30 Ways to save money in your business

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.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

You're listening to the Secrets of Successful Business podcast, your go-to source for business tips, tricks and proven strategies that will help you create a streamlined and profitable business. We chat to the best minds in business about their journey. It's my business and I'll do it my way, how they started, rather than going harder to get more focus on growing more with what you have, what they learned along the way. How long are you going to give this?

Speaker 2 0:29

What compromises are you going to make Just because you can do it?

Speaker 1 0:32

doesn't mean that you should do it. It's really important to remember that it's a long game and, of course, we'll ask them for their secret sauce for creating a successful business. If you're not failing, you're not doing it right. You should be struggling at times. That is part of the journey. Join us as we take a sneak peek behind the curtain. Talk solutions for those business pain points, working smarter, not harder, mindset and the challenges of fitting it all in with the demands of today's busy lifestyle. If you're a business owner, side hustler or just starting your business journey, this podcast is for you. Now. Here's your host business coach side hustler. Or just starting your business journey, this podcast is for you Now. Here's your host, business coach and content creator, justine McLean from Flossie Creative.

Speaker 2 1:13

Hello and thanks for joining me on the podcast today. In case we haven't met, I'm Justine, a small business owner on a mission to uncover and share the secrets of creating and running a profitable, sustainable and successful business. I've been in business for over 20 years now and I get to use all that I've learned along the way to help other women in business reduce the overwhelm, gain visibility around their numbers, charge what they're worth and make more money. It's about designing a life you love that fits into your definition of success. So if I can help you create the profitable business you deserve, please reach out Now without further ado. Let's dive into today's episode. Hello and welcome to the podcast. This episode goes out to everyone who has reached out to me over the last few weeks.

Speaker 2 2:11

After my podcast episode on mindset and money stories and moving to outcome-based or value-based pricing went live just sharing the struggles that they're having with business at the moment and how they're trying to stay positive in the face of people tightening their belts, not spending as much money as they used to, and the knock-on effect that is having with some small businesses people not wanting to spend as much, maybe cancelling services altogether or pulling back on services a little bit. So I thought today that I would share with you something that I've actually got set up as a bit of a lead magnet in the business, but it is 30 ways to save money in your business when money is tight, and I thought it might be a good idea to share that today and just to give you 30 different insights, different things that you can think about right now, in the hope that maybe one of these resonate with you, and just to give you a real life example. We do a lot of this work in my business Money Magnet Program and one of the members said to me just a few weeks ago that going through her expenses and doing one simple exercise within the program actually saved her enough money to allow her to cover the cost of the entire program for the full year. So I'm not saying that you have to save money and spend it with me, but what I am saying is that I know that these things work and it's not about taking action and doing all 30 things. It might just be about considering one thing for now and seeing where you can save some money in your business that will help improve your cashflow and improve the coffers as well, so let's get started Now.

Speaker 2 4:07

Number one is to really have a look at your entire operation, so how you deliver your stuff, whether that is a physical product, whether it's a digital product or whether it's a service, because quite often the operational side of our business is where we sink the most money into. It's also where we spend the most amount of time. So start by having a look at the systems and processes that currently exist within your business. For example, you might use Xero as your cloud accounting system. Are you using it to its full advantage? Are there other ways that you can use the cloud accounting software to make it easier for your customers to pay for your services? For example, connecting Stripe and then ticking the box in the backend so that you're not having to wear the Stripe fees if people choose to pay with Stripe, is it employing someone for an hour to show you, to go through your zero and to show you all of those ways that you can be more efficient and be smarter about using it so you can save time? So that's a system With the processes, those things that you do on repeat over and over again.

Speaker 2 5:24

Is there a more efficient way to do things? Have you got staff, where you can talk to your staff and ask them if there is a more efficient way to do something so that you can actually save some time. Is it about batching tasks, for example, and the idea is, when you've got processes in your business, that you actually write them down. You commit them to paper. Maybe you also make a physical recording in Loom of how that process works in your business so that when you are onboarding, it's a very simple way to train any new staff. Look at automating tasks wherever possible. I think in the last three weeks I've sent about 40 emails to different business owners, vas and PR firms and podcast outreach VAs basically sort of sharing with them that I'm not looking for guests at the moment on the podcast. So having that email in a template that I can get my team to just sort of automatically send out and change a few names is really helping us to save that time and then money on sitting there and writing the same email 30 or 40 times.

