10 simple ways to save money in your business

Want to save money in your business? As they say, look after the pennies… KIRSTY DUNPHEY

By Kirsty Dunphey

1. Throw out those fancy pink duplicate phone message pads that everyone loved so much (in the 1980s) and email phone messages throughout your organisation.

2. Don’t mail out tax invoices – email them. Why pay for printing, paper, a stamp and an envelope when you can just email the invoice?

3. Set up a blog with an RSS feed as the memo board for your staff – if this sounds too techie, set up a Facebook fan page and do the same thing.

4. Ban overseas phone calls and have everyone use Skype instead. If it’s a business call it’s probable that whoever they’re calling is going to have Skype anyway.

5. Throw away your cheque book (well as much as you can). Pay everything by credit card or direct deposit (save the stamp, envelope and time).

6. Teach your staff the difference between using express/overnight delivery envelopes just “cos they’re fun and pretty” and actually needing to use them. Also teach them that when sending a letter in the same post code, it’ll get there tomorrow anyway!

7. If you send out a printed newsletter; stop! C’mon, who doesn’t have email these days – it’s cheaper and you’re killing less trees.

Ways to spend money that’ll still save you money in the long term

8. Subsidise staff members’ gym memberships. Healthier, fitter staff have less sick days. If you were to subsidise $100 from an annual gym membership and it results in two less sick days a year, you’re way in front.

9. Get rid of the charity choccies and biscuits (sorry!) and have fresh fruit available for your staff to munch on. See point one about healthy staff being better staff.

10. Get a decent coffee machine in your office. Three trips to the Starbucks a day ‘aint cheap (on your business – forget about on their pockets). If your staff are gone for 15 minutes a time for each coffee break, that’s 45 minutes a day less productive than they could be if the coffee were easier to get to. Also (considering my rant on health), get a water cooler and make it much easier to get to than the coffee pot.

Kirsty Dunphey is one of Australia’s most publicised young entrepreneurs and is the founder of www.reallysold.com – the ultimate tool to help real estate agents write amazing advertisements. The youngest ever winner of the Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year award, Kirsty started her first business at 15, her own real estate agency at 21, was a self-made millionaire at 23 and a self-made multi-millionaire at 25. For more information on Kirsty or either of her books – Advance to Go, Collect $1 Million and Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can, or to sign up to her weekly newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

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Comments

Alan Kerlin writes: On sending newsletters via email, nice idea, but in reality a lot of busy people (like myself) end up with a reading pile somewhere quiet (like the loo!). Bit hard to take the e-newsletter there. And a bit too easy to just go [Delete]… Everything else I agree with – especially the coffee machine! Why don’t bosses understand the simple maths of this? The phrase “marginal net worth” springs to mind.