Savvy Steps to Cutting Costs for Small Businesses

Posted: 04 Sep 2013 01:44 PM PDT

In the world of small business, it always seems a balancing act between saving valuable time and cutting costs where possible. It is important to research where it can be effective to save on spending and where it might be harmful to go a cheaper route. Here are some savvy steps to cutting costs and turning a better profit while maintaining a stellar business.

Technological Help Wanted
Most small companies can not afford to hire specialists for every aspect of their operations. This often leaves small business owners taking a do-it-yourself approach when searching for small business IT solutions. However, the extra effort it takes to learn and then work on IT can often steal valuable time from the important part of managing an operation.

Luckily, there are still other options that are still cost-effective while saving you the headache and hassle and maintaining the quality your business needs. One of the first methods is called cloudsourcing. Cloudsourcing is when a company hires a remote provider to do tasks that would otherwise be performed in-house. Similar to outsourcing, cloudsourcing can save money because it is usually charged on a per-use basis rather than a monthly contract.

Another option is finding an agency or self-employed expert to bring in to work on particular tasks like website design, etc. This saves the cost of hiring someone on a salary basis but still provides the expertise that will make your company thrive.

Make it Square
More and more people no longer carry cash, and this can negatively affect sales for small businesses. But, new technology from Square enables even the smallest businesses to swipe credit cards without investing in a traditional register.

These convenient mobile card readers plug into the headphone jack of any iPhone, iPad or Android device and allow for credit cards to be swiped and processed for a small percentage charge. In 2012, Square reported processing over $10 billion according to the Los Angeles Times. As their popularity increases, the list of card reader distributors continues to grow.

There Is Probably an App for That
Many useful small business tools are developing app versions of their programs. These include:

QuickBooks 2013
Expensify, a program that categorizes pictures of receipts to prepare for tax season
Google Analytics which includes special tips for small businesses
Dropbox

All of these and more helpful business tools are now easily accessible on your mobile device to make business simpler even on the go.

Marketing in the 21^st Century
Yet another fantastic opportunity that the increase in mobile device use can present to your small company is a broader and potentially less expensive marketing platform. Maintaining an active Facebook page, Twitter account and/ or blog can be a great way to boost your visibility as a business.

Social media provides a practically free way of reaching potential customers among you and your connections' networks. Taking the time to write articles online through your own or other's blogs is also an effective way to establish your business online. The vast reach of the internet also allows you to target specific clients that are already looking for your products or services.

With current innovations, it is increasing possible to find efficient but highly cost-effective strategies for running a small business.

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