Money’s Too Tight to Mention

Day 13 of the blog challenge is to pick a song title and write a blog about it. I thought that Money’s Too Tight to Mention by Simply Red was rather apt considering the current financial climate.

People are finding that their disposable income has dropped considerably over the last few years, despite what the government tell us. There are all kinds of ways people can save money: changing supermarkets (we now shop at Aldi and have halved our food bill), walking instead of driving where-ever possible, don’t ‘eat out’ as much, cut down your mobile phone contract to a sim-only deal. The list goes on…

But how about ways to make more money? I’m not talking about over-time at work but setting up your own back room business. You may have skills to do something yet have never taken the plunge into going it alone. Working for youself alongside your main job is time consuming and your leisure time will decrease, but if you are working at something you enjoy then surely it’s worth it? And the extra money will always be helpful.

A few businesses that you could start up and run from your back room are:

• Artist – Caricatures, sketches, watercolours etc…
• Graphic Design
• Web Designer
• Greeting card design
• Author
• eBay Trader
• Mobile phone applications developer

I’m sure that there are others that you can think of that I’ve not mentioned – if so add them to the blog via a comment.

All of these home businesses could be set up for little or no cost at all. If you’re reading thing blog then I assume that you already have a computer, so you’re halfway there to trading on the internet. If you enjoy drawing or painting, why not try and turn some of your works of art into extra cash for yourself? The extra income may take the place of the bonus or pay rise that you didn’t get from your employer because they are having to save money too.

Don’t forget that you will need to register with HMRC if you do decide to trade self-employed. If you need any help with setting up and your financial affairs RS Book-Keeping can help you every step of the way.

I hope that this post has given you something to think about, there has rarely been a better time that now for small businesses to start up. So if you have the idea and the skills, what are you waiting for?

What Is The Best Way To Save Money For My Business?

This is the $50m question that every business owner asks themselves and some point during their life. There isn’t one definitive answer as each business/company is different; if there was we wouldn’t have witnessed so many companies going into administration during the last few years.

What there is though, are lots of smaller ways to save money, that over the course of a year for a small business will add up to substantial savings. A few of them are below:

 

• Do you really need a full hour for your lunch break? By only taking half an hour you can maximise your time working and earning money
• Do you really need 5,000 printed letterheads when you will probably only used 1,000 of them in the year? Yes the cost per unit is cheaper, but the hit on your cashflow is a lot harder
• Does doing your own accounts/bookkeeping really save you money? By employing a professional accountant/bookkeeper to do this for you it frees up your time to focus on your work, which is what you do best. The accountant/Bookkeeper may even be able to help save you some tax that you may have missed
• Is paying £40+ a month for a mobile phone contract worthwhile? If your phone bill would be less that £40 a month why not try a sim-only deal?
• Is it really necessary to drive over to see a client for a quick conversation which could be done over the internet via Skype? You’ll both still be able to see each other, but you will be able to save the cost and time wasted on a round trip
• Do you really need to be VAT registered? Many small companies register unnecessarily and in the long run it costs them money

These are just a few tips/ideas that may help you. As mentioned at the top of the post, each and every business is different and what works for one may not work for another. In these financially unstable times it pays for you to cut costs where you can.