Speaker 2 6:36

You might like to implement AI to improve your operations. I was speaking to one of my clients a few weeks ago and she was sharing with me that where AI powered chatbots are being used on websites and sort of coming up and asking a few questions. Customers were more likely to immediately fill in the chatbot, ask a question and be more open to talking to someone within the business, because they could get their inquiry answered either immediately or certainly get pointed in the right direction, or it was more timely than someone finding the contact page, sending off an email and then waiting for someone in the business to come back to them 24 or 48 hours later. So have a think about whether there are any AI tools, like AI powered chatbots, that can really help improve the operational side of your business. And, of course, as I've said already, using systems like cloud-based accounting, cloud-based project management, collaboration tools. Even Google Drive, which is free for the most part, is a great way to be able to collaborate between a small team. It's something we use in my business and it is really helpful for us to all stay on the same page and get those tasks done. So look for ways that you can streamline your operation and save some money.

Speaker 2 8:05

The other one is to use AI to help with the business finances and, apart from introducing the obvious AI like cloud accounting software, you can consider using AI like ChatGPT to help you do a few interesting things. One of them is to create a budget for you or to create a cash flow forecast. Believe it or not, ai is pretty good at doing that. Obviously, it's only as good as the information that you put into it, but it can be quite helpful. Chatgpt can also help you manage stock levels and automate inventory management, control costs, manage credit risks, keep track of staff hours. There are lots of different things that you can do just by putting the right information and the right prompts into these various AI tools like ChatGPT. There are lots of different tools out there. It can even help with image rendering, for example, if you are an interior designer. So there's lots of really cool ways to use AI.

Speaker 2 9:06

But specifically when it comes to the business, finances and doing some of those tougher tasks like creating a budget or a cashflow forecast, it is on the money. You can also use ChatGPT, for example, when it comes to your personal finances, and if you're trying to budget, you know your how much money you're spending on food. You can throw in all of the food that you have in your cupboard and ask ChatGPT to create a menu for you for that week. We'll tell you what the bare minimum foods are that you need to buy to serve up a week's worth of meals. So keep that in mind. Anything that is finance related, just ask the question and see whether or not you get an answer that is going to help you. Certainly worth considering if it's ultimately going to save you time, but also money.

Speaker 2 9:56

Now, if you are using suppliers, the third way to save money when money is tight is to talk to your existing suppliers. Now, I know that for a lot of us in business, we're using digital suppliers, like Grammarly, for example, or Microsoft, but they will actually respond to you. If you reach out to their accounts department and ask them whether there is a better deal, a discount, better payment terms, you will be surprised at what is on offer when you ask. So, whether it is a whole bunch of digital suppliers or if you are a physical store and you're selling a physical product, reach out to all of your existing suppliers. Ask for better deals. Ask for discounts on freight and shipping, for example. If you do large orders or you are an early payer or you're paying on an annual basis, ask for a discount or a better deal If the answer is no, or you're finding that you're paying too much to an existing supplier, then definitely go and explore alternative suppliers who might offer better rates or who can consolidate a whole bunch of existing services into one thing, so you're only paying for one thing.

Speaker 2 11:23

Then, when it comes to doing a better deal with your existing suppliers, that goes double for things like your energy consumption. So you can definitely talk to your suppliers and ask for a better deal on your energy consumption costs. But you can also think about just doing a few simple things in the office or in the house if you're working from home, that can help to reduce those energy costs, and one of them is just to replace those traditional light bulbs with energy efficient LEDs. You can actually get businesses who will come to your home and do that free of charge. So think about it not just from a business sense, but on the wider sense as well.

Speaker 2 12:07

You might like to optimize your heating and cooling expenses if you are air conditioning an office by installing programmable thermostats. Switch off lights and equipment when you're not using them, just to conserve that energy. You would be absolutely astounded at how much money you're paying out in energy costs for things that are sitting on standby. So by that I mean the things that have the power switched on at all times when you're not using 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 of our respective offices, and we just went around and turned things off, basically things that we weren't using, and I was flabbergasted by the impact that that had on the energy that we were pulling from the grid. Definitely worth conducting regular energy audits just to identify and reduce any wasteful energy consumption, and there are AI powered energy tools that can help you to analyze your energy usage and patterns as well, and your supplier will have access to that information too. So definitely worth a chat with your energy supplier for all of your energy needs and to see if you can save some money.

