Don’t just throw away your revenue!
Every day expenses can vary wildly from business to business. Many of your expenses can be unique to your specific industry and absolutely necessary to keep it running.
But are you sure all your expenses are actually helping your business run?
It can be too easy for your costs to get away from you and start eating into your profits.
Here are 4 common expenses that you can cut to save your business some moola.
Subscriptions
There are a lot of subscription services out there that base their business model on you forgetting to cancel. Maybe you even get a free trial to suck you in, then forget to cancel once that trial is up. It’s a small charge and some companies are betting that you will just ignore it.
An great example of this is a gym membership (not all, but definitely some). When gyms are determining how many memberships they can sell, they factor in a certain percentage that will pay the monthly subscription without ever actually showing up at the gym.
Don’t be this person.
We’re all guilty of this. We pay for a service or app thinking that we’re going to use it. Then we continue paying for it because we think we should be using it.
There’s only question that really matters. Is it helping you now??
If the answer is no, then it’s time to cancel that subscription.
Paper and whatnot
At this point in human evolution, there’s really not much value in using paper. Sure, there are some industries that require some paper documentation (i.e. legal and real estate), but the majority don’t.
Going paperless in your business can save you a ton of money that you may not even realize you’re spending. An obvious one is the paper itself, but what about the printer ink? We all know how ridiculously expensive printer ink is, especially if you can easily go without.
There’s also the often underestimated expense of your (or your employees) time. Ever had to fix a printer issue? Was that a quick and simple process? No. It was probably an awful and frustrating experience that you’ll have to repeat when it happens again. And it will almost certainly happen again.
If you’re using paper, then you’re using time to manage it which costs you money. Whether it’s the filing, recycling, printing, or scanning, you can save time and money by going paperless and streamlining your processes.
Credit card interest
Credit cards are great. Credit card interest is not, unless you are a bank. This is an extra expense that can add up pretty quickly. The fee one month may be pretty small so you think, “whatever. I’ll just pay it. NBD.” But it IS a big deal.
This is a completely unnecessary expense that can add up really quickly. Interest rates are high and it’s better to never get into the habit of paying it on the regular.
New equipment
New does not necessarily mean better. Often you can even afford to buy higher-quality equipment if you are willing to buy used. This is especially true for office equipment like desks or tables. You can easily find good quality furniture and equipment sold as used when it’s barely even been touched.
There are lots of people out there in the world that feel that they need to have the latest and greatest of everything. They have no problem buying new tech, equipment, and furniture each year. I don’t want you to be this person, but I absolutely want you to take advantage of the fact that they exist.
Whenever you need stuff that doesn’t absolutely have to be brand new, take a browse through Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace to see what’s there. It never hurts to look and you may be surprised by the quality and savings that are available with just little leg work.
The revenue you bring into your business can all too easily be eaten up by your expenses; leaving you with much less profit than you want.
Take some time to look over your books and bank statements to make sure that all your expenses are real and necessary. Any unnecessary expenses you pay are the equivalent to just throwing your money in the garbage.
Your money isn’t trash so make sure you are taking care of it by putting it to a good cause; you!