Sales are picking up and you can barely keep up with orders. As soon as you hire one new person, you need to hire another. Sound familiar?
If your small or medium-sized business is expanding, it’s easy for your overhead costs to get out of control. Read on to learn strategies to keep costs low as you expand.
1. Cloud Networking
Cloud networking is a term for IT infrastructure based in the cloud instead of on your premises. This infrastructure can include routers, bandwidth, and firewalls.
Some business owners are turned off by the upfront costs of cloud networking. But, when you factor in what it costs to maintain and service physical equipment, let alone wasted productivity due to network down time, cloud networking saves you money in the long run.
Additionally, cloud networking can make it easier to administer network services to remote employees or employees in another office.
2. Outsource Some Duties
It may seem counterintuitive to outsource while your business is expanding, but it can make a lot of sense. Small and medium-sized businesses often struggle to keep up as their sales and the number of employees shoot up.
Your marketing needs will change as you expand, so consider outsourcing that department to a dedicated firm. Outsourcing payroll protects you from tax and insurance headaches as you hire more employees. And all outsourcing keeps you focused on core competencies.
You should do your due diligence when you hire businesses to help you. While most are honest businesses, some make their money by misleading small business owners. Shop around to find a company that’s a good fit.
3. Move to Remote Work
Fewer employees in the office means you can keep your company in a smaller space. You’ll also save on utility bills and can have the cleaning staff come in less frequently.
While you may worry that your work-from-home employees are slacking off, studies have shown that remote work doesn’t affect employees’ productivity. And as a bonus, WFH is a huge perk that will help you hire better people and keep them longer.
Before you send employees out of the office, make sure your computer systems and networks can handle the additional traffic. This will help to reduce downtime.
4. Go Green
Switching to LED bulbs and purchasing Energy Star computer equipment has an upfront cost, but it can save you a lot in the long run. It’s easy for your electric bill to skyrocket as you add more employees, so it’s important to economize wherever you can.
If you can, consider going paperless. It’s a big change, but it’ll save you a lot on paper, ink, and copier leasing fees.
And, of course, going green can be a great marketing point for your business!
5. Rent Instead of Buying
It may be tempting to consider buying a permanent space for your business, but you ought to resist that urge. Owning means tax liabilities and paying for repairs, which can significantly increase your overhead costs.
If your business is in a period of expansion, you don’t want to be locked in a particular space, either. Shorter-term leases mean you can move as your business needs change.
You may also want to consider a co-working space.These spaces, normally in large cities, are basically large office spaces that are rented to multiple companies. These spaces can help you provide a full-service office to employees at a lower price.
Final Thoughts
It’s an exciting and stressful time when your business expands, but it doesn’t need to be financially draining. You can take advantage of a lot of strategies to help reduce your overhead as your business grows.
