April 1, 2024 • 53 mins
Ever felt like the financial headwinds are just too strong for your small business to make headway?
I'm Justine McLean, and I'm here to share 30 strategies that will help you navigate this season of business. From cloud accounting and AI, optimising your processes to getting better deals, this episode will give you suggestions and tools to save money, boost efficiency and profitability.
Cutting costs doesn't have to mean cutting quality, so let's talk about outsourcing, partnering with other businesses and improving your existing offers so you can save without cutting corners.
Tune in for a masterclass in creating a leaner, meaner business without losing the heart that makes it special or your sanity in the process.
This episode is brought to you by Become A Business Money Magnet - Simple habits to manage your money and supercharge your profits!
Want 30 Ways to Save Money in your Business? Download the guide here.
Need a business finance coach or want to get your pricing sorted? Book a Strategy Call NOW.
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Connect with Justine:
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Follow Justine on Instagram @flossifiles or @secretsofsuccessfulbusiness
Host: Justine McLean – Flossi Creative
Producer: Leah Stanistreet – Snappystre...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to the Secrets of Successful
Business podcast, your go-tosource for business tips, tricks
and proven strategies that willhelp you create a streamlined
and profitable business.
We chat to the best minds inbusiness about their journey.
It's my business and I'll do itmy way, how they started,
rather than going harder to getmore focus on growing more with
(00:25):
what you have, what they learnedalong the way.
How long are you going to givethis?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
What compromises are you going to make Just because
you can do it?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
doesn't mean that you should do it.
It's really important toremember that it's a long game
and, of course, we'll ask themfor their secret sauce for
creating a successful business.
If you're not failing, you'renot doing it right.
You should be struggling attimes.
That is part of the journey.
Join us as we take a sneak peekbehind the curtain.
Talk solutions for thosebusiness pain points, working
(00:52):
smarter, not harder, mindset andthe challenges of fitting it
all in with the demands oftoday's busy lifestyle.
If you're a business owner,side hustler or just starting
your business journey, thispodcast is for you.
Now.
Here's your host business coachside hustler.
Or just starting your businessjourney, this podcast is for you
Now.
Here's your host, businesscoach and content creator,
justine McLean from FlossieCreative.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Hello and thanks for joining me on the podcast today.
In case we haven't met, I'mJustine, a small business owner
on a mission to uncover andshare the secrets of creating
and running a profitable,sustainable and successful
business.
I've been in business for over20 years now and I get to use
all that I've learned along theway to help other women in
business reduce the overwhelm,gain visibility around their
(01:37):
numbers, charge what they'reworth and make more money.
It's about designing a life youlove that fits into your
definition of success.
So if I can help you create theprofitable business you deserve
, please reach out Now withoutfurther ado.
(02:00):
Let's dive into today's episode.
Hello and welcome to thepodcast.
This episode goes out toeveryone who has reached out to
me over the last few weeks.
After my podcast episode onmindset and money stories and
moving to outcome-based orvalue-based pricing went live
(02:21):
just sharing the struggles thatthey're having with business at
the moment and how they'retrying to stay positive in the
face of people tightening theirbelts, not spending as much
money as they used to, and theknock-on effect that is having
with some small businessespeople not wanting to spend as
(02:42):
much, maybe cancelling servicesaltogether or pulling back on
services a little bit.
So I thought today that I wouldshare with you something that
I've actually got set up as abit of a lead magnet in the
business, but it is 30 ways tosave money in your business when
money is tight, and I thoughtit might be a good idea to share
(03:04):
that today and just to give you30 different insights,
different things that you canthink about right now, in the
hope that maybe one of theseresonate with you, and just to
give you a real life example.
We do a lot of this work in mybusiness Money Magnet Program
and one of the members said tome just a few weeks ago that
(03:26):
going through her expenses anddoing one simple exercise within
the program actually saved herenough money to allow her to
cover the cost of the entireprogram for the full year.
So I'm not saying that you haveto save money and spend it with
me, but what I am saying isthat I know that these things
(03:48):
work and it's not about takingaction and doing all 30 things.
It might just be aboutconsidering one thing for now
and seeing where you can savesome money in your business that
will help improve your cashflowand improve the coffers as well
, so let's get started Now.
Number one is to really have alook at your entire operation,
(04:12):
so how you deliver your stuff,whether that is a physical
product, whether it's a digitalproduct or whether it's a
service, because quite often theoperational side of our
business is where we sink themost money into.
It's also where we spend themost amount of time.
So start by having a look atthe systems and processes that
(04:36):
currently exist within yourbusiness.
For example, you might use Xeroas your cloud accounting system
.
Are you using it to its fulladvantage?
Are there other ways that youcan use the cloud accounting
software to make it easier foryour customers to pay for your
services?
For example, connecting Stripeand then ticking the box in the
(04:58):
backend so that you're nothaving to wear the Stripe fees
if people choose to pay withStripe, is it employing someone
for an hour to show you, to gothrough your zero and to show
you all of those ways that youcan be more efficient and be
smarter about using it so youcan save time?
So that's a system With theprocesses, those things that you
(05:21):
do on repeat over and overagain.
Is there a more efficient way todo things?
Have you got staff, where youcan talk to your staff and ask
them if there is a moreefficient way to do something so
that you can actually save sometime.
Is it about batching tasks, forexample, and the idea is, when
you've got processes in yourbusiness, that you actually
(05:43):
write them down.
You commit them to paper.
Maybe you also make a physicalrecording in Loom of how that
process works in your businessso that when you are onboarding,
it's a very simple way to trainany new staff.
Look at automating taskswherever possible.
I think in the last three weeksI've sent about 40 emails to
(06:05):
different business owners, vasand PR firms and podcast
outreach VAs basically sort ofsharing with them that I'm not
looking for guests at the momenton the podcast.
So having that email in atemplate that I can get my team
to just sort of automaticallysend out and change a few names
(06:26):
is really helping us to savethat time and then money on
sitting there and writing thesame email 30 or 40 times.
You might like to implement AIto improve your operations.
I was speaking to one of myclients a few weeks ago and she
was sharing with me that whereAI powered chatbots are being
(06:50):
used on websites and sort ofcoming up and asking a few
questions.
Customers were more likely toimmediately fill in the chatbot,
ask a question and be more opento talking to someone within
the business, because they couldget their inquiry answered
either immediately or certainlyget pointed in the right
(07:13):
direction, or it was more timelythan someone finding the
contact page, sending off anemail and then waiting for
someone in the business to comeback to them 24 or 48 hours
later.
So have a think about whetherthere are any AI tools, like AI
powered chatbots, that canreally help improve the
(07:33):
operational side of yourbusiness.
And, of course, as I've saidalready, using systems like
cloud-based accounting,cloud-based project management,
collaboration tools.
Even Google Drive, which isfree for the most part, is a
great way to be able tocollaborate between a small team
.
It's something we use in mybusiness and it is really
(07:56):
helpful for us to all stay onthe same page and get those
tasks done.
So look for ways that you canstreamline your operation and
save some money.
The other one is to use AI tohelp with the business finances
and, apart from introducing theobvious AI like cloud accounting
software, you can considerusing AI like ChatGPT to help
(08:19):
you do a few interesting things.
One of them is to create abudget for you or to create a
cash flow forecast.
Believe it or not, ai is prettygood at doing that.
Obviously, it's only as good asthe information that you put
into it, but it can be quitehelpful.
Chatgpt can also help youmanage stock levels and automate
(08:40):
inventory management, controlcosts, manage credit risks, keep
track of staff hours.
There are lots of differentthings that you can do just by
putting the right informationand the right prompts into these
various AI tools like ChatGPT.
There are lots of differenttools out there.
It can even help with imagerendering, for example, if you
(09:02):
are an interior designer.
So there's lots of really coolways to use AI.
But specifically when it comesto the business, finances and
doing some of those toughertasks like creating a budget or
a cashflow forecast, it is onthe money.
You can also use ChatGPT, forexample, when it comes to your
personal finances, and if you'retrying to budget, you know your
(09:23):
how much money you're spendingon food.
You can throw in all of thefood that you have in your
cupboard and ask ChatGPT tocreate a menu for you for that
week.
We'll tell you what the bareminimum foods are that you need
to buy to serve up a week'sworth of meals.
So keep that in mind.
Anything that is financerelated, just ask the question
(09:46):
and see whether or not you getan answer that is going to help
you.
Certainly worth considering ifit's ultimately going to save
you time, but also money.
Now, if you are using suppliers,the third way to save money
when money is tight is to talkto your existing suppliers.
Now, I know that for a lot ofus in business, we're using
(10:09):
digital suppliers, likeGrammarly, for example, or
Microsoft, but they willactually respond to you.
If you reach out to theiraccounts department and ask them
whether there is a better deal,a discount, better payment
terms, you will be surprised atwhat is on offer when you ask.
(10:32):
So, whether it is a whole bunchof digital suppliers or if you
are a physical store and you'reselling a physical product,
reach out to all of yourexisting suppliers.
Ask for better deals.
Ask for discounts on freightand shipping, for example.
If you do large orders or youare an early payer or you're
(10:56):
paying on an annual basis, askfor a discount or a better deal
If the answer is no, or you'refinding that you're paying too
much to an existing supplier,then definitely go and explore
alternative suppliers who mightoffer better rates or who can
consolidate a whole bunch ofexisting services into one thing
(11:20):
, so you're only paying for onething.
Then, when it comes to doing abetter deal with your existing
suppliers, that goes double forthings like your energy
consumption.
So you can definitely talk toyour suppliers and ask for a
better deal on your energyconsumption costs.
But you can also think aboutjust doing a few simple things
(11:44):
in the office or in the house ifyou're working from home, that
can help to reduce those energycosts, and one of them is just
to replace those traditionallight bulbs with energy
efficient LEDs.
You can actually get businesseswho will come to your home and
do that free of charge.
So think about it not just froma business sense, but on the
(12:04):
wider sense as well.
