fixated on the idea of making money.  While money flowing into your business is almost unquestionably good, the money leaving your startup is just as important.

Cutting cost can be one of the best ways for a startup to grow and expand under its own power, but it isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

Here are some tips for startups to cut costs in order to expand their bottom line:

Take advantage of the cloud.

The cloud has done wonders for the business world, allowing people to access programs, documents and resources anywhere, instead of being restricted to a particular hard drive, server or network.  It has also given startups and small businesses the ability to cut costs.  Utilizing a low cost service like Google Drive or Zoho can reduce costs compared to buying licenses for something like Microsoft Office.  Additionally, a lot of cloud software is available on a pay-as-you-go basis, decreasing costs while your company is growing.

Ask employees to use their own devices (BYOD).

One of the biggest expenses for any startup can be the physical resources necessary to run a business.  Computers, laptops, phones, tablets and many other devices can add up to become an enormous expense for a young company.  A tactical advantage of asking your employees to use their own devices is that it allows them to work from anywhere and there is less training required for employees to learn how to use devices.  Additionally, this has been made easier and more practical by cloud services like Google Drive.  This option can save you money early on until your business has revenue coming in at a steadier rate.

Fleet tracking.

If your startup is dependent on fleet vehicles in order to deliver your product or service to your customer, you could be letting profit slide right through your fingers if you aren’t managing your vehicles properly.  Fleet tracking software can help you to decrease fuel costs, labor costs and maximize the efficiency of your fleet.  The only way for your fleet to work as efficiently as possible is to know where your vehicles are at all times, and GPS tracking gives you the resources to do this.  Fleet tracking software is even offered on the cloud now, which can help your company cut costs in more than one way at the same time.

Cross-train before hiring.

As any small business grows, people with different skillsets are going to be needed.  Just because you need a person to do a new task doesn’t mean you have to hire another employee.  It can be much more cost effective to invest in your current team and train an existing employee to do multiple tasks, rather than bring in a completely new team member.

Reuse shipping supplies.

Shipping costs build quickly and before you know it, they can be eating up profit.  Does your startup ship large amounts of products to customers?  Save boxes from shipments you receive and repurpose those for your outgoing shipping.

Trendy office accessories are not a necessity.

It seems that over the years trendy or cool office furniture has become increasingly popular.  While having a fun atmosphere and comfortable work space is important, you can avoid unnecessary costs by keeping office décor simple.

Every company has an aspect of its business that is particularly costly.  Whether it is managing a fleet, shipping large volumes of product or utilizing several pieces of software, every startup can find ways to reduce their costs to increase profit.

 

Regan Billie is the Social Media & PR Coordinator at Fleetmatics, which provides fleet management solutions for small business with GPS vehicle tracking technology. Fleetmatics helps business to meet the challenges associated with managing local fleets and improve the productivity of their mobile workforces.

 

 

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