Is your business facing tough times? The recent economy has taken a real toll on small businesses. The business slow down has really cut into profits for smaller companies! Even larger corporate companies are having to lay off employees just to stay in the green. In times like these, you've got to get mean and lean for your business to survive. So what can entrepreneurs do to make the most of profits and cut down on expenses?

Here are some proven money saving ideas that I have used to cut down on my business costs by over $200 a month!

CANCEL THE 1-800 NUMBER

If you are a little guy, chances are you don't have the profit margin built in to pay for incoming phone calls from Timbuktu. Some people even have the gall to call for paid marketing and business consultations while phoning in on your businesses toll free line. I recently cancelled mine.

$ => Monthly Savings: $125 per month.

CANCEL THE LIST HOST

If you are paying for a professional list host service, you may want to consider move to a free list host service like Yahoo Groups or Topica.

$ => Monthly Savings: $25 per month.

EMAIL INVOICES

If you add it up, I think you'd be surprised to find out how much you are spending in postage each month mailing client invoices. Why not send your invoices as an email attachment? If you save your invoice as a separate file, it can easily be attached to an email. Both Word and Excel offer easy to use invoice templates which can be saved as a file an attached to an email.

TIP: QuickBooks 2001 has an option that lets you email your invoices right from within the program! If you have an older version of QuickBooks, you might want to consider upgrading just for this neat feature! It's WAY cool!

$ => Monthly Savings: $10 per month.

CANCEL THE PO BOX

Here's a creative suggestion, try adding Suite 200 at the end of your street address. Here's an example: 1284 Smith Street, Suite 200. This gives the appearance of a business address in an office suite.

$ => Monthly Savings: $4 per month.

PAY YOUR BILLS ONLINE

Check to see if your utilities, credit cards, and vendors offer online payment options. I found out that I was able to pay my Sprint, Ameritech, AT&T, and MasterCard online. Not only does this save you postage, but also it can reduce your monthly statement fees. I was able to save like $3 a month in statement fees by getting an electronic copy of my Sprint bill rather than a paper copy.

$ => Monthly Savings: $5

SLASH THOSE MONTHLY MERCHANT ACCOUNT FEES

I was able to cancel my Authorize.net virtual terminal and sign up for a QuickBooks merchant account. This way I can accept payments online right thru my QuickBooks software. I was able to drop my monthly Authorize.net services charges from $40 per month to $1.66 per month.

No more downloading the daily sales to enter into your accounting software, now it's all integrated. It's SO easy to sign up! You don't have to buy or rent any terminals or software PLUS, it incorporates SO nicely with QuickBooks and enters your transactions for you!

I'll even tell you how to sign up!

- From the Customers menu of QuickBooks 2001 or higher, choose Accept Credit Card Payments.

- Choose Manage Merchant Account Service.

- Click the sign up link to start the sign up process. To apply, you need to fill out an application, which should take 15 to 20 minutes. You will receive a response to your application within two business days. During the application process, you will be asked to enter or create two sets of login names and passwords.

$ => Monthly Savings: $38

CANCEL ONLINE POSTAGE SERVICES

While it's super handy to print out postage right from your PC, it does cost you a small monthly fee. Now I just save up all my mail and do a once a week trip to the post office while I am running other errands.

$ => Monthly Savings: $4 per month.

USE EXACT POSTAGE

Check to determine the amount of postage required when you mail an envelope. On occasion I have “guessed” on the postage for larger envelopes only to find out later that I had grossly overpaid. Here's a handy guide from the United State Postal Service to help you determine the proper amount of postage for items mailed in US.

http://new.usps.com/cgi-bin/uspsbv/scripts/printfriendly.jsp'D=9743

$ => Monthly Savings: $5 per month.

COMPARE LONG DISTANCE RATES

Do you know how much a minute you are paying for long distance calls? If you don't, chances are that you are paying too much! Here's a handy FREE rate comparison service to help YOU find the best possible rate for your phone service. http://www.rockbottomratefinder.com/ld_main.cfm

$ => Monthly Savings: $30 per month.

OTHER TIPS

$ => MONEY SAVING IDEAS: CheapSkateMonthly by Editor in “Cheap” Mary Hunt offers load of money saving ideas. She offers new tips monthly in her online newsletter. See it at: http://www.cheapskatemonthly.com

$ => HOST A BUSINESS GARAGE SALE: Have a “Garage Sale” – I was able to auction off old domain names, complete ready to go business web sites, and other items to rummage up $1500 last month. Not bad for “junk” that was just lying around. What do you have that is of value you are not using? Cash in on it!

$ => USE ONLINE COUPONS: Use coupon codes when ordering business supplies. Why pay full price when you can get your office supplies at a discount? Current Codes offers coupon codes to help you save when buying those office essentials. http://www.currentcodes.com/

$ => ENERGY SAVING TIPS FOR SMALL BUSINESS:

Here's some great tips from Pacific Gas and Electric Company on how small businesses can save money by using less energy.

- Turn off PCs, monitors, printers, copiers, and lights every night and every weekend. If you can't turn off the whole computer, turn off the monitor and the printer.

- When purchasing PCs, monitors, printers, fax machines and copiers, consider ENERGY STAR® models that "power down" after a user-specified period of inactivity.

- Use laptop computers — they consume 90 percent less energy than standard desktop computers.

- Use ink-jet printers — they consume 90 percent less energy than laser printers.

- Think before you print (do I need this?) and implement paper-reducing strategies such as double-sided printing and reusing paper.

SUMMARY

So when the economy gets tough, you just have to get tougher. I challenge you to take a close look at your monthly expenses to see where you could trim a little here and there. You'd be surprised how your penny-pinching measures will soon add up to more profit in your pocket!