How to Grow Your Business By Hiring Freelancers

When thinking about how to grow your business, today’s small business owner has many options and one of them should be hiring freelancers or independent contractors. Supplementing your in-house work force with independent contractors can boost your business in many ways. Depending on your unique business, freelancers can create excitement in your team and enhance your business’s skill-set. How could your business benefit from partnering with freelancers?

1) You won’t take on additional hiring costs like payroll taxes, insurance or benefits packages. If you see the business relationship won’t work, there’s no commitment to continue. Freelancers work according to their contract.

2) Your business will reap the benefits of the skills you need, without the commitment of hiring. Need someone who has experience with high-tech software or new machinery? Bring in a freelancer to train your staff.

3) Managers can create excitement in the business by bringing on experts temporarily. When you bring in a pro, people get excited. Encourage your employees to learn all they can from the freelance expert you hire. Schedule times for your team to pick the brain of the expert freelancer.

4) Bring in another viewpoint and gain more expertise on a subject. Experienced freelancers have tons of knowledge they are willing to share. Tackle a persistent problem with a fresh set of eyes. It’s never a bad idea to get another point of view.

5) Most freelancers work flexible hours. This means your business could be open for longer hours; providing more benefits to your customers.

6) Unlike a temp hire, freelancers can be contacted directly when questions arise. The professional freelancer expects to answer queries and assist you when needed.

Freelancers love a project! Whether your company is beginning a new project or working to finish one, independent contractors are the power-packed team you need to get the job done. They live for projects!
Remember, running a business successfully does not need to be complicated.  Keep it simple! - Portal CFO blog

5 Money Saving Tips for Running a Small Business

No matter what you are selling whether a product or a service if you let you costs spiral out of control you can quickly find your small business in financial difficulty.

Here are top tips to make sure that doesn’t happen to you:

1. DON’T WASTE YOUR ENERGY

Across the country people are struggling with high energy costs at home. High energy costs are also hurting businesses too. In fact, the Carbon Trust estimates that for many businesses, a 20% saving in energy costs would have the same effect on the bottom line as a 5% increase in sales.

Here are some simple methods that you can use to start saving on energy costs:

Take out inefficient light bulbs and replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs which use up to 75% less energy than standard light bulbs!
Put your computer on standby when not being used. Over the course of a year a computer will cost about £50 a year if they are on 24 hours a day. By simply putting your computer on standby or switching it off at night could reduce the yearly cost to around £15
And of course, for cheaper diesel and petrol for your business, The Buying Power could save you as much as 10p per litre.
For more energy saving tips go here.

2. GOVERNMENT GRANTS

When the country went into recession the government realized one of the best ways to grow the economy was through small business. Because if this depending on where your business is you may be eligible for an interest free loan or an outright grant from the government called the regional growth fund which is a £3.2bn initiative which is running until 2017

The odds of getting a grant are good too. Almost 40% of applicants were selected to receive the funding during the latest round. If you’re in your first year of business you may also quality for certain tax breaks.

You can find more on the RGF and tax breaks here and here.

3. FLEX YOUR STAFF

Its estimated that the average cost to have a desk in an office is £5700 in the UK. Allowing your staff to hot desk and to work from home can save a considerable amount of money. A recent study into a firm from Stanford indicated that performance in the firm increased by 22% when a voluntary work from home programme was introduced .

4. OUTSOURCE, OUTSOURCE, OUTSOURCE

Focus on your core elements as a business and what you’re good at and outsource the rest to another company that does that element as their core business. For example by contracting an external agency to deal with accounts payable could cut costs by between 20 & 40%

5. CLOSE IN ON THE COSTS

We know the list of tasks facing SME management can be daunting. This ranges from running the day-to-day business to client liaison, staffing decisions and new business development. However, while cost optimisation is a mundane process, it can save your business significant money.

The key to managing costs effectively is to be proactive, rather than reactive, and make periodic cost review part of your business cycle. Consider addressing cost items more frequently than at year end; a comparison of this month’s costs with the average of the previous six months will yield early warning of potential problems and allow you to nip the issue in the bud. (Post Credit: Martin, Small Biz Bee)

Important Energy Saving Techniques to Lower Business Energy Costs

When you step in to the business world, there are many factors which start worrying you. One of those obvious factors is costs. Whether it is rental space, employee salaries, office equipment or product budget, all these costs have a huge impact on your cash reserves. But what about the other hidden expenses that we rarely notice? The cost of electricity, water, hydro and gas energy over a long period of time start draining your cash reserves without you noticing it. By assessing the functioning of your company and the requirements of your employees you can formulate a strategy to reduce energy costs considerably. Constant energy uses tend to emit additional carbon to the environment and create a negative impact as well.

