Avoid small business traps
Top 10 Heads Of State On Twitter.
January 1, 2013Small business owners can benefit greatly from other companies research.
January 9, 2013
Traditional Spending Habits That Can Drive Your Small Business into the Ground
Like most small business owners, you probably can’t remember the last time that you took a vacation. In this weak economy, you simply can’t afford to put your business on the back burner for any amount of time. Money is far too tight. Even if you’re watching your organization’s revenues and expenditures like a hawk, you’re still probably looking for ways to trim its budget, and even marginally increase your after-tax earnings.
To lay the groundwork for sustainable profit growth, you’ll need to go through your business’s finances with a fine-toothed comb. Over the past two decades, certain technological advances and cultural changes have dramatically altered the country’s economic landscape. To position your business to take advantage of these trends, you’ll need to do away with its most counterproductive spending habits. Use these five smart-spending tips to start moving your small business forward.
Reduce Your Hardware Footprint
If you’re like most small business owners, you probably don’t devote very much thought to your business’s overhead expenses. After all, the costs associated with your building’s power, Internet service and rent are more or less fixed. There’s no point in trying to change things that you can’t control.
Then again, you could have some control over your overhead costs. Depending upon how much power your business consumes, you may be able to slash your organization’s electricity bills by hundreds of dollars each year without making undue sacrifices. Modern laptops and tablets use far less power compared to old-fashioned desktop computers. What’s more, laptops are typically cheaper, faster and more compact than desktops, and can result in savings well over 50%. Each time one of your business’s old desktops wears out, replace it with a laptop or tablet.
Rein in Your Printing Expenses
Printer cartridges are expensive and environmentally-unfriendly. In fact, Xerox asserts that from 1991-2008 the company recycled 2 billion pounds of spent toner cartridges. Whether you use an old-fashioned ink jet or a fancy new laser printer, you’re probably not happy with your current printing costs. Fortunately, most cartridge manufacturers and retailers participate in cartridge recycling programs. These serve dual purposes: They can reduce your ink or toner costs and may keep millions of non-biodegradable cartridges out of the country’s landfills each year.
There are a few different ways to recycle your ink toner for great results. Major office supply stores like Staples and Office Depot offer in-store rebates of $2 to $3 per used cartridge. Dedicated cartridge wholesalers offer even more robust programs that permit business owners to exchange their unusable cartridges for an equal number of freshly-recycled devices.
Get Comfortable with Inbound Marketing
Most business gurus recommend retaining an inbound marketing specialist to craft your inbound marketing strategy and attract new customers to your business. Unfortunately, this can cost unseemly amounts of money and may take months to produce tangible results. If you’re worrying about the cost of your printer ink, you probably can’t afford to add yet another expensive service to your ledger.
However, you can afford to perform many key inbound marketing functions on your own. While you may need to outsource a few specialized tasks, the contractors with whom you’ll work won’t cost nearly as much as an inbound marketing specialist.
First, make each visitor to your website an offer that he or she can’t refuse. Commission an e-book or white paper that outlines your business’s mission or provides useful, industry-specific tips and offer it to your customers for free. Once they’ve gotten a taste of what your business can do for them, your customers will be more likely to purchase your products or services. Next, start putting out a weekly or monthly e-newsletter to supplement your daily blog posts. You’ll probably need a dedicated writer for this job. Finally, rewrite your website’s content to make it appealing to visitors and friendly to search engines. To ensure that this is done correctly, you might want to hire an SEO specialist on a contract basis.
Make Friends with Affiliates
When it’s employed correctly, affiliate marketing has the potential to increase your business’s visibility in dramatic fashion and earn you loads of money in the process. Thousands of enterprising webmasters are constantly on the lookout for promising new businesses with which to affiliate. These marketing experts are especially fond of businesses that offer high-end products or subscription services. If your customers often sign up for subscriptions or payment plans, you may be able to entice elite marketers by offering them ongoing “residual” cuts of your revenue.
As long as your affiliate marketing program offers competitive rates for new leads, you’ll be able to rely on a steady supply of well-trafficked websites to hawk your products and services. Every time an interested visitor clicks on your affiliate’s link, they’ll be directed to your landing page or e-store. Most affiliate programs enjoy high conversion rates and require little ongoing effort.
5. Hire Slowly, Contract Liberally
Your small business can’t function without workers. However, it might be able to function without full-time employees. These days, many low-margin businesses rely on contract workers to perform repetitive tasks or work on time-sensitive projects. Contractors tend to be hired for short, fixed terms and are usually paid flat fees for specific amounts of work.
Many contractors are talented professionals who can’t find steady employment due to the rough economy. If you’re looking to revamp your website or start a spin-off blog, consider contracting with a freelance programmer or blogger to do the job competently and cheaply. Alternatively, you could hire a new employee on a temporary basis and dangle the promise of full-time employment after a fixed probationary period. If circumstances change and the temporary employee does not meet your requirements, you can always choose not to proceed with the hire.
