Category: Start-Ups

5 Methods to Save Money as a Small Business

Owning a newly established small business can be difficult. If you are someone that owns a small business, then you will know just how hard it can be to cover all of your general costs while also trying to run a successful business.

Though you may not want your business to be all about money, it is hard to deny that money isn’t an important factor when it comes to running a business. As a business, you depend on your financial income and you have to make sure that your incoming and outgoing costs are balanced, which can be difficult to do. Saving money should be the priority of every small business and here are 5 methods that you can use to save your small business money.

 

Don’t hire too many staff

A very common mistake that brand new businesses often make is hiring too many staff. Staff is a key part of ensuring that your business operates smoothly, but when you are a small business you don’t really need that many staff.  If you have staff, then they will expect to work at least sixteen hours a week and if you have a lot of staff, the wage cost will be quite expensive.

Our recommendation is to start off with minimal staff and if you believe you need more help, then hire someone else. This means that you can manage your money better and pay your current staff a reasonable wage.

Hunt for deals

Many people think that business owners have to stick by wholesale prices, but this really isn’t the case. If you can get your products for a very cheap price, then you can sell them for a little more and turn a very good profit.

There are many ways that you can save money on your products. For example, if you buy a bulk order of a product then you can get it much cheaper.  Also be sure to look out for any coupons that you can use,  be sure to check out top1 coupons and deals to see if there is anything that may benefit your business.

Go online

If you are a small business and you are struggling with the costs of operating a store, we recommend that you move your business online. Moving online cuts out a lot of the costs that come with owning a business. Rent and utility costs can take a large chunk of your profits, which means that you may not start to see any returns for quite a while because of this. A lot of people prefer online shopping these days, so you may even notice an increase in sales if you do decide to move online.

Do your own advertising

Another big cost that comes with owning a small business is advertising. A great way to cut these costs is by working on your own advertising. A great way to advertise your business is actually with the bags that you give to your customers. If you have a vibrant logo and a customer walks around with your bag for the rest of your shopping trip, then other people may notice this and they may feel the need to check out your shop themselves.

Look for good utility deals

Gas and electricity can be very expensive and so it is important that you don’t settle on the first deal that you come across. Something that you may not know is that you can actually haggle with a lot of utility providers in order to get a good deal, so take the time to shop around and find the best possible deal.

How Companies Use Instagram to Turn a Profit

Big companies will utilize any tool at their disposal to turn a profit. It is the nature of capitalism that profit turns the world. And as much as you may or may not agree with it, it is the world we live in.

The best weapon you have at your disposal is knowledge. How you use that knowledge is up to you. But today we want to level the playing field by helping you learn about professional instagram accounts and how companies use them accounts to turn a profit.

The Power of Knowledge

You might be wondering why you would ever need to know any of this. If you are approaching this article as a business owner, then the information provided will give you an insight into how powerful a marketing tool Instagram can be. When used correctly, you can boost your business and turn a profit easily.

From the consumer side, it is important to understand what tactics businesses use to market themselves to you. This helps you better spend your money and allows you to notice things that might not seem like an advert at first, but on closer inspection, you might see it actually is.

Direct Marketing

Most big companies these days will have a number of social media accounts associated with their brand. Coca-Cola has a Twitter. Mcdonalds has a Facebook page. And all of them will make use of Instagram.

The most obvious advantage of Instagram for these companies is the ability to visually market their products. Nothing helps sell a product better than seeing it with your own two eyes. Especially with food-related products. In the past companies would use billboards and posters to achieve this. But this required physically being near the marketing to experience it. With Instagram, they can reach millions of people for free.

By adding to their stories they can actively engage with their customers as well. This doubles down as it tricks people into engaging with them, without realizing they are being marketed to.

 

Indirect Marketing

The more sneaky ways of marketing are what you need to be aware of. It is through these methods a company is able to secure a lot more profit and spread their influence.

The main way of doing this is with product placement. Companies will pay popular Instagram accounts to sneak their products into their live streams or photos. In the same sense of doing this with a TV show, it lets their product be seen without drawing direct attention to it. Studies have shown that this form of advertising affects us subconsciously.

Companies will pay out hundreds upon thousands of dollars to influencers to have them talk about their products. But they manage to mask this by having the influencer talk about the product as if they aren’t being sponsored. This practice is slowly dying out as Instagram is putting safeguards to make sure users are informing people if their content is being sponsored and by whom.

