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Cutting Costs While Boosting Business: 5 Pieces of Advice for Start-Ups

BY Rebecca | 3 October, 2016 | no comments

Trying to build a business isn’t easy. You’ll have to make sacrifices, worry more, sleep less. And while rewards can be gratifying for those who have taken the plunge and succeeded, there are plenty of others that don’t make the cut. One reason for that is cost. Startups don’t have the funding or bigger pockets of industry giants. Being the new kid on the block means they’ll have to be careful with how they spend their budget. Some startups forget that, to the detriment of their own business.

Starting a business?

If you’re planning a startup, if you’ve thought about this long and hard, told yourself any number of things like: you want to be your own boss, you have an important and commercially-profitable idea, you’re ready for the adventure of a lifetime, then you’ll want to do your best to achieve success. And one way to do that is to make sure your costs are down. Here are five essential pieces of advice to help you get through the tight times:

Rent instead of buy

You don’t have to own office furniture or that office space, says Small Business Trends. If you don’t have any computers for incoming team members, encourage BYOD (bring your own device) at work. You can rent office space or furniture. There are plenty of co-working spaces these days that allow you and your team to have the advantages of an office—that conference room for quick huddle sessions, a pantry where your employees could go for coffee or a break or chairs and desks for where you can work—all without having to shell out a lot of cash upfront. That’s going to save you a tremendous amount of dollars.

Improve your marketing

Marketing companies spend millions of advertising dollars on their campaigns. You don’t have to spend buckets of cash just to compete with them, though. Social media channels these days have gone a long way to even out playing field for startups as well as small and midsize business. So you can boost your marketing efforts, says the Entrepreneur, all without having to spend as much as the rest of your competition. The best part about many of these channels is that you can expand your marketing reach well beyond local target markets. Putting up your own website, for instance makes it possible for you to reach out to customers anywhere in the globe. That’s the kind of expansion that could build your business and make for long-term financial stability and success.

Use video

Business videoconferencing from BlueJeans —a well-known video solutions provider—makes it possible for you to cut costs while getting your communication infrastructure off the ground. With video communication, you can look forward to massive cost-savings. Video effectively eliminates the need for travel so you’ve already reduced your travel costs. Need help hiring? You can keep hiring periods shorter with video. You can set up initial interviews through video, saving you and candidates the need to travel to the office for a meeting. You can also hire globally, without fear or worries since video solutions make it easier and more convenient to keep an eye on remote employees and teams. It also allows for faster communication. Email threads can be insanely long. If you and your remote teams need to discuss updates or project revisions, using video helps your team collaborate and arrive at a result faster. That means a shorter decision-making process, allowing you to shorten production and delivery schedules.

Best value for your money

Always go for apps, tools or equipment that provide you with the best value for your money. That means doing your research and finding out what the top picks are in the market. Don’t let anyone push you into making a purchase. Try it out and check if the experience is something you want your team to have. For instance, if you’re buying a software, ask yourself how your employees will use the technology. Before you invest in an expensive system that comes with a lot of bells and whistles, ask yourself if your team is going to use it. If it’s too complex, it could turn out to be an ultimate time waster, with few employees adapting to its use. So make sure you factor this in when you shop around for anything that offers the best value for your money.

Don’t hire just yet

Keep your team lean. The trick to getting your business off the ground with a small team is to make sure you hire right. Get the right people on board, who share your vision and dedication, who understands the passion and flexibility necessary to work in a startup environment. With the right team behind you, your business has a bigger chance than most to make it.

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