Setup costs when you’re launching your own business can rack up fast in those first couple of months. If you’re on a budget (who isn’t?) you may have to cut a couple of corners here and there. For example, if you can make do with running your business from home for a while, you’d do well to save the money you’d otherwise spend on office rental for other more crucial expenditures. So how do you know when to spend and when to hold back?
Analyse Costs vs Benefits
When it comes to stretching your startup budget, it can be helpful to get your priorities straight so you know what to invest in upfront, and what to put on the wish-list for further down the line. In each instance, you need to assess the benefits you stand to gain from the investment, as well as the consequences of not going all-in on the expense in the initial stage. Here are two examples that demonstrate how you should allocate your budget to give your business the best start.
Safety First, Always
When you don’t have a lot of cash to throw around, it can be tempting to skimp on safety essentials such as fire extinguisher servicing, or keeping your first-aid box stocked. What are the chances of something going wrong? But putting aside for a moment that failing to give careful consideration to Health and Safety would pose a threat to your employees, your assets and potentially your customers, it’s worth bearing in mind that nothing sinks a new company like a bad safety record. Adhering to the letter of the law when it comes to safety is especially important if your business operates in an industry involving waste disposal or the use of heavy machinery. Your warehouse is another crucial area for safety checks. For example, pallet racking safety inspections should be on your addenda from day one. But even if your company is less hands-on, it is vital that even those seemingly insignificant health and safety regulations are closely adhered to.
A Professional Website
Here’s a good example of an area of your business that it’s okay to skimp on at first, but you’d do well to invest in at the soonest opportunity. Investing a portion of your limited budget in having a professional website built is a pricey outlay for a new business. For this reason, it’s quite normal for startups to go the template-based route for their first website, using a hosting site like Squarespace for a while. You can’t go too wrong with a slick-looking template-based site, but once your business is fully functional, you may realise that you need certain functionality that is not on offer. At this time, it’s worth going all-out to take your website and your business to the next level. The last thing you want is to do this process twice. Pay for a good designer who understands your needs, and build the website that’s going to carry your business through.
Launching a new business is always going to involve opportunities to learn from your mistakes. If you’re struggling to decide how to spend your budget, these tips will help you weigh the pros and cons of each decision.
