When you first start out in business, money is tight. You are not yet making any profit but there are lots of different things you need to spend money on to get your venture up and running. For this reason, sometimes you’ll need to take shortcuts- however there are some areas that you should never try to scrimp on. Here are some examples.
Splurge: Website/ app
Your website and/ or your app are the first things most customers will see of your business. And first impressions really do count, if you look amateur or sloppy here it’s easy for people to assume that the rest of your business is being run in the same way. Don’t try and save money by doing this yourself, you need someone that has the right expertise. Website/ app design and hosting can be pricey but it’s a crucial investment.
Save: Overhead costs
There are lots of ways you can save on overhead costs, and one of the main ways is by outsourcing. If you don’t have the experience or money to open up new departments in your small startup (and fill them with employees) then outsource instead. This means you don’t have to buy expensive equipment right away, you don’t have to deal with recruitment costs or a larger premises for the staff you’ve hired. Instead, you can pay a third party company to do the job for you. They will already have everything they need in place to get the job done to a high standard.
Splurge: Materials
One thing you should never scrimp on when it comes to business is materials. When it comes down to it, your product is the thing that’s important- it’s easy to get caught up in running all of these different areas from accounting and payroll to HR, but without a good product nothing else matters. Whether you’re buying deuterium products with outstanding chemical purity or fabrics that are ethically sourced with a high thread count, you don’t want to make cuts here. If it degrades the quality of your product then your whole business will suffer.
Save: Office premises
In the longer term, it makes sense to have a nice office premises. Something spacious with plenty of light and all of the mod cons you need will boost employees mood and therefore productivity. However, in the early days this is somewhere you can make savings. You could even run your business from home to start off with if needed, until you’re making more money. If you’re a shop then starting off with a smaller unit could be the way to go, if you’re an office then somewhere a little out of the city or town would cost you less rent.
Splurge: Marketing
Finally, marketing is something you can’t scrimp on. It’s much more complex than you might realize, you can’t hand out a few flyers or post on social media and expect customers to come flooding into your business. It takes a lot of testing, research into different advertising methods and the skills of an experienced marketer to promote your business in the best way.
