Do you need business insurance?

by with No Comment Business TipsMoney TalksSavings

We can all agree that the global pandemic [COVID19] caught us off guard, no one would have thought we would experience at this specific time. What other reason do you need to have insurance, emergency funds, savings, etc for your business?

In this blog, we will share WHY your business needs insurance and WHAT type of insurance do you need. As a business owner, you may be asking yourself, “Is business insurance really necessary?”

According to Discovery Insure CEO Anton Ossip, businesses generally need cover for:

  1. Business assets, tangible or intangible.
  2. Theft (including theft by employees).
  3. Loss of profits or revenues.
  4. Legal liabilities, including liabilities arising from social media interactions.
  5. Losses to the business and liability to third parties following a cyber-attack on business computers (which we covered on our previous blog)

There is a variety of business insurance coverages available to business owners to choose from, you can tailor your insurance protection to address the specific risks facing your business. Some of the aspects of your operation that need protection include (but not limited to): 

  • The type of work you do
  • Your physical premises
  • Property and equipment
  • Intellectual property
  • Employees and customers

Bear in mind though, businesses in different industries need different business insurance coverages to help meet their unique needs.

What insurance does a small business need?

If there’s one policy you’re legally required to have as a small business, is employers’ liability insurance (EL).

EL covers your business in the event that one of your employees claims they’ve suffered an illness or injury as a result of working for you. It covers any legal and compensation costs involved in defending the case. If you don’t have EL, your business can be liable to pay a fine.

Does your tech need insurance?

Technology has definitely changed business insurance needs. Without a doubt, it can do wonders for your business…especially now more than ever, COVID 19 has enforced the revolution by going virtual to communicate with each other, including clients.

However, we did mention in our previous blog post that technology like computers and the internet can be vulnerable and/ or exposed to risks. If you don’t have insurance or security of some sort, your business may face a large financial and operational loss.

What you need to understand is that every business has its unique needs; which is why it’s important to consult with an insurance broker or financial adviser on the type of cover that’s right for your business. Some of which are:

How to buy business insurance that’s right for you in 4 easy steps:

  1. Assess your risks – think about what kind of accidents, natural disasters, or lawsuits could damage your business.
  2. Find a reputable licensed agent – commercial insurance agents can help you find policies that match your business needs. They sell company policies, so it’s important to find a licensed agent.
  3. Shop around – you should compare rates, terms, and benefits for insurance offers from several different agents, as they vary.
  4. Re-assess every year – as your business grows, so do your liabilities. If you have purchased or replaced equipment or expanded operations, you should contact your insurance agent to discuss changes in your business and how they affect your coverage.

If you want a starting point, check this comparison of Small Business Insurance Companies in South Africa: https://comparenreview.co.za/top-10-insurance-companies-south-africa/

You may assist us by adding what you know, we would love to hear from you!

How can you protect your business online?

by with No Comment Business Tips

We preach digital marketing and the benefits of digital technologies but don’t talk about the vulnerability our businesses are exposed to. One of the questions that arise is, how safe is it for customers to make transactions online?

Cybercrime increased at an alarming rate since the beginning of the national lockdown when companies starting adapting to digital technology and marketing.

It is said that the .za domain name is South Africa’s global target for international fraudsters and cybersecurity measures are more important now than ever before.

With the growth of ecommerce, selling online has never been so easy. Statistics show an increase of 24% in the South African eCommerce market contributed to the worldwide growth rate of 26% in 2020.

“In many cases, organisations will take cyber security seriously only after a breach has occurred, but because IT budgets have been constrained, IT is generally doing the best it can to mitigate risk with a limited budget.” said Stephen Osler, Co-Founder of Nclose

ITNews Africa shared the Top 3 Cybersecurity Challenges Triggered by Lockdown:

✳ Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting users working from home, hoping to compromise their credentials that they can then reuse to gain access to the user’s corporate network.

✳ Surge in demand for enhanced identity and access management: since many people have been working from home, interest in identity and access management solutions has surged.

