Ways Small Businesses Can Save Money


small-businesses-save-money

Are you low on budget, just starting out or don’t have enough funding? Here, we shall discuss a few ways you can save some money whilst still running a high-quality business without having to sacrifice your office essentials.

Whenever a small business goes through the process of cost cutting, they give up on the most ludicrous things like double ply toilet paper. This is not fair to you or your employees. Also, it doesn’t make much of a difference. Although, it is important to note that cost cutting should be done on things that are insignificant and require recurring expense. There are also expenses that seem significant but arenot. Then there are others that are important but you are being overcharged for it. Hence, it is easy to get lost on what to keep and what to let go when you are trying to save money.

          Also Read: Clever Marketing Tips for Small Businesses on Budget

There is an easy way out. Here are some amazing tips to help you save some money.

Scrutinize your expenses
How will you know what you are spending on if you refuse to track your expenses? This is the most fundamental thing to do if you want to save money. Most small business owners ignore this aspect when they are trying to get client deals. Money management is an important part of your business, and you need to learn to do it right. This will save you money. Set a date on your calendar.If you can’t do it weekly then do it on a monthly basis. Reserve a day to simply check your expense reports with your accounting team to see exactly where and what you have spent your money on. This will help you understand your spending pattern, and at the same time, motivate you to keep going. A good expense tracking software can be useful for this purpose.

Time to unsubscribe
Is your business subscribed to a monthly plan of some kind? Most business are. These monthly subscriptions are a great way to keep a client in the loop. And since subscriptions usually are a good money saving deal, businesses never seem to revisit them. Maybe you signed up for a service a long time ago that you no longer need, and are being billed constantly for the same. This could be any number of things, it could be regular software, a newspaper etc. The question you have to ask yourself is, do I need to be subscribed to this? Because a monthly subscription amounts to a lot of money in the long run.

Cloud accounting saves your time and money
You will never know where you are wasting your money if you don’t have a system in place to track it. Most small businesses can’t afford a dedicated accountant. And this is why, they lose out on their own money. For reason alone, you should get a cloud accounting service for your business. Cloud accounting services like Cloud Books do your invoicing for you. Once it has the daily expense sheet, the software will know exactly what you are spending on and where you are spending it. So, using these invoices, it will come up with a detailed expense report of your billings. And you will know the areas where you need to cut down your expenses.

           Also Read: 10 Tips for Small Businesses to Track Their Expenses

Expense tracking is the key to saving money. Sometimes, businesses forget to charge clients, and your outsourced accountant will not remind you to do this. When you miss out on cashing enough bills at the end of the month you have a huge pile. Have you heard ‘money saved is money earned’? The converse is also true. When you have an expense tracking system in place, it will remind you to keep a check on these little things automatically.

Invoicing Errors—6 Common Slip-Ups by New Small Business Owners


Invoicing-errors

A study on invoicing conducted by Market Invoice, later rebranded as Market Finance, has revealed that around 60 percent of invoices are paid late. Given this reality and the importance of positive cash flow for your small business, the significance of a proper invoicing system cannot be understated. Getting paid on time is not entirely up to you, but there are several aspects of an invoice that you might be neglecting. And this could contribute to the late or non-existent payments from your clients. Here are the most common mistakes that you need to avoid.

  • Not having an optimized template for your invoice
    Your invoice, despite being a standard document for requesting payment, requires a lot of details to be entered correctly. This is where the eye-catching templates, provided free of charge by Cloud Books, comes in handy. It is crucial to get all the details of the invoice correct as this eliminates confusion between the stakeholders and ensures on-time payment.
  • Not setting clear terms of payment
    It is easily the mistake with the direst of consequence. Not agreeing to clear payment terms will land you in major trouble. Make the terms as clear as possible. Avoid complicated jargon that the general public find difficult to understand. An easy to understand payment terms will help you cash flow seamlessly.
  • Not having the right person to reach out to
    Many small businesses make the mistake of addressing the invoice to the wrong person, leading to avoidable delays. Your person of contact is most likely someone from finance or legal team of the client’s company. You have to take the initiative to find the right person to mail your invoice to. This goes a long way in ensuring on-time payments on every occasion.
  • Not setting a specific due date (and a penalty for failing to comply)
    Small business owners must have a specific date on which they expect to be paid. Failing to do so can cause delays in payments for your services, leaving you to encounter issues with your business operations due to the shortfall in the revenue. Apart from reminding your client frequently (your invoicing software takes care of this), you also need to set in place penalties for delay in payments. Some small businesses also offer discounts for making payments before the due date, but they collect the full fee if the payment is made on the due date.
  • Making mistakes or leaving out crucial information
    This is one of the costliest mistakes you can make. Your payment could be delayed, if you leave out crucial details, such as reference number, product description, name and contact details, date of service provided, etc. Therefore, before sending the invoice, you should check it thoroughly for spelling mistakes and ensure it is sent to the right person.
  • Forgetting to back up the original file
    A surprising mistake small business make with their invoices is forgetting to back up the original file. You have to make sure it doesn’t happen. Invoices need to be backed-up and stored on the cloud so that they can be easily retrieved for the purposes of auditing or making changes on it.

Bottom-line
A robust and feature-rich invoicing solution is beneficial for a small business to operate without complications. While some invoicing mistakes are unavoidable, having a system such as the one provided by Cloud Books can mitigate the hassles and fix the errors brought about by flawed invoicing. Due to its excellent tracking abilities, timely remainders for payment, and simple ways to correct invoicing mistakes by small businesses, Cloud Books has emerged as the invoicing software of choice for many.