Is your profit margin feeling a little tight? Business owners usually look for ways to increase sales when profits shrink, but it’s important to examine expenses as well. Even in a home business, where costs are low, monthly bills can creep up over time. Here are some ideas for getting your home business expenses under control to boost profits.
Cancel Unused Services
Most people have several recurring charges for services they no longer use. Some companies make it difficult to cancel by burying the cancellation form on their website or requiring a phone call to end the service. That makes it easy to procrastinate, especially if the service is only $10 a month, but if you have four or five of these charges every month it adds up quickly. Set aside half an hour to cancel unused services once and for all. Services like Trim and Truebill will do this for you, and also help you find additional monthly savings.
Go Paperless
Has your commitment to a paperless office wavered? Paper records take up physical space in your office and cost money to create and store. Eliminating them saves you from buying paper, envelopes, file folders, and file cabinets. If you’re printing things just to put them in files, spend that time making digital backups instead. Digitize your fax process and move your banking online. Talk to your employees, contractors, and vendors about how to take your communications online and get them out of your inbox.
Save On Utilities
Working from home puts a strain on your power bill. To reduce the impact of your computers and equipment, plug them into a power strip and switch the whole strip off at the end of the day. Use a portable air conditioner or space heater to keep your office comfortable so you can adjust the thermostat for the rest of the house as if you are not home all day. Lessen the wear and tear on your expensive furnace and air conditioning units by having them serviced regularly and changing the filters often.
Collect Bids From Vendors
When was the last time you got competitive bids from vendors for your largest expenses? If you’ve been using the same vendor for years, you’ve probably made changes to your order and agreed to new pricing without checking to make sure you’re still getting the best deal. Even your current vendor might find creative ways to cut costs if they’re asked to provide a competitive bid. This is also an opportunity for you to rethink your purchasing habits and see if there are other ways to trim your costs.
Working from home is an economical option compared to renting an office space, but even home business owners can find ways to trim costs. Canceling unused services, going paperless, reducing utility bills, and inviting vendors to submit competitive bids are all tactics that will help you get your expenses under control. Reducing your expenses will immediately increase your profit margin, and that might energize you to go out and build even more sales.
