An underestimation of the costs you’ll need to absorb as part of a new business venture can lead to premature business failure. It’s of great importance to gain a full understanding of exactly what it would take to be successful. Fortunately, though, there are three hidden business costs which if you’re aware of them, you can get started on the right footing.
Keep your gas and electricity bills in control
In the UK, a micro-business will use 7,500 kWh of electricity per year and face a total bill of 1,062 as a result, on average, according to data compiled by BusinessEnergy. These figures can go all the way up to 15,000 kWh and a 2,038 bill for a small business, 25,000 kWh and a 3,146 bill for a medium-sized business, and 60,000 kWh and a 7,346 bill for an industrial business.
It soon becomes clear that gas and electricity are major expenses for companies across the board when you add to this the fact that organisations with gas connections typically use 10,000 kWh per year with a total average bill of 430 if they are a small business, 25,000 kWh and a total bill of 856 if they are a medium-sized business and 45,000 kWh and a total bill of 1,424 if they are a larger business.
As an example of how you should consequently take the time to shop around for the best deals when first setting up your business, Flogas, offer a competitively priced and reliable gas supply to a variety of companies and can help them save up to 45 per cent on their gas spending alone.
Ensure you show your staff you appreciate them
While building your new business, the likelihood is that you’ll be getting to know a lot of new faces as you build your team of staff members. Even if this would mean added costs for you, it’s important to demonstrate your appreciation to your employees when they are working hard and delivering the results that you are striving for, to ensure they remain happy and see your company as a great place to work.
While everything from prizes for employee of the month initiatives, to sett aside budgets so that teams can bond outside of the workplace with a meal or social gathering will cost money, these initiatives are also very likely to boost morale and have employees appreciating their work and doing their jobs with a positive attitude.
Remember to extend to your staff members the opportunity to attend training courses on behalf of the company as well, as doing so can help maintain high levels of motivation and engagement.
Make sure you get with the times
Whatever industry you’ll be entering into, there’s a huge chance that you’ll be entering into a very fierce arena of competition, as a new business. Therefore, it would be necessary for you to make use of the latest technological innovations to offer a smooth shopping experience to your clients. Let’s say that you have opened a cannabis business that sells a variety of CBD products, ranging from oil, and tinctures to gummies. So, to ensure that you survive the cut-throat competition, you would need to embrace a user-friendly website, a point of sales system for ease of payments (which can be sourced from the likes of POSaBIT– learn more about it from here), and a customized courier software application that can allow you to track the deliveries.
Remember that a good way of ensuring your business survives is making sure your team has the most up-to-date technology available to them to deliver the best results possible. This might include new ways of promoting your business. For example, if you have started a mortgage business then you may need to look into software such as CRM for mortgage lenders or specialised digital advertising to possibly enhance your business.
Another way of ensuring the same would be by keeping track of all your business expenditure, sales, budget, etc on at least a weekly or monthly basis. It is understandable, however, that it can prove difficult for many, especially the new business owners who already have so much responsibility on their shoulders. But they can definitely take help from one of the reputed bookkeeping services. Maintaining a record also gives you an idea of how your business is performing and what changes need to be made.
If your employees come to you raising good arguments concerning issues such as how much better-served they’d be in carrying out certain tasks on the move, why not consider an investment in a collection of tablet computers installed with all the necessary software, for instance? Adding robust security programs to all your computer systems should give you peace of mind if you’re worried about cybercrime when you hear of stats such as that there were around 3.6 million cases of fraud and 2 million computer misuse offences recorded by the Crime Survey for England and Wales in its latest annual report.
Although such implementations can add to the initial costs, if it results in a more efficient and effective workplace then surely you will very quickly reap the rewards.