✳ Rise in Business Email Compromise (BEC): fraudsters are increasingly using email-based cons to catch unaware businesses off-guard. Cybercriminals use email fraud to target businesses, individuals and administrations.

Now more than ever – going forward, it’s important for businesses to build a culture of data protecting. Imagine an instance where you are sued for your clients’ credit card information being stolen?

However human error by management or employees can lead to a cyber-attack like a hack, virus or malicious code affecting the computer system, there are ways to strengthen your cybersecurity. Kaspersky helps startups by covering the typical mistakes of many first-time entrepreneurs.

Here are 3 way to protect yourself online

1️⃣ The first, most important thing is to have a social media policy for your business. Although you can’t and shouldn’t control what your employees post online, there are certain information that shouldn’t be disclosed online, raise your employees’ cybersecurity awareness.On platforms like LinkedIn, people tend to talk about their work and expertise, the social media policy will safeguard information such as client information, projects info, contacts, and other information that shouldn’t be consumed by the public eye.

2️⃣ Cloud resources: many businesses now have online working spaces, google cloud services, etc. That information can be vulnerable to cyberattacks and cybercriminals can get their hands on critical/confidential information is you have weak protection. One of the ways to protect that information is to restrict access to anyone outside of your organization when accessing Google documents etc. This feature can be found in settings.

3️⃣ Use robust passwords to protect your work devices and accounts. Kaspersky Password Manager for instance has a utility built to generate robust passwords and store them inside encrypted containers. Don’t forget to set two-factor authentication (2fa). 2fa is an extra layer of security for your accounts. Instead of only entering a password to log in, you’ll also enter a code or use a security key.

As mentioned, small businesses as opposed to bigger enterprises are mostly targeted because they don’t have the budget or resources. Here are 3 small-business-friendly cybersecurity solutions to get you started with protecting your business:

Comodo is a global, award-winning security provider that offers free and affordable security tools. When it comes to low-cost security solutions, you usually get what you pay for. Small businesses can enjoy a free antivirus, free and paid SSL certificates, free internet security, mobile device management, firewall protection, security for POS systems, and many other services

One of the beliefs of cybersecurity is strong passwords for all your accounts and services. Weak passwords based on your pet’s name or your spouse’s name and birthday come with risks. Random passwords are the way to go. Random.org features a random password generator that automatically creates strong, alphanumeric, case-sensitive passwords up to 24 characters long

“Encryption is the cornerstone of privacy and security in the digital world.” When it comes to keeping your files unreadable by unwanted eyes, even when they’re stored in your system, encryption software such as AxCrypt does the job. Encrypted files can rarely be opened and read by data thieves without the specialized key. The free version allows you to encrypt files with a 128-bit key, while the premium version allows you to encrypt with the more advanced 256-bit. You can also safely share files with colleagues, all while keeping data encrypted and the keys safe.

In conclusion, whether you have a website, online accounts, or any type of web-based infrastructure, you are prone to cyberattacks. You may look through some of the tools we shared, and see which one is a better solution for your business.

To hire employees or outsource?

by with No Comment Business TipsSalesSavingsTax

At some point as an entrepreneur growing a small business, this is a decision you will have to make. You cannot do everything by yourself (forever), the more clients you get, the more hands and brains you will need. firstly, what does hiring mean, what responsibility does it leave you with, and even the pros/cons of bringing in independent contractors? This blog will contrast.

According to the Black’s Law Dictionary, an employee is a person who works in the service of another person under a contract of hire, which gives the employer the right to control the details of work performance, while a self-employed (herein Independent Contractor) is a person or entity contracted to perform work for—or provide services to—another entity as a nonemployee.

Now the question is, flexibility or responsibility?

Both contracts have their own Pros and Cons, which we discussed below:

Pros and Cons of hiring an employee:

Before bringing onboarding anyone, you need to understand that extra manpower comes with an array of legal obligations, liabilities, expenses, and paperwork. It’s important to consider hiring when your business is ready for this step, as it comes with responsibility: high turnover, absenteeism, higher healthcare costs, workplace violence, theft, etc.

