How to cut costs in hard economic times

Are you brainstorming on how to cut costs to ensure that your small business can survive and even thrive in these economically challenged times? With Wall Street, bail outs and gas prices it can be scarier than the ghouls on Halloween just to turn on the news. Here are some ideas to consider while you are brainstorming.

The Little Things – Adjust the temperature when no one will be in the office, invest in water filters instead of bottled water, use energy efficient light bulbs, save energy by trading in the big CRT monitors for flat screens or take energy saving a step further and trade you desktops for laptops.

Operations – Embracing the Internet can save you ink, paper, stamps and time. Emails are a free instant way to send documents, flyers, bills and with electronic signatures you can practically throw your stamp machine out the door.

Many bill pay options are available through your bank which will eliminate buying checks and also the late charges when snail mail doesn’t get your payment there on time

Investing in a scanner will allow you to scan documents to send via fax on the web. A fax service like Fax Zero is very cost effective offering faxes for free if you allow them to tack on an advertisement.

Communications and Travel can be very expensive. Cell phone service can run very high in roaming charges and long distance and so can traditional land lines, especially if you have more than one line. Digital phones can be a good alternative because many digital phone services have bundle options.

Traveling is expensive regardless of the means with gas prices are so high. Net Meeting might be an option at a fraction of the cost that can save time and money. Many of today’s laptops come with a built in camera so there is no extra equipment to buy and there are many options if you do your homework

Employees and Office Space – Embracing telecommuting can save you money from many directions. Less people means less office space and less energy needed for that space. This will make your employees happy because they will save in gas and wear and tear on their car. It also means less equipment to buy for training sessions because with the option of computer rental you can simply rent computers with the software installed so that you can spend your valuable time on training your employees instead of buying and setting up computers and software and not to mention the hours of do it yourself technical support.

If you really want to offer insurance to your employees try teaming up with other small businesses in a co-op purchasing plan. This is not only good for insurance but buying in bulk and other purchasing opportunities. Besides… it is just good networking.

These are just a few things you can do to cut costs and help your small business thrive in troubled times. Not only will you be saving your business but you will be doing your part to save the environment by saving in paper, energy, gas, chemicals. Telecommuters will be more likely to eat lunch at home which is not only healthier but cuts on trash and waste. Little things like these can change a lot.

Do you have ideas to share in saving money for small businesses? Please feel free to share them by leaving a comment.