Energy Saving Techniques for Business 

You need to begin reducing your energy costs by noticing small things about your office where most of the energy goes to waste. For this, you can also check Bizcostsavers B2B marketplace to connect with vendors providing solutions for energy saving for your business. Work with your employees and other staff members to adapt the following changes in to your daily office routine and watch how much your cost margin decreases over time: 

• Begin by switching your carbon inducing normal light bulbs to CFLs. Fluorescent light bulbs consume much lesser power and run for a longer time. They use up to 75% lesser energy than normal light bulbs. Make sure to switch of these lights when not in use. 

• Turn your computers in to hibernation mode rather than leaving it on throughout the night. This mode consumes much lesser power and makes sure to save your work until you use it again. 

• Only print what you require in case it is absolutely necessary and unavoidable. Printing lesser will help you reduce the energy used to print. At the same time make sure you do not overuse paper. You may use both sides of the paper to print when necessary instead of wasting it.

• Buy energy efficient appliance for your office. Though you may have to initially invest more, in the long run you will saving much more money than you actually spend on them. 

• When not in use switch off all your power using machines such as air conditioners, microwaves, lights, computers and so on. Especially when you leave the office make sure all these machines have been turned off.

• Install solar panels for free, clean and a renewable source of energy. They tend to last longer and considerably have fewer maintenance issues. 

• Plant a lot of plants and tree outside your office for shade and protection from scorching heat. This will reduce your necessity to use air conditioners since the trees will provide enough shade for cool winds and reduced temperatures. 

• At least once in a week allow your employees to work from home. This will ensure that you save one day’s energy and also allow your employees to work flexibly from their home. 

• Educate and encourage your employees to work on ways to save energy in the office. Built in efforts will ensure that your company conserves sufficient energy on a long term basis. 

• Promote good energy practices with your employees. Conduct brainstorming activities for all employees to come with ways of conserving energy costs.  

By adopting these essential tips, you will able to see a major reduction in your electricity bills over time. Though initially there may not be much of a difference it will definitely change course over time and make you and your employees feel wonderful about protecting your environment. Such steps can truly motivate your employees and increase your business value. 

Collaborative Marketing and Its Effect on Business Cost Saving

Undoubtedly the next big thing in the corporate world is the overwhelming concept of collaborative marketing. Collaborative marketing, in a nutshell is the process of sharing resources with other companies to increase brand value and influence. A group of companies with a common audience, goal or interests come together to create a greater presence in the market. The age of internet has made the option of collaborative marketing much easier. Internet exposure for this concept creates leverage that leads to higher rankings and stronger SEO for all companies involved. At Bizcostsavers B2B Marketplace, we help you connect with other companies who share the same goals so that you can strategize together to create a cost effective marketing strategy.

With the increase in the number of start-ups today, there is a higher necessity for comprehensive cost reducing solutions. By applying collaborative marketing such businesses profit to a large extent because the costs are reduced by a large percentage. When companies think outside the box and work with others, practical benefits such as these are quite apparent:

1.     Networking- Every business is driven by referrals and contacts, regardless of the occupation. A collaborative environment will basically make companies work together to help each other out. In this process, you are quite capable of coming across potential business clients and investors. So it’s a give and take policy, where you will be connecting with various sectors.

2.      Shared Ownership- When assets are shared, the companies have the opportunity to lower their costs to large extent. For instance shared office spaces can be quite effective in this area. Other than the advantage of saving money you will also be reaping added benefits with it. Even shared hardware services or cloud share will help your company utilise optimum resources.

3.     Symbiotic Selling- Collaborating gives you the opportunity to market your products together thus, reducing your marketing budget. Informal alliances like organization of seminars or camps bring new value to current customers and expand your reach to new audiences.

4.    Motivation and Support- By getting to know different businesses you can gain inspiration and motivation to formulate new ideas. This move relieves the isolation felt by self-employed individuals and entrepreneurs. The energy of other will help you gain confidence and come up with new ideas altogether.

5.     Access to Knowledge and Expertise- The companies you choose to collaborate with will definitely have a different set of skills and knowledge, which in the long run will help you if used appropriately. You will be able to explore your capabilities in order to sustain with the others on a long run.  

All of the above benefits will lead to reduction of expenses on a long term, considering the fact that you save a lot of time and resources doing them on your own. Basically a collaborative strategy builds a strong foundation for your business so that you have support when required. Though there is a lot of competition out there, collaboration can create a sense of harmony and mutual benefits for companies. Here are a few added benefits of this concept:

• Conserve resources
• Create a new market
• Access a broad and diverse customer base
• Advantage of size economies
• Builds relationships 

Enjoying the rewards of working together requires a shift to new ways and thinking. This will broaden your thinking and produce a collaborative marketing effort. With our services you will be able to meet the best collaborative marketing companies for great cost effective solutions. So the question to consider here before you take the first step is: Are you ready for this new shift of thinking?