The digital age has brought with it unparalleled opportunities. It has enabled would be presenters to find an audience, grow a following and begin to make money on YouTube.

It has allowed artists to hone their craft and supplement their income by selling their work on sites like Etsy. And in the world of business, it has enabled people from all manner of different backgrounds to get in touch with business mentors, advisers and investors, allowing them to bootstrap successful enterprises off the back of their own determination and ingenuity.

But with a proliferation of digitally led small to medium sized enterprises comes fierce competition and in a competitive marketplace, entrepreneurs need to give themselves every inch of inside track available to them.

This means that not only must they be as time efficient as humanly possible, they must manage the fine balance between investing prudently enough in areas that will facilitate growth while also ensuring that outgoing expenses are carefully managed. Whatever the nature of your business, it’s likely that you’ll be able to save money without impeding your growth by.

Downsizing your office space

When nascent entrepreneurs start looking for offices for rent they often shop with growth in mind. This means that they often end up with space that is surplus to their requirements.

If you are paying over the odds for office space or top shelf amenities that you’re not using, it may be worth taking a close look at the terms of your lease to see if you can reduce your overheads in favor of something more modest.

If you can scale down your operation to the point where you and your team could work from home, you may even want to consider a virtual office which will allow you a prestigious address and even a call forwarding service at a fraction of the cost of an office.

Why take on more staff when you can outsource?

Your team are instrumental to your success and it’s their ideas, enthusiasm and wealth of experience and talent that has made your business what it is. But when you need an extra pair of hands, it may be more prudent to outsource to a freelancer than expand your team further.

A salaried employee will bring lots of ideas and perspective to the table, but taking on a new member of staff is a costly enterprise. Instead, perhaps you should consider outsourcing this function to a freelancer sourced from a site like People Per Hour. This will allow you to get the job done while keeping your costs manageable.

Never be afraid to negotiate with your suppliers

If you make and / or sell a physical product you likely rely on a network of suppliers to keep the raw materials or ingredients coming in for your product. While the smooth operation of your business depends on your ability to forge productive and healthy working relations with these suppliers it’s important to remember that they’re likely also cash strapped SMEs like yours. Thus, they’ll be open to negotiation on price if it means ensuring your long term custom.