“When cash is king as it is in the startup world, get creative on cutting down your costs.” 

Use These Tips to Save

Hire Freelancers. If your business is growing, but you don’t feel certain enough to hire full time staff, consider a freelancer, contractor or third party agency. This way, you only pay for the work you need done, and you don’t have the headache of benefits, raises and sick days. Hiring freelancers works particularly well for professional roles: software developers, Web designers, copywriters, PR professionals, consultants, administrative professionals and the like. You will typically pay a higher hourly rate for a contractor versus an employee. But in exchange you may get a more experienced worker who accomplishes more in an hour’s time and needs less daily supervision. Remember, there’s a cost for management and training time, too.

Use Free Software. Free and inexpensive software is plentiful online. You can also take advantage of free trial periods for most business software. This gives you a chance to use the application for free for 30 days or more to determine if you really need it. This includes

• • Document, presentation and spreadsheet software
  • Web conferencing software. Explore free options that may fit your situation: Google Hangouts, AnyMeeting or OoVoo are 3 possibilities.
  • Conference call bridges. Try a service like FreeConference.com instead of paying for a conference bridge service. Couple it with Google Talk, and you don’t even have to pay long distance charges (calls to phones in the US and Canada are currently free).
  • Collaboration, CRM, sales management and other software.
  • Download.com also has a plethora of free downloads in categories like security, development and networking, so check there first before forking over cash unnecessarily.

Interns. Universities throughout the country are packed with undergraduate and in some cases graduate students eager to gain real life experience. Many need tight management but can be a great resource.