When you dreamed of opening your business, you probably mostly thought about how much money you could make. Sure, you liked the thought of working for yourself and possibly making your hours, but bringing in the dough was at the top of your mind. You may not have considered how necessary your expenses would be to run a successful business.

You want a good return on investment with everything you do. You won’t keep much of the beautiful revenue you see on your financial statement if you spend too much. You need to take every step possible to save money to keep it in your pocket. While you might think that all you have left are difficult and uncomfortable decisions, there may be more ways than you ever realized to do so. Here are seven simple ways to wave your business money and improve your bottom line.

1. Switch Up Your Marketing Strategy

Many businesses think that to succeed, they have to get their brand in front of as many eyeballs as possible and hope that a big enough chunk makes purchases. However, this type of marketing is overly expensive and is not practical. Too many prominent audience members have no chance of ever wanting or needing the advertised product in the first place.

To save money and be more efficient, you can tailor and target your marketing to fewer people but with a higher percentage who will be interested in your product. The best way to do this is through social media marketing and search engine optimization.

Social media advertisements can target people with common interests and geographical locations with your ideal customer. Search engine optimization is the process of developing your website so that it appears high on search rankings for specific keywords. If a customer finds you this way, they are actively searching for something similar to what you offer.

2. Automation

There are specific tasks that are necessary but are also expensive, time-consuming, and generally hated by everyone in the office. Data entry is one such task. Luckily, in this day and age, there are many solutions out there to automate business processes and make life easier for everyone.

Using automation solutions is cheaper than hiring someone. Plus, it can streamline those processes so they are done faster. In addition, you can have data ready to go whenever you need it. You can also automate payroll, accounts payable and receivable, and much more.

3. Outsourcing

Much like automation, outsourcing can save you a bundle by taking specific tasks out of the hands of your employees. Sometimes it’s not worth recruiting, hiring, and training someone to do a job that doesn’t take that much time out of a day.

Instead of paying someone full-time wages for part-time work, you can outsource to an expert who will only get paid for their work. This can be accounting, office assistance, human resources, or anything else. If you don’t need someone on-site and full-time, look into your outsourcing options.

4. Insurance

The last thing you should do is remove coverage to save money. You need whatever protection you can get. However, you can rationalize the range you have. For example, you need general liability insurance in case of a lawsuit. If you have a vehicle, then you will need commercial auto insurance. Service-based businesses will need professional liability insurance.

However, if there is anything you are paying for that you either don’t need or that doesn’t apply to your company, then you can remove it. Every year you should examine your policies to ensure that you have everything you need and don’t have anything you don’t. This is also a chance to shop around for better prices.

5. Cut Expenses, Not Employees

Instead of laying off your valuable employees, you could look at expenses and perks related to employment that may not be necessary. For instance, if you have a regular staff lunch or provide snacks and drinks in the break room daily, you might have to cut them.

Of course, this should only be done in dire situations since you do not want to upset your staff. However, if it has to be done, clearly explain the problem so that everyone understands why you need to take that step.

6. Switch To Remote Work

When Covid-19 first ravaged the country, millions of people switched to remote work to minimize contact with other people. Now, working remotely has become very common. If you can switch some of your workers to remote jobs, you can move your business to a smaller office. You don’t have to have a central office if you are remote. Building costs are some of the biggest a business can have, and the more you have to work from home, the more you can save.

7. Fewer Services

You may be able to shift some of your maintenance tasks to your employees. For example, instead of having cleaning services come in, you can make it mandatory for staff to clean up their areas and empty their garbage. If you need cleaning services, you can always cut down on how often they come.

Just switching from twice a week to once a week will cut those costs in half. There may be other regular services you don’t want to get rid of, but they may not be necessary. Rationalize everything to ensure you spend as little as possible while keeping up appearances.

Saving money is almost as important as making it. Every cent that is spent means that there are fewer cents in your pocket. However, it can be hard to see what changes you can make when examining your operations. This list lets you know what expenses can be removed to save your business money and improve your overall return on investment.