Speaker 2 13:25

Now another one, if you're not already doing this, is you know, and particularly if you've got an office space, that you are finding you are not utilising as much as you should is to really embrace the remote work or working from home. So you know we did this through COVID. It worked very well. Obviously, for a lot of business owners, they want people to come back into the office, but rather than, you know, buying into great big office spaces. They're actually utilising smaller spaces so that they can reduce their office space, their utility costs and all of the expenses that are associated with that space to allow employees to sort of work in a more structured way. So some people might come into the office on Monday, tuesday, wednesday, others on Wednesday, thursday, friday, for example, and then the hybrid of working from home they're working remotely on those other days is helping business owners reduce the costs there.

Cost-Effective Digital Marketing and Inventory Optimization

Speaker 2 14:23

So if you are paying for office space and I know that's not going to be everyone listening to this episode but think about how you can work smarter with your team, whether you can work remotely so that you can reduce that office space, or whether you can sublet a corner of your office space If you are finding that the team have reduced in size or they're just not coming back into the office on a full-time basis because there's 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, you could ask your landlord for a rent reduction, maybe a temporary payment freeze, just like we did when COVID was around. Keep an eye on the real estate market, look at rental prices in your area. So, when it comes time to renegotiate your lease, you're not just taking the CPI index, but you've got a real idea and insight into what's going on with real estate in your area and in other areas where you might be happy to relocate. And, as I said, you could explore the possibility of subleasing that unused office space, retail space or even storage space to just help with the income, but definitely worth a negotiation.

Speaker 2 15:49

Now number seven is to focus on digital marketing. So marketing can be a really costly exercise, can be a really costly exercise, but you can cut those costs by focusing on those digital channels that are the most cost effective for your business. And while your mind will automatically jump to social media and, yes, social media platforms can be used to promote your business at free or low cost I'd also recommend really leaning into your email list, if that's not something that you're utilizing at the moment, not just leaning into that list to sell, but also to provide some valuable information to your clients. Because certainly, if you can move away from paid advertising and lean more heavily into digital marketing that is not rented space, so your email list then that is going to save you time, money, energy. The other thing is a number of us use team or contractors to help us with our digital marketing and to put that together. So it's worth considering trying to master AI, so things like chat, gpt, to create content calendars and then to create the content for your social media. You could try AI powered digital advertising platforms that automatically analyze your customer's behavior and then optimize ad placements that will sort of support that behavior. It allows you to just allocate your advertising and your marketing budgets for maximum conversion and to minimize those costs. Obviously, I think it's also worth looking at other aspects of digital marketing, like creating informative blog posts, engaging videos, having them on your website, making sure that you're using great SEO, search engine optimization so that Google knows how to find what it is you're selling and or what you're talking about, and then to reutilize that content. So use that blog to then inform your next newsletter or a post on LinkedIn or other social media posts on Facebook or Pinterest or Instagram, for example. So it's all about just getting really smart with how you use social media or digital marketing sorry, I should say and finding the most cost effective and efficient ways to use that for your business.

Speaker 2 18:23

You might also like to have a good look at all of the things you're using in your business, but, more importantly, all of the things that you are paying for in your business, for example, your subscriptions. So this is where there is often a treasure trove of wasted money and money that you can recoup. In your business, there are things that you might be paying for that do similar things that perform similar functions. So ask yourself, do you really need to have both of them? Could you try a free version instead of a paid version? Can you downsize or go down to a lower version of the application that you're now paying for, because you just don't need it anymore? At that level, you don't need as many seats, for example, in Monday, so can you sort of downgrade? The other thing you might like to do is to think about how you can connect with industry peers or other people in business so that you can either share resources, which is a great thing to do I know a lot of copywriters share expensive SEO resources, for example but there might be opportunities for partnership swaps, service swaps with someone that, when you need a hand in your business, they could do with your expertise, and so you do a free or low cost service swap. But there's definitely money in hiding in those subscription costs. So check all the places your credit cards on your smartphone in the subscriptions area. You'll find that in your settings. Go and have a look in your bank account, look in PayPal, look in Stripe all of those places that you pay for things that get hidden because they're not going to be necessarily sending you out emails well in advance telling you how your next payment is coming up.

