GUERRILLA SMALL BUSINESS FINANCIAL GOAL

After you have determined the minimum DAILY and MONTHLY GOAL for your small business, you now attack this target via a two-pronged maneuver: CUTTING COST on one end and INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY on the other.

CUTTING COST

Start off with reducing your utilities costs. You can immediately reduce your electric bills by as much as 30 percent just by unplugging non-essential office equipment after office hours. If you are not expecting faxes or e-mails after office hours, unplug fax machines, modems, computers, AVRs, and other peripherals. The fact that they feel warm when touched tells you  they're consuming electricity even if they're idle.

Do this exercise with your troops: Have them recon the office or shop area, listing down every electrical equipment they see and where they found them. Afterwards, gather your troops and have them make suggestions how to reduce electric consumption on each electrical equipment they listed during recon. Make the troops feel they are part of the solution. Focus on high-wattage electric equipments such as airconditioners, refrigerators, heaters, and motors as reducing consumption on these equipments can immediately and drastically cut your electric bill.

Office supplies and consumables also cut a big slice in your expenses pie. Again, involve your troops on how they can save on office supplies. Here's a tip: Reduce the volume of paper you order by 10 percent. The less paper there is, the less paper to waste. If possible, reduce it even further next time. The nice thing about reducing paper is you tend to double check your documents before printing them out. In effect, you actually also save on printers and inks.

Monitor telephone, transportation, and representation expenses. Needless to say, these 3 are probably some of the most abused items in your expense column. Personally, I know of at least two companies who eventually folded up due to unrestrained expenses on these 3 items. Especially at this critical time of economic slump, it would be a good idea to tell your people to be responsible in utilizing whatever little resources are available to them.

It is important to let your people know that you are cutting costs together as a team, and as a team, together you will defiantly face the challenges ahead. Reducing your expenses can definitely make it easier for you to meet your small business financial goal. But reducing costs alone will not be enough. You also need to increase productivity. Next post we will talk about increasing productivity ala-guerrilla.