Benefit Consultants Blog

Thanks to the current economic crisis that the world is now immersed in, running a profitable business seems more challenging than ever before.  After all, managing a successful business is difficult enough even in the best economy; but what about in the midst of the credit crunch?  If you want to keep your business profitable while searching for ways to reduce costs and control expenses, then you’ll need to think outside of the box and get a little creative with your solutions.  Luckily for you, there’s a clever little trick that you can utilize that will save your business thousands of dollars a year – which is a shot in the arm that any company can use during the credit crunch!

Many businesses are now “trimming the fat” off of the employee payroll – in other words, if employees aren’t experiencing a reduction in their pay, then many are getting laid off.  While this can have an immediate benefit in terms of saving dollars, reducing the number of employees in your office often means that the employees spared from the axe are forced to pick up the pace by doubling up on their work load.  For a business owner, this means low morale, an increase in sick days and a decrease in productivity – in other words, money goes down the drain!

Cutting loose a few employees is a financially sound move in terms of cost reduction, but you’ll need to protect your remaining employees from becoming overwhelmed.  How can you save money on expenses while still protecting your employees, you may ask? Don’t worry: you can have your expense reduction cake and eat it too by hiring a college or business school student as an intern with your business.  To sweeten the deal, set up an arrangement with local colleges, business and computer schools that will offer the internship as credit towards a student’s class or degree.  In this way, you’ll be able to save much-needed money by reducing costs while preventing your employees from feeling overburdened with a heavy workload.  Students can act as administrative assistants or office managers, or, depending on how experienced they are, can make great data entry assistants as well. 

As you can see, expense reduction doesn’t have to mean sacrifice in the business world.  It just takes a bit of patience, determination and a whole lot of creativity in order to keep your business profitable during these financially unsound times! Visit kenhimmler.com for more advice on how to survive these difficult times.

Determining whether to purchase or lease equipment necessary for the successful operation of a business can be a daunting task. Many factors need to be considered, as there are advantages and disadvantages to both buying and leasing equipment. As a business owner, it is wise not only to reduce costs but to save money on expenses as well. Therefore, it is extremely important that factors such as the overall cost of the equipment, the usable life of the equipment, and possible tax breaks related to the equipment get sufficient and judicious contemplation.

Many times, business owners simply do not have the capital necessary to buy needed equipment. In situations such as these, leasing equipment can be an excellent option. When equipment is leased, a business can acquire their much needed equipment with minimal up-front expense. While leasing equipment is generally more expensive than purchasing equipment, the initial out-of-pocket cost reduction that leasing offers is often appealing.

Lease payments may be deducted as a business expense on a business’ tax return. High-tech equipment can become obsolete within a matter of years. This fact makes leasing equipment attractive because leased equipment can be upgraded when necessary, which can help a business reduce costs in the future. Leases may be flexible, but payments must be made even when the equipment is not being used. Leases often carry higher overall costs and no equity is being established.

For businesses have the necessary financial resources at their disposal, purchasing equipment may be the preferred option. The main advantage of purchasing equipment is ownership and built in equity. In the year of purchase, for some equipment, the full cost of the equipment can be deducted from taxes. This can be a significant expense reduction depending on the price of the equipment.

Additional tax savings may be available in the form of a depreciation deduction. This could be another cost reduction for the business. Since the goal of most businesses is to reduce expense, the tax breaks offered by purchasing equipment may help business owners reach this goal. However, purchasing equipment does have higher initial costs and there is the potential that equipment will become obsolete and have little resale value. For additional tax saving advice, visit www.kenhimmler.com

Whether trying to save money on expenses or attempting to overall reduce expense, the cost-effectiveness between leasing and purchasing will vary for every business.

If you manage your own store, you are almost certainly familiar with all of the unpredicted issues that companies deal with. It feels like no matter how carefully you prepare, there are always unexpected expenses, last minute fixes, and unanticipated blunders that need to be handled – mainly when you are just starting out. In our own business, We’ve had to put up with plumbing issues, poor electrical jobs not appropriate for our store needs, a difficult locality, competition from regional chains, and excessive heating charges. Nevertheless, The most surprising problem I ran into, was noise.

It never came into our minds acoustical ceiling tiles before I open for business. To tell the truth, less than a year ago I could not have told you what an acoustical celing tile was. Yet, I had to find out about them real quick. You see, the principal concern we had wasn’t that our shop was insulated, costly to heat, or plagued by plumbing issues, but that it was allmost impossible to hear ourselves think. Even with the racks of household goods, the low ceiling and cement floors combined to create a terrible reverberation chamber. It was there even before we opened, but once we started to get customers in there, it got really bad.

Prior to installing the acoustic ceiling panels, we would notice customers leave in a hurry. Some people would purchase clothes or stuff for the home, but only if they could put their hands on the items right away. Those who weren’t able to get what they were looking for quickly would be driven out by the harsh racket. Once the acoustic ceiling tiles were put in, however, people were willing to spend more time shopping. They didn’t find the store unpleasant and feel in a rush to leave. This, of course, translated to a big boost in transactions.

As soon as we had the acoustical cieling tiles installed, we began to observe acoustic sound dispersal devices everywhere. In a small store with low ceilings, there seems to be only one way of diffusing noise, but large hals and some mid-sized stores often have a few different choices. In place of acoustical tile ceilings, some hang acoustic banners, which stop most of the sound from echoing off of the cieling. Other places use room dividers, soft cushions, or even heavy carpeting as a way to obstruct excessive resonances. There are many of different options, therefore one is bound to work for your store.