Being self employed is a growing global trend…
Running your own business is difficult at the best of times. But it’s especially hard when it’s just you!
Being self employed you’re responsible for everything including sales, accounts, IT, marketing, debt collection and lets not forget, you’ve also got to do the work too. Yes, it’s very tough.
Being your own boss can be financially demanding too. And we’ve not seen many money saving tips for the self employed that concentrate on helping you.
It’s always a good idea for all of us to think about how we can save money in case things go wrong in the future. But, when you’re self employed this becomes essential, as success it not shared halved or even quartered. Success is solely about you and you’re performance in every single area.
So to help you, we’ve looked into some easy ways you can save money and scale back your spending, without making too many big changes. And here’s 10 money saving tips for the self employed…
1. Know what expenses you can claim
In order to get as many deductions from tax bills as possible, you should be thinking about it all year round and keep a detailed record of all your allowable expenses. Making sure nothing slips through the net when you fill in your next tax return. To help here’s a list of the expenses the self-employed are allowed to claim:
Office expenses -You can include furniture, business stationery and postage.
Office Technology – You can claim for any business equipment like computers, software and printing technology.
Business premises – You can claim expenses for rent, maintenance and repair, utility bills, property insurance and security.
Business from home – You can include part of your home utility bills, but you need to work out the proportion of your home that’s used for business, and what proportion of the month it’s being used for business purposes. You can also use simplified expenses, which is a flat monthly rate calculated by the government.
Travel – You can include business car or van costs, including vehicle insurance, fuel, hire charges, repairs, servicing and breakdown cover. You can also include business travel by train, bus, plane or taxi, and hotel rooms and meals during overnight business trips.
Stock & materials – You can include the cost of your stock, raw materials, and direct costs from producing your goods (if you do this yourself).
Legal & financial costs – If you need to hire an accountant, a solicitor, a surveyor or an architect for business reasons, you can include the cost in your calculation. You can also include bank, overdraft and credit card charges, interest on bank and business loans, hire purchase interest and leasing payments.
Business insurance – You can include the cost of any business related insurance.
Marketing – The cost of marketing such as newspaper advertising, directory listings, mailshots, free samples and website costs can be claimed.
Clothing – You can include the cost of uniform and necessary protective clothing.
Staff costs – Employee salaries count as allowable expenses, as do bonuses, pension contributions, benefits, agency fees and employer National Insurance contributions.
Subscriptions – You can also include the cost of membership to trade bodies or professional membership organisations and journals if they’re relevant to your business.
2. Be careful with credit cards
If you need a credit card for business expenses, look into getting one specifically for that purpose and seek advice from an expert. And if you need financial help to launch your business, consider researching available business loans rather than using a credit card, as interest payments will be so much lower in the long term.
3. Check your phone and internet plan
This goes for both business and personal use, but it’s worth seeing if there are better deals available, especially if you’ve been with the same provider for a long time.
Technology is advancing all the time and broadband speeds have improved dramatically, allowing the development of money saving cloud based telephone solutions, which are easy to use and feature rich.
4. Make use of referral schemes
Like us, many companies offer benefits if you refer other customers to them, whether it’s money off your next order, free giveaways or simply some cashback to say thank you. It’s a great way to get extra out of something you’re already using and enjoying.
5. Plan your travel
Travel can quickly get expensive, both for business and leisure. If you take the train, look into whether a season ticket is best for your needs, or whether you’re eligible for a railcard.
And if you drive a lot, you should also track of your mileage, as this can be claimed back against your tax return.
6. Keep your insurance up to date
Insurance is a key part of running a business, and the costs of operating without it can be severe. If you employ any people, even on a casual basis, you’re legally obliged to have at least employers liability insurance.
It’s also important to check you have the right cover in place. You might have made some changes to your business and going over your policy wording to ensure it still covers everything you expect it to is a good idea.
7. Regularly check your direct debits
If your like us, you may have signed up for a service that you’ve stopped using and forgotten that you’re still paying.
8. Use a subscription printing service
If you’ve got to print a bit of stuff like invoices, quotes, delivery notes etc don’t buy expensive printer cartridges, as they can be really expensive one off charges, which can really hurt your cash flow. Sign up to a printing service that flat lines all your printing costs (including the printer, ink and support) in a very low fixed monthly fee. We provide one called Infinity, which is specifically for the self employed.
9. Choose an affiliate program
There’s lot of established larger businesses that offer great affiliate programs, which can give you an extra regular income stream. The key is to pick one that marries well with your business, which can help your existing customer base in some way.
As an example, we run an affiliate program for our money saving photocopier solutions. And share with our partners 33% of the profit (in a recurring payment) every month for the customers that they refer to us.
Our program works really well for IT support companies who don’t want the hassle of dealing with printers and photocopiers. Or for cost reduction experts, who’s role is to save their clients money right across their organisations. Although, it could also work for anyone who has a very close relationship with their customers, and who are large enough to warrant the use of larger money saving print technologies like photocopiers.
10. Choose an app
There are plenty of apps that can help you monitor your spending too, and work out where you can make savings. And if your into technology and apps, maybe this is a great way for it to help you.
We understand how difficult life can be when you are self employed, as this is where we started too. And we hope some of our money saving tips for the self employed will help you throughout your journey, where ever it may take you.
If do you ever need any help or advice for money saving solutions for your office or workplace you can call us free on 0800 1833800 email us info@mytotalofficesolutions.com, visit our website here or fill in our contact form.
