| This article is about the importance of lowering | | | | YOUR EMPLOYEES |
| your business expenses in all areas. Lowering your | | | | I'm not saying to give all of your employees a |
| business expenses is the easiest way to make | | | | pay cut, just make sure they have enough work |
| more profit with your business, but many times | | | | to realistically make it through the entire day. You |
| it's overlooked. Many business owners would be | | | | rarely, if ever, have an employee come up to |
| surprised how much they could save if they | | | | you and tell you they don't have enough work for |
| started cutting back and shopping around for | | | | the day. 99% of the time every employee tells |
| better vendors. And the reason I say it's the | | | | you they're swamped with work and they can |
| "easiest" is because any business can do it, its risk | | | | never catch-up. But if you ever spent a day doing |
| free and doesn't cost anything, it just takes a little | | | | their job, or watching them, you'd find out that |
| time. | | | | you could do their eight hours of work in five or |
| The two biggest problems in this area that I've | | | | less. My suggestion is to personally see exactly |
| found are owner contentment and lack of | | | | how long it should take for each employee to |
| knowledge. If a business owner is making $30,000 | | | | perform their job and require the work to be |
| a month and they're satisfied with that, they may | | | | done at that pace. Then eliminate the extra |
| not want to spend the time trying to lower costs, | | | | employees that are no longer needed. This may |
| thinking it won't add up to much anyway. Or | | | | sound kind of straight forward, but when you go |
| many times the business owner doesn't even | | | | out of business because of all of these extra |
| know that they could be making $50,000 a month | | | | employees, you'll never see ANY of them again, |
| instead of $30,000 if they switched to a new | | | | so don't worry if you have to let a few of them |
| vendor. On several occasions I continued to buy | | | | go. They wouldn't think twice about quitting on |
| maybe a shipping box or a jewelry item from a | | | | you if they found a better job out there. |
| vendor for years, later to find out that a new | | | | PHONE BILLS |
| company came up online that sells the exact | | | | Here's something that if you never checked on it, |
| same thing for 1/2 price. | | | | you'd never know about it. The new digital and |
| Sometimes technology changes and an internet | | | | voice over ip phones could save you 50% or |
| hosting service you're paying $1,300 a month for | | | | more on your phone bills, especially if you make |
| you can now get for $500 a month. That | | | | international calls. At the very least, make sure |
| happened to me. I could have been saving $900 a | | | | you're getting the best plan with your dial-up |
| month for a couple of years if I would have | | | | phone provider. There are so many plans and |
| switched, but the company I was using was great | | | | they change every few months. I was paying |
| and I had no reason to look elsewhere. Why | | | | $900 a month for a while and a little research and |
| switch? | | | | a plan switch would have dropped it down to |
| No matter how good the vendors or companies | | | | $500 a month. Not a huge savings but that's |
| you work with are, you always have to be | | | | $5,000 a year. |
| looking for better ones that charge less. Don't | | | | INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER |
| wait for the slow months to start looking. | | | | We were using an expensive but highly reliable |
| ALWAYS be on the look out! It's very easy to | | | | internet service provider that was charging us |
| go with the philosophy, "don't fix what isn't | | | | $1,300 a month for two servers. We were with |
| broken." But it could, and probably is, costing you | | | | the company for seven years and the service |
| thousands of dollars if you don't. | | | | was great, so I saw no need to change, until I |
| Here a few areas where I found you can save | | | | found out that at least 50 companies were |
| money in your business: | | | | offering the same thing for under $500! That was |
| YOUR PRODUCTS | | | | a $10,000 a year savings! |
| This is BY FAR the biggest area where extra | | | | CREDIT CARD PROCESSING |
| profits can be earned. This is basically finding a | | | | The more you sell the cheaper the rate you can |
| vendor who sells the same or comparable | | | | get. Plus the market is very competitive and |
| products that you sell for a lower price. In 2000 | | | | many companies run specials. Even a half percent |
| my fashion accessory business sold over | | | | savings adds up in the long run. |
| $4,000,000. We bought our stock primarily from a | | | | SOFTWARE |
| popular wholesale U.S. company. They told us | | | | There are different types of software packages |
| they had their own manufacturing plant in China | | | | that are offsite and charge you a monthly fee. |
| and were giving us the best price possible, which I | | | | Often new programs are created that you can |
| later found out, was a lie. Well, we later found the | | | | add to your website that will cost you a fraction |
| company "they" were buying from and we were | | | | of the price in the long run when you drop the |
| NOT getting the lowest price possible. Far from it! | | | | software you were using with the monthly fee. |
| Since we were wholesale the profit margin was | | | | Always keep your eye open for this. |
| low, but buying from this new company from the | | | | SHIPPING COMPANY |
| start would have made us millions more in profits! | | | | For the best prices, use USPS (U.S. mail) for low |
| We didn't have to do anything other than order | | | | value light items, use UPS for all U.S. shipments |
| from someone else and our profits almost tripled! | | | | and FEDEX for all international shipments. Check |
| But many business owners don't know this game. | | | | the prices yourself but we found the best rates if |
| I honestly didn't know it when I started. I call this | | | | we did it this way. |
| "the lie and say anything to get your money" | | | | Also, be sure to use the smallest boxes and |
| game. Beware of this, the vendor will continue to | | | | lightest envelopes possible for all of your mailing. |
| lie saying that you're getting the best price | | | | Remember: Savings = more profit instantly. |
| possible, that all other vendors are sub par | | | | ALWAYS look for cheaper vendors and where |
| compared to them in service, product quality, etc., | | | | you can cut costs, without compromising your |
| and they may even offer you credit. Credit? I'd | | | | quality of goods or services. |
| rather have the millions of extra money in profits! | | | | Prices change every week. New offers are given |
| ADVERTISING | | | | every week. New companies with better prices |
| If you spend a lot in advertising, there are certain | | | | open every week, but you won't know about any |
| times of the year when you should cutback, or if | | | | of this if you don't search it out. |
| it's not effective stop it immediately. | | | | |