Cost-Saving Tips for Businesses

Speaker 2 20:16

Now, if you are a product-based business, the next one is all about optimizing inventory management. When we had retail stores, we had to order stock for Christmas in March every year. It made it really difficult to manage back orders because quite often we had no idea when that stock was coming in. And when you can't manage your back orders, you cannot manage your cash flow. So you have to keep tabs on what you've ordered versus the inventory that you've already got, when that new inventory might be coming in, at what level you want your existing inventory to go to. So what's the minimum number that you want to keep in stock before you reorder, so that you're not holding onto stock for a long time, just so you can really maximize that inventory and minimize any excesses and save on having a whole lot of your hard earned cash tied up in inventory that just isn't moving If you've got slow-moving products and you're going to know what they are for your business, but in the retail toy store, if we had a product that we couldn't sell out of the first run within eight weeks, then what we would do is we would adjust our inventory levels accordingly.

Speaker 2 21:41

We would make sure that we didn't have any more of that stock coming in on back order and 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 was sitting on a shelf or sitting in a warehouse for more than eight weeks. And you can also do that with obsolete stock lines that have run through. So that's a great way to sort of save money. Another one, and this works particularly well if you are selling bigger items. So one of the things that we used to sell in our business or in one of the e-com businesses we had was trampolines. Now we didn't want to hold a whole lot of inventory and then, you know, have to warehouse that, go to the cost of getting a courier to come out every time and ship that when we needed it to go out. So we actually negotiated a drop shipping arrangement with the wholesaler. Helped us reduce our inventory costs because we weren't holding a whole lot of stock. Helped us to reduce our storage space because we didn't have to store it, and it meant that when we sold an item it would go out. Sure, we were paying a fraction more in wholesale costs, but it worked really well for our business.

Speaker 2 22:53

The next one is to think about outsourcing. Now, while it's counterintuitive to outsource, particularly when money is tight, if your time is best spent on trying to make more money for your business, so trying to drum up business, and you are the only one who can do that, or if it's your job to deliver your service, and you are the only one who can do that, then it's worth looking at all of the tasks that go into running your business and then to hire freelancers or contracts for specialized projects, short-term assignments that mean that you know your longer-term staff are not having to make a commitment to doing those and you know, therefore, taking them away from work where it's income generating for the business. You can do that with things like Upwork or Freelancer. That will offer you access to a global talented pool at really competitive rates. You can also look to outsource those non-core activities like bookkeeping, it support, to those specialist providers, because they're going to be really helpful. So the other thing you might like to think of is, as I said, those AI-powered virtual assistants or chatbots that can handle routine tasks like email management and appointment scheduling or data entry tasks.

Speaker 2 24:15

Another way to save money in your business when money is tight is to make sure that your insurance policies stack up so that you are not paying more for your insurance than you need to. And while I always recommend a review of your insurance policies at minimum every 12 months to make sure that you've got the appropriate coverage in case the worst thing happens If you're finding that your business has changed in any way or that perhaps the insurance policy that you have is no longer meeting your needs for example, you've moved from an office space back to home then get your insurance renewed. You might be able to combine policies or switch providers to get cost savings. There could be deductibles that you're paying for right now on either your personal policies or your business policies that you don't need anymore. You might be able to increase your no claim bonus to reduce the amount that you're paying in your premium.

Speaker 2 25:17

I always suggest that, when it comes 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 any money On the front end they get paid by the insurance providers. That they work like affiliates, I guess for the insurance providers. But if you work with someone who is really reputable, they're going to offer you a number of options for your insurance, recommend the best one, and the decision on which way you go will ultimately be up to you. So I've mentioned this already. I touched on this already in the digital marketing section.