ProsCons
You get the advantage of being able to completely control and direct that person’s work during work timeEmployees come laws and regulations from the federal government and your state regulate the payment of wages or salaries, overtime, etc
Train the person in the way you want the job done.You must also comply with payroll tax requirements.
Require that person to work only for you.And other responsibilities such as payment of unemployment insurance and worker’s compensation insurance.

fig.1. Pros and Cons:

Pros and Cons of outsourcing independent contractors

This means you will have less time dictating on training, management, and supervision so that you can focus on other tasks and demands of the business.

We have said this previously, having employees means having fixed costs. This particular contract gives you a great competitive advantage, controlled costs, and increased reach. You can get access to capabilities and facilities otherwise not accessible or affordable while saving costs.

fig.2. Pros and Cons:

ProsCons
You have few reporting or tax responsibilities.You can assign duties and impose a deadline but you cannot tell them how to get the job done.
You must report the amount you have paid them each year, but you don’t have to pay FICA taxes. They can work for others and often set his or her hours of work.
Their payroll responsibilities are significantly less than for an employee.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to at what level is your business, hiring is quite a big responsibility. We have talked about this on a blog before that hiring interns helps too. Before you make that decision, you need to have honest money conversations with yourself, the extra time for supervision, etc.

It’s not a train smash if you cannot afford to hire a recruiter to help you find the right talent, you can conduct the interviews yourself, but you also need to prepare yourself to make sure you get as much information as possible and ensure the interviewee is culture fit. All the best if you are about to make that decision, we hope that you found this insightful and that it helps you make an informed decision.

Guide to hitting Online Sales.

by with No Comment Business TipsMarketingMoney TalksSales

Landing here, our assumption is that you’ve read our previous blog on “Going Digital”!? If you haven’t, you can catch up ⏪ this blog article is more of a continuation ⏩



We believe in continuous learning, hence we are consistent in adding to your knowledge with our weekly blog posts. If there’s any specific topic you would like us to cover, feel free to drop us a comment or shoot us a DM on our socials @accasesolutions. Ok, let’s get to it!

Now that you know what does “Going Digital” means, WHY go digital, and HOW to go digital, let’s help you get started with a proven strategy that has helped marketers sell through digital platforms. In this blog, we will focus a bit on marketing and making sales online.

Rule number 1: Don’t ignore what people want, give it to them. DO NOT neglect customer needs! Second to that is knowing how to communicate your value by teaching your customers about your products/services and sticking to the mission!

Developing a digital marketing strategy
1️⃣ Define your goal.


There are 2️⃣ types of goals
☑ Ongoing – overall focus on marketing (long term)
☑ Campaign goals – specific initiative and short term

The common include:
• Improving customer engagement
• Generating more leads
• Growing sales
• Increase traffic
• Expand reach
• Enhancing brand perception


Choosing the right channels
“You need to be active on every social media platform” is a myth and bad advice. Invest in a smart mix of channels. Choose the ones that make sense for your audience.

A business should be centered around your ideal client avatar. You need a comprehensive customized strategy that’s proven to work in your industry.

Try the following:
• Research the channel’s audience
• Review research studies – source: business insider, social media today, etc.
• Discover how channels affect distinct

Facebook – 2.4 billion active users offer a lot of business features.
Instagram – 500 million active users, visually based. The online mall
Twitter – top messaging platform. Ideal for trending conversations
LinkedIn
• Top professional networking site
• Ideal for connecting with industry experts
• Great for B2B marketing
YouTube- top video sharing site. Business & influencers can create channels & monetize.

Creating content
Crafting messaging – Identify valuable content
Choosing topics – relevant topics that aren’t always marketing but also entertaining, educational, and value-driven, also align with your business goals


Selling on social media


“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not around, so it’s built through sales and that means getting an experience with you.”

Stories sell!! To get to people’s wallets, you first need to get them to their feelings. That’s the hook!