You might like to optimize yourheating and cooling expenses if
you are air conditioning anoffice by installing
programmable thermostats.
Switch off lights and equipmentwhen you're not using them,
just to conserve that energy.
You would be absolutelyastounded at how much money
(12:25):
you're paying out in energycosts for things that are
sitting on standby.
So by that I mean the thingsthat have the power switched on
at all times when you're notusing it.
We did the exercise in my house, which also houses the office
for myself and my husband, david.
We both work from home, out ofour respective offices, and we
(12:47):
just went around and turnedthings off, basically things
that we weren't using, and I wasflabbergasted by the impact
that that had on the energy thatwe were pulling from the grid.
Definitely worth conductingregular energy audits just to
identify and reduce any wastefulenergy consumption, and there
(13:08):
are AI powered energy tools thatcan help you to analyze your
energy usage and patterns aswell, and your supplier will
have access to that informationtoo.
So definitely worth a chat withyour energy supplier for all of
your energy needs and to see ifyou can save some money.
Now another one, if you're notalready doing this, is you know,
(13:29):
and particularly if you've gotan office space, that you are
finding you are not utilising asmuch as you should is to really
embrace the remote work orworking from home.
So you know we did this throughCOVID.
It worked very well.
Obviously, for a lot ofbusiness owners, they want
people to come back into theoffice, but rather than, you
(13:50):
know, buying into great bigoffice spaces.
They're actually utilisingsmaller spaces so that they can
reduce their office space, theirutility costs and all of the
expenses that are associatedwith that space to allow
employees to sort of work in amore structured way.
So some people might come intothe office on Monday, tuesday,
(14:10):
wednesday, others on Wednesday,thursday, friday, for example,
and then the hybrid of workingfrom home they're working
remotely on those other days ishelping business owners reduce
the costs there.
So if you are paying for officespace and I know that's not
going to be everyone listeningto this episode but think about
(14:31):
how you can work smarter withyour team, whether you can work
remotely so that you can reducethat office space, or whether
you can sublet a corner of youroffice space If you are finding
that the team have reduced insize or they're just not coming
back into the office on afull-time basis because there's
(14:51):
no point paying rent.
If you are, don't have to.
And then, while I'm on that,think about negotiating with
your landlord.
So if you are paying rent, youcould ask your landlord for a
rent reduction, maybe atemporary payment freeze, just
like we did when COVID wasaround.
Keep an eye on the real estatemarket, look at rental prices in
(15:16):
your area.
So, when it comes time torenegotiate your lease, you're
not just taking the CPI index,but you've got a real idea and
insight into what's going onwith real estate in your area
and in other areas where youmight be happy to relocate.
And, as I said, you couldexplore the possibility of
(15:37):
subleasing that unused officespace, retail space or even
storage space to just help withthe income, but definitely worth
a negotiation.
Now number seven is to focus ondigital marketing.
So marketing can be a reallycostly exercise, can be a really
(16:04):
costly exercise, but you cancut those costs by focusing on
those digital channels that arethe most cost effective for your
business.
And while your mind willautomatically jump to social
media and, yes, social mediaplatforms can be used to promote
your business at free or lowcost I'd also recommend really
leaning into your email list, ifthat's not something that
you're utilizing at the moment,not just leaning into that list
(16:26):
to sell, but also to providesome valuable information to
your clients.
Because certainly, if you canmove away from paid advertising
and lean more heavily intodigital marketing that is not
rented space, so your email listthen that is going to save you
time, money, energy.
The other thing is a number ofus use team or contractors to
(16:50):
help us with our digitalmarketing and to put that
together.
So it's worth consideringtrying to master AI, so things
like chat, gpt, to createcontent calendars and then to
create the content for yoursocial media.
You could try AI powereddigital advertising platforms
(17:11):
that automatically analyze yourcustomer's behavior and then
optimize ad placements that willsort of support that behavior.
It allows you to just allocateyour advertising and your
marketing budgets for maximumconversion and to minimize those
costs.
Obviously, I think it's alsoworth looking at other aspects
(17:35):
of digital marketing, likecreating informative blog posts,
engaging videos, having them onyour website, making sure that
you're using great SEO, searchengine optimization so that
Google knows how to find what itis you're selling and or what
you're talking about, and thento reutilize that content.
(17:58):
So use that blog to then informyour next newsletter or a post
on LinkedIn or other socialmedia posts on Facebook or
Pinterest or Instagram, forexample.
So it's all about just gettingreally smart with how you use
social media or digitalmarketing sorry, I should say
and finding the most costeffective and efficient ways to
(18:21):
use that for your business.
You might also like to have agood look at all of the things
you're using in your business,but, more importantly, all of
the things that you are payingfor in your business, for
example, your subscriptions.
So this is where there is oftena treasure trove of wasted
(18:42):
money and money that you canrecoup.
In your business, there arethings that you might be paying
for that do similar things thatperform similar functions.
So ask yourself, do you reallyneed to have both of them?
Could you try a free versioninstead of a paid version?
Can you downsize or go down toa lower version of the
(19:05):
application that you're nowpaying for, because you just
don't need it anymore?
At that level, you don't needas many seats, for example, in
Monday, so can you sort ofdowngrade?
The other thing you might liketo do is to think about how you
can connect with industry peersor other people in business so
that you can either shareresources, which is a great
(19:27):
thing to do I know a lot ofcopywriters share expensive SEO
resources, for example but theremight be opportunities for
partnership swaps, service swapswith someone that, when you
need a hand in your business,they could do with your
expertise, and so you do a freeor low cost service swap.
But there's definitely money inhiding in those subscription
(19:51):
costs.
So check all the places yourcredit cards on your smartphone
in the subscriptions area.
You'll find that in yoursettings.
Go and have a look in your bankaccount, look in PayPal, look
in Stripe all of those placesthat you pay for things that get
hidden because they're notgoing to be necessarily sending
you out emails well in advancetelling you how your next
(20:14):
payment is coming up.
Now, if you are a product-basedbusiness, the next one is all
about optimizing inventorymanagement.
When we had retail stores, wehad to order stock for Christmas
in March every year.
It made it really difficult tomanage back orders because quite
(20:35):
often we had no idea when thatstock was coming in.
And when you can't manage yourback orders, you cannot manage
your cash flow.
So you have to keep tabs onwhat you've ordered versus the
inventory that you've alreadygot, when that new inventory
might be coming in, at whatlevel you want your existing
(20:56):
inventory to go to.
So what's the minimum numberthat you want to keep in stock
before you reorder, so thatyou're not holding onto stock
for a long time, just so you canreally maximize that inventory
and minimize any excesses andsave on having a whole lot of
(21:16):
your hard earned cash tied up ininventory that just isn't
moving If you've got slow-movingproducts and you're going to
know what they are for yourbusiness, but in the retail toy
store, if we had a product thatwe couldn't sell out of the
first run within eight weeks,then what we would do is we
(21:37):
would adjust our inventorylevels accordingly.
We would make sure that wedidn't have any more of that
stock coming in on back orderand then we'd have a sale and
look to move that stock along,because we didn't want our money
tied up in stock that wassitting on a shelf or sitting in
a warehouse for more than eightweeks.
(21:58):
And you can also do that withobsolete stock lines that have
run through.
So that's a great way to sortof save money.
Another one, and this worksparticularly well if you are
selling bigger items.
So one of the things that weused to sell in our business or
in one of the e-com businesseswe had was trampolines.
Now we didn't want to hold awhole lot of inventory and then,
(22:21):
you know, have to warehousethat, go to the cost of getting
a courier to come out every timeand ship that when we needed it
to go out.
So we actually negotiated adrop shipping arrangement with
the wholesaler.
Helped us reduce our inventorycosts because we weren't holding
a whole lot of stock.
Helped us to reduce our storagespace because we didn't have to
(22:42):
store it, and it meant thatwhen we sold an item it would go
out.
Sure, we were paying a fractionmore in wholesale costs, but it
worked really well for ourbusiness.
The next one is to think aboutoutsourcing.
Now, while it'scounterintuitive to outsource,
particularly when money is tight, if your time is best spent on
(23:04):
trying to make more money foryour business, so trying to drum
up business, and you are theonly one who can do that, or if
it's your job to deliver yourservice, and you are the only
one who can do that, then it'sworth looking at all of the
tasks that go into running yourbusiness and then to hire
freelancers or contracts forspecialized projects, short-term
(23:27):
assignments that mean that youknow your longer-term staff are
not having to make a commitmentto doing those and you know,
therefore, taking them away fromwork where it's income
generating for the business.
You can do that with thingslike Upwork or Freelancer.
That will offer you access to aglobal talented pool at really
(23:48):
competitive rates.
You can also look to outsourcethose non-core activities like
bookkeeping, it support, tothose specialist providers,
because they're going to bereally helpful.
So the other thing you mightlike to think of is, as I said,
those AI-powered virtualassistants or chatbots that can
(24:09):
handle routine tasks like emailmanagement and appointment
scheduling or data entry tasks.
Another way to save money inyour business when money is
tight is to make sure that yourinsurance policies stack up so
that you are not paying more foryour insurance than you need to
.
And while I always recommend areview of your insurance
(24:31):
policies at minimum every 12months to make sure that you've
got the appropriate coverage incase the worst thing happens If
you're finding that yourbusiness has changed in any way
or that perhaps the insurancepolicy that you have is no
longer meeting your needs forexample, you've moved from an
office space back to home thenget your insurance renewed.
(24:54):
You might be able to combinepolicies or switch providers to
get cost savings.
There could be deductibles thatyou're paying for right now on
either your personal policies oryour business policies that you
don't need anymore.
You might be able to increaseyour no claim bonus to reduce
(25:15):
the amount that you're paying inyour premium.
I always suggest that, when itcomes to either personal
insurance or business insurance,you call in the pros and use a
specialist insurance broker.
