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Making Do Workarounds, second best solutions to implement when you don't have the more expensive tools, ways to cope with less than the ideal solution. More information (how-to details) on this topic can be found at http://www.skinnyshoestring.com/ebooks.htm, in the Business Startup eBook. Phones It is admittedly more professional to have a separate phone line for your business. But it is not essential. A shoestring startup can get by just fine with a single phone line. But if you do use just one, make sure that you answer it with your business name, and do not treat it like a personal line. You still won't be able to deduct it on taxes, but if you make sure everyone in the household knows to answer the phone in a professional manner, you'll do just fine until your business grows enough to support the cost of an additional line. Internet There are not many issues for most businesses with internet use. Mostly they boil down to phone lines, and email addresses. If you have a single line that you share between voice and internet, then get Call Waiting. That will usually bump you offline when a call comes through. Yes, it may interrupt your browsing, but better that than losing a customer. Please do NOT use a disposable email address for a business! Yahoo, Hotmail, and other free accounts are NOT suitable for a business. People will not trust you to be there to honor a deal if you do not have a stable email account. Printing You can save a good deal by printing many things yourself. Sometimes though you don't save so much on the individual items, but you may save by containing costs by printing on demand. You don't have to come up with a large payment all at once, nor do you have to invest in a minimum print order of things that you may not need. If changes occur, you don't waste whatever is leftover either. Make sure you can do a quality job though, because ineffective printed materials won't save you a dime! Software Free software admittedly has limitations. Low cost software does also. But if all you need is something for basic features, then you can often find free stuff that will do quite well for you. If you purchase a lower cost item, make sure it will last you at least 6-12 months before you require the higher powered features of more expensive stuff. The best advice I can give you on software is to download and test a Trial Version or Demo before you buy! Do NOT risk purchasing based on someone else's recommendation (even mine). Find out if you can learn to use it well before you purchase. This one simple step can save you huge amounts in both dollars and time. Home Office There are a lot of things you can do to get by with a home office. You may have to do without a dedicated work space, or with a less than satisfactory desk for a while. A better work environment becomes a necessity under two circumstances: If it is causing you to lose significant time because it is poorly organized. Usually this can be remedied with minimal expense. If you dread working because your workspace is physically uncomfortable or highly inconvenient. I recently purchased a second printer because our main printer is connected into a computer across the room from where I do most of my work on my laptop. I don't like having to go across to print out a job, so I put it off. Having a printer near my workstation is something that helps me work more efficiently and better, and to do more cost saving work from my main workstation. I also bought a laptop when I became limited, so that I can work in comfort from my recliner. I get more done, and that means more business, so it was a worthwhile expense. If you do make a purchase, think about some things before you impulse buy. If you need a laptop, think about whether you will really use it the way you think you will (I recommend you switch entirely to a laptop if you get one, there is very little justification for, and a great deal of inconvenience to maintaining two computers). If you buy a desk, make sure it has sufficient room for the keyboard and mousepad on the keyboard shelf, and that it won't put the monitor too high for comfort. If you purchase a chair, sit in it first, and make sure it fits you. Wise choices the first time around can save you a bundle! Marketing There are a whole host of low cost and free marketing strategies that only take your time. Most of them will result in long term business benefits, so you really have nothing to lose by using them. There are two main tips: Do not use tactics which will harm the reputation of your company. Doing so will not get you good customers, and it can get your website banned from the search engines. Do not use any tactic which does not give you an increase in paying customers or increased site revenue. Traffic exchanges that get you clicks but no interest in your site are a waste of time. Only use tactics which positively affect your bottom line... no matter if they give you only one customer a month, if that goes on and on, the tactic will be worth the time in the long term. Full coverage of marketing is available in our Marketing eBook at http://www.skinnyshoestring.com/ebooks.htm. Tax Prep Use TurboTax. If you have to cut corners, this software is the best possible option. It will get you better results than doing it yourself (it does not forget about deductions or credits), it has all the forms you need, and it remembers standard information from one year to the next. This is simply the best cost cutting option out there, and it is a no-lose choice. Computers You can save a bundle on computers if you buy used, but you have to know what you are buying. Purchasing high end used computers is a waste of money, because you can find a new one with the same specs for the same price or less, and the new one will have a warranty, the used one usually won't. If you know you will use a computer a lot, buy the least expensive new one that you can find that has enough RAM to operate properly (for Windows XP that is 256MB). That is the most important spec to know. Unless you are doing graphics processing, or feel that high powered gaming is a necessity, any new system will work as a business computer without major limitations. If you will only need to check email and do word processing, then you can use an older computer without problems. If you have questions about what you need, you can email us for a personal assessment (we won't try to sell you anything, we'll just give you the info you need to buy a good system). Website Saving on a website is a complex issue. It involves a range of technical and aesthetic issues which you cannot begin to explain in a simple paragraph or two. So, my best advice is to read up on it at http://www.skinnyshoestring.com/ebooks.htm. Even if you hire it out, you need to learn some things. You'll be a sitting duck for fraud if you do not. You can email us for a personal needs assessment and quote if you like (no obligation!). We'll tell you honestly what will help you and what will be a waste of your money, and even point you to resources if you decide to do it yourself. You can read about our website services here: http://www.adventuretech.us/packages.htm. Equipment Saving on equipment is simple to do. Working around the absence of equipment that you need can be very difficult sometimes. Back when I was making business cards for other people, I had a paper cutter. It was a low cost, poor quality one. It would not even cut paper until we sharpened the blade, and then it had quirks. The grid was ever so slightly misaligned, so you had to know just what smidge to adjust for. The middle of the blade had to be held just so to get a smooth cut. And it would not cut more than one sheet at a time. Orders were infrequent though (in our small town the need was consistent but low), and I never felt that purchasing a more expensive cutter was justified. I still have that horrid cutter, I have never bought another, and I still cut my own cards with it. Yes, it has been a hassle to use it, but a better one would not have increased our income potential because that particular service was not a growth service. On the other hand, I have a laptop that is very sensitive to static. If one of my kids comes hurdling across the room and throws themselves around the laptop for a hug, it will blank out the screen if they have slid their feet across the carpet. This is the only laptop I have ever had with this peculiarity. When it happens, there is nothing to do but pull the plug, pop the battery, and restart. I lose whatever work I have not saved. As a computer tech, I KNOW to save frequently. But as a hyperfocused, mildly obsessive writer and designer, I often get so focused on getting it right that I forget. I have lost hours to that computer! A new computer was not just a wish, it became a need, because it was costing me money, because I use it all the time, and the need to use it was growing, along with the need to make my business more efficient to accommodate the growth. My policy is to never purchase anything that the need for is not growing, and to not purchase anything that my business cannot support the purchase of. I did not get my own domain name until I was certain that the business could sustain the expense of hosting. I purchase ads only as the money is available to do so. I commit to no long term payments without long term contracts in place that will bring in the money to pay for them. And I don't buy anything unless it will improve my ability to earn. Infrequent annoyances can be dealt with, and workarounds that only affect a small amount of my time are reasonable and expected.
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