Changing the way we work

One of the biggest effects the Covid-19 Epidemic had on many businesses is that you can still operate and do business with lower operating costs. You no longer need to rent the biggest, fanciest office to run your business operations from. I’m sharing a few tips and pointers to minimise your monthly operating costs for your business.

Office rental

Really analyse what your needs are for office space. Many consultants like financial advisors usually do not need a big office space to conduct their business from. If you have office space available at your house, you can actually work from there and save a lot of money. 

The following are the 2 most common questions that arise from this:

Where will I conduct my meetings with clients?

There are various solutions. You could meet at a coffee shop or restaurant, or if a more formal meeting is necessary, there are businesses who rent out daily conference or office facilities. You can then schedule all your meetings for certain days of the week. In Swakopmund, Desert & Ocean Trust have these facilities.

I do not have the office rental expenses to deduct from my income.

If you work from a home office, you are allowed to deduct a percentage of your household expenses which relate to your business from your income (E.g. rental, municipal expenses, etc).

Business travel for meetings in other towns

It is not necessary to travel hundreds of kilometres in order to attend meetings anymore. You can do virtual meetings via Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc.

This way you save on travelling and accommodation costs, as well as your time.

 Printing and Stationery

Some businesses have a lot of paperwork and do a lot of printing of invoices and documentation. Try to go paperless and keep your information digital. It might seem like this is a minimal cost, but if you calculate your savings over a 12 month period, you might be pleasantly surprised at what you are actually saving.

These are just a few pointers and hopefully, they can help you with your current or future business endeavours.