It's not going to cost you anymoney On the front end they get
paid by the insurance providers.
That they work like affiliates,I guess for the insurance
(25:36):
providers.
But if you work with someonewho is really reputable, they're
going to offer you a number ofoptions for your insurance,
recommend the best one, and thedecision on which way you go
will ultimately be up to you.
So I've mentioned this already.
I touched on this already inthe digital marketing section.
(25:56):
But collaborating with othersmall businesses is a great idea
when money is tight, not onlyto do a service swap, but to
perform those, to form thosepartnerships with those
like-minded business ownerswhere you can pull resources and
maybe reduce costs.
So sharing a VA, for example,you might like to share
(26:19):
marketing initiatives, do jointadvertising, promotional
campaigns.
You could explore bulkpurchasing options so that you
can then negotiate better dealswith your suppliers.
I did that really successfullywhen I had toy stores.
I worked with a whole bunch ofother independent toy stores and
we got some great deals that wewouldn't normally have access
(26:41):
to, just because we pulledtogether our purchasing power.
You can also ask other smallbusiness owners to become
affiliates for your businessesand help you promote your
services.
So that's a great way to notonly save money when money is
tight, but to make money too.
Now, this next money saving tipmay not resonate for many
(27:03):
businesses.
However, if you are a businessthat tends to print a lot of
things or spend a lot of moneyon postage, then look at
digitizing your documents andopting for electronic
communication just to help youreduce costs.
You can use cloud storagesolutions to store and access
(27:25):
important files, and they allhave fairly decent security.
So just double check that whereyou're storing things is secure
.
But quite often, by moving yourto a digital source is going to
help on storage physicalstorage within your office as
well, and if you're leasingspace again, that may save on
(27:45):
space for you.
Just being able to have all ofyour data in the cloud is also
going to save on yourinfrastructure costs as well, so
have a think about that.
Switching to things likee-invoicing and online payment
systems can also help streamlineyour billing processes as well,
(28:08):
so think of all of thosepaperless practices.
If you've already got themimplemented in your business,
how can you improve them?
If you don't have them in thereor you're missing one or two,
how can you kind of use those inyour business to save you some
money?
Now, if you have a loan whetherit's a business loan, whether
it's a personal loan it's worthtrying to renegotiate your loan
(28:31):
terms.
You will be surprised what youcan get just by making a phone
call, and I'm not just talkingabout great big mortgages here.
I'm talking about the higherpurchase that you've taken out
on that new printer, or maybeit's the phone contract that
you've got that allowed you toafford that new phone.
It's definitely worth talkingto your lenders to discuss
(28:53):
refinancing options orrenegotiating, renegotiate loan
terms or, most importantly,interest rates.
So don't be afraid to make thecall.
And while you're at it, if youare paying lots of fees on your
credit card or your bankaccounts for business at the
(29:14):
moment, and also in yourpersonal life, talk to your bank
about negotiating lower fees.
How can you have a card thathas no fees?
How can you have a bank accountthat is not attracting a fee
for every single transaction?
So have a look at that.
Don't be afraid to go to analternative bank or credit
(29:38):
provider if you can't get asweet offer on your fees.
But I guarantee you you'llprobably be shocked at what is
on offer because you've justbeen bothered to make a phone
call.
Hang around on the phone for,however long it takes you to get
through, to speak to that humanand take that action.
It's one of those things thatyou should look at often.
(30:00):
When I had a mortgage, I wouldalways look at my interest rate
every six months and see if Icould renegotiate that, so it's
definitely worth considering.
Now cost of living has gone up.
We know that inflation is stillsitting around the high level
here in Australia and in a lotof different parts of the world,
(30:24):
and so quite often our staffare doing it tough.
The pay that they have beengetting is no longer allowing
them to meet ends meet, sonaturally they're going to be
looking for pay increases, whichare not always sustainable from
a cash flow point of view inyour business.
So it's worth thinking outsidethe box when it comes to
(30:48):
employee benefits and payincreases.
So have a chat to your teammembers, particularly when
they're asking for a payincreases and, you know,
consider alternatives, thingsthat might sweeten the deal for
them so that you don't have toincrease their pay.
So it could be things likeflexible working hours.
(31:10):
It could be more work from home, it could be a compressed work
week.
So instead of working five daysa week, you do it in four.
You give them a day off, youpay them the same amount of
money and it allows them to goahead and maybe get another job,
or to have a long weekend everyweekend.
You might like to explorecost-effective wellness
(31:31):
initiatives, for example, topromote your employee wellbeing,
or to give a benefit or areward.
That is not necessarily a payincrease, but that is still a
reward for a job well done.
So just have a think about whatthe alternatives are instead of
a pay increase.
Obviously, when things improve,you can look at pay increases
(31:55):
as well then, too, but yourstaff are arguably one of your
most valuable assets, so whenyou can keep them and keep them
happy, you'll definitely want tobe doing that.
For business owners that aredoing a lot of traveling or
require a lot of traveling foryour work, or whose staff
require a lot of traveling,start to think about ways that
(32:18):
you can reduce travel expenses.
Is it worth having a travelagent or third-party person who
is dedicated to your travel,that sits outside of the
business, that might be able tooffer you a better deal, because
quite often travel agencies andtravel professionals will be
able to bulk buy hotel rooms,get great rack rates on both
(32:42):
airfares and hotel rooms andthen offer those to you in your
business as a benefit.
Again, it usually is no cost toyou because the agent is
getting their commissiondirectly from the travel
provider.
However, rather than just doingsomething like that or opting
for economy class flights andcheaper accommodation for
(33:04):
business travel, you could lookat planning trips in advance to
secure the best rates you know,so that you avoid those last
minute expenses.
But don't forget videoconferencing.
We did it a lot during COVIDand while we're all inclined to
run to those in-person meetingsright now, if you're your travel
is costing you too much money,then put a travel freeze on
(33:26):
until the end of the financialyear, for example, and just do
things over Zoom or MicrosoftTeams.
Use that video conferencingthat we've become so familiar
with and save a couple of monthson travel.
Now the next cost-saving measureis around DIYing your marketing
materials.
(33:46):
So have a think about theplatform that you are using for
your graphic design.
For example, if the Adobe suiteof products has become too
expensive for your business,could you switch to a more
cost-effective tool that doesthe same thing, like Canva?
Is it worth someone in yourteam doing that graphic design,
(34:07):
maybe buying a few templates andusing a tool like Canva?
Rather than spending a lot ofmoney on a graphic designer, you
could print marketingcollateral in-house if you've
got a cost-effective printer.
Rather than going out to market.
You could also buy templates,as I said, and those online
resources to create professionallooking marketing materials.
(34:30):
Template Tribe is a greatexample of a business that
offers really professional Canvatemplates and other templates
that you can use for yourbusiness, for everything from
social media to the freebiesthat you want to send out to the
marketing proposal that youhave to put together for your
(34:50):
next client.
So just have a think about howyou can DIY and save some money
on those marketing materials.
Now, in a lot of businesses, wehave to provide some sort of
learning for our staff.
We also want to encourage ouremployees to continue to better
themselves, and in doing so, wewill often send them to webinars
(35:15):
and online courses forprofessional development.
If you work in an industry likeaccounting or the legal
industry, you will have to do acertain amount of CPD hours or
professional hours to maintainyour license, so it's worth
having a look at different waysthat you can leverage that free
(35:37):
or low cost educational webinaror course to upskill yourself
and your team.
It's definitely worth investingin training materials and
resources that are going toprovide long-term value.
But instead of just going backto the same provider that you've
been going to for years, lookaround, see what remote learning
(35:59):
opportunities there are, as anexample, or what cost-effective
opportunities there are forlearning and professional
development, and consider thoseinstead.
Another cost-s opportunitiesthere are for learning and
professional development andconsider those instead.
Another cost-saving measure thatwe don't often think of is
effective waste management.
So just doing things likerecycling and looking at waste
reduction practices amongemployees within your business
(36:21):
can save a lot of money,particularly if you're working
in an office environment.
If you're paying for wastedisposal contracts right now,
you can look around, make sureyou're getting the best rates
and the best service, but alsoexplore reusable or sustainable
alternatives for office supplies, for packaging, for things like
ink, for example, and see whereyou can save money and reduce
(36:45):
waste.
One way to save money onmarketing costs and on other
costs in your business is toreally leverage those customer
referrals.
So you could implement areferral program to encourage
your existing customers to refernew customers to your business.
You can offer your existingcustomers discounts or rewards
(37:07):
so that they in turn refer otherpeople to your business.
Building those strongrelationships with your loyal
customers and really encouragingthem to work with you over and
over again is going to save youon the cost of acquiring a brand
new customer, but when theyrefer their friends and other
(37:30):
business owners to you, it'salso going to save you time and
money as well.
So have a think about areferral program and if someone
gives you a great review, makesure you absolutely use that
review on your website, in yourcommunications, in your social
media.
Really important Now, packingand shipping for all of those
(37:52):
product-based businesses can bevery expensive, and so it's
worth looking at both theprocesses that you use to pack
and ship your goods and sendthose out as well.
So that's both the materialsthat you use, and it's worth
looking at green alternativesfor those.
But it's also worth reallylooking at the end-to-end
(38:15):
process that you use, from theorder right through to the
packing and the shipping, tomake sure that at every point in
the process, you are doingthings in the most cost
effective way.
Again, you can put theinformation, you can put a
process into AI for AI to comeup with a better way to optimize
(38:38):
the way you pack and ship yourgoods.
So really have a think aboutthat because, let's face it,
while you want your thing to getto its destination intact and
in one piece, as a formerretailer and a former e-commerce
store owner, I know exactly howmuch it costs in those packing
(38:59):
and shipping materials, and alsothe cost of paying people to
pull those orders, to pack themcorrectly, to make sure
everything's done amazingly thatthe address is correct, and get
them out the door.
Now, this next one is not somuch about saving money.