Another sneaky advertising method comes in the form of comedy. Companies like Wendy’s have seen massive success by using their Twitter account to roast people and tell jokes, rather than advertising their products. But this has the knock-on effect of making people associate happiness and laughter with the product in question. These unconscious associations are worth more to a company than any direct advertising. Once a brand is in your unconscious mind, it has secured profit from you.

The Best Business Tools for Start-Ups in 2020

Advertising

I would consider advertising to be a very important aspect for a start up business. Without advertising the public would not be able to see any products or services that you are offering, and what you charge for them. Advertising is also a great way to introduce your company to the world and gives a great opportunity to get valuable initial customer feedback on how your brand conveys itself and its message. Through advertising you are able to see any reactions to your start up business and should you encounter any issues or negative responses you are able to make modifications in the early stages of startup.

 

Webpages

A decent webpage is crucial to any start up business as this is the primary way that people can view your brand and business. Without spending the proper time and effort on a good webpage then users may choose to use an alternative company for what they need. At the end of the day your website may be the first impression of yourself and your business that is given to customers, if this first impression is not a good one then this can affect how successful you are initially and may also go onto spoil your reputation.

 

A Clear Message

For a company just starting out having a clear and distinct message and brand idea is a great way to gain custom. A distinct message and appeal is important as it adds to revenue, should a potential customer stumble upon any of your websites or advertising campaigns then a clear message allows them to make a swift decision as to whether they would like to purchase your products. Another way that having a clear message can boost your success is that it allows you to appeal to the specific demographic that would buy your produce.

Contacts

Another great tool for start up businesses would have to be a great set of contacts. By taking time and making the effort to collect as many contacts in the business world as you can, you are
able to build a rapport with as many people in the business world as you can. A great contacts list will come in handy at so many different times in your business life and it’s always at the time that you would least expect. Having many contacts and gaining a relationship with people in the business world means that you can get advice and help from people who know what they are talking about.

 

How to Start Your Own Removals Business

Starting any business can come with challenges and obstacles that you must overcome before you start operating effectively. There is a large gap in the market for removals businesses and with such a straightforward set up, if you’re looking to start your own business- removal may be worth looking into.

 

You first need to look at your own personal finances. Though setting up a removal companyis far cheaper than setting up many other businesses, it still comes with its own costs. You may want to try and apply for a loan to support your business, or even ask a family member for a small loan. This will depend largely on your own credit and history when it comes to expenses, so before you apply for anything you should really make an account of your financial position.

 

Obviously one of the most important components of having a removals company is having the correct vehicles. You should really look at your other local removals companies and see which vehicles they have on offer.  By doing this you can really look at the gaps in the market as local companies may not have a large variety of vehicle capacities.  An example of this comes with looking at several Mississauga moving companies, some only had vehicles equipped to deal with larger scale removals while others were only capable of doing small scale jobs.

 

You should also focus on gaining insurance that covers you completely. In the removal business you are likely to be moving objects with a lot of worth and you want to be covered if anything accidents were to happen as you don’t want to lose any of your own money.

 

You should also focus on branding. A lot of the moving that you will do in a removal business will be for residential homes. Because of this you will want to brand your business so that it appeals to a large audience, you don’t want to be promoting unsanitary vans when you’re moving someone’s treasured items.

 

Employing the right people should also be a priority when setting up your own removals business. Anyone can drive a removal van, but you should really find people that have experience in the industry and who you can trust to transport other people’s belongings. They should also be able to communicate well as they will have to have constant communication with customers, as well as listening to the customer’s instructions and meeting deadlines that they set.

Start a Business with Limited startup Capital

Starting a business is an extremely hard task however, when you lack capital the process is made even harder. My advice would be to value your contacts, when it comes to business who you know is extremely important as you may be able to receive valuable information and advice but the quality of this information can be totally dependent on the rapport you make with your contacts. Another factor to consider would be to not take on too much at a time when it comes to your business progress. I would argue that taking on more than your capital can account for can cause much more damage to your business as opposed to taking it slow and investing wisely.

Taking it slow and investing the money that you have towards gradually expanding your business would be a great way of getting started. For example, it would be a great idea

to focus money on starting up a physical platform for your customers to view and contact you regarding the services that you offer. Doing this is an important factor when starting a business as it allows for direct contact between you and the consumer and is a very professional way for both display and sale of any potential products that you may have.

Furthermore, another great way to start a business with limited capital would have to be for you to put significant money and effort into advertising. A good advertisement allows for people to see what your company does and what they offer and through word of mouth you can get a very large following very quickly. By producing advertising in the initial startup process you are able to give specific information and portray your companies message to the public as soon as possible.