Shoestring Success: Five Small Business Hacks to Grow on a Tight Budget

Small Business Hacks to Grow on a Tight Budget-Chispa Magazine

Starting a small business is hard enough, but growing it when money is tight is the real challenge. The problem is, without expanding your business, you aren’t able to increase your revenue—which makes it even harder to get ahead. In essence, business life is tough. If you’re tired of balancing numbers but never being able to make it further up the food chain, then consider these hacks below.

Get Office Smart

Office space can be outrageously expensive, and that’s only counting the cost of a monthly lease alone! Before long, you can find yourself trying to manage your rent, electricity, and other utilities. It can get out of control quite quickly. That’s why more people are looking for the best serviced office in their area. A serviced office enables you to pay one monthly payment, but receive a whole host of benefits for a single sum. Many even include office furniture, internet, and reception services too.

Swap Services

Money has been around for around 40,000 years, but trading and bartering has been around even longer. If you’re on a budget, but you need a product or service, see what you can offer in return—without money changing hands. For example, you may have a friend who’s an electrician who would install a light in exchange for one of your services. You both get what you need, but without spending a cent! Swapping services is particularly useful in the early days of your business when you can end up spending more than you make.

Haggle

Equally as beneficial as service swapping is haggling. While you can’t walk into a grocery store and haggle the price of a bag of apples, you can get away with it to a degree in the business world. For example, if you make an account with a packaging supplier who you use a lot, you don’t necessarily have to accept their first price as their best. See if there is wiggle room. You never know, you may save yourself several hundred dollars.

Outsource

One of the many challenges that new business owners face is having a lot to do, but not enough time to get it done, or enough money to hire someone to help. When you hire someone, there are a whole host of costs that come along with them. If you need help, consider outsourcing the job instead of hiring someone internally. Contractors can end up costing far less, and you can also take advantage of virtual worker opportunities online too.

Grow Slow

Any growth is good growth, and there’s no set speed at which you need to achieve it. What you may find, however, is that growing too quickly can put you way in over your head, leading to financial disaster and potentially a business failure. The trick to growing – especially on a tight budget – is to do it slowly. For example, don’t go out and buy 12 months worth of stock, or buy a whole lot of expensive furniture for your new office. Instead, test the waters. Buy a few things at the time, stock up for half the year or a quarter of it, and spread out your cash flow and expenditure.

Excitement can get in the way of starting a new business on the right foot. Your mind says “go big,” but your budget says “Woah, slow down there!” If you get smart with your office space, swap your services, haggle, grow slowly, and outsource work where possible, you can build your business to be a great success in the future.

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Milo Senalle

Milo Senalle

Managing Editor at Chispa Magazine
As one of the managing editors of Chispa Magazine, Milo Senalle is the go-to man for all things technology, ethical, and financial concerns. Providing laughs with his style of writing and problem-solving techniques, Milo is a voice of reason among the girly staff at Chispa. Married with children, living in Atlanta, he works 24/7 on becoming a man of courage and believes honor begins at home.

Milo Senalle

As one of the managing editors of Chispa Magazine, Milo Senalle is the go-to man for all things technology, ethical, and financial concerns. Providing laughs with his style of writing and problem-solving techniques, Milo is a voice of reason among the girly staff at Chispa. Married with children, living in Atlanta, he works 24/7 on becoming a man of courage and believes honor begins at home.