5 Steps Your Small Business Can Take To Eliminate Burdensome Costs

Whatever type of small business you run, it’s likely that you have multiple expenses you need to cover each month. Business startup costs in particular are notorious for being pricey, but companies can face burdensome costs at any time, especially as the company starts to grow and possibly expand into more locations. If your small business is facing a budgetary crisis, or if you simply don’t want to see so much of your revenue eaten up by excessive fixed costs, you may be wondering what you can do to whittle down those expenses. Fortunately, there are several easy steps your business can take right away to eliminate those burdensome costs and cut your monthly budget down to a more manageable size.

1. Swap Out Your Landline for a High-Tech Answering Service

Landlines, as well as old-fashioned in-person receptionists, can eat up a large chunk of any company’s budget. Soaring prices in recent years have unfortunately not been accompanied by large increases in value in this area. That’s why you might want to consider swapping out your current call system for a simple-to-use small business answering service that can help ensure your company never misses a call.

2. Try Going Paperless and Using Virtual Invoices

You might not realize it, but it’s possible your company is spending too much on paper products. Printing, copying and faxing can quickly become pricey, and with today’s technology, you may not even need to shell out for paper copies of everything. Instead of printing and mailing out customer invoices, for example, your company could simply send virtual copies or send your fax over the internet instead. Some of the items you could potentially cut out of the budget to quickly and easily save some money include, but are not limited to:

• Printer paper
• Printer ink
• Copying machines
• Postage stamps
• Mailing supplies, including envelopes
• Customized letterheads

3. Pay Off Recurring Debts To Free Up Room in the Company Budget

Another area of your budget that you may want to whittle down is your debt spending. Although many companies have to take out start-up loans and acquire other types of debt to stay afloat, your debt repayments alone could be eating up too much of your monthly budget, cutting down your revenue flow and leaving you with less cash to spend on other items. If you can focus on paying off company debts intensely for a while and get rid of debt repayments, you might find that your company budget suddenly has a lot more wiggle room!

4. Whittle Down Labor Costs by Switching To High-Tech Solutions

Unfortunately, although some employees are vital to the functioning of an organization, labor costs can be very expensive for a company. You may want to comb through the positions your company currently has to determine which are essential and which could potentially be automated or reduced via high-tech solutions. For example, your business could easily:

• Institute virtual payment systems
• Automate small, everyday office tasks
• Use teleconference services instead of traveling for business
• Eliminate unnecessarily costly software programs

5. Furnish Your Office With Gently Used Pieces

Having a pleasant office space can make you and your staff more excited to get to work each day, but spending too much on office furniture and décor can unnecessarily eat up the free space in your budget. You can still style your office the way you want to, but it may help to look for gently used pieces of furniture that can provide a professional look without breaking the bank. For example, you might find it beneficial to sell of brand-new furniture that the company currently possesses, spend a small portion on thrift pieces and save the difference. Your company could decorate the office using:

• High-quality thrift furniture
• Gently used pieces from other offices that have moved locations
• Refurbished pieces
• Furniture from discount stores or outlet shops

Every small business is bound to have a certain number of fixed monthly expenses, but if all those little costs have been adding up and placing a serious burden on your budget, it may be time to start trimming the financial fat. Whether you’re spending too much on certain employee positions, company supplies or even just office decorations and furniture, there are several ways you can eliminate burdensome costs right away. Take these effective steps today if your business needs to boost revenue and reduce expenses.