When you start living the digital life, you are going to wonder how you ever got stuck “in the real world” using crazy things like paper to communicate. What is going on there anyway? When you are ready to take your business digital, you might need a little bit of a push and we’re here to give you that push today. In this article, we are going to talk about 6 cost-saving tips for taking your business digital.
1. Memos
When you’re living in a digital world, you don’t get paper memos, you get pings on Podio, Slack or Trello letting you know that tasks need to be done. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on paper letting people know what is going on and oftentimes these things quite literally falling through the cracks, now you can go digital and communicate effectively, and also know who sees what and when.
New technology continues to come out that will allow us to do away with the paper memos. Whether you are keeping your team updated through the above channels and dropping files into Dropbox or Drive, you can go digital and not even miss the paper. These platforms allow you to share files and folders as well as edit them remotely so you don’t miss out on function, but you do miss out on pricey paper.
2. Checks
Are you still writing paper checks? Let’s not get into how many options there are for payments online. If you are still paying people with checks, it is time to come into the 21st century. I remember when I was little that I was so excited to get my first book of checks (they were fake) and when I was old enough to get real checks, I thought I was extremely grown up. Now checks just show that you are behind the times.
Instead of spending money on checks, why not put that money into something else that is going to help you grow your business? Use paypal, stripe or another payment option to pay and process payments but ditch the checks.
3. Gas
If you’re so digital that you don’t have an office, everyone is saving money. No more commuting? That’s exciting. Stop sitting in traffic for hours, get more done and save money on gas? Cha-ching. That’s a win. According to CNN, people are spending over $2,000 a month just getting to work. What could you do with an extra $2,000? New shoes? Down payment on a new car for when you do drive? Not to work, of course.
4. Vehicle Depreciation
Another money saver is no more putting lots of miles on your car. When you rack up the miles on your car, your vehicle is depreciating and that’s no fun. You want your vehicle to hold its value as long as possible. If you’re a digital worker then you’re not going to work and you’re not experiencing depreciation.
5. Snacks & Coffee
When you have a physical office, if you don’t keep track of how much money you’re putting out in snacks and coffee, you should. You’re looking at $25 and up per year per employee when you are only supplying coffee and then you have to add on the snacks. If you have lots of employees, this can be a major cost. If everyone is at home buying their own coffee, you aren’t going to have to foot the bill.
6. Miscellaneous Office Supplies
While there are some miscellaneous office supplies that you need when you go digital (like GSuite), you won’t find yourself coming up with mounds of expenses from employees that like taking home staplers or stick notes. Learn to set up a professional email address for about $5 or you’re taking care of all your employees you can get an enterprise option that will allow you to have many email address served through Google’s popular email platform gmail.
With all of the money you are saving through having a digital office and no need for office supplies like sticky notes and pens, you can pay for online video conferencing like Zoom so the team can come together and bond digitally.
Conclusion
Being able to take your business digital means big savings. Whether you choose to keep an office or you decide that you are going to have everyone working remotely, you will still save money if you don’t use paper. Paper serves very little use these days. You can even do contracts online through services like Docusign. Save the trees, anyone?
PowerPoint and viewing presentations online replaces physical files and folders. There is no need for paper flip and flow charts. You can take everything you do offline and put it online for major savings. It won’t only save you money, but it will also save you a big headache. That headache is getting rid of all the waste that you create each year. Now with minimal waste, you won’t have to worry about it as much.
If you think going digital makes sense for your business, you don’t have to take the leap all at once. You can start by digitizing one process at a time. As you begin to see the benefits of going digital, it will be easier to take the next steps for the change. The more you’re in the black and seeing profits rising while expenses are falling, you’ll want to be living in a digital world too.
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