Thousands of American small businesses have used these money-saving tips to strengthen their bottom lines. In fact, many small businesses that have successfully reduced their overhead costs and established productive relationships with marketing affiliates aren’t so small anymore. Yours could be next in line for the big time. Make this dream into a reality by jettisoning your old-fashioned spending habits and building a leaner, brighter business.
To lay the groundwork for sustainable profit growth, you’ll need to go through your business’s finances with a fine-toothed comb. Over the past two decades, certain technological advances and cultural changes have dramatically altered the country’s economic landscape. To position your business to take advantage of these trends, you’ll need to do away with its most counterproductive spending habits. Use these five smart-spending tips to start moving your small business forward.
Reduce Your Hardware Footprint
If you’re like most small business owners, you probably don’t devote very much thought to your business’s overhead expenses. After all, the costs associated with your building’s power, Internet service and rent are more or less fixed. There’s no point in trying to change things that you can’t control.
Then again, you could have some control over your overhead costs. Depending upon how much power your business consumes, you may be able to slash your organization’s electricity bills by hundreds of dollars each year without making undue sacrifices. Modern laptops and tablets use far less power compared to old-fashioned desktop computers. What’s more, laptops are typically cheaper, faster and more compact than desktops, and can result in savings well over 50%. Each time one of your business’s old desktops wears out, replace it with a laptop or tablet.
Rein in Your Printing Expenses
Printer cartridges are expensive and environmentally-unfriendly. In fact, Xerox asserts that from 1991-2008 the company recycled 2 billion pounds of spent toner cartridges. Whether you use an old-fashioned ink jet or a fancy new laser printer, you’re probably not happy with your current printing costs. Fortunately, most cartridge manufacturers and retailers participate in cartridge recycling programs. These serve dual purposes: They can reduce your ink or toner costs and may keep millions of non-biodegradable cartridges out of the country’s landfills each year.
There are a few different ways to recycle your ink toner for great results. Major office supply stores like Staples and Office Depot offer in-store rebates of $2 to $3 per used cartridge. Dedicated cartridge wholesalers offer even more robust programs that permit business owners to exchange their unusable cartridges for an equal number of freshly-recycled devices.
Get Comfortable with Inbound Marketing
Most business gurus recommend retaining an inbound marketing specialist to craft your inbound marketing strategy and attract new customers to your business. Unfortunately, this can cost unseemly amounts of money and may take months to produce tangible results. If you’re worrying about the cost of your printer ink, you probably can’t afford to add yet another expensive service to your ledger.
However, you can afford to perform many key inbound marketing functions on your own. While you may need to outsource a few specialized tasks, the contractors with whom you’ll work won’t cost nearly as much as an inbound marketing specialist.
First, make each visitor to your website an offer that he or she can’t refuse. Commission an e-book or white paper that outlines your business’s mission or provides useful, industry-specific tips and offer it to your customers for free. Once they’ve gotten a taste of what your business can do for them, your customers will be more likely to purchase your products or services. Next, start putting out a weekly or monthly e-newsletter to supplement your daily blog posts. You’ll probably need a dedicated writer for this job. Finally, rewrite your website’s content to make it appealing to visitors and friendly to search engines. To ensure that this is done correctly, you might want to hire an SEO specialist on a contract basis.
Make Friends with Affiliates
When it’s employed correctly, affiliate marketing has the potential to increase your business’s visibility in dramatic fashion and earn you loads of money in the process. Thousands of enterprising webmasters are constantly on the lookout for promising new businesses with which to affiliate. These marketing experts are especially fond of businesses that offer high-end products or subscription services. If your customers often sign up for subscriptions or payment plans, you may be able to entice elite marketers by offering them ongoing “residual” cuts of your revenue.
As long as your affiliate marketing program offers competitive rates for new leads, you’ll be able to rely on a steady supply of well-trafficked websites to hawk your products and services. Every time an interested visitor clicks on your affiliate’s link, they’ll be directed to your landing page or e-store. Most affiliate programs enjoy high conversion rates and require little ongoing effort.
5. Hire Slowly, Contract Liberally
Your small business can’t function without workers. However, it might be able to function without full-time employees. These days, many low-margin businesses rely on contract workers to perform repetitive tasks or work on time-sensitive projects. Contractors tend to be hired for short, fixed terms and are usually paid flat fees for specific amounts of work.
Many contractors are talented professionals who can’t find steady employment due to the rough economy. If you’re looking to revamp your website or start a spin-off blog, consider contracting with a freelance programmer or blogger to do the job competently and cheaply. Alternatively, you could hire a new employee on a temporary basis and dangle the promise of full-time employment after a fixed probationary period. If circumstances change and the temporary employee does not meet your requirements, you can always choose not to proceed with the hire.
Thousands of American small businesses have used these money-saving tips to strengthen their bottom lines. In fact, many small businesses that have successfully reduced their overhead costs and established productive relationships with marketing affiliates aren’t so small anymore. Yours could be next in line for the big time. Make this dream into a reality by jettisoning your old-fashioned spending habits and building a leaner, brighter business.
Jessica Bosari, Contributor This article is available online at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneywisewomen/2013/01/04/traditional-spending-habits-that-can-drive-your-small-business-into-the-ground/