> Customers trust people over brands
63% of customers trust influencers vs brands…reaching customers that trust opinions of that person
> Influencer partnerships (sponsored) – Paid endorsement of product or service
> REVIEWS – sending free products for reviews
> Co-branded – Influencer & company cooperate on product marketing, then share resulting sales
> Paid advertising – purchasing exposure to certain audiences & preferred placements. Start with a test campaign – AB Testing


When it comes to Customer Service, give INSTANT RESPONSES. Use platforms like Keyhole and Mention, be sure to make your message sounds humane. Turn on notifications, or look through manual searches.


To conclude, we leave you with the following tips:
• Algorithms change every 1 or 2 months, stay up to date.
• Customer service is important!! When people enquire from you, they already have other options. Be the best option!
• Take things personally instead of seeing them as a problem-solution equation. 

Go Digital or Go Out of Business.

by with No Comment Business TipsMoney Talks

“Going digital” is more than just a buzzword, it’s a catalyst for growth. Not only does it allow more productivity and cost-saving, but it’s also an essential strategy in the t COVID-19 crisis.

“If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business.”

~Bill gates~

WHAT does “going digital” mean?

Digital transformation is inevitable, it presents your business with endless (online) opportunities and you reap the benefits when someone searches for something related to what you do or sell. Essentially, going digital means building an online presence for your business. this requires a full understanding of how your audience (target market) uses technology to access what they need, at the right time.

For instance, when someone clicks a link to your website, they can learn so much about you like pricing, client testimonials (which builds trust), or even schedule an appointment.

WHY go digital?

How digitizing can help you build your business  

1. Build relations on social networks  

2. Selling online  

3. Finding new customers  

4. Keeping existing customers  

Ask yourself, “ why do I want to go digital ? “ before anything else, people have to know you exist.  

Additionally, this will also give you valuable insight into prospective clients,  what the ey want and how to give it to them. 

HOW to go digital:   

“To make digital strategies to truly succeed, employ a human-centric approach“

Action steps to get started:

  1. Goal Setting  

Be intentful. Before going digital, think about what is your objective and what you want to achieve online. It will help you set the right priorities and help align your plan.  

2. Find Your Audience + Platform

WHERE DOES YOUR TARGET MARKET HANG OUT??

If you cant answer that question, stay back and think about it for a while. There are tons o digital platforms/social media networks, it’s a waste of time and money to spend time on and efforts on LinkedIn for instance when the vibey youth you are looking for is on Instagram.

3. Create A Strategy

It will help to find a team of experts to help you on this one. Marketing is almost a full-time job, the other thing to note is the everchanging algorithms – this requires you to always stay up to date with how these channels work so you can be on top of your game and beat your competitors.

4. Launch

This is one of the easiest. If you are going the social media route, you can create business pages where your customers can reach you, and new audiences can learn about you. Then start sharing content.

5. Analyze And Improve

This is one of the most important things to do because what are you doing if you are not measuring your growth? Not only does it help you measure, it gives you insights on people’s interests about you so you can “give people what they want”

Finally, or rather a bonus point: stand out from your competition 

that may sound cliche but it can’t get any truer! Provide valuable or quality content and stay consistent. This will help you gain people’s trust, in a world full of scammers and fraudsters.

That’s all from us today, we hope these help you in some way. Feel free to indulge in our blog, we have a read with some of the tools you can use to run your business digitally, it complements this read 🔗👉 https://accasesolutions.co.za/2021/03/09/5-must-have-apps-on-your-phone-entrepreneurs/

Important things to know about tax in South Africa

by with No Comment Business TipsMoney TalksTax

Understanding the South African taxation system

To put it in simple terms, tax is a compulsory contribution to state revenue, you must pay South African taxes if you work in South Africa or own a South African business. South Africa uses a residence-based taxation system, non-residents are taxed on South African-sourced income.

Tax money does not only pay for public goods and services, it is also key in the social contract between citizens and the economy. Paying taxes fosters economic growth and development. This is the government’s sources of funding for social programs and public investments.