It's about making sure that youget paid on time, and so my tip
(39:23):
here is to make it easy forcustomers to pay you.
So, apart from the obviousthings like invoicing regularly,
if you are a service provider,I think it's definitely worth
looking at a whole bunch ofdifferent payment gateways,
having a number of options thatare really obvious on your
(39:43):
invoice so that people know howto pay you and it's really
simple for them.
So, again, using Xero as anexample, I have Stripe attached
to my Xero.
It allows customers to pay meeither using a direct debit
through a bank account, and I'veactually got my direct debit
(40:03):
information on each of myinvoices Really important to
have that.
I have had several experienceswith my clients where they have
forgotten to put their bankdetails on an invoice.
But just having that, havingStripe attached as a payment
method for my invoices, meansthat at the click of one green
button, my clients can choose topay me using their EFT card,
(40:27):
their direct debit card or usingcredit.
Now there are definitely feesthat are attached to that, but
in my business I've ticked abutton on the backend in Xero,
as I said earlier in thisepisode.
That allows people to pay usingany method they want.
But if they're going to payusing Stripe, there is a service
(40:48):
fee that is attached and thatwill come up.
It's really obvious, and theywill either want to pay that or
they won't.
If they don't want to pay that,then they'll go to the trouble
of opening up their onlinebanking and they'll pay directly
into my bank account.
But the idea is that I'm makingit easy for people to pay me
Now, while Afterpay and theother third party payment
(41:10):
alternatives can be that kind ofdevil to a lot of people.
If Afterpay is the easiest way,or payment plans as another
option that you can set up viaStripe, for example, if these
are the easiest ways for yourcustomers to pay you because it
takes away that barrier to entry, if they can pay you over three
(41:30):
installments instead of in fullright at the start, then it's
definitely worth considering,because in the long run, it is
going to save you money, saveyour time chasing up bad payers,
but it's also going to makesure that you've got every
chance of getting paid on time.
So just get invoicing includedin your money Monday or finance
(41:52):
Friday.
Now, a great way to save moneyin your business is to increase
employee productivity.
So one of the ways you can dothat is to have fantastic
systems and processes in placeso people don't waste time.
They know what they're doing.
The other one is to provideregular training and
professional developmentopportunities so that people are
your employees.
(42:13):
Your staff are always able toenhance and improve their skills
and productivity.
If you want to improve employeeefficiency and there are
certain areas that you know needto be improved, then consider
time tracking.
But, most importantly, you needto speak to your staff If
there's something that's notright, if there's something that
(42:34):
is taking too long or an areafor productivity improvement,
then speak to your staff,because not only does that kind
of get the conversation goingand help to improve a current
process, but your staff mighthave great ways to improve those
processes, things that youhaven't considered because
they're doing them day in, dayout and so all of a sudden, that
(42:57):
could save you a whole bunch ofmoney.
The other thing to do is toimplement some performance-based
incentives or KPIs that cankeep your staff motivated and
also increase productivity.
Okay, so we are on the homewardleg now.
Of 30 ways to save money whenthe money is tight, number 26, I
(43:19):
think we're up to is to reviewyour supply chains and the
systems and processes that youuse to deliver a service, a
product or a service.
So look at those existingsystems and processes.
Identify where costs can bereduced and efficiencies can be
reduced.
(43:39):
You know, as I said before,look at how you can negotiate
better prices.
Look at where you might need toincrease your prices to cover
things that are not paying forthemselves in your business,
just asking for those discounts,finding the alternative
suppliers.
I think being really focused onthat supply chain and the ways
(44:01):
you can save money in thatsupply chain are very important.
And, as I touched on there,it's all about pricing and
creating that profitable pricingin your business.
That comes down to justregularly looking at your
pricing strategy.
What are you charging?
It goes back again to mymindset podcast where I spoke
about moving from that dollarsto trading time for money,
(44:25):
trading dollars for hours tolooking at value-based pricing
or outcome-based pricing.
Whatever you're doing, make surethat your price covers the cost
of doing business right now.
It covers your wages, it coversyour super, it covers your
savings and it builds in aprofit number too.
You might like to introducepackages where you bundle up
(44:47):
products or services.
Use those pricing psychologyprinciples to determine your
prices.
So you know the power of three.
People aren't going to opt forthe cheapest one because they
don't want to look like they'retight.
The most expensive one lookstoo expensive, so they're
probably going to choose themiddle one or using those charm
(45:07):
numbers at the end of yourpricing sevens, nines when
you're showing a price insteadof putting their cents, taking
away those cents at the end tomake it look smaller.
So think about doing those aswell.
But whatever you do, regularpricing reviews.
Always price for profit and besmart about how you price as
(45:28):
well.
So this then sort of leads onfrom that and quite often in
business, particularly if youhave got a retail store, you
will have to deal with a lot ofpayment processing fees.
If people are, you know, payingdirectly through Stripe, for
example, and they're not payingthrough your cloud accounting
(45:50):
software.
If you're using Kajabi, asanother example, and you've got
Stripe or Apple Pay attached tothat as the business, you are
going to be liable for all ofthose payment processing fees.
The same goes if you offerSquarePay or EFT processing in
your business.
You know there will be paymentprocessing fees.
So once again, talk to yourbank.
(46:12):
Can you negotiate a better ratewith your bank or that payment
service provider?
Be on the lookout for alternatepayment processing solutions.
Think about either passing onthe processing fees to your
customers that's quite often apopular way to do it,
particularly if it's convenientfor them to pay with credit or
(46:34):
build in a nominal amount ontoyour service cost or your
product cost.
That wraps up those pricingfees, those processing fees, so
that, no matter how people arepaying, you are covered every
single time.
I like to call this next one thewould you like fries with that?
A way to save money in yourbusiness.
(46:56):
It's actually probably a way tomake more money in your
business, but just like when youvisit McDonald's and you expect
to be asked would you likefries with that?
I don't even know if that isstill a thing now, but it
certainly was the last time Iwent to McDonald's when my kids
were younger, much younger.
Adopt a similar strategy inyour business.
(47:16):
Think about what the upsell isfor the offer that you have got
going out or that service thatyou've got going out.
Or think about what the averagesale order is and how you can
increase that, particularly ifyou've got a retail store.
What's the average order value?
What's the average basket value?
How can you increase that?
And whether it's an upsell orsomeone adding in an extra
(47:39):
product into their basket.
Think about different ways thatyou can do that just to
encourage your client to buythat bit extra.
If you are a business thatoffers a whole lot of different
products, have a look at howthey all fit together.
We call that a value ladder oran ascension model in your
business, where you'reessentially starting with the
(47:59):
lowest value thing.
In my business, that's a freedownload.
The next way to work with mewill now be my book, because
that is going to sort of fit innicely there.
Then there's that $97 product,then there's that $300 product,
that $500 product, that $2,000product.
All of those things in my valueladder are opportunities for me
(48:22):
to upsell a service, so thatnot only do my clients have a
variety of ways to work with me,but I can always upsell them to
the next thing.
So think about the.
Would you like fries with thatprinciple in your business,
because while that's probablynot going to save you a lot of
money, it might help make yousome money.
(48:44):
And while we're on that, don'tleave money on the table.
Remember that 80-20 rule whenit comes to your business, that
80% of your business will comefrom 20% of your clients.
So who are your VIPs and howcan you serve them so that they
keep coming back for more?
It's all about customerretention.
A few weeks ago, I did apodcast about how to increase
(49:08):
your profitability by 25%, andthat comes down to customer
retention.
So head back, have a listen tothat episode and that will give
you a lot more information abouthow to do that and not leave
money on the table.
It's all about staying in touchwith your old clients and not
letting them forget about youand that you exist.
And that's it, number 30.
(49:29):
We're up to number 30 at last.
The best way to save money inyour business, particularly when
the money is tight, is to keepan eye on the numbers.
It's, honestly, the mostimportant way to save money and
when you continually review yournumbers, when you make that
weekly date with yourself tolook at the financial statements
(49:51):
, learn more about the businessnumbers and then incorporate
those strategies, you're notonly going to keep your business
strong, the cash flow strongand keep yourself more
profitable, but you're alsogoing to identify patterns.
You're going to see wheretraditionally, things are ebb
and flow in your patterns.
You're going to see wheretraditionally, things are ebb
and flow in your business.
You're going to be able to lookat the cash flow forecast and
(50:16):
know when you're going to haveto save money in your business.
It will allow you to set thosefinancial goals and for yourself
and your business, those KPIsfor your staff, so that they are
encouraged to achieve somethingthat is going to help save
money or make more money in yourbusiness.
And in doing that, you're notonly increasing your financial
(50:40):
literacy, but you're alsochoosing to be the author of
your business story, because, inmy opinion, learning to read
the numbers is like learning toread the story of your business
and you should be the author ofyour story.
Even if you use a bookkeeper oran accountant to do the money
stuff, at the very least keep aneye on your numbers, understand
(51:03):
your profit and loss statement.
So you are always the author ofyour business story.
And if it's all goingpear-shaped, if you go through
these 30 ways to save money andmake money in your business and
you're thinking to yourself I'min a mess, I don't know how I'm
going to get out of this mess, Idon't know what to do next.
(51:25):
Then please call in the expertssooner rather than later,
because the experts whetherthat's your accountant, a
business money mentor, a BASagent, that you use a bookkeeper
, that you use another businessowner that gets the money and
that you really trust calling insomeone to help is going to
save you time.
It's going to save you money.
(51:46):
In the long run, it's going tohelp you get your business
sorted and increase your profits, and it's by far the smartest
way to save money in yourbusiness.
While we're on that, I want youto remember that all of the
information that I have providedin this podcast today is really
general in nature.
I don't know your personalcircumstances or your business
(52:08):
circumstances, so if there is abig decision that you're
planning on making afterlistening to any of my tips,
please consult the expertsbefore you go ahead.
