Running a business isn’t a joke at all. Be it a big corporation, a small business, or a startup, managing personnel and other crucial aspects of business is tedious in every way.
For startups and small businesses alike, the early years of the business matter a lot. This is the period when your enterprise is getting its feet on the ground and stabilizing. These are also considered investment years; hence, all your decisions have to be carefully thought out. You have to deeply consider what and how you’ll spend on the business to ensure its survival and that you don’t run dry financially before your business can even make a profit.
Furthermore, when starting, it’s hard to know when to save and when to splurge on software and tools. There are no hard and fast rules on how to go about it, but there’s always an ideal for navigating this dilemma. Read on to learn more about it!
1. Business And Business Continuity Plans (Splurge)
A business plan and a business continuity plan constitute the foundation of any business, may it be small or large. Both constitute the template that’ll offer you guidance on what you expect the business to look like, how to run the business, aspects of the business that do and don’t require funds, and much more. Therefore, they’re two of the major tools you need to spend on.
Getting a business plan or a business continuity plan built or drafted doesn’t cost much, but it sure costs enough to be worth the survival of your business. Before you invest in such tools, however, look out for competent individuals that can provide well-structured plans that’ll guide you throughout the process.
2. Marketing Tools (Splurge And Save)
Without any doubt, marketing is the backbone of any business structure. It’s the means through which the world becomes aware of what you’re doing, as well as one that helps you reach your target audience, find out what they need and are looking for, and much more.
When it comes to marketing, there are software and online tools for businesses, such as MailChimp and Boomerang, you ought to utilize. All of these will help you automate and facilitate targeting, reaching out, and building a consumer base with ease, with many of them providing a good number of awesome features for free. Aside from those free functionalities, there are some advanced aspects, like market strategy and market research, that would require you to pay fees.
Marketing is, indeed, vital, but you should be able to know what features to spend on or not so you won’t be hurting your finances along the way.
3. Website (Save)
A website is a pertinent part of any business. Aside from being your clients’ go-to point of interaction with you, it’s also prospective clients’ first point of contact with you. Your website is your virtual persona that should truly stand out from the competition even during the first time someone visits it because the first impression always matters.
But, did you know that as high and mighty as the website is in your business requirement, you can get an awesome and functional website and still save a lot in the process? There are countless platforms and tools to create websites from scratch or with the use of a variety of pre-designed templates that you can customize to your taste. With the likes of Wix, website.com, Yola, and the like, you can design a top-notch website, sometimes even for free!
Instead of going ahead to spend USD$1500 on a website, you can spend between USD$0-USD$250, with a lot to spare.
4. Management Software (Splurge)
To effectively manage all the various processes of your business, like keeping a proper record of staff duties and outputs, salary payments, accounting, and much more, you need capable management software that can properly cater to your management needs without failing. If you believe hiring employees to handle all management aspects will be cheaper, you’ll only be creating problems for yourself in the long run and creating more money-gulping circumstances.
Instead, invest in the best business management software, like Timely, Trello, NetSuite, and more, that’d help condense all activities within your enterprise, help provide accessible and adequate solutions to operational needs and ensure the smooth running of the business in all areas. Plus, in the long run, your management software and tools will help you save a lot of money and extra expenses as your company continues to expand.
Conclusion
The line between spending and splurging is quite blurry. And while there’s no real manual on the best way to run a business due to the uniqueness of each enterprise, there are still aspects that can be generalized. Hopefully, with some of the pointers discussed here, you can guide yourself on the tools and software you can enjoy for free or for minimal fees and those you can splurge on without regrets.
