Whether you’re self-employed or run a small business, you’re familiar with the difficult process of trying to find fat to trim around your business expenses. It can be hard to know which costs are legitimate, and which are just a waste of valuable money.

Here are some helpful tips that most businesses can implement to cut administrative overhead costs without feeling like corners are being cut or belts uncomfortably tightened.

 

  1. Make a List of Expenses, and Audit it Carefully

This might not be the silver bullet advice you were looking for, but it’s important to know exactly where your money and going, and what you could do without. If you’re spending cash every quarter on an ad in a trade publication that’s never brought in a single lead, you might want to cut that cost. If you have a cleaning person come once a week, consider changing it to once a month, or cleaning the office yourself.

One of the biggest overhead expenses most companies have is office leasing. Take a look at your space – is every square foot being put to use? If not, you might want to consider downgrading your office space to a small, cheaper space. That alone could save quite bit of money.

  1. Keep an Eye on Utilities

It’s true at home and it’s true at work: utilities add up. Make sure your electricity and heating bills don’t get out of hand by keeping the thermostat low, the air conditioning reasonable, and electronics (including lights) off when they’re not in use.

While the Internet is an undeniable necessity for businesses in the 21st Century, you might want to consider cutting your landline service in favor of a Skype, Google Voice, or even an inexpensive cell line.

  1. Cut Down on Travel CostsA ceramic piggy bank with two small piles of change next to it.

Travel can be a major expense for a lot of companies, whether that means airline travel or a company car. Keep your business in-house where you can, replacing distant in-person meetings with phone calls, emails, video conferences, and other high-tech innovations. If you have to fly for business, stick to coach, and forego fancy hotels in favor of something modest.

If you have a company car, ask yourself if it’s really necessary. If you’re a contractor, it probably is. If you’re a legal office, maybe not. Even if you do decide that the company car is necessary, ask yourself whether or not you could downgrade to something more practical and less expensive in terms of taxes and maintenance.

  1. Outsource What You Can

Possibly the biggest single burden on any small business is payroll. Human resources professionals can demand a high salary; therefore many companies are outsourcing their HR to save money. Keeping an accountant on retainer is cheaper than having one on staff, and data entry can be done anywhere in the world. Information technology and cyber security is becoming increasingly necessary for small businesses, making outsourced managed IT services an appealing alternative to in in-house team. The list could go on.

  1. Automate What You Can

Automation is even better than outsourcing. These days there here are scores of cloud solutions, software packages, and software as a service (SaaS) options for business owners in any field. Any good business automation software will reduce payroll, streamline efficiency, and  reduce errors.

If your business relies on paid memberships and monthly billing of customers or clients, the best automation solutions is Subscription DNA’s recurring cloud billing software. With subscription management, paywall management, cloud billing, and more, Subscription DNA does it all.

Get in touch to learn more about saving time, money, and effort with Subscription DNA’s SaaS business solutions.