How I Made Cutbacks Within My Small Business

We are in a recession, and personally I think small business owners have been hit the hardest. With increased taxes and customers having less disposable income to spend, business owners really have suffered, and still continue to suffer, myself included.

Owning a business can be challenging at the best of times, and keeping it afloat within a recession/downturn, has by no means been easy. I have to admit I have made cutbacks. Cutting down on the businesses expenditure was essential, and something that I needed to do sooner rather than later.. The decision for me to make some spending cuts within my business was not taken quickly or lightly. Of course, deciding where to make cutbacks has proved the biggest challenge of all and I really do believe there is an art to successful cutbacks. For example if you make too many cuts then they could have a detrimental affect to your businesses future, and if you don't make enough cutbacks you risk not being able to keep your business afloat.

Some cutbacks I have made within my business have been bigger than others. For example I changed my cell phone provider. This may not sound like a bit cutback, but, by changing every employees plan I managed to save myself and the business $100 per month. A bigger cutback I have had to make comes in the form of reducing down hours worked. As spending by customers is lower than it has been in the past few years I have found that I no longer need full time staff, so, I decided to keep the staff I had but just reduce the number of hours each of them worked. By making cutbacks within payroll and human resources I have been able to save both myself and my business $500 a month.

Before making cutbacks I must stress and emphasize that I did my research beforehand. I spent countless numbers of hours writing down how I could save a few dollars here and there. I worked out what would be the most productive ways to make cutbacks, without making my staff feel de-motivated. After making these two cutbacks within my business I have noticed my business is now doing better than it was before. It is not thriving, but it is surviving which is what I am happy with in the current economic climate. I feel that if I had not trimmed costs this time 6 months ago, then my business would not be here today.

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