Reduce Spending & Cut Your Caffeine Habit — In 5 Easy Steps!

It's summer baby! Time to enjoy the season! Boozy brunches, sun, gelato… Italy here I come!! My flowy linen pants can’t wait! Maybe George Clooney will pick me up at the airport. Sigh... a girl can dream. Who am I kidding? This isn’t a travel blog for people with insane amounts of free time. I write for people who run small businesses, not exactly the set known for long, frequent Roman holidays. So unless you just sold your business or closed up shop for the season, you probably don’t have time to hop off to Italy for a Tuscan summer fling. (Sorry George.) You’re busy!

The other thing you might not have enough of is money. I’m not assuming, just making a guess. I know how it is, I run a business too, and in my early days, it was tough. I didn't always love the numbers I saw when I looked at my financials. What about you? Do you jump for joy when you look at your bank statements? (Go you if you do!) Or do you avoid looking in the first place 'cuz you know you're not gonna like what you see? It's OK, I've been there. But I'm not there anymore and you don't have to be either. Here are some tips to get your financials where you want them.

Get Back To Basics With Your Small Business Budget. Your Bottom Line Will Thank You!

Job cost down to the last latte!

To really see where you’re losing money, you have to track and categorize every expense for your small business into A's (cost of goods sold); B's (time); and C's (lattes and parking tickets — not that you'd ever get any tickets). Seeing your expenses broken down like this will help you figure our what changes to make. All your bad habits will be on display in a tidy spreadsheet so what you need to do might be glaringly obvious. Like, maybe you don't need 11 lattes a week. And perhaps it's time to pay attention to the damn parking meter!

Time is money.

Tracking your time has numerous benefits, such as helping you identify which aspect of your business is sucking up all of your energy and not giving a very good return on investment.

Ditch the corner office!

It's time to get lean, mean and serious about cutting expenses. If office rent is killing your bottom line, then ditch it. That’s why they invented Starbucks. (I'll cut you some slack here. Yes, you can buy a coffee. Swapping a latte for the money you'll save on rent is what I'd consider a smart trade-off.)

Join the online social.

Online social networking allows you to market your business and build advantageous connections at practically zero cost. Hop on Twitter and tweet all the way to the bank!

Go shopping… for vendors that is.

Is your local printer really cutting you the best deal in town? Finding the right vendors and establishing a good relationship with them can save you a ton of money in the long run.

Be Oh So Quotable This Week!

While we're on the subject of improving the bottom line for your small business, are you in desperate need of simple and easy steps to attract clients you love, create a pricing strategy and ditch the door knockers? Then you've come to the right place! Get it here for FREE!

I always say running a business means the work never ends! Ain't that the truth? I bet your to-do list is a mile long! Make sure that the items at the top of your list are the things that relate to being more profitable. Everyone is so proud of being so "busy"...But Are You Making Any Money? Don't be too busy to focus!

Check out the summary of last week's business tips and motivational quotes from my Instagram page which you hopefully got to see in real time! If not, let's make sure we're following each other on Instagram!! So...here is this week's roundup of Instagram images of My Top Business Tips and Motivational Quotes.

Small Business – Tip #1:

Love this? Pin it to your Pinterest Quotes Board.

"Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember – the only taste of success some people get is to take a bite out of you." – Zig Ziglar

Small Business – Tip #2:

Love this? Pin it to your Pinterest Business Tips Board.

"There is no better personal development tool than running your own business." – Ali Brown

Small Business – Tip #3:

Love this? Pin it to your Pinterest Quotes Board.

"Fail often so you can succeed sooner." – Tom Kelley

Small Business – Tip #4:

Love this? Pin it to your Pinterest Business Tips Board.

"If you can't feed a team with two pizzas, it's too large." – Jeff Bezos

Small Business – Tip #5:

Love this? Pin it to your Pinterest Motivation Board.

"Don't try to be the original, just try to be good." – Paul Rand

Let's talk! I'd love to hear your small business budget tips!

Do you have any advice for getting a small business budget looking better? I would LOVE to hear from you! Anyhoo...I publish these business tips and motivational quotes to get you fired up for your work week!

Oh by the way, in case you're looking for something to help with time management, we've got this fun little quiz to test your productivity. Are you a Vodka & Red Bull? A Dirty Dirty? Or a plucky Blue Sapphire? Find out which cocktail you are by taking our quiz right now!

And, if you want more business tips, get my book, But Are You Making Any Money? or contact me to really take your business to the next level!

xoxo M

‍