As a business owner, it’s always important to try and think of new ways to boost your business or reduce costs. With the new tax year almost upon us, now is a good time to try out something new.

So here are a few ways to shake things up in your business to take you into a successful 2017-18.

Hire a freelancer

Hiring freelancers to do odd jobs saves you the expense of hiring full or part-time employees. The freelancer you hire will probably be charging higher than the hourly rate you’d usually give an employee, but it’ll probably end up cheaper in the long run. It also affords you flexibility to hire them as and when needed.

Take on an apprentice

If you haven’t already, you might want to consider hiring an apprentice. They’re cheaper to hire than ordinary employees and you will also be helping someone get solid experience and skills for the job market. The government’s new Apprenticeship Levy is designed to fund the increasing numbers of apprenticeships.

Embrace the cloud

Whether it is storage or accounting, you might want to make use of cloud solutions. More and more businesses are taking advantage of easily accessible cloud based systems because they’re handy and cost effective.

Give back

More and more businesses are making an effort to give back to the community whether it’s through charity events and donations, partnerships or sponsorships. It helps others and ensures your business is beneficial to the community. It’s also good for brand awareness and building a solid, trustworthy reputation for your business.

Flexible working

Flexible working is all over the news lately. Lots of companies are trying it and seeing the benefits of a happier, more engaged workforce. It can also be handy for parents who otherwise might struggle to return to work after having children.

Start a blog

If you haven’t already got a blog for your business think about setting one up on your website. Lots of businesses, big or small have their own blog for different reasons. One of the key benefits is that it helps your website turn up better in the search engine rankings because your website is producing regular quality content.

Business blogs are good for sharing your expertise by covering and discussing news stories in your industry. It’s also good to have blog posts to share through your social media channels rather than a stream of promotional posts.

Are you making any changes to your business? What changes have you got in store? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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About The Author

Kara Copple

An experienced business and finance writer, sometimes moonlighting as a fiction writer and blogger.

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