How much money do you think your business throws away in an average year?

You’re probably thinking what do you mean throws away? We don’t throw away money!

And of course I don’t literally mean taking $100 bills and tossing them into the wind, but I bet there are dollars flowing out of your business every month that you know nothing about.

It’s really no one’s fault, we’re all just moving so quickly to get work done that we forget to keep an eye on the little details. And the little details can add up to big dollars.

The really good news is that if you’re willing to take an afternoon and do some investigating I’m sure you can save a bundle.

Here are the five places I always find money:

1.  Printers are cheap these days but ink is not. Are you printing everything on a color ink jet printer? This will cost you a ton of money in no time.

My solution? I have two printers one HP LaserJet workhorse for everything that’s black and white (the cartridge lasts me at least a year). The other is an Epson Ink Jet that is only used when I MUST have color.

The LaserJet printer is only about $150 and you can save that much in Ink Jet ink in two months.

2.  Stop stockpiling office supplies. Take a good look in your supply cabinet and you’ll see stacks of dollars stored there.

These days, office supply companies will deliver within a day or two, usually for free. So you don’t need several months supply of anything. I have one client who had 15 boxes of staples, stacks of notebooks, bricks of post-its for a three-person office.

You might not think this adds up to much but over time it does. Can you imagine stocking three or four cartridges for your printer (at $90 each) and not using them all before your printer dies and can’t be replaced?

3.  Eliminate unnecessary recurring charges. Do you have reoccurring charges to your bank account, credit cards or PayPal account and yet no idea what they’re for?

I had one forever for $12.95. Just the thought of figuring out who to call, sitting on hold, cancelling and then following up again the next month to make sure it was really gone was enough to keep me eating the expense month after month.

I finally did it and I felt so much better once it was GONE!

4.  Stop paying late fees and penalties. I understand that sometimes cash is tight and this can’t be avoided. But take a look at how much you spent on fees and penalties in the last year and think about how much you could have saved.

By simply putting your bills on a calendar or using reminders in QuickBooks you can keep the bills on a schedule and avoid this unnecessary money drain.

5.  Ditch the extra office space. I know it’s a hassle and really expensive to move, but what if you sublet some of your space or renegotiated your lease?

Lots of solo professionals would be thrilled to share your space and your expenses. Who knows, maybe they’d even share your bookkeeper and pay part of her salary!

The thing about these money wasters is that if we all told the truth, we know exactly where they’re hidden in our businesses.

I know you’re busy and you’re not deliberately wasting money, but if you’re going to run a tight ship, you need to plug the leaks in your boat.

Last week I was working with a client who is very wise.

Her name is Samantha and she’s a very accomplished lighting designer in Boston. Samantha called me to talk about lots of projects that she needs help with, including marketing, updating her website, and getting her contact database organized.

But she also realized that what she really needed help with was getting her office organized and cleaned out before she did anything else.

Samantha isn’t alone in her mess. This situation happens to many of us, gradually, and usually when businesses are growing by leaps and bounds. We’re all focused on the work and then, all of a sudden, the office is a disaster.

When you’re moving that fast, it can feel like a victory just to know which pile “that important paper” is hidden in. We get so used to tolerating the old way of doing something that it’s easy to become blind to how much better our business would run if we could see it with new eyes.

Having an organized office is important for two very big reasons. The first is that we all have a finite amount of time, and we can maximize that time when we’re able to do our work easily. The second is that if you’re barely getting your work done now, how are you going to handle the next big contract or job that comes your way?

The approach I took with Samantha was simple, but it requires focus:

1. 1. 1. Plan Your Space. Look around the office to see if the way you’re using your floor plan makes sense. Workflow changes over time, so it’s good to take a new look around periodically. Do you have stacks of boxes filled with old files in the hall? Has your conference room become a place to store things?
         
         How easy is it for you to get your work done at your desk? Is there enough room? How could your office function better by moving things around.
      2. Clean the slate. Go through your office one room at a time and remove everything that doesn’t absolutely belong there (like your desk). Remove extra furniture, equipment you’re no longer using, files you don’t need, etc. Find somewhere to stack it all (a conference room or hallway works great).
         
         If there’s something you’re not sure about – move it out.This goes for knick-knacks too.Take a good look at your desk in particular.In my case, I can quickly accumulate stacks of business cards, my daughter’s art projects, photos, and other assorted stuff until I can hardly see the surface of my desk. So just take everything off to start.
      3. Sort Your Stuff. Now that you have removed all but the bare essentials, it’s time to sort. Some suggestions for categories: dead files, equipment to recycle, office supplies, things to toss, things to donate. Those are just mine-make up your own.Danger warning!  This is not the time to read, tell stories about, or get distracted by what’s in your piles. Just sort it quickly and keep going.
      4. Purge! Now is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. It’s time to get ruthless. Your job is to go through each pile and either toss or find a place for every single thing until nothing is left.
         
         It’s much easier to keep your office clutter free if everything has a place. In the case of Samantha’s office, we took the smallest space and turned it into a storage room, filling it with shelves where we stored equipment, files and supplies that are easy to grab. We’re lucky that we live in the electronic age where physical paper is hardly required, so take advantage and recycle.
      5. Get what you need. I can’t overestimate the importance of having the right tools to do your work. For starters, you need a desk with plenty of space to spread out, good lighting, adequate filing cabinets, shelves for supplies and books, comfortable chairs, a fast computer, a printer that works and a cell phone that makes life easier.
         
         Your office is a factory for getting your work done. You’re not saving money when you skimp on having the right tools in place.  As I’m sure you can imagine, it was difficult for Samantha to take the time off from what most people consider “work” to get her office organized.

It was also difficult to stay focused and go through so many pieces of paper, especially when many of them reminded her of other things that she needed to be doing.

But she hung in there, allowing me to help her through every box and pile and, before we knew it, her playing field was once again ready for business!