So I hope these 30 ways hasgiven you a tiny bit of food for
thought in your business andthat at least one of them has
resonated with you and issomething that you can take
action on today to save moneyand to grow your business, stay
(52:31):
profitable and keep that cashflowing.
So thanks for listening.
Until next time, keep on livingyour definition of success.
Speaker 1 (52:42):
Thanks for listening to the Secrets of Successful
Business podcast.
For more information on allthings business, head to
flossycomau and make sure youhit subscribe on the show so you
don't miss another new episode.
If you're enjoying the show,please give it a quick rating or
review, share it on yoursocials or with friends who
might enjoy it.
(53:02):
Catch you next time.
You're listening to the Secrets of Successful
Business podcast, your go-tosource for business tips, tricks
and proven strategies that willhelp you create a streamlined
and profitable business.
We chat to the best minds inbusiness about their journey.
It's my business and I'll do itmy way, how they started,
rather than going harder to getmore focus on growing more with
(00:25):
what you have, what they learnedalong the way.
How long are you going to givethis?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
What compromises are you going to make Just because
you can do it?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
doesn't mean that you should do it.
It's really important toremember that it's a long game
and, of course, we'll ask themfor their secret sauce for
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If you're not failing, you'renot doing it right.
You should be struggling attimes.
That is part of the journey.
Join us as we take a sneak peekbehind the curtain.
Talk solutions for thosebusiness pain points, working
(00:52):
smarter, not harder, mindset andthe challenges of fitting it
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If you're a business owner,side hustler or just starting
your business journey, thispodcast is for you.
Now.
Here's your host business coachside hustler.
Or just starting your businessjourney, this podcast is for you
Now.
Here's your host, businesscoach and content creator,
justine McLean from FlossieCreative.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Hello and thanks for joining me on the podcast today.
In case we haven't met, I'mJustine, a small business owner
on a mission to uncover andshare the secrets of creating
and running a profitable,sustainable and successful
business.
I've been in business for over20 years now and I get to use
all that I've learned along theway to help other women in
business reduce the overwhelm,gain visibility around their
(01:37):
numbers, charge what they'reworth and make more money.
It's about designing a life youlove that fits into your
definition of success.
So if I can help you create theprofitable business you deserve
, please reach out Now withoutfurther ado.
(02:00):
Let's dive into today's episode.
Hello and welcome to thepodcast.
This episode goes out toeveryone who has reached out to
me over the last few weeks.
After my podcast episode onmindset and money stories and
moving to outcome-based orvalue-based pricing went live
(02:21):
just sharing the struggles thatthey're having with business at
the moment and how they'retrying to stay positive in the
face of people tightening theirbelts, not spending as much
money as they used to, and theknock-on effect that is having
with some small businessespeople not wanting to spend as
(02:42):
much, maybe cancelling servicesaltogether or pulling back on
services a little bit.
So I thought today that I wouldshare with you something that
I've actually got set up as abit of a lead magnet in the
business, but it is 30 ways tosave money in your business when
money is tight, and I thoughtit might be a good idea to share
(03:04):
that today and just to give you30 different insights,
different things that you canthink about right now, in the
hope that maybe one of theseresonate with you, and just to
give you a real life example.
We do a lot of this work in mybusiness Money Magnet Program
and one of the members said tome just a few weeks ago that
(03:26):
going through her expenses anddoing one simple exercise within
the program actually saved herenough money to allow her to
cover the cost of the entireprogram for the full year.
So I'm not saying that you haveto save money and spend it with
me, but what I am saying isthat I know that these things
(03:48):
work and it's not about takingaction and doing all 30 things.
It might just be aboutconsidering one thing for now
and seeing where you can savesome money in your business that
will help improve your cashflowand improve the coffers as well
, so let's get started Now.
Number one is to really have alook at your entire operation,
(04:12):
so how you deliver your stuff,whether that is a physical
product, whether it's a digitalproduct or whether it's a
service, because quite often theoperational side of our
business is where we sink themost money into.
It's also where we spend themost amount of time.
So start by having a look atthe systems and processes that
(04:36):
currently exist within yourbusiness.
For example, you might use Xeroas your cloud accounting system
.
Are you using it to its fulladvantage?
Are there other ways that youcan use the cloud accounting
software to make it easier foryour customers to pay for your
services?
For example, connecting Stripeand then ticking the box in the
(04:58):
backend so that you're nothaving to wear the Stripe fees
if people choose to pay withStripe, is it employing someone
for an hour to show you, to gothrough your zero and to show
you all of those ways that youcan be more efficient and be
smarter about using it so youcan save time?
So that's a system With theprocesses, those things that you
(05:21):
do on repeat over and overagain.
Is there a more efficient way todo things?
Have you got staff, where youcan talk to your staff and ask
them if there is a moreefficient way to do something so
that you can actually save sometime.
Is it about batching tasks, forexample, and the idea is, when
you've got processes in yourbusiness, that you actually
(05:43):
write them down.
You commit them to paper.
Maybe you also make a physicalrecording in Loom of how that
process works in your businessso that when you are onboarding,
it's a very simple way to trainany new staff.
Look at automating taskswherever possible.
I think in the last three weeksI've sent about 40 emails to
(06:05):
different business owners, vasand PR firms and podcast
outreach VAs basically sort ofsharing with them that I'm not
looking for guests at the momenton the podcast.
So having that email in atemplate that I can get my team
to just sort of automaticallysend out and change a few names
(06:26):
is really helping us to savethat time and then money on
sitting there and writing thesame email 30 or 40 times.
You might like to implement AIto improve your operations.
I was speaking to one of myclients a few weeks ago and she
was sharing with me that whereAI powered chatbots are being
(06:50):
used on websites and sort ofcoming up and asking a few
questions.
Customers were more likely toimmediately fill in the chatbot,
ask a question and be more opento talking to someone within
the business, because they couldget their inquiry answered
either immediately or certainlyget pointed in the right
(07:13):
direction, or it was more timelythan someone finding the
contact page, sending off anemail and then waiting for
someone in the business to comeback to them 24 or 48 hours
later.
So have a think about whetherthere are any AI tools, like AI
powered chatbots, that canreally help improve the
(07:33):
operational side of yourbusiness.
And, of course, as I've saidalready, using systems like
cloud-based accounting,cloud-based project management,
collaboration tools.
Even Google Drive, which isfree for the most part, is a
great way to be able tocollaborate between a small team
.
It's something we use in mybusiness and it is really
(07:56):
helpful for us to all stay onthe same page and get those
tasks done.
So look for ways that you canstreamline your operation and
save some money.
The other one is to use AI tohelp with the business finances
and, apart from introducing theobvious AI like cloud accounting
software, you can considerusing AI like ChatGPT to help
(08:19):
you do a few interesting things.
One of them is to create abudget for you or to create a
cash flow forecast.
Believe it or not, ai is prettygood at doing that.
Obviously, it's only as good asthe information that you put
into it, but it can be quitehelpful.
Chatgpt can also help youmanage stock levels and automate
(08:40):
inventory management, controlcosts, manage credit risks, keep
track of staff hours.
There are lots of differentthings that you can do just by
putting the right informationand the right prompts into these
various AI tools like ChatGPT.
There are lots of differenttools out there.
It can even help with imagerendering, for example, if you
(09:02):
are an interior designer.
So there's lots of really coolways to use AI.
But specifically when it comesto the business, finances and
doing some of those toughertasks like creating a budget or
a cashflow forecast, it is onthe money.
You can also use ChatGPT, forexample, when it comes to your
personal finances, and if you'retrying to budget, you know your
(09:23):
how much money you're spendingon food.
You can throw in all of thefood that you have in your
cupboard and ask ChatGPT tocreate a menu for you for that
week.
We'll tell you what the bareminimum foods are that you need
to buy to serve up a week'sworth of meals.
So keep that in mind.
Anything that is financerelated, just ask the question
(09:46):
and see whether or not you getan answer that is going to help
you.
Certainly worth considering ifit's ultimately going to save
you time, but also money.
Now, if you are using suppliers,the third way to save money
when money is tight is to talkto your existing suppliers.
Now, I know that for a lot ofus in business, we're using
(10:09):
digital suppliers, likeGrammarly, for example, or
Microsoft, but they willactually respond to you.
If you reach out to theiraccounts department and ask them
whether there is a better deal,a discount, better payment
terms, you will be surprised atwhat is on offer when you ask.
(10:32):
So, whether it is a whole bunchof digital suppliers or if you
are a physical store and you'reselling a physical product,
reach out to all of yourexisting suppliers.
Ask for better deals.
Ask for discounts on freightand shipping, for example.
If you do large orders or youare an early payer or you're
(10:56):
paying on an annual basis, askfor a discount or a better deal
If the answer is no, or you'refinding that you're paying too
much to an existing supplier,then definitely go and explore
alternative suppliers who mightoffer better rates or who can
consolidate a whole bunch ofexisting services into one thing
(11:20):
, so you're only paying for onething.
Then, when it comes to doing abetter deal with your existing
suppliers, that goes double forthings like your energy
consumption.
So you can definitely talk toyour suppliers and ask for a
better deal on your energyconsumption costs.
But you can also think aboutjust doing a few simple things
(11:44):
in the office or in the house ifyou're working from home, that
can help to reduce those energycosts, and one of them is just
to replace those traditionallight bulbs with energy
efficient LEDs.
You can actually get businesseswho will come to your home and
do that free of charge.
So think about it not just froma business sense, but on the
(12:04):
wider sense as well.
You might like to optimize yourheating and cooling expenses if
you are air conditioning anoffice by installing
programmable thermostats.
Switch off lights and equipmentwhen you're not using them,
just to conserve that energy.
You would be absolutelyastounded at how much money
(12:25):
you're paying out in energycosts for things that are
sitting on standby.
So by that I mean the thingsthat have the power switched on
at all times when you're notusing it.
We did the exercise in my house, which also houses the office
for myself and my husband, david.
