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Is your business a leaking ship? How to plug the m...

Is your business a leaking ship? How to plug the money holes

I often tell entrepreneurs that they need to think of their small business like a ship. You are the captain, and it is your responsibility to sail the ship in the direction of success. But you need to always be aware of any holes that might suddenly appear in the ship’s body – these could leak and cause the vessel to flood, which would be very bad indeed! This is a similar issue for businesses, just that the only difference is that it isn’t water that’s flooding into your company – it’s money leaking outwards!

It can be far too easy for hidden expenses to go unnoticed by some entrepreneurs. Watch out for these holes and make sure you plug them to prevent any unnecessary leakages!

Expensive Contractors

One of the main reasons some small businesses are losing cash is because the contractors that certain tasks have been outsourced to are far too expensive. As these outsourced tasks can be very important, it’s much better to search for a cheaper contractor rather than bringing them all in-house – at least in the short term. Don’t worry, it’s easy to switch contractors, whether you are looking for a new content writer or an accountant. If you want to learn how to switch accountants there are some resources online that will make it effortless. With every other outsourced service, it’s worth contacting a few potential new contractors and getting quotes to see how much you can save. Bear in mind that while there are price ranges, you want to be wary of anyone who seems to be undercutting too much. You tend to get what you pay for 😉 

Reduce Employee Turnover

The recruitment process can be very expensive indeed. That’s especially the case if you use the services of a headhunter or a recruitment firm. So, to reduce these costs, it’s necessary to try and reduce employee turnover so that you don’t have to start the whole recruitment process so often. Take a look at your organization and see why so many people might be jumping ship so often. I’m sure there are ways you can improve your office culture, which could help retain staff a lot better.

Poor Organization

Did you know that you could lose valuable work time if your company is very badly organized? Even though it might not seem like that is the case, it is, in fact, very much true! For instance, if your office’s storage is in disarray, then you might find that essential supplies go missing quite often. And that might mean you replace items that don’t need to be replaced. Not only that, though, but disorganized scheduling could put a financial strain on your office. So, get your vacation schedule in order and then you won’t struggle because lots of employees are away on holiday at once.

Unnoticed Service Costs

Do you know how much you are paying for your business bank account? Or what your office cleaning bill comes to? You might be surprised just how many service costs you have forgotten about. It’s necessary to check them regularly and cut out any that are not necessary anymore.

As you can see, there are a few potential leaky holes in your ship!


Christine Buske is a former academic who left science at the bench, and now considers herself a woman in tech. She is a frequently invited speaker, and enjoys talking about career transformation (particularly leaving academia for the business world), tech, issues around women in tech, product management, agile, and outreach. She is a proud Canadian resident, and qualifies as a "serial expat".

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