Diana Smith, Negosentro | 4 Money Retention Tips from Anonymous, yet Successful Ex-Startups | Some of the main differences between large corporations and small businesses are the incredible amounts of passion, respect for their peers and the desire to make this way of doing business more popular than it already is. This is exactly why many entrepreneurs aren’t afraid of sharing their words of wisdom that they’ve learned from experience, and this is exactly why we’ve gathered a list of four money-saving tips from anonymous small businesses that have achieved success.
Financing
The number one problem for the vast majority of startups is definitely obtaining financing. If you can afford to pay out of your own pocket for the majority of things, you can skip this part; don’t even think about other options.
On the other hand, the reality of things is such that the majority of entrepreneurs is actually strapped for cash, and in dire need of a financing option. Getting out a bank loan is always an option, but it’s definitely the least creative and productive one. Obtaining the necessary funding through an incubator is a preferable choice to getting a loan, but these organizations tend to be faceless, meaning that you won’t be getting anything but money out of it, and they will get a percentage. Getting crowdfunded is great and cheap to set up and initiate.
The most preferable way to go here is definitely finding an investor(s) – they will certainly take a percentage of your profit, but are also influential persons who doubtlessly know other influential people.
Marketing
Right below financing dwells marketing – the second biggest problem for a predominant number of startups. Marketing does have a tendency of being expensive and complicated in general, but it doesn’t have to be either of these two things.
Many successful small businesses have managed to get their names out there by completely stopping to pay for advertising, almost entirely focusing on inbound marketing. Even paid internet advertising (which is considered absolutely essential nowadays) can be replaced with SEO techniques and clever YouTube videos. We live in an age of impromptu marketing!
Outsourcing
Every single aspiring entrepreneur would love to be able to hire a top-of-the-line professional for each given position, but everyone knows that this is close to impossible, even for a well-seasoned small business. The next best thing that you can do is focus on essential positions, and use any means necessary, including big data, to find a perfect employee match. Every position that is used occasionally should be outsourced; why pay a website designer regularly if you only need them once a week/month/year?
Outsourcing is the way to go, especially when it comes to startups that have yet to bloom.
Go green
Being eco-friendly is actually a win-win situation in the vast majority of cases. It will make you feel like you’re doing something good, it’s great for company morale, it’s an awesome PR move, and, most importantly, it’s fantastic for our planet. You can even go past LED lights and water saving – install a 5kW solar system, and just watch as your electricity bill dwindles, especially during the summer months!
Always think in these terms: reusing, recycling, saving water and electricity – these are all great tools that strike huge blows to both excessive spending and pollution.
These four tips from successful small businesses are essential factors in cutting business costs to the best of your ability. The solutions provided here will help you deal with the biggest problems of the business world that include financing, marketing, employees and bills. With proper financing, entertaining and well-applied marketing, a core of rock-solid employees and going green, you will definitely have a lot of saved money to brag about.