Speaker 2 25:56

But collaborating with other small businesses is a great idea when money is tight, not only to do a service swap, but to perform those, to form those partnerships with those like-minded business owners where you can pull resources and maybe reduce costs. So sharing a VA, for example, you might like to share marketing initiatives, do joint advertising, promotional campaigns. You could explore bulk purchasing options so that you can then negotiate better deals with your suppliers. I did that really successfully when I had toy stores. I worked with a whole bunch of other independent toy stores and we got some great deals that we wouldn't normally have access to, just because we pulled together our purchasing power. You can also ask other small business owners to become affiliates for your businesses and help you promote your services. So that's a great way to not only save money when money is tight, but to make money too.

Speaker 2 26:59

Now, this next money saving tip may not resonate for many businesses. However, if you are a business that tends to print a lot of things or spend a lot of money on postage, then look at digitizing your documents and opting for electronic communication just to help you reduce costs. You can use cloud storage solutions to store and access important files, and they all have fairly decent security. So just double check that where you're storing things is secure. But quite often, by moving your to a digital source is going to help on storage physical storage within your office as well, and if you're leasing space again, that may save on space for you. Just being able to have all of your data in the cloud is also going to save on your infrastructure costs as well, so have a think about that. Switching to things like e-invoicing and online payment systems can also help streamline your billing processes as well, so think of all of those paperless practices. If you've already got them implemented in your business, how can you improve them? If you don't have them in there or you're missing one or two, how can you kind of use those in your business to save you some money?

Speaker 2 28:24

Now, if you have a loan whether it's a business loan, whether it's a personal loan it's worth trying to renegotiate your loan terms. You will be surprised what you can get just by making a phone call, and I'm not just talking about great big mortgages here. I'm talking about the higher purchase that you've taken out on that new printer, or maybe it's the phone contract that you've got that allowed you to afford that new phone. It's definitely worth talking to your lenders to discuss refinancing options or renegotiating, renegotiate loan terms or, most importantly, interest rates. So don't be afraid to make the call. And while you're at it, if you are paying lots of fees on your credit card or your bank accounts for business at the moment, and also in your personal life, talk to your bank about negotiating lower fees. How can you have a card that has no fees? How can you have a bank account that is not attracting a fee for every single transaction? So have a look at that. Don't be afraid to go to an alternative bank or credit provider if you can't get a sweet offer on your fees. But I guarantee you you'll probably be shocked at what is on offer because you've just been bothered to make a phone call. Hang around on the phone for, however long it takes you to get through, to speak to that human and take that action. It's one of those things that you should look at often. When I had a mortgage, I would always look at my interest rate every six months and see if I could renegotiate that, so it's definitely worth considering.

Speaker 2 30:11

Now cost of living has gone up. We know that inflation is still sitting around the high level here in Australia and in a lot of different parts of the world, and so quite often our staff are doing it tough. The pay that they have been getting is no longer allowing them to meet ends meet, so naturally they're going to be looking for pay increases, which are not always sustainable from a cash flow point of view in your business. So it's worth thinking outside the box when it comes to employee benefits and pay increases. So have a chat to your team members, particularly when they're asking for a pay increases and, you know, consider alternatives, things that might sweeten the deal for them so that you don't have to increase their pay. So it could be things like flexible working hours. It could be more work from home, it could be a compressed work week. So instead of working five days a week, you do it in four. You give them a day off, you pay them the same amount of money and it allows them to go ahead and maybe get another job, or to have a long weekend every weekend. You might like to explore cost-effective wellness initiatives, for example, to promote your employee wellbeing, or to give a benefit or a reward. That is not necessarily a pay increase, but that is still a reward for a job well done. So just have a think about what the alternatives are instead of a pay increase. Obviously, when things improve, you can look at pay increases as well then, too, but your staff are arguably one of your most valuable assets, so when you can keep them and keep them happy, you'll definitely want to be doing that.

Speaker 2 32:06

For business owners that are doing a lot of traveling or require a lot of traveling for your work, or whose staff require a lot of traveling, start to think about ways that you can reduce travel expenses. Is it worth having a travel agent or third-party person who is dedicated to your travel, that sits outside of the business, that might be able to offer you a better deal, because quite often travel agencies and travel professionals will be able to bulk buy hotel rooms, get great rack rates on both airfares and hotel rooms and then offer those to you in your business as a benefit. Again, it usually is no cost to you because the agent is getting their commission directly from the travel provider. However, rather than just doing something like that or opting for economy class flights and cheaper accommodation for business travel, you could look at planning trips in advance to secure the best rates you know, so that you avoid those last minute expenses. But don't forget video conferencing. We did it a lot during COVID and while we're all inclined to run to those in-person meetings right now, if you're your travel is costing you too much money, then put a travel freeze on until the end of the financial year, for example, and just do things over Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Use that video conferencing that we've become so familiar with and save a couple of months on travel.

