Is inflation impacting your small business?

Inflation is such a predominant part of our society, especially now. Not only does this affect us in our personal lives, but also as business owners.

Recently I have been on the lookout for ways to help small businesses during this time, not only for my own benefit but also in the hopes I could help other businesses as well.

So what have I come up with? The time spent hasn’t been at a complete loss (I think haha). Here are a few things I have found/read.

• Review your business charges:

Do a cost comparison with other similar businesses in your area or that you can compare relatively similarly to. Do your prices need to drop or increase?

If you do need to look at increasing prices, you should do this with openness and transparency with your current customers. Do not lump increases on them quickly and surprisingly or you risk losing them.

• Review suppliers and get quotes from other businesses:

As the cost of purchasing items increases, it may be time to review who you are purchasing items from and see if there are alternate suppliers you could be using.

Obviously, in these cases, you need to be considerate of other businesses as well. Your purchases may be what is also helping their business stay afloat. Talk to the supplier about your costings first before changing to a new one.

• Budgeting:

Budgeting is hard, in any case, but even harder when purchasing prices and things like interest rates continue to fluctuate. But working out your incoming and outgoing costs weekly, monthly, and even yearly can help to determine areas where costs are too high, or money is being spent on items that are no longer needed (or doubled up). These are things like subscriptions that more than one staff member may have.

• Contact financial companies in relation to loans and interest rates:

It can’t hurt to get in contact and have a meeting with your financial institution. Here you can go through your current loans and work out if there is a better way to deal with these. You may need to look at re-financing, combining loans, or even changing the loan structures that you are on.

• Look at leased equipment rather than purchased:

If you are in an industry with highly expensive equipment costs, you may be able to investigate leasing/renting equipment rather than purchasing them outright. This can assist you as most leases include maintenance and repairs of machinery and provide you with a way to increase your cash flow by reducing outgoing initial costs.

• Loan and grants:

Keep an eye out for small business grants, these are relevant to each State Government. Services NSW often has new grants and vouchers available for various things. Currently, you could look to take advantage of the $1000 safety rebate that is available for several workplace safety items.

Times are tough and I hope these things may help or spark an idea for you to investigate something for you and your business.

Thank you – Kait xx