If you are running a small business and trying to build up the company there will inevitably be plenty of trips to meet prospective clients and lunches to help oil the wheels of commerce, the only problem is that it can sometimes be difficult to keep a lid on the cost of doing business.
Here are some insights into how you might be able to keep track of your business expenses more effectively and tips on ways to be smarter about your costs. Including a look at separating out the different aspects of business expenses, plus some suggestions for slashing your flight and hotel bills.
Running a tight ship
Anyone involved in running a business will probably agree that there are always times when your cash flow seems a bit stretched and you might have spent more than you thought or budgeted for on items like travel and entertaining expenses.
When you are growing a business it is often the case that you might get someone to assist with business loans so that you are properly financed and ready for the challenges ahead. It is also important that you spend every dollar of your available cash as wisely as possible, which is why you need to find an efficient way of keeping track of areas like business expenses.
A good starting point when sorting out a system for tracking your expenses is to appreciate that you need to have a system that helps you separate your personal and business expenditure as easily as possible.
This will help considerably when you have to figure out your taxes and work out your personal and business totals.
Get some help
Running a business involves plenty of multi-tasking and a range of skills, but you can’t expect to be good at all of them and sometimes it is a better use of your time and money to hire a professional to cover the gaps in your knowledge or to simply give you the time to concentrate on growing the business.
Figuring out your taxes and keeping up to date with all the latest rates and changes in the law can be a real challenge, so you might want to set up a system that gathers the information as efficiently and accurately as possible, then hand over the reins to an accountant who can then crunch all the right numbers and work out your taxes accurately.
Keeping a lid on costs
One area where you can make a big difference to your cash flow is to look at some savvy ways to keep your business expenses as low as possible.
If you plan to visit a specific trade convention in a few months time, for instance, it has been shown that you can save some serious cash by booking your flights and hotels as early as possible.
If you can book your flights at least seven weeks before the cost of those flights can be as much as 60% cheaper than if you leave it to the last minute. If you can find suitable accommodation on a site like Airbnb instead of checking in at a big hotel, this is another area where savings of 30% or more are perfectly achievable.
If you can cut the cost of doing business and keep a tighter control of your finances in general, it will help to ensure that your cash flow stays positive.
