3 Ways to Save Time and Money When Running a Small Business*
Over the last two years, many of us have been questioning which direction to take with our career in a post COVID world. A lot of people have felt like they didn’t have the job security or flexibility that was needed during the mitigating circumstances we were presented with. So it’s not surprising that over 60% of Britain’s workforce are considering running a small business. One in five aged between 18-24 dreams of self employment. And the reason? Being able to have flexible working hours and work from home.
But it’s not as easy as just quitting your day job and running with an idea. There are a lot of factors to consider. We’re all aware of the hike in the cost of living, and this is also heavily affecting small businesses. You want to be running at a profit. At the beginning you might have to make some big investments but hopefully these will save you in the long run.
So if you are ready to roll with your small business, here are some great ways to save time and money. Efficiency is everything.
Pay More for Better Staff
When you first start out, you may be tempted to cut corners until you know if your business is going to be a success. But hiring the right people for the right jobs is essential to your business surviving it’s infancy. This is even more important if you’re a fledgling in the business world. Having people who know what needs to be done, is worth the bigger pack packet. There will be less mistakes, less time wasted correcting mistakes and that will save you money in the long run. You also want to offer a competitive salary and great benefits to make them feel like they want to stick around. Remember the reasons why you wanted to start your own business and give your employees those reasons to stay.
Use AI in Product Checking
It’s 2022! AI (or Artificial Intelligence) is on the rise in small businesses. AI is much more efficient doing menial, repetitive tasks compared to a human. This is especially important if your business is one that makes something rather than offering a service. Using automotive vision systems to do quality checks on your products will save you time and money in the long run. Using AI over human checkers in this department will see you able to produce more, and work for longer hours. They can also offer more in depth quality checking that the naked eye, and they don’t need a break. It may be costly to invest in, but it’s worth every penny when it comes to illuminating human error.
Invest in Advertisement
Whether you’re starting out running a small business or you’ve been around a while, advertising is always going to be important. You need to make money so you need to get word of your services or products out there. You need to work out your target audience and what advertisement medium they are most responsive to. Once you know your target audience you can put together an advertisement package that will benefit your company most. It’s worth investing money in this, especially if you’re just starting out.
