When I got married we registered for all of the kitchen gear we thought we’d need. In the end (after we returned three out of the four blenders) we had a fully stocked kitchen and it was time to cook. What I found, though, is that I didn’t use half of the fancy gadgets we received. I mostly stuck with the tried and true tools that had seen me through college. So, when we had an opportunity to sell everything and start over again we did it differently.
This time around, stuff is coming into the kitchen when it’s needed. I keep a list on the fridge of all the gadgets I want. But the only reason I write something up there is because I felt the need for it while cooking. And if I keep needing the item, we’ll eventually go and get it because we know it’ll have a home and be useful rather than just taking up space.
You should treat your small business similarly. There will be people who tell you to get all the latest fancy gadgets and tools to run things. And they’re right in saying these things are useful for small businesses – in general. But your business is specific; your business is yours.
Website
You might be tempted to set up a full-fledged website right out of the gate, but there’s no reason to spend the money right now. You can pay just $10 a year for custom domain registration and then use free blogging software to keep your business website going until you need something more.
Electronic Retail
You need to be able to hand transactions online. That’s absolutely true, but you don’t need to pay for it ahead of time. You can use free services like PayPal and Etsy to handle payments and online retail. They’ll charge a commission on your sales, after the fact. So you don’t pay until you make money.
Cloud Computing
You also need to be able to remotely back up files, have them available anywhere and sharable with anyone. Again, free services like Google Drive and Dropbox give you free options that can get you started and the ability to scale with your business when you need more features.
Point of Sale System
It’s expensive and time consuming to set up a POS so that it correctly pulls from your inventory and reflects your price lists. Depending on your business type, you could do all of this with pen and paper at the outset. You could also use free applications for iOS or Android that automate the process and come with credit card processing.
No matter what the tool is, your business may be able to benefit from it, at some point. But you won’t know what you need until you’re actually doing the work. Save yourself time, effort and money by not buying what they tell you to buy until you absolutely need it. That’s why I still don’t have a bread maker.
