Running a start-up requires a lot of knowledge and wisdom, especially on ways to save money. You need to constantly question every purchase for a product or a service and find out how else you can save money.
We always wonder how our competitors are able to sell their products cheaper but what we don’t understand is, if they save on, say, production cost the end product ends up being cheaper.
Here are five ways you can cut cost in your start-up:
1.Embrace Technology
You will be surprised by how much you can cut out of the cost of sales and marketing by building your social media presence and taking advantage of advertising using platforms like Facebook twitter and Instagram.
For as low as Ksh 500, your advertisement can reach upto 1000 people. Hopefully, one or two will reach out to you and make a sale. Do this for a whole month and see the difference it makes.
2.Cut off the middle man
Most of the time, we use the middle man because of convenience. What we don’t realize is that some middle men sell materials at almost double the price they got it at.
Do your research and find out where they get their materials. Get down and dirty and in the end, you will save on costs.
3.Buy supplies in bulk
When starting up, you may not have the funds to buy supplies in bulk. That is okay. However, with time, make this a goal for your business. Once you are able to identify where middle men get the supplies from, establish a good relationship with the buyers and buy a lot of supplies. These of course come at a cheaper price than buying a few pieces.
4.Plan your days
Most entrepreneurs let the day happen as they deal with whatever comes. If they get a client today, most rush around to pick a few materials or do deliveries to cater to one order. You will soon realize how this can be time-wasting and also an avenue of losing money.
Plan days to drop deliveries, days to go for supplies and days to stay in and send proposals or emails. Be sure to tell your clients that deliveries are done on a particular day of the week in a certain, that way, you save on time and also transport.
5.Work with small entities
What I have discovered is that there are small companies coming up and offering services at a small price and even quantities tailored for you. If you sell products like I do, you will be in need of packaging. A big company like Ramco will charge Ksh 1.00 for a package but the minimum they will print for you is 300,000 packets. Now, before a start up uses up all that, it will take years.
However, I discovered there are small business that will print a package for Ksh 3.50 and a minimum of 10,000 packets. This can easily fit into an start-up budget.
What other tricks have you discovered that have saved you some money in your business?