We both work from home, out ofour respective offices, and we
(12:47):
just went around and turnedthings off, basically things
that we weren't using, and I wasflabbergasted by the impact
that that had on the energy thatwe were pulling from the grid.
Definitely worth conductingregular energy audits just to
identify and reduce any wastefulenergy consumption, and there
(13:08):
are AI powered energy tools thatcan help you to analyze your
energy usage and patterns aswell, and your supplier will
have access to that informationtoo.
So definitely worth a chat withyour energy supplier for all of
your energy needs and to see ifyou can save some money.
Now another one, if you're notalready doing this, is you know,
(13:29):
and particularly if you've gotan office space, that you are
finding you are not utilising asmuch as you should is to really
embrace the remote work orworking from home.
So you know we did this throughCOVID.
It worked very well.
Obviously, for a lot ofbusiness owners, they want
people to come back into theoffice, but rather than, you
(13:50):
know, buying into great bigoffice spaces.
They're actually utilisingsmaller spaces so that they can
reduce their office space, theirutility costs and all of the
expenses that are associatedwith that space to allow
employees to sort of work in amore structured way.
So some people might come intothe office on Monday, tuesday,
(14:10):
wednesday, others on Wednesday,thursday, friday, for example,
and then the hybrid of workingfrom home they're working
remotely on those other days ishelping business owners reduce
the costs there.
So if you are paying for officespace and I know that's not
going to be everyone listeningto this episode but think about
(14:31):
how you can work smarter withyour team, whether you can work
remotely so that you can reducethat office space, or whether
you can sublet a corner of youroffice space If you are finding
that the team have reduced insize or they're just not coming
back into the office on afull-time basis because there's
(14:51):
no point paying rent.
If you are, don't have to.
And then, while I'm on that,think about negotiating with
your landlord.
So if you are paying rent, youcould ask your landlord for a
rent reduction, maybe atemporary payment freeze, just
like we did when COVID wasaround.
Keep an eye on the real estatemarket, look at rental prices in
(15:16):
your area.
So, when it comes time torenegotiate your lease, you're
not just taking the CPI index,but you've got a real idea and
insight into what's going onwith real estate in your area
and in other areas where youmight be happy to relocate.
And, as I said, you couldexplore the possibility of
(15:37):
subleasing that unused officespace, retail space or even
storage space to just help withthe income, but definitely worth
a negotiation.
Now number seven is to focus ondigital marketing.
So marketing can be a reallycostly exercise, can be a really
(16:04):
costly exercise, but you cancut those costs by focusing on
those digital channels that arethe most cost effective for your
business.
And while your mind willautomatically jump to social
media and, yes, social mediaplatforms can be used to promote
your business at free or lowcost I'd also recommend really
leaning into your email list, ifthat's not something that
you're utilizing at the moment,not just leaning into that list
(16:26):
to sell, but also to providesome valuable information to
your clients.
Because certainly, if you canmove away from paid advertising
and lean more heavily intodigital marketing that is not
rented space, so your email listthen that is going to save you
time, money, energy.
The other thing is a number ofus use team or contractors to
(16:50):
help us with our digitalmarketing and to put that
together.
So it's worth consideringtrying to master AI, so things
like chat, gpt, to createcontent calendars and then to
create the content for yoursocial media.
You could try AI powereddigital advertising platforms
(17:11):
that automatically analyze yourcustomer's behavior and then
optimize ad placements that willsort of support that behavior.
It allows you to just allocateyour advertising and your
marketing budgets for maximumconversion and to minimize those
costs.
Obviously, I think it's alsoworth looking at other aspects
(17:35):
of digital marketing, likecreating informative blog posts,
engaging videos, having them onyour website, making sure that
you're using great SEO, searchengine optimization so that
Google knows how to find what itis you're selling and or what
you're talking about, and thento reutilize that content.
(17:58):
So use that blog to then informyour next newsletter or a post
on LinkedIn or other socialmedia posts on Facebook or
Pinterest or Instagram, forexample.
So it's all about just gettingreally smart with how you use
social media or digitalmarketing sorry, I should say
and finding the most costeffective and efficient ways to
(18:21):
use that for your business.
You might also like to have agood look at all of the things
you're using in your business,but, more importantly, all of
the things that you are payingfor in your business, for
example, your subscriptions.
So this is where there is oftena treasure trove of wasted
(18:42):
money and money that you canrecoup.
In your business, there arethings that you might be paying
for that do similar things thatperform similar functions.
So ask yourself, do you reallyneed to have both of them?
Could you try a free versioninstead of a paid version?
Can you downsize or go down toa lower version of the
(19:05):
application that you're nowpaying for, because you just
don't need it anymore?
At that level, you don't needas many seats, for example, in
Monday, so can you sort ofdowngrade?
The other thing you might liketo do is to think about how you
can connect with industry peersor other people in business so
that you can either shareresources, which is a great
(19:27):
thing to do I know a lot ofcopywriters share expensive SEO
resources, for example but theremight be opportunities for
partnership swaps, service swapswith someone that, when you
need a hand in your business,they could do with your
expertise, and so you do a freeor low cost service swap.
But there's definitely money inhiding in those subscription
(19:51):
costs.
So check all the places yourcredit cards on your smartphone
in the subscriptions area.
You'll find that in yoursettings.
Go and have a look in your bankaccount, look in PayPal, look
in Stripe all of those placesthat you pay for things that get
hidden because they're notgoing to be necessarily sending
you out emails well in advancetelling you how your next
(20:14):
payment is coming up.
Now, if you are a product-basedbusiness, the next one is all
about optimizing inventorymanagement.
When we had retail stores, wehad to order stock for Christmas
in March every year.
It made it really difficult tomanage back orders because quite
(20:35):
often we had no idea when thatstock was coming in.
And when you can't manage yourback orders, you cannot manage
your cash flow.
So you have to keep tabs onwhat you've ordered versus the
inventory that you've alreadygot, when that new inventory
might be coming in, at whatlevel you want your existing
(20:56):
inventory to go to.
So what's the minimum numberthat you want to keep in stock
before you reorder, so thatyou're not holding onto stock
for a long time, just so you canreally maximize that inventory
and minimize any excesses andsave on having a whole lot of
(21:16):
your hard earned cash tied up ininventory that just isn't
moving If you've got slow-movingproducts and you're going to
know what they are for yourbusiness, but in the retail toy
store, if we had a product thatwe couldn't sell out of the
first run within eight weeks,then what we would do is we
(21:37):
would adjust our inventorylevels accordingly.
We would make sure that wedidn't have any more of that
stock coming in on back orderand then we'd have a sale and
look to move that stock along,because we didn't want our money
tied up in stock that wassitting on a shelf or sitting in
a warehouse for more than eightweeks.
(21:58):
And you can also do that withobsolete stock lines that have
run through.
So that's a great way to sortof save money.
Another one, and this worksparticularly well if you are
selling bigger items.
So one of the things that weused to sell in our business or
in one of the e-com businesseswe had was trampolines.
Now we didn't want to hold awhole lot of inventory and then,
(22:21):
you know, have to warehousethat, go to the cost of getting
a courier to come out every timeand ship that when we needed it
to go out.
So we actually negotiated adrop shipping arrangement with
the wholesaler.
Helped us reduce our inventorycosts because we weren't holding
a whole lot of stock.
Helped us to reduce our storagespace because we didn't have to
(22:42):
store it, and it meant thatwhen we sold an item it would go
out.
Sure, we were paying a fractionmore in wholesale costs, but it
worked really well for ourbusiness.
The next one is to think aboutoutsourcing.
Now, while it'scounterintuitive to outsource,
particularly when money is tight, if your time is best spent on
(23:04):
trying to make more money foryour business, so trying to drum
up business, and you are theonly one who can do that, or if
it's your job to deliver yourservice, and you are the only
one who can do that, then it'sworth looking at all of the
tasks that go into running yourbusiness and then to hire
freelancers or contracts forspecialized projects, short-term
(23:27):
assignments that mean that youknow your longer-term staff are
not having to make a commitmentto doing those and you know,
therefore, taking them away fromwork where it's income
generating for the business.
You can do that with thingslike Upwork or Freelancer.
That will offer you access to aglobal talented pool at really
(23:48):
competitive rates.
You can also look to outsourcethose non-core activities like
bookkeeping, it support, tothose specialist providers,
because they're going to bereally helpful.
So the other thing you mightlike to think of is, as I said,
those AI-powered virtualassistants or chatbots that can
(24:09):
handle routine tasks like emailmanagement and appointment
scheduling or data entry tasks.
Another way to save money inyour business when money is
tight is to make sure that yourinsurance policies stack up so
that you are not paying more foryour insurance than you need to
.
And while I always recommend areview of your insurance
(24:31):
policies at minimum every 12months to make sure that you've
got the appropriate coverage incase the worst thing happens If
you're finding that yourbusiness has changed in any way
or that perhaps the insurancepolicy that you have is no
longer meeting your needs forexample, you've moved from an
office space back to home thenget your insurance renewed.
(24:54):
You might be able to combinepolicies or switch providers to
get cost savings.
There could be deductibles thatyou're paying for right now on
either your personal policies oryour business policies that you
don't need anymore.
You might be able to increaseyour no claim bonus to reduce
(25:15):
the amount that you're paying inyour premium.
I always suggest that, when itcomes to either personal
insurance or business insurance,you call in the pros and use a
specialist insurance broker.
It's not going to cost you anymoney On the front end they get
paid by the insurance providers.
That they work like affiliates,I guess for the insurance
(25:36):
providers.
But if you work with someonewho is really reputable, they're
going to offer you a number ofoptions for your insurance,
recommend the best one, and thedecision on which way you go
will ultimately be up to you.
So I've mentioned this already.
I touched on this already inthe digital marketing section.
(25:56):
But collaborating with othersmall businesses is a great idea
when money is tight, not onlyto do a service swap, but to
perform those, to form thosepartnerships with those
like-minded business ownerswhere you can pull resources and
maybe reduce costs.