Understanding taxes: types, filing for returns, refunds from SARS:

There are many different type of taxes. Just to mention a few, some include:

  1. Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
  2. Personal Income Tax
  3. Provisional Tax
  4. Capital Gains Tax
  5. Value Added Tax

Ordinary taxpayers are those who earn a salary from an employer. Your employer should deduct Pay As You Earn (PAYE) from your salary monthly and pay that to SARS on your behalf.

Here’s an example of how your Net Income will look like after taxes

Why SARS issues refunds:

If for instance you take an unpaid leave at work, the payroll administrator has to adjust your tax therein. If the adjustment is not made, it means that your company deducted more tax as it was based on a wrong annual income. In this case, SARS is liable to give you a refund.

The whole point of filing for tax returns is for SARS too determine all your tax, and if you have paid, they conclude on the right amount. If you have overpaid them, they will definitely give you your money back. Understand that, you only get a refund IF you have overpaid because you filed for returns.

Income Tax VS Provisional tax.

Provisional taxpayers have multiple sources of income such as a salary and commission or are business owners or self-employed including freelancers and contract workers. This means that you need to pay taxes even from other activities like renting out a room in your home (e.g. Airbnb), you will have to declare those to SARS when you do your tax return.


SARS has what we call Provisional tax payment which is paid in advance, every six months. This means you pay provisional tax twice a year before your year ends. Just after the year ends, you compare what you have paid already to what you should have paid, and if underpaid there’s a third provisional payment/top-up due 6 months after year-end.

You could be asking, what happens when you pay SARS more than you should have?

…well, that’s okay because SARS will give you a refund after you’ve submitted your year end returns which is due 12 months after your year ends.

On Value Added Tax (VAT)
VAT in South Africa is levied on the consumption of goods and services, the rate is currently 15%. When you bill someone, you charge them VAT and that portion is not your money – you have to pay it to SARS. Businesses must register for VAT in South Africa if their annual turnover exceeds R1 million within a 12-month period. Taxpayers can, however, register on a voluntary basis if their annual supplies exceed R50 000.

When you buy from VAT vendors, you pay the VAT (which belongs to SARS), you’re supposed to get it back on your side because you paid VAT vendors. If for instance you sell items whose VAT element is R1000, and the material is R2000 worth of taxes, it means you paid more VAT than you have charged your customer. You can therefore claim excess herein, and SARS becomes liable to giving you a refund. SARS may request some verifications before paying the refund as the onus to prove such details is on the taxpayer.

A read from Expatica explains that tourists and diplomats visiting South Africa can claim a refund of the VAT they paid on goods purchased in the country. To qualify, you’ll need to be a non-resident foreign passport-holder or a South African passport-holder who is now a permanent resident of another country. You can reclaim VAT when leaving the country by declaring the goods in question to a customs official.

We will, for now close it here. Do reach out to us to learn more about taxes, filing for returns, and compliance.

Can SARS tax you even if your business is not registered?

by with One Comment Business TipsMoney TalksTax

Can SARS tax you even if your business is not registered?

The answer is YES. If you are running a business that is not registered, you are basically a sole proprietor.


What Is Sole Proprietorship?


A sole proprietorship is defined as a business that is owned and operated by a natural person (individual).

This is considered the simplest form of doing business. It simply means the entity is not legal (registered) and has no existence separate from the owner who is called the proprietor. Although a sole proprietorship can operate under the name of its owner or give a business’ fictitious name, the name does not create a legal entity separate from the sole proprietor owner.


Pros and Cons of Sole Proprietorship


Sole proprietorship obviously has some pros and cons. Here are 3 pros and cons:

Pros:
1️⃣Simple to establish, operate or even discontinue the business.
2️⃣Owner is free to make decisions.
3️⃣Owner receives all the profits.


Cons:
1️⃣The owner is legally liable for all the debts of the business. 
2️⃣​Limited ability to raise capital, which limits the expansion of a business when new capital is required.
3️⃣The owner alone has limited skills, they may need to hire employees with sought-after skills.



