Entrepreneurs - Now is the Time to Economize in Order to Survive the Recession

The recession is biting, your profit margin is shrinking and you want your business to survive so what do you do? Well you retrench - dig in and ensure that you business will still be viable when the recession ends.

So now you have to protect your business for the rough times ahead so here are a few ideas for you:

• Go over all your expenses and expenditures so that you understand what is going out and what you can cut out all together.

• Set yourself up a realistic budget that you can keep to and hopefully make a profit with.

• Ensure that any payments you make are planned and within your budget. Avoid any impulse payments by insisting on taking your time with making your decision. In that way the must have gadget that you really needed last week becomes an expensive mistake that you have avoided.

• Review all your loans and credit card statements and see if you can rearrange your loans to the lowest credit costs you can get.

• Look at how much it costs to deliver your product. Can it be trimmed down in any way? Can you mail your products in a smaller box, using a cheaper service?

• Can you cut your manufacturing costs in any way - cut your run times? Manufacture at a cheaper factory? At a cheaper time? Etc.

• Have a good look at your stock? Can you sell some at special rates. Stock is dead money until you sell it - in fact it costs you money to store and count? Have a sale, bundle some of the items together.

• Look at the prices you are charging. In recessionary times people will hold onto their money very tightly. Can you lower your prices at all? Can you bring in a special offer that will attract the cash strapped potential customer? Think what Marks and Spencer are doing with their food - the £10 Meal for 2 including wine and how well it is going. Also how other supermarkets are dashing to catch up with this best selling idea. What M&S lose on the £10 deal they make up for by bringing in so many others to the store and who just spends £10 on a food shopping trip? They have successfully repositioned themselves from an expensive food store to an affordable, good quality food store and their sales are booming!

• Make your customers feel good doing business with you. In these gloomy times helping your customers feel happy in spending money with you - helps us all. Think of offering free coffee, an extra smile or just that bit extra great service. Not only does it encourage them to spend with you rather than a competitor but they might even stay (and spend) a little longer!

Good Luck!