Speaker 2 33:40

Now the next cost-saving measure is around DIYing your marketing materials. So have a think about the platform that you are using for your graphic design. For example, if the Adobe suite of products has become too expensive for your business, could you switch to a more cost-effective tool that does the same thing, like Canva? Is it worth someone in your team doing that graphic design, maybe buying a few templates and using a tool like Canva? Rather than spending a lot of money on a graphic designer, you could print marketing collateral 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 professional looking marketing materials. Template Tribe is a great example of a business that offers really professional Canva templates and other templates that you can use for your business, for everything from social media to the freebies that you want to send out to the marketing proposal that you have to put together for your next client. So just have a think about how you can DIY and save some money on those marketing materials.

Speaker 2 34:58

Now, in a lot of businesses, we have to provide some sort of learning for our staff. We also want to encourage our employees to continue to better themselves, and in doing so, we will often send them to webinars and online courses for professional development. If you work in an industry like accounting or the legal industry, you will have to do a certain amount of CPD hours or professional hours to maintain your license, so it's worth having a look at different ways that you can leverage that free or low cost educational webinar or course to upskill yourself and your team. It's definitely worth investing in training materials and resources that are going to provide long-term value. But instead of just going back to the same provider that you've been going to for years, look around, see what remote learning opportunities there are, as an example, or what cost-effective opportunities there are for learning and professional development, and consider those instead. Another cost-s opportunities there are for learning and professional development and consider those instead.

Speaker 2 36:09

Another cost-saving measure that we don't often think of is effective waste management. So just doing things like recycling and looking at waste reduction practices among employees within your business can save a lot of money, particularly if you're working in an office environment. If you're paying for waste disposal contracts right now, you can look around, make sure you're getting the best rates and the best service, but also explore reusable or sustainable alternatives for office supplies, for packaging, for things like ink, for example, and see where you can save money and reduce waste. One way to save money on marketing costs and on other costs in your business is to really leverage those customer referrals. So you could implement a referral program to encourage your existing customers to refer new customers to your business. You can offer your existing customers discounts or rewards so that they in turn refer other people to your business. Building those strong relationships with your loyal customers and really encouraging them to work with you over and over again is going to save you on the cost of acquiring a brand new customer, but when they refer their friends and other business owners to you, it's also going to save you time and money as well. So have a think about a referral program and if someone gives you a great review, make sure you absolutely use that review on your website, in your communications, in your social media. Really important Now, packing and shipping for all of those product-based businesses can be very expensive, and so it's worth looking at both the processes that you use to pack and ship your goods and send those out as well.

Speaker 2 38:06

So that's both the materials that you use, and it's worth looking at green alternatives for those. But it's also worth really looking at the end-to-end process that you use, from the order right through to the packing and the shipping, to make sure that at every point in the process, you are doing things in the most cost effective way. Again, you can put the information, you can put a process into AI for AI to come up with a better way to optimize the way you pack and ship your goods. So really have a think about that because, let's face it, while you want your thing to get to its destination intact and in one piece, as a former retailer and a former e-commerce store owner, I know exactly how much it costs in those packing and shipping materials, and also the cost of paying people to pull those orders, to pack them correctly, to make sure everything's done amazingly that the address is correct, and get them out the door.