What Is Most Tax Efficient?
Sole Proprietorship vs LTD (PTY)

It all boils down to expected earnings from your business.

Individuals are taxed on a sliding scale, which means that the rate of tax you pay increases as your earnings increase. This applies to any individual earning more than R87,300 per tax year.

In a company, profits are taxed at a rate of 28%, irrespective of the value. Plus, dividends tax is levied at 20% on profits retained in the company and distributed as a dividend in the future.

In A Nutshell…

As an individual earns more, you move into the higher tax bracket. The difference in tax between a company and a sole proprietor decreases. At a lower level of taxable income, it’s more tax-efficient to operate as a sole proprietor and enjoy the benefits available to individuals. At higher income brackets, it’s likely that company registration would be more beneficial.

This should help you make a better decision if you were stuck between registering your business and operating it individually. For business registrations and taxes, please do get in touch with us 📲

5 MUST HAVE apps on your phone | Entrepreneurs

by with One Comment Business Tips

We glorify being a “girl boss” or solopreneur but don’t talk much about the hardship you have to go through ALONE. You are the managing director, lawyer, marketing director, administrator, everything ALL ALONE. That cannot, in any way be easy, but some are suckers for the busy life.

Although you can outsource services or employ talent in your team, that isn’t any easy either. Building a team is one of the challenging job every entrepreneur has. If you are not ready for that as of yet, don’t worry WE GOT U 👊

The nice thing about technology is that it makes our lives easier, and it gets even better by the day. You can have your office in your room, you can work from the coffee shop, you can literally have your entire office on your phone and work on the go! We now have mobile apps that make our lives easier, and we will share with you 5 apps that will not only make your life easy, but will also keep you productive throughout the day.

5 apps that will make your life easy and keep you productive:

1️⃣ Flipd

This app helps you track all your productive activities. Flipd is designed to keep you out of distracting apps, it works like a lock screen on a timer, keeping you focused. You can set milestones and use stats to track your productivity. Further more, it has the nicest “background” music (sounds) to help you keep focus.

2️⃣ WhatsApp for Business

Wait, you do have Whatsapp Business, right? Because why not! This app is the best! It has a chatbot that you can set to sends automated messages to your contacts. You can also set quick replies you can quickly send for more efficient customer service. You can also add a catalogue, labels customers who have paid and those who haven’t, add trading hours, link to website, etc.

3️⃣ Canva

Canva is a graphic design platform, used to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents and other visual content. The app has ready made templates for users to use. There’s nothing you cannot find here. They even have a learning platform where you can learn from the best – how to create designs that resonates your brand.

4️⃣ Hootsuite

Hootsuite needs to mask off!! The app must be sent from above. It helps you manage all your social media accounts in one platform. If you are a data driven person, you will fall in love with it. It helps you monitor your growth trough it’s Analytics feature, helping you make better decisions about your content, and overall marketing strategy. A MUST HAVE 🤞

5️⃣ Trello

Trello is an effective way to manage your projects, an easy-to-use mobile platform. This app that helps you visualize what needs to get done, you can even collaborate with other team members. Trello helps you organize your projects into cards, lists and boards, great way to to see what projects are in progress, who’s collaborating on them, and what the status of each. You can set deadlines and categorize tasks according to their timelines, activities and priorities. Makes life easy. ‘

We hope these helps, these are just 5 in a million apps that simplify life. Let et us know in the comment section which app(s) make your life easy?

Is Debt good for your business?

by with No Comment Business TipsMoney Talks

Debt is not necessarily a bad thing, you can use it strategically for your financial needs. If you are going to throw it in a marketing campaign, or perhaps renting property at a better location for your company to position your business for growth, always make sure the ROI (Return Of Investment) is greater than the debt.

Therefore, you will need to consider a few things before taking a loan: your business’s finances, your reason for the loan, etc before narrowing down your options.

Can business debt affect your personal credit score?

NB: Business Debt Can Affect Your Credit.
Even though your business finances are separate from your personal finances, the two can easily intertwine, which you cannot control.

