Small businesses around the world, now more than ever, are finding finances a struggle. With business investment harder to come by and inflation increasing, keeping a close eye on cash flow is vital. This is why, with all my experience in business, I advocate a bootstrapping technique when it comes to growing a small business.
But, what is bootstrapping? Bootstrapping for business means only putting in to your business money that is going in to it. For small businesses in these uncertain economic times, this significantly reduces financial risk and can greatly increase reward.
Bootstrapping may sound impossible, or at least very difficult, for your particular business. However, even if money needs to be spent on stock or other outgoings there are ways that bootstrapping principles can be applied to all businesses.
Bootstrapping techniques sometimes require thinking ‘outside of the box’ and outside of the realms of traditional business strategies; but these techniques do work, and can lead to great business growth.
– Work from home – That’s right, ditch the office! With technology as it is today, there are very few businesses I can think of that actually need an office. Working from home brings not only huge financial benefits (think not only rent but also bills, utilities and insurance), but also greater work/life benefits for you and your employees, increasing productivity and decreasing absenteeism. Add to this the environmental benefits of a reduced commute and an increase workforce using home offices benefits everyone, but most importantly for you will have a massive impact on your bottom line.
Many people think that as soon as they employ staff they need to start working from an office; my experience is that this is not the case at all, and I would argue it is actually counterintuitive. Employees with long commutes suffer increased stress and greater resentment about time away from their families; allowing staff to work from home makes for a happier workforce and greater productivity. And if you have to stand behind your employees to ensure work is being done then you have the wrong employees!
– Outsource – As a business grows many business owners think the only way to cope with increased workloads is to employ more staff. However, staff bring many overheads that can be fatal to a small business during downtime when business is less-than-booming.
Rather than employing staff to cope with perhaps temporary increases in workload, it is much more cost (and time) effective to consider outsourcing work where possible. Talented, experienced and professional freelancers are looking for work, and could help your business to grow without unnecessary overheads.
– Marketing – The internet has opened up a whole world of bootstrap marketing possibilities for small businesses. The best marketing for any small business is a website. A website is a cheap, easy, way of getting your business on the map.
Add to this the possibilities of social media marketing, which is effectively word of mouth online, and your small business can market itself very effectively for very little initial outlay.
These are just some brief bootstrapping techniques. But by employing these techniques you could save your business a large sum of money each year – and couldn’t we all do with that right now?
About the Author: The author Stefan Töpfer is CEO of WinWeb.com – a leading cloud based small business infrastructure provider (small business software, e-Commerce solutions & business process outsourcing). His opinions are based on over three decades working in the SME/SMB sector as serial entrepreneur, #1 small business blogger and angel investor.
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