Utility and operational costs make up more than 60% of your business operations. Business insurance, for example, goes up 10% to 20% a year. If you look at your expenses and profit, you will notice that a big chunk of your money goes to utility bills. You can cut down on these energy, water, and Internet expenses by following some simple tips.
Energy and Internet Service
Take a look at the business broadband service you use. You may be paying for more than what you need. Various Internet packages go from unlimited data to limited monthly bandwidth. If you’re paying for unlimited business data and speed, you may be spending hundreds of dollars on a service that you don’t need. Check your data needs and make sure to subscribe only to what your business specifically demands.
The same goes for your electricity bill. There are various ways to lower down the cost of energy consumption. Going green is a prime example of cutting energy expenditure. Invest in solar-powered lights. Make sure not to leave doors open so that the HVAC system won’t have a hard time warming or cooling the room. During the warmer months, open windows and let the cool air get inside the room so that you don’t have to crank up the air-conditioning unit.
Office Space
Do you really need that big of an office space? You can consider moving your office space to a less expensive area of the city or town. Many businesses have also converted their homes into offices, while others decide to go mobile or online only. This means that they won’t even need to rent an office space. They can just convert a room in their house for the operations of the business.
Of course, this works only if your business doesn’t have anything to do with retail. If you have items to sell, you definitely need a space where you can store these products. Home offices are only suitable for service-oriented businesses.
Staffing
In these hard economic times, you can consider cutting staff. Evaluate each member of your staff and come up with metrics on how you will know who needs to stay and who has to go. You will be pleasantly surprised how many of your employees are looking to transition to better-paying jobs or another career. You can also offer them a work-from-home setup so that you won’t have to provide basic office necessities such as computers, desks, chairs, and pantry supplies.
How about hiring offshore employees? Have you consider creating a team made up of skilled offshore workers. They work from wherever they are in the world. You won’t have to pay for health insurance and other types of benefits. You will pay a per-hour rate, minus all the additional expenses of keeping an in-house team.
Invoices
Are you aware that many suppliers will give you discounts for paying your invoices earlier than the due date? They are willing to offer discounts if you offer to pay your invoices early. They lose so much money when other clients don’t pay on time, so they appreciate businesses that do pay on time or early than expected.
There are plenty of ways to cut down on office and operational expenses. You can also go paperless so that you don’t have to spend on printer, ink, and paper. But if you still need office supplies, consider buying them in bulk because they are cheaper that way. Be creative in ways you try to cut down on office expenses. You’ll find it easier in time.