Speaker 2 39:14

Now, this next one is not so much about saving money. It's about making sure that you get paid on time, and so my tip here is to make it easy for customers to pay you. So, apart from the obvious things like invoicing regularly, if you are a service provider, I think it's definitely worth looking at a whole bunch of different payment gateways, having a number of options that are really obvious on your invoice so that people know how to pay you and it's really simple for them. So, again, using Xero as an example, I have Stripe attached to my Xero. It allows customers to pay me either using a direct debit through a bank account, and I've actually got my direct debit information on each of my invoices Really important to have that. I have had several experiences with my clients where they have forgotten to put their bank details on an invoice. But just having that, having Stripe attached as a payment method for my invoices, means that at the click of one green button, my clients can choose to pay me using their EFT card, their direct debit card or using credit. Now there are definitely fees that are attached to that, but in my business I've ticked a button on the backend in Xero, as I said earlier in this episode. That allows people to pay using any method they want. But if they're going to pay using Stripe, there is a service fee that is attached and that will come up. It's really obvious, and they will 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 online banking and they'll pay directly into my bank account. But the idea is that I'm making it easy for people to pay me Now, while Afterpay and the other third party payment alternatives can be that kind of devil to a lot of people.

Speaker 2 41:14

If Afterpay is the easiest way, or payment plans as another option that you can set up via Stripe, for example, if these are the easiest ways for your customers to pay you because it takes away that barrier to entry, if they can pay you over three installments instead of in full right at the start, then it's definitely worth considering, because in the long run, it is going to save you money, save your time chasing up bad payers, but it's also going to make sure that you've got every chance of getting paid on time. So just get invoicing included in your money Monday or finance Friday. Now, a great way to save money in your business is to increase employee productivity. So one of the ways you can do that is to have fantastic systems and processes in place so people don't waste time. They know what they're doing. The other one is to provide regular training and professional development opportunities so that people are your employees.

Speaker 2 42:13

Your staff are always able to enhance and improve their skills and productivity. If you want to improve employee efficiency and there are certain areas that you know need to be improved, then consider time tracking. But, most importantly, you need to speak to your staff If there's something that's not right, if there's something that is taking too long or an area for productivity improvement, then speak to your staff, because not only does that kind of get the conversation going and help to improve a current process, but your staff might have great ways to improve those processes, things that you haven't considered because they're doing them day in, day out and so all of a sudden, that could save you a whole bunch of money. The other thing to do is to implement some performance-based incentives or KPIs that can keep your staff motivated and also increase productivity. Okay, so we are on the homeward leg now.

Speaker 2 43:14

Of 30 ways to save money when the money is tight, number 26, I think we're up to is to review your supply chains and the systems and processes that you use to deliver a service, a product or a service. So look at those existing systems and processes. Identify where costs can be reduced and efficiencies can be reduced. You know, as I said before, look at how you can negotiate better prices. Look at where you might need to increase your prices to cover things that are not paying for themselves in your business, just asking for those discounts, finding the alternative suppliers. I think being really focused on that supply chain and the ways you can save money in that supply chain are very important. And, as I touched on there, it's all about pricing and creating that profitable pricing in your business. That comes down to just regularly looking at your pricing strategy. What are you charging? It goes back again to my mindset podcast where I spoke about moving from that dollars to trading time for money, trading dollars for hours to looking at value-based pricing or outcome-based pricing.

Speaker 2 44:31

Whatever you're doing, make sure that your price covers the cost of doing business right now. It covers your wages, it covers your super, it covers your savings and it builds in a profit number too. You might like to introduce packages where you bundle up products or services. Use those pricing psychology principles to determine your prices. So you know the power of three. People aren't going to opt for the cheapest one because they don't want to look like they're tight. The most expensive one looks too expensive, so they're probably going to choose the middle one or using those charm numbers at the end of your pricing sevens, nines when you're showing a price instead of putting their cents, taking away those cents at the end to make it look smaller. So think about doing those as well. But whatever you do, regular pricing reviews. Always price for profit and be smart about how you price as well.

Speaker 2 45:28

So this then sort of leads on from that and quite often in business, particularly if you have got a retail store, you will have to deal with a lot of payment processing fees. If people are, you know, paying directly through Stripe, for example, and they're not paying through your cloud accounting software. If you're using Kajabi, as another example, and you've got Stripe or Apple Pay attached to that as the business, you are going to be liable for all of those payment processing fees. The same goes if you offer SquarePay or EFT processing in your business. You know there will be payment processing fees. So once again, talk to your bank. Can you negotiate a better rate with your bank or that payment service provider? Be on the lookout for alternate payment processing solutions. Think about either passing on the processing fees to your customers that's quite often a popular way to do it, particularly if it's convenient for them to pay with credit or build in a nominal amount onto your service cost or your product cost. That wraps up those pricing fees, those processing fees, so that, no matter how people are paying, you are covered every single time.

