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All company owners dream of running a successful business – one that constantly grows and thrives over time. However, as great as an expanding business can be from a profits perspective, there are also challenges to consider.
The more your business grows, the more you’ll need to spend on resources, talent, and other must-have assets.
When your company starts to accelerate, it’s important to have a strategy in mind for how you’re going to keep costs as manageable as possible.
The right plan will stop you from making expensive mistakes that will ultimately hold your organization back and limit your profits.
Here are some quick ways to manage expenses during rapid business growth.
Go Remote and Work in the Cloud
Remote working practices have gained a lot of popularity in recent years, with more people switching to the cloud than ever before.
Remote working is an excellent way to keep your employees happy by offering them more work-life balance and flexibility. At the same time, you get the benefits of some much needed extra savings.
When you and your employees work from home, you don’t have to spend a fortune on rent or mortgage payments, electricity costs, phone supplies, and equipment.
You can even reduce the amount you spend on cleaning and maintaining the offices that you use.
Although overhead costs might not seem like a big issue at first, they quickly creep up to consume the budget you could be spending on further growth.
You can start by moving to a smaller office and letting some of your employees work remotely, then gradually move on to a full remote strategy if that works.
Hire Smart
Speaking of building the perfect remote workforce, you might want to consider your hiring requirements too.
When trying to reduce costs, many companies go straight to the layoff process and start to get rid of staff.
Unfortunately, firing people has an adverse impact on morale and leads to other costs in the long-term.
Instead of getting rid of staff when times get tough, hire smarter in the first place.
Outsourcing some of your tasks to third-party vendors could help you cut costs by reducing the number of people you need to bring into your business full-time.
What’s more, if you discover that you can’t afford to use a particular service anymore, it’s much easier to cut the third-party vendor than someone in your workplace that you have already paid to train.
If you’re not sure whether you’re going to need an employee long-term, consider starting by using a temporary employee or freelancer for the work before you invest.
Consider Your IT Costs
We all know that technology is crucial in the current business world, but it’s easy for IT costs to quickly become overwhelming if you’re not careful.
When you’re done kick-starting your business, look for opportunities to get rid of anything that’s no longer supporting your growth strategy.
Reducing costs by switching to a different software provider is often a good idea, or even switching old equipment for new energy-efficient models.
Simple changes, like storing your data in the cloud rather than managing your own data centers on-premises can make a huge difference to your monthly fees.
Moreover, regularly reviewing your IT costs will show you where you have room to update your processes, get rid of unnecessary expenses, and potentially re-evaluate your usage patterns too.
You might discover that investing more into a certain part of your IT stack will actually lead to more productivity and profits for your business in the long-term.
Automate Where You Can
Investing in automation tools might seem like a bad idea when you’re trying to keep costs low and grow at the same time.
However, keep in mind that time is money in the business world.
Using automated algorithms and AI to streamline complex processes that would otherwise eat up the valuable time of your employees is crucial.
For instance, you could use email marketing automation to let your customers know whenever you post a new blog post to your website.
There are also plenty of excellent ways to automate some auxiliary aspects of your business, like managing customer data and making changes to your billing processes.
Look for the repetitive tasks that consume your employees’ time and go from there.
You might even find that your team members are happier with the ability to utilize automation to help them manage their days.
Consider getting feedback from your employees for advice on what they would like to automate.
Track Supplies and Services
Finally, before you begin investing in new things to support your company’s growth, it’s important to make sure you’re tracking your existing assets and inventory.
Having a good idea of the ROI behind all of the things that you currently pay for will help you avoid spending cash on items that aren’t suitable for your company.
Tracking supplies and services in your organization ensures that items that are valuable to your company don’t end up getting mislaid.
It’s also a way to get an insight into which kinds of products in your business get the most use. That way, you can decide whether you need to invest in more of the same technology later on.
As a good extra bonus, tracking your assets also means that you can argue with your vendors if they ever try to charge you for things you didn’t use.
Tracking data comes in useful when you’re trying to get the most value out of your purchases.
Managing Costs During Growth
Growth is great for any business, but it can be challenging to manage without the right strategy.
You need to ensure that you have a plan in place for handling the costs that can emerge during a period of rapid growth, whether that applies to your staff members or the resources you’re buying.
With a little luck, the tips above will help you manage growth without breaking the bank.
Author bio:
Joe Peters is a Baltimore-based freelance writer and an ultimate techie. When he is not working his magic as a marketing consultant, this incurable tech junkie devours the news on the latest gadgets and binge-watches his favorite TV shows. Follow him on @bmorepeters
