Starting a small business is hard. And in today’s economy, getting the most for your money often equates to the creative distribution of your financial resources.
That’s why so many entrepreneurs and small businesses are inventing ways to bootstrap their operations. Luckily, there are a number of affordable tools and strategies that cost little but deliver big, which is ideal when your business is on a budget.
As a provider of business services and entrepreneur myself, here are five resources I’ve found that are currently working well for small businesses.
- Inventive marketing – Generate interest in your business through creativity. For example, try promoting a contest like The Royal Society of Chemists.
Starting a business is an exhilarating time. It can also be a very stressful and busy time. As a local business owner, you often end up wearing all of the hats (CEO, Accounting, HR, Marketing, etc.) in the beginning due to lack of funding early on.
In any business – small or large, good or bad economy – internal theft or employee fraud can occur. Actually, in my experience, I have seen more employee fraud occurring in small to medium-sized businesses because there is a greater level of trust, a less formal process at times, greater familiarity with each person in the company, and a greater breadth of duties for each employee.
Credit cards can be a wonderful business tool. They allow you the flexibility of easily using credit to make purchases under the promise that you will pay back the money that you borrowed on credit. Credit cards are a great tool for consumers and for regular small businesses. They give you easy access to credit and allow you to focus on what is most important for you in your business and in your personal life.
While everybody else gears up for the holidays, small businesses should have another thing in mind apart from sales: filing taxes. As the fiscal year draws to a close, it is important that business owners review the current financial situation and start implementing strategies to help minimize your income tax.
