Welcome to money savers anonymous. Hi! I am Heather Smith and I love to save money. I like to find a bargain, but what excites me even more than money saving is when I get something for free.
What’s more, being thrifty is in many cases environmentally friendly. I have applied this philosophy to my business and am happy to share these money saving tips with you.
1. Go halves on the cost of business cards and double your exposure with a complimentary business – your details on one side and theirs on the other. Or get a large business who is trying to break into the small business market to sponsor your business cards.
2. Stop subscribing to magazines and sign up for their newsletters instead.
3. Rather than send out printed newsletters, send out an email newsletter.
4. Get all of your old, good quality magazines and attach a business flyer to the inside cover. Contact a complimentary business or the local doctors’ office and ask if you can leave them in their waiting area.
5. Scan newsletters for money saving offers. I recently got a 3 license Microsoft Office package as a thank-you for attending a 90 minute Microsoft customer survey meeting.
6. Use forums and websites to research your market. For example, if you designed ladies clothing, you could post pictures of swabs of material you are thinking of using on women friendly forums. Invite feedback and build a community at the same time.
7. Utilise online communities like the Flying Solo Forum, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to connect with people and further build your community.
Want more articles like this? Check out the financial management section.
8. There are many free training resources including online tutorials, webinars and podcasts available on the internet.
9. The library has a wealth of free information available. Take the time to learn how to put books on hold or request a special order (i.e. a transfer from an out of state library).
10. State Government organisations offer very reasonably priced seminars for business.
11. The Australian Taxation Office offers free seminars for business.
12. SMILE! That was unexpected wasn’t it? Simply being nice to people can assist in keeping the costs down.
13. Investigate whether your trade associations offer specialised services that suits your needs. For example, many offer discounted insurance and promotion within their member’s directory.
14. If you run a home office, find out how much of your buildings and contents insurance coverage will cover your home office.
15. Save money on passport photos here.
16. Plan your week so that errands and client meetings can be undertaken in one visit. This will save you time and petrol.
17. Investigate a telephone service such as Skype or Engin, and restrict overseas calls on your landline.
18. Turn off power switches for equipment that you are not using.
19. Use recycled ink cartridge.
20. Sign up with Freecycle. Freecycle promotes waste reduction, by matching people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them. This means you can furnish your home office for free or save on dumping costs.
Finally some things that you should definitely not skimp on: a good quality office chair, the coffee or your bookkeeper!
We would love to hear your money saving tips.