So sharing a VA, for example,you might like to share
(26:19):
marketing initiatives, do jointadvertising, promotional
campaigns.
You could explore bulkpurchasing options so that you
can then negotiate better dealswith your suppliers.
I did that really successfullywhen I had toy stores.
I worked with a whole bunch ofother independent toy stores and
we got some great deals that wewouldn't normally have access
(26:41):
to, just because we pulledtogether our purchasing power.
You can also ask other smallbusiness owners to become
affiliates for your businessesand help you promote your
services.
So that's a great way to notonly save money when money is
tight, but to make money too.
Now, this next money saving tipmay not resonate for many
(27:03):
businesses.
However, if you are a businessthat tends to print a lot of
things or spend a lot of moneyon postage, then look at
digitizing your documents andopting for electronic
communication just to help youreduce costs.
You can use cloud storagesolutions to store and access
(27:25):
important files, and they allhave fairly decent security.
So just double check that whereyou're storing things is secure
.
But quite often, by moving yourto a digital source is going to
help on storage physicalstorage within your office as
well, and if you're leasingspace again, that may save on
(27:45):
space for you.
Just being able to have all ofyour data in the cloud is also
going to save on yourinfrastructure costs as well, so
have a think about that.
Switching to things likee-invoicing and online payment
systems can also help streamlineyour billing processes as well,
(28:08):
so think of all of thosepaperless practices.
If you've already got themimplemented in your business,
how can you improve them?
If you don't have them in thereor you're missing one or two,
how can you kind of use those inyour business to save you some
money?
Now, if you have a loan whetherit's a business loan, whether
it's a personal loan it's worthtrying to renegotiate your loan
(28:31):
terms.
You will be surprised what youcan get just by making a phone
call, and I'm not just talkingabout great big mortgages here.
I'm talking about the higherpurchase that you've taken out
on that new printer, or maybeit's the phone contract that
you've got that allowed you toafford that new phone.
It's definitely worth talkingto your lenders to discuss
(28:53):
refinancing options orrenegotiating, renegotiate loan
terms or, most importantly,interest rates.
So don't be afraid to make thecall.
And while you're at it, if youare paying lots of fees on your
credit card or your bankaccounts for business at the
(29:14):
moment, and also in yourpersonal life, talk to your bank
about negotiating lower fees.
How can you have a card thathas no fees?
How can you have a bank accountthat is not attracting a fee
for every single transaction?
So have a look at that.
Don't be afraid to go to analternative bank or credit
(29:38):
provider if you can't get asweet offer on your fees.
But I guarantee you you'llprobably be shocked at what is
on offer because you've justbeen bothered to make a phone
call.
Hang around on the phone for,however long it takes you to get
through, to speak to that humanand take that action.
It's one of those things thatyou should look at often.
(30:00):
When I had a mortgage, I wouldalways look at my interest rate
every six months and see if Icould renegotiate that, so it's
definitely worth considering.
Now cost of living has gone up.
We know that inflation is stillsitting around the high level
here in Australia and in a lotof different parts of the world,
(30:24):
and so quite often our staffare doing it tough.
The pay that they have beengetting is no longer allowing
them to meet ends meet, sonaturally they're going to be
looking for pay increases, whichare not always sustainable from
a cash flow point of view inyour business.
So it's worth thinking outsidethe box when it comes to
(30:48):
employee benefits and payincreases.
So have a chat to your teammembers, particularly when
they're asking for a payincreases and, you know,
consider alternatives, thingsthat might sweeten the deal for
them so that you don't have toincrease their pay.
So it could be things likeflexible working hours.
(31:10):
It could be more work from home, it could be a compressed work
week.
So instead of working five daysa week, you do it in four.
You give them a day off, youpay them the same amount of
money and it allows them to goahead and maybe get another job,
or to have a long weekend everyweekend.
You might like to explorecost-effective wellness
(31:31):
initiatives, for example, topromote your employee wellbeing,
or to give a benefit or areward.
That is not necessarily a payincrease, but that is still a
reward for a job well done.
So just have a think about whatthe alternatives are instead of
a pay increase.
Obviously, when things improve,you can look at pay increases
(31:55):
as well then, too, but yourstaff are arguably one of your
most valuable assets, so whenyou can keep them and keep them
happy, you'll definitely want tobe doing that.
For business owners that aredoing a lot of traveling or
require a lot of traveling foryour work, or whose staff
require a lot of traveling,start to think about ways that
(32:18):
you can reduce travel expenses.
Is it worth having a travelagent or third-party person who
is dedicated to your travel,that sits outside of the
business, that might be able tooffer you a better deal, because
quite often travel agencies andtravel professionals will be
able to bulk buy hotel rooms,get great rack rates on both
(32:42):
airfares and hotel rooms andthen offer those to you in your
business as a benefit.
Again, it usually is no cost toyou because the agent is
getting their commissiondirectly from the travel
provider.
However, rather than just doingsomething like that or opting
for economy class flights andcheaper accommodation for
(33:04):
business travel, you could lookat planning trips in advance to
secure the best rates you know,so that you avoid those last
minute expenses.
But don't forget videoconferencing.
We did it a lot during COVIDand while we're all inclined to
run to those in-person meetingsright now, if you're your travel
is costing you too much money,then put a travel freeze on
(33:26):
until the end of the financialyear, for example, and just do
things over Zoom or MicrosoftTeams.
Use that video conferencingthat we've become so familiar
with and save a couple of monthson travel.
Now the next cost-saving measureis around DIYing your marketing
materials.
(33:46):
So have a think about theplatform that you are using for
your graphic design.
For example, if the Adobe suiteof products has become too
expensive for your business,could you switch to a more
cost-effective tool that doesthe same thing, like Canva?
Is it worth someone in yourteam doing that graphic design,
(34:07):
maybe buying a few templates andusing a tool like Canva?
Rather than spending a lot ofmoney on a graphic designer, you
could print marketingcollateral in-house if you've
got a cost-effective printer.
Rather than going out to market.
You could also buy templates,as I said, and those online
resources to create professionallooking marketing materials.
(34:30):
Template Tribe is a greatexample of a business that
offers really professional Canvatemplates and other templates
that you can use for yourbusiness, for everything from
social media to the freebiesthat you want to send out to the
marketing proposal that youhave to put together for your
(34:50):
next client.
So just have a think about howyou can DIY and save some money
on those marketing materials.
Now, in a lot of businesses, wehave to provide some sort of
learning for our staff.
We also want to encourage ouremployees to continue to better
themselves, and in doing so, wewill often send them to webinars
(35:15):
and online courses forprofessional development.
If you work in an industry likeaccounting or the legal
industry, you will have to do acertain amount of CPD hours or
professional hours to maintainyour license, so it's worth
having a look at different waysthat you can leverage that free
(35:37):
or low cost educational webinaror course to upskill yourself
and your team.
It's definitely worth investingin training materials and
resources that are going toprovide long-term value.
But instead of just going backto the same provider that you've
been going to for years, lookaround, see what remote learning
(35:59):
opportunities there are, as anexample, or what cost-effective
opportunities there are forlearning and professional
development, and consider thoseinstead.
Another cost-s opportunitiesthere are for learning and
professional development andconsider those instead.
Another cost-saving measure thatwe don't often think of is
effective waste management.
So just doing things likerecycling and looking at waste
reduction practices amongemployees within your business
(36:21):
can save a lot of money,particularly if you're working
in an office environment.
If you're paying for wastedisposal contracts right now,
you can look around, make sureyou're getting the best rates
and the best service, but alsoexplore reusable or sustainable
alternatives for office supplies, for packaging, for things like
ink, for example, and see whereyou can save money and reduce
(36:45):
waste.
One way to save money onmarketing costs and on other
costs in your business is toreally leverage those customer
referrals.
So you could implement areferral program to encourage
your existing customers to refernew customers to your business.
You can offer your existingcustomers discounts or rewards
(37:07):
so that they in turn refer otherpeople to your business.
Building those strongrelationships with your loyal
customers and really encouragingthem to work with you over and
over again is going to save youon the cost of acquiring a brand
new customer, but when theyrefer their friends and other
(37:30):
business owners to you, it'salso going to save you time and
money as well.
So have a think about areferral program and if someone
gives you a great review, makesure you absolutely use that
review on your website, in yourcommunications, in your social
media.
Really important Now, packingand shipping for all of those
(37:52):
product-based businesses can bevery expensive, and so it's
worth looking at both theprocesses that you use to pack
and ship your goods and sendthose out as well.
So that's both the materialsthat you use, and it's worth
looking at green alternativesfor those.
But it's also worth reallylooking at the end-to-end
(38:15):
process that you use, from theorder right through to the
packing and the shipping, tomake sure that at every point in
the process, you are doingthings in the most cost
effective way.
Again, you can put theinformation, you can put a
process into AI for AI to comeup with a better way to optimize
(38:38):
the way you pack and ship yourgoods.
So really have a think aboutthat because, let's face it,
while you want your thing to getto its destination intact and
in one piece, as a formerretailer and a former e-commerce
store owner, I know exactly howmuch it costs in those packing
(38:59):
and shipping materials, and alsothe cost of paying people to
pull those orders, to pack themcorrectly, to make sure
everything's done amazingly thatthe address is correct, and get
them out the door.
Now, this next one is not somuch about saving money.
It's about making sure that youget paid on time, and so my tip
(39:23):
here is to make it easy forcustomers to pay you.
So, apart from the obviousthings like invoicing regularly,
if you are a service provider,I think it's definitely worth
looking at a whole bunch ofdifferent payment gateways,
having a number of options thatare really obvious on your
(39:43):
invoice so that people know howto pay you and it's really
simple for them.
So, again, using Xero as anexample, I have Stripe attached
to my Xero.
It allows customers to pay meeither using a direct debit
through a bank account, and I'veactually got my direct debit
(40:03):
information on each of myinvoices Really important to
have that.