Speaker 2 46:49

I like to call this next one the would you like fries with that? A way to save money in your business. It's actually probably a way to make more money in your business, but just like when you visit McDonald's and you expect to be asked would you like fries with that? I don't even know if that is still a thing now, but it certainly was the last time I went to McDonald's when my kids were younger, much younger. Adopt a similar strategy in your business. Think about what the upsell is for the offer that you have got going out or that service that you've got going out. Or think about what the average sale order is and how you can increase that, particularly if you'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 or someone adding in an extra product into their basket. Think about different ways that you can do that just to encourage your client to buy that bit extra.

Speaker 2 47:46

If you are a business that offers a whole lot of different products, have a look at how they all fit together. We call that a value ladder or an ascension model in your business, where you're essentially starting with the lowest value thing. In my business, that's a free download. The next way to work with me will now be my book, because that is going to sort of fit in nicely there. Then there's that $97 product, then there's that $300 product, that $500 product, that $2,000 product. All of those things in my value ladder are opportunities for me to upsell a service, so that not only do my clients have a variety of ways to work with me, but I can always upsell them to the next thing.

Speaker 2 48:33

So think about the. Would you like fries with that principle in your business, because while that's probably not going to save you a lot of money, it might help make you some money. And while we're on that, don't leave money on the table. Remember that 80-20 rule when it comes to your business, that 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients. So who are your VIPs and how can you serve them so that they keep coming back for more? It's all about customer retention. A few weeks ago, I did a podcast about how to increase your profitability by 25%, and that comes down to customer retention. So head back, have a listen to that episode and that will give you a lot more information about how to do that and not leave money on the table. It's all about staying in touch with your old clients and not letting them forget about you and that you exist. And that's it, number 30. We're up to number 30 at last.

Speaker 2 49:31

The best way to save money in your business, particularly when the money is tight, is to keep an eye on the numbers. It's, honestly, the most important way to save money and when you continually review your numbers, when you make that weekly date with yourself to look at the financial statements, learn more about the business numbers and then incorporate those strategies, you're not only going to keep your business strong, the cash flow strong and keep yourself more profitable, but you're also going to identify patterns. You're going to see where traditionally, things are ebb and flow in your patterns. You're going to see where traditionally, things are ebb and flow in your business. You're going to be able to look at the cash flow forecast and know when you're going to have to save money in your business. It will allow you to set those financial goals and for yourself and your business, those KPIs for your staff, so that they are encouraged to achieve something that is going to help save money or make more money in your business.

Speaker 2 50:35

And in doing that, you're not only increasing your financial literacy, but you're also choosing to be the author of your business story, because, in my opinion, learning to read the numbers is like learning to read the story of your business and you should be the author of your story. Even if you use a bookkeeper or an accountant to do the money stuff, at the very least keep an eye on your numbers, understand your profit and loss statement. So you are always the author of your business story. And if it's all going pear-shaped, if you go through these 30 ways to save money and make money in your business and you're thinking to yourself I'm in a mess, I don't know how I'm going to get out of this mess, I don't know what to do next.

Speaker 2 51:25

Then please call in the experts sooner rather than later, because the experts whether that's your accountant, a business money mentor, a BAS agent, that you use a bookkeeper, that you use another business owner that gets the money and that you really trust calling in someone to help is going to save you time.

Speaker 2 51:45

It's going to save you money. In the long run, it's going to help you get your business sorted and increase your profits, and it's by far the smartest way to save money in your business. While we're on that, I want you to remember that all of the information that I have provided in this podcast today is really general in nature. I don't know your personal circumstances or your business circumstances, so if there is a big decision that you're planning on making after listening to any of my tips, please consult the experts before you go ahead. So I hope these 30 ways has given you a tiny bit of food for thought in your business and that at least one of them has resonated with you and is something that you can take action on today to save money and to grow your business, stay profitable and keep that cash flowing. So thanks for listening. Until next time, keep on living your definition of success.

Speaker 1 52:42

Thanks for listening to the Secrets of Successful Business podcast. For more information on all things business, head to flossycomau and make sure you hit 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 your socials or with friends who might enjoy it. Catch you next time.