Business debt will affect your personal credit score, especially when you are a sole proprietor. If you are a sole proprietor, you are the business—whatever you do personally reflects on your business, and vise versa. So, be discipline.

There are different types of loans, let’s explore these 5 common loans for small businesses:

1️⃣ Assets financing – ideal for business owners looking for funding specifically to purchase physical equipment

2️⃣ Invoice financing – for business owners with unpaid invoices who need an advance of capital to cover cash flow or other short-term financing needs

3️⃣ Commercial real estate loans – best for business owners looking to finance purchasing new or existing commercial property or renovating commercial space

4️⃣ Microloans – ideal for new or established businesses looking for a small amount of capital

5️⃣ Personal loans for business use – for newer businesses who are just starting out and need access to affordable financing

Can you take debt to your advantage?

Here are at least 2 ways to use debt to your advantage:

1️⃣ The ROI should be greater than the debt.

This takes us back to the examples we talked of earlier about marketing campaigns, rental of property, etc. It’s like taking a calculated risk. Although we can never be sure of outcomes as we rely on predictions, things like data mining and interpretation can help you take better decisions.

For instance, you can make good research about the area you are thinking of locating your business, considering the demographics, activities in the area and things as such. Also search about the property value. Should you think of relocating your business, you will at least make good profit from that – which you can also use for other parts of your business, or just throw it in your savings.

2️⃣ Don’t sell your equity.

Every business has lean time, it’s inevitable…but when that time comes, don’t sell your equity by adding more partners to, rather take a loan. Paying off debt is much easier than ending a partnership, it can get messy.

In a nutshell…

Debt is not the devil, but you MUST be discipline. First educate yourself and understand what you are getting yourself into. Debt can be expensive, set priorities and goals. Use the money wisely.

5 Ways Of How To Cut Costs In Your Business

by with No Comment Business TipsMoney TalksSavings

Saving money is one of the prerequisites for business success. Cut costs by any means, don’t wait for your ship to sink!

Robust savings give your business the ability to grow. “It is smart to put back to push forward.”

Saving money is critical for the survival of your business, the global pandemic couldn’t be a better example – it took a toll on many businesses. Are you budgeting and making necessary adjustments for your business?

Now lets to the HOW:

1️⃣ Cut on traditional marketing. and explore the lucrative digital platforms.

Digital marketing is more affordable and much more lucrative, there are no limitations. It enables you to reach a bigger audience and when utilizing the right tools, you can reach a more specific target.

The first thing would be to find a team of experts, or outsource a freelancer while you focus on other parts of the business.

2️⃣ Outsource if you can – employees are essential to getting work done but they’re costly.

Having employees means having fixed costs. Although it’s great to have an internal team, you can always outsource freelancers. This gives you a great competitive advantage, controlled costs, and increased reach. You can get access to capabilities and facilities otherwise not accessible or affordable while saving costs.

3️⃣ Have more virtual meetings if on-site meetings are not a MUST.

There’s a lot of costs that go into one meeting: transport (worse if you are far apart), meal/drinks, plus a lot more time is lost in between. A virtual meeting only requires an internet connection.

If is it not necessary to meet in person, opt for virtual. It’s an even bigger loss if the deal is not sealed.

4️⃣ Explore partnerships and collaborations.

It’s not a cliché or a buzzword, collaboration is very necessary for growth. On the contrary, it makes teamwork successful.

The benefits include: networking and opening up new channels for communication, learning from others (especially how they do business), and boosts the morale of your business.

5️⃣ Get interns – they are more social and effortlessly improve your search engine optimization.

Most young people are generally social and like to talk about things they are proud of. Now imagine the FREE Word of Mouth you would get when they tell everybody about the great company they work for?

Did you know that hiring interns help you save on taxes?

The Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) is an incentive put in place by the government to encourage employers to hire individuals who are young and qualified but inexperienced, by reducing the cost of employing them. You just might want to think about it!

Those are just a few ways of going about it, for obvious reasons it differs from industry to industry. How are you saving and cutting off costs in your business?