I have had several experienceswith my clients where they have
forgotten to put their bankdetails on an invoice.
But just having that, havingStripe attached as a payment
method for my invoices, meansthat at the click of one green
button, my clients can choose topay me using their EFT card,
(40:27):
their direct debit card or usingcredit.
Now there are definitely feesthat are attached to that, but
in my business I've ticked abutton on the backend in Xero,
as I said earlier in thisepisode.
That allows people to pay usingany method they want.
But if they're going to payusing Stripe, there is a service
(40:48):
fee that is attached and thatwill come up.
It's really obvious, and theywill either want to pay that or
they won't.
If they don't want to pay that,then they'll go to the trouble
of opening up their onlinebanking and they'll pay directly
into my bank account.
But the idea is that I'm makingit easy for people to pay me
Now, while Afterpay and theother third party payment
(41:10):
alternatives can be that kind ofdevil to a lot of people.
If Afterpay is the easiest way,or payment plans as another
option that you can set up viaStripe, for example, if these
are the easiest ways for yourcustomers to pay you because it
takes away that barrier to entry, if they can pay you over three
(41:30):
installments instead of in fullright at the start, then it's
definitely worth considering,because in the long run, it is
going to save you money, saveyour time chasing up bad payers,
but it's also going to makesure that you've got every
chance of getting paid on time.
So just get invoicing includedin your money Monday or finance
(41:52):
Friday.
Now, a great way to save moneyin your business is to increase
employee productivity.
So one of the ways you can dothat is to have fantastic
systems and processes in placeso people don't waste time.
They know what they're doing.
The other one is to provideregular training and
professional developmentopportunities so that people are
your employees.
(42:13):
Your staff are always able toenhance and improve their skills
and productivity.
If you want to improve employeeefficiency and there are
certain areas that you know needto be improved, then consider
time tracking.
But, most importantly, you needto speak to your staff If
there's something that's notright, if there's something that
(42:34):
is taking too long or an areafor productivity improvement,
then speak to your staff,because not only does that kind
of get the conversation goingand help to improve a current
process, but your staff mighthave great ways to improve those
processes, things that youhaven't considered because
they're doing them day in, dayout and so all of a sudden, that
(42:57):
could save you a whole bunch ofmoney.
The other thing to do is toimplement some performance-based
incentives or KPIs that cankeep your staff motivated and
also increase productivity.
Okay, so we are on the homewardleg now.
Of 30 ways to save money whenthe money is tight, number 26, I
(43:19):
think we're up to is to reviewyour supply chains and the
systems and processes that youuse to deliver a service, a
product or a service.
So look at those existingsystems and processes.
Identify where costs can bereduced and efficiencies can be
reduced.
(43:39):
You know, as I said before,look at how you can negotiate
better prices.
Look at where you might need toincrease your prices to cover
things that are not paying forthemselves in your business,
just asking for those discounts,finding the alternative
suppliers.
I think being really focused onthat supply chain and the ways
(44:01):
you can save money in thatsupply chain are very important.
And, as I touched on there,it's all about pricing and
creating that profitable pricingin your business.
That comes down to justregularly looking at your
pricing strategy.
What are you charging?
It goes back again to mymindset podcast where I spoke
about moving from that dollarsto trading time for money,
(44:25):
trading dollars for hours tolooking at value-based pricing
or outcome-based pricing.
Whatever you're doing, make surethat your price covers the cost
of doing business right now.
It covers your wages, it coversyour super, it covers your
savings and it builds in aprofit number too.
You might like to introducepackages where you bundle up
(44:47):
products or services.
Use those pricing psychologyprinciples to determine your
prices.
So you know the power of three.
People aren't going to opt forthe cheapest one because they
don't want to look like they'retight.
The most expensive one lookstoo expensive, so they're
probably going to choose themiddle one or using those charm
(45:07):
numbers at the end of yourpricing sevens, nines when
you're showing a price insteadof putting their cents, taking
away those cents at the end tomake it look smaller.
So think about doing those aswell.
But whatever you do, regularpricing reviews.
Always price for profit and besmart about how you price as
(45:28):
well.
So this then sort of leads onfrom that and quite often in
business, particularly if youhave got a retail store, you
will have to deal with a lot ofpayment processing fees.
If people are, you know, payingdirectly through Stripe, for
example, and they're not payingthrough your cloud accounting
(45:50):
software.
If you're using Kajabi, asanother example, and you've got
Stripe or Apple Pay attached tothat as the business, you are
going to be liable for all ofthose payment processing fees.
The same goes if you offerSquarePay or EFT processing in
your business.
You know there will be paymentprocessing fees.
So once again, talk to yourbank.
(46:12):
Can you negotiate a better ratewith your bank or that payment
service provider?
Be on the lookout for alternatepayment processing solutions.
Think about either passing onthe processing fees to your
customers that's quite often apopular way to do it,
particularly if it's convenientfor them to pay with credit or
(46:34):
build in a nominal amount ontoyour service cost or your
product cost.
That wraps up those pricingfees, those processing fees, so
that, no matter how people arepaying, you are covered every
single time.
I like to call this next one thewould you like fries with that?
A way to save money in yourbusiness.
(46:56):
It's actually probably a way tomake more money in your
business, but just like when youvisit McDonald's and you expect
to be asked would you likefries with that?
I don't even know if that isstill a thing now, but it
certainly was the last time Iwent to McDonald's when my kids
were younger, much younger.
Adopt a similar strategy inyour business.
(47:16):
Think about what the upsell isfor the offer that you have got
going out or that service thatyou've got going out.
Or think about what the averagesale order is and how you can
increase that, particularly ifyou've got a retail store.
What's the average order value?
What's the average basket value?
How can you increase that?
And whether it's an upsell orsomeone adding in an extra
(47:39):
product into their basket.
Think about different ways thatyou can do that just to
encourage your client to buythat bit extra.
If you are a business thatoffers a whole lot of different
products, have a look at howthey all fit together.
We call that a value ladder oran ascension model in your
business, where you'reessentially starting with the
(47:59):
lowest value thing.
In my business, that's a freedownload.
The next way to work with mewill now be my book, because
that is going to sort of fit innicely there.
Then there's that $97 product,then there's that $300 product,
that $500 product, that $2,000product.
All of those things in my valueladder are opportunities for me
(48:22):
to upsell a service, so thatnot only do my clients have a
variety of ways to work with me,but I can always upsell them to
the next thing.
So think about the.
Would you like fries with thatprinciple in your business,
because while that's probablynot going to save you a lot of
money, it might help make yousome money.
(48:44):
And while we're on that, don'tleave money on the table.
Remember that 80-20 rule whenit comes to your business, that
80% of your business will comefrom 20% of your clients.
So who are your VIPs and howcan you serve them so that they
keep coming back for more?
It's all about customerretention.
A few weeks ago, I did apodcast about how to increase
(49:08):
your profitability by 25%, andthat comes down to customer
retention.
So head back, have a listen tothat episode and that will give
you a lot more information abouthow to do that and not leave
money on the table.
It's all about staying in touchwith your old clients and not
letting them forget about youand that you exist.
And that's it, number 30.
(49:29):
We're up to number 30 at last.
The best way to save money inyour business, particularly when
the money is tight, is to keepan eye on the numbers.
It's, honestly, the mostimportant way to save money and
when you continually review yournumbers, when you make that
weekly date with yourself tolook at the financial statements
(49:51):
, learn more about the businessnumbers and then incorporate
those strategies, you're notonly going to keep your business
strong, the cash flow strongand keep yourself more
profitable, but you're alsogoing to identify patterns.
You're going to see wheretraditionally, things are ebb
and flow in your patterns.
You're going to see wheretraditionally, things are ebb
and flow in your business.
You're going to be able to lookat the cash flow forecast and
(50:16):
know when you're going to haveto save money in your business.
It will allow you to set thosefinancial goals and for yourself
and your business, those KPIsfor your staff, so that they are
encouraged to achieve somethingthat is going to help save
money or make more money in yourbusiness.
And in doing that, you're notonly increasing your financial
(50:40):
literacy, but you're alsochoosing to be the author of
your business story, because, inmy opinion, learning to read
the numbers is like learning toread the story of your business
and you should be the author ofyour story.
Even if you use a bookkeeper oran accountant to do the money
stuff, at the very least keep aneye on your numbers, understand
(51:03):
your profit and loss statement.
So you are always the author ofyour business story.
And if it's all goingpear-shaped, if you go through
these 30 ways to save money andmake money in your business and
you're thinking to yourself I'min a mess, I don't know how I'm
going to get out of this mess, Idon't know what to do next.
(51:25):
Then please call in the expertssooner rather than later,
because the experts whetherthat's your accountant, a
business money mentor, a BASagent, that you use a bookkeeper
, that you use another businessowner that gets the money and
that you really trust calling insomeone to help is going to
save you time.
It's going to save you money.
(51:46):
In the long run, it's going tohelp you get your business
sorted and increase your profits, and it's by far the smartest
way to save money in yourbusiness.
While we're on that, I want youto remember that all of the
information that I have providedin this podcast today is really
general in nature.
I don't know your personalcircumstances or your business
(52:08):
circumstances, so if there is abig decision that you're
planning on making afterlistening to any of my tips,
please consult the expertsbefore you go ahead.
So I hope these 30 ways hasgiven you a tiny bit of food for
thought in your business andthat at least one of them has
resonated with you and issomething that you can take
action on today to save moneyand to grow your business, stay
(52:31):
profitable and keep that cashflowing.
So thanks for listening.
Until next time, keep on livingyour definition of success.
Speaker 1 (52:42):
Thanks for listening to the Secrets of Successful
Business podcast.
For more information on allthings business, head to
flossycomau and make sure youhit subscribe on the show so you
don't miss another new episode.
If you're enjoying the show,please give it a quick rating or
review, share it on yoursocials or with friends who
might enjoy it.
(53:02):
Catch you next time.
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