Making More Cents in 2008

It’s that time of the year. People are putting up the Christmas trees, hanging lights outside of their homes, shopping like crazy (or not)… and reviewing their plans for next year.

Yep, it’s time for companies to plan for 2008. Every business, large or small, looks for ways to improve their product and cut costs. While browsing through Business Week, I came across a great article on the topic: Ten Penny-Pinching Ideas for 2008 by Gene Marks. Among his suggestions (geared toward small businesses):

- Set up remote access (we think this is a great idea, too). If someone’s on the road or wants to work from home, they’ll have virtual access to the office.

- Create alerts. Remind yourself of when someone hasn’t paid, when you need to pay bills, when you need to check up on a project or meet a deadline.

- Invest in smartphones (particularly if you have remote workers). Keep in touch no matter where you are (a blessing or a curse, depending on how you look at it.)

Some suggestions we would like to add:

- Outsource your company’s T-Shirt design. oDesk recently needed some new designs for our swag, and rather than bog down our Marketing department, we hired a provider to do the job. About 15 hours and $150 later, we had seven designs to choose from and our provider is now building us a custom Printmojo store.

- Do your own marketing. Check out the Duct Tape Marketing Blog for ideas and tips. Hire a provider to create professional looking HTML newsletters or write press releases and then post them yourself on sites such as this one.

- Outsource your customer service. Staffing a live chat system like phplive.com can be a burden, but plenty of stay-at-home moms and dads in the U.S. have excellent English skills and are looking for work. Consider bringing in reps at $8-$20 an hour to meet your customer service needs.

- Create a blog. Not too familiar with the blogging world? No big deal. Find a Wordpress developer to set up your blog and customize your theme. Content is always king, so make sure you find a writer who really knows your subject.

Good luck on the planning. We hear eggnog and a little bit of mulled wine can go a long way on helping you get through the holidays