If the profit margins in your small business are lower than you’d like, you’re struggling to take a salary from your start-up or you’re having to rob Peter to pay Paul just to keep your company afloat, it’s time to sit down and have a serious look at your finances.
While you may have to call in the experts to make big financial decisions, there are lots of ways you can reduce unnecessary spending quickly and easily. In fact, even if profits are soaring, you should still look to trim the fat in your operations in order to maximize returns.
Let’s take a look at 3 ways your business is overspending and actions you can take to stop.
- Your heating bills are too high
Too many businesses are paying a small fortune just to keep their premises at a suitable temperature. According to energy comparison site Utility Bidder, you should assess your heating as a priority in order to bring those eye-watering invoices down. This could include having an energy audit carried out on your premises to ensure that any energy you’re generating isn’t being lost through windows, doors or poorly insulated walls.
You should also consider installing a smart thermostat system to allow you to see exactly how much energy you’re using and what it’s costing you and to schedule your heating and air conditioning to go on and off as needed.
- You have outdated lighting arrangements
To reduce your lighting costs, make use of natural light as much as possible. You should also replace traditional bulbs with LEDs, which use about 10 percent of the energy of traditional bulbs. Consider fitting occupancy sensors in your building too to ensure that rooms are only lit when people are using them.
- You’re paying too much for insurance
It’s important to protect your business against risk. With so many eventualities that could threaten your company – from your premises flooding to an employee being injured, it’s no wonder so many business owners get carried away when taking out cover.
While it’s vital to have compulsory policies in place and advisable to take out insurance that protects your business from likely risks, if you want to ensure you’re not overspending on your cover, it’s important to do careful research. Take a close look at exactly what a policy offers and ask yourself whether you really need any additional policy features.
Be sure to shop around too. You might decide to use comparison sites but to get the best prices it’s a good idea to cast your net wider too to find insurance companies that may not be listed on such sites. Finally, make a note of when your policy is due for renewal and start shopping around in advance. Automatically renewing your policies year after year may save you time but it could be damaging your bottom line.
