First of all, let me say congratulations! If you haven't already, I encourage you to give yourself a big ol' pat on the back.
You made it through the holiday rush and served your customers. That is a significant accomplishment, and I hope you feel proud of yourself and can take some time to rest and relax as the year comes to a close. Your customers are happy, and you've made their lives better. Yes, even though you sell jewelry or apparel, those are what your customers CHOSE, and your amazing product and phenomenal service are something that they'll carry with them. I want you to relish in all of the wins because I'm over here doing it right here with you! As we start to think about 2021 and all of the great things that will happen in your business, I wanted to help you start on the right foot with some great money-saving hacks!
Money-saving hacks is a topic that is probably at the forefront of your mind anyway, so I came up with a list of nine different things that you may not have even considered. I just found out about some of these tricks myself, so I think they'll get your mind buzzing.
Grab your pen and notepad because you're going to want to jot some of these great ideas down!
Money Saving Hacks You Should Know About
#1: Get A Credit Card
I know what you're going to say. “But Alison, I don't want to have to pay interest!” Yeah, they charge interest. But if you pay them off every single month, the credit card company can actually send you a check every month. This is a step that ONLY works if you pay off your card every month. If that's not you, then skip this step.
I recommend you get a card that you strictly use for your business and run all of your purchases through them. Pay it off every month, and you'll be rewarded with some nice cashback incentives. That's how we rack up plenty of miles to use for airline travel. And I'll just say, it's pretty nice to get free flights to and from Puerto Rico and Utah. This has to be one of my favorite saving hacks.
The credit card that I use personally and for business is Capital One. When you go apply for a Capital One credit card, they're going to try and give you 1% cashback.
You can actually negotiate with them to get 2% cashback That's double the money getting back in your pocket. It's the green Capital One cashback card, and from that alone, we got over $20,000 in 2020!
#2: Amazon Second Chance
This is Amazon's recycling and sustainability project. You can essentially shop through their second chance store and find great deals on items that would cost a lot more of the regular Amazon storefront.
For instance, I just looked up a thermal printer for the sake of this post and found one for $185. On the regular homepage, the lowest priced option was over $300. That's a lot of savings! The equipment you use in your business adds up, and I want to make sure you are continually getting the best deals possible, so be sure to look into this option.
#3: Don't Buy Everything
I think almost every new business owner has the instinct to turn their kitchen/basement/bedroom into an inventory room. Don't do that! You don't need to have everything all at once. The name of the game is a quick turnaround. You want to be able to have products come in and go out quickly and efficiently. Order small and just grow accustomed to doing it often.
#4: Don't DIY
This one might ruffle some feathers. I know how much you love to DIY, and sometimes the thought of doing it all yourself just seems easier. But let's take a moment and be completely honest with ourselves. How many times have you started a project just for it to be abandoned in some lonely corner of your house?
You don't want to do that in your business. Those abandoned projects lead to lost money and time! And time is not something we can get back. Sometimes the DIY projects to save you money, end up costing you a heck of a lot more. And why I tell you this is because I'm watching a lot of people go down the road of YouTube University and waste their time. I'm telling you right now; you cannot create more time. You can create more money, but you cannot create more time.
#5: Swap Marketing
If you decide to go down the traditional marketing route, then you're going to be giving Mr. Zuckerberg a lot of cha-chings. And sometimes, the results are not at all what you're hoping them to be. Want a better alternative?
Market with other business owners!
Let me give you an example. We have Olivia of Starlette Galleria, and we've got Shera of Shop Seven Degrees. These two gals are well over the six-figure mark. And I've been watching them throughout the holiday season, and it makes my heart so happy! They're swapping and sharing each other's content. So Olivia will have a sale, and I can go over into Shera's Instagram account, and I can see her sharing it.
And then the opposite happens. So they're sharing and exposing each other's audience with each other. And they're both growing to a whole new level!
Guess how much it costs them? Nothing.
#6: Stop Paying For Subscriptions
This one is easy and so hard! Subscription services are so sneaky in that we often don't even notice the money leaving our accounts. Ten dollars here and there seems like no big deal until you add it all up!
I recently just went through and got rid of all of my storage subscriptions because Google Drive is FREE and works just as well! Take the time to go through your financial statements and get rid of what you don't need.
#7: Check Those Statements!
Piggybacking off the last one. Take the time and comb through your statements. End services that you don't need and make sure your charges are accurate! It will save you so much money and save some sanity.
#8: Organize and Organize Some More
Having everything spread all over the internet is doing you no good. Like I mentioned, get rid of the thousand subscriptions you have and keep the few things that actually work and keep you efficient.
#9: Audiobooks
Are you a fan of audiobooks? Throw in some earbuds, start doing the dishes, laundry, editing photos, and listening to a book simultaneously. You can get one book per month, and then the monthly fee is pretty low! It can add up, especially when you've got a whole bunch of kids that want to listen to every book of the Harry Potter Series.
Which saving hacks were new to you? I’d love to know. Also, would you add any others?
