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In any business cutting overheads is always a good thing. If you can reduce your costs at all, then it will mean an increase in profits. Whether you are a sole trader or run a larger company, these tips will help you to reduce your outgoings.

Outsourcing

Consider hiring freelancers instead of hiring in-house or doing it yourself. A freelancer will free up your own time so that you can focus on more important aspects of your business. For example, if you have a blog on your website; instead of writing everything yourself hire a freelance writer. They are a specialist in the field, and you can find the perfect candidate through websites like Upwork, Fiverr and Freelancer. Hiring a freelancer is much simpler, cheaper and time efficient than hiring an actual employee. Be sure to have a contract agreement to ensure quality and consistency of work though.

Social Media

Instead of relying on paid advertisements, consider using social media as your primary promotional tool. While you can pay for additional visibility through Twitter or Facebook, efficient use of these platforms doesn’t require you to spend any money. Referring back to outsourcing, hiring someone to manage your social media accounts means that you can rest easy knowing that a professional is driving customers to your website. If you decide to pay for promotion of social media, then it will be that much more effective.

Using a personal social media account like Twitter or Instagram is also a great way to show personality and increase your brand’s value. People buy products from places, and people that they trust and like, and social media is a great way to build a relationship with customers.

Use Free Software

Instead of paying for software like Microsoft Office, consider switching to free versions, like OpenOffice or Google Documents. It has many of the same features as its pricier alternative and still allows you to save documents as a PDF and a DOCX, so unless you rely heavily on the features specific to Microsoft’s suite, then you could save your business a lot of money. A lot of software has a free alternative, and it is worth a little extra research to find them and save your business their hefty price tags.

One of the benefits of using something like Google Documents/Sheets etc. is that they automatically save to your Google Drive. This means that you can quickly access your business documents from anywhere with an internet connection. So if you travel a lot for work, then you will never be let down by not having access to a specific document.

Seek Help

This cannot be overstated. If you are struggling in an area, then search out a professional in your field, read their blog, consider messaging them via social media or email and get some advice. For example, an expert Tech Entrepreneur could have some excellent information on a way you are running your business that you hadn’t considered. There is no shame in seeking help and learning valuable lessons on how to improve your business.