How to Run a Frugal Business

Just because you run a successful business doesn’t mean you can’t still look for ways to make savings. In fact, learning where to be frugal and why with your expenditure can help shape a healthy business, as well as helping you to be a stronger business person.

In today’s post, we’ll walk you through the initial first steps that will ensure your business runs smoothly and frugally.

Businesswoman counting every penny

Learn your business inside-out

If you want to learn where to cut costs, it’s absolutely essential that you understand every level of our business and the costs it takes to run each of them. From the worker on the lowest rung of the ladder and the software they use, to the printer on the fifth floor, you have to know every inch.

Once you know these costs, you can start to match those costs against projections for the year and the productivity within each department, working out which areas are the least efficient.

Invest in great products

Investing in good quality products will save you huge amounts in the long run. If you spend the money now, it means you won’t have to continually replace broken furniture or equipment, frustrating your workers and impacting negatively on their working environment.

Printers are a perfect example of this; you’ll find them to be a large drain on resources if you don’t choose wisely. Aside from the maintenance bill for a printer that is always breaking down, a lot of businesses still require you to scan things and send them back via email with a signature, so a multifunctional printer with email and wireless capability is essential.

Boxes of printing supplies
photo credit: Matt Cornock / Flickr

Buy things in bulk

Another tip for being frugal with business finances is to learn where you can make savings through buying your supplies in bulk. Stationary is something that you’ll always run out of, which makes it the perfect candidate for this type of purchasing; everything from notepads, pens and printer paper will be important. Speaking of printers, what about printer ink?

It can take days to receive new ink, and in that time your productivity has massively slowed. You can buy everything from a trusted provider, such as Canon, Dell, Epson and Brother toner cartridges from Cartridge People, for much better prices than buying it from a high-street shop, which brings us to another great tip for frugality – always shop around.

Hire specialists

Of course you want to hire the best for your business, but ‘specialists’ don’t refer to your every-day workforce – it extends to people like your accountant too. Make sure when you’re hiring the right book-keeper for your company that it’s someone that comes with high recommendations from other businesses within your field or similar. That way, you’ll be in a much stronger position when it comes to things like government initiatives and other savings and benefits, which you wouldn’t otherwise know about due to a lack of knowledge.

Takeaway

So, there you go – several ways to save money for your business. If you have any more tips on how to run a frugal business, please leave a comment to share them with us!