Efficiency in the work place

One of the things we are able to do with my profit forum members is purchase things cooperatively. Supplies, furniture, printing, insurance, consulting and many more can be done as a group at a considerable savings.

Sharing office space is one area where I am able to cut cost. I have found that price per square foot decreases as the total space of the office increases. So I share office with another software building firm and the rent is decreased dramatically. Other things that we share to cut cost are broadband, office equipment, furniture, some computer hardware, and plants.

-Frank

I did carpooling before when I use to live far from my office. But when it is not raining, which is most of the year here, I just ride my bike to work. It used to be a nine mile ride to the Bart station then take public transportation the rest of the way. Now I am much closer to work and I can just ride straight from home to office.

Carpooling is good, but I think cycling is even more economical if you don't count all the cool/ fun expensive gear that I must have. :)

Yes, but riding a bike in San Diego (my old stomping grounds) is much nicer than riding one in Seattle... Especially in the wet season.

And regarding car pooling, there is a program here in Seattle where companies lease cars and place them in paid parking areas for employees. If you carpool, you can rent time on the leased vehicles if you have appointments or arrands during work hours and still don't have to drive in to work. Depending on your normal travel distance, this can be a significant savings and really reduce your carbon footprint.

I could not let this slip by. As a co-inventor of a product for the bicycle, we have a special interest in the bicycle commuter. It certainly is easier to bike in San Diego or even Portland for that matter. But many local riders, including me, do not ride during the cold, wet months.

But my business partner rides everywhere on a bicycle. It's his sole transportation. He comes to meetings in full rain gear.

Now he has a different take on Seattle. The weather or the hills are not an issue.

But to now add my $0.02, we have to sometimes transport a bike to a meeting. Riding it would take more than we can afford - so we use a car. That's our single highest expense over time. We have lower manufacture costs, relocated our manufacturing from Arizona to Tukwila, WA. We are now in position to really accelerate our sales and increase the market awareness in ways I imagined, but not like this.

So costs are always an issue, but never discount pure brainpower to think of ways to economize and save costs.

One way to cut down on wasted time and keep your morale up is to keep your workspace as clean and orderly as possible. A good way to accomplish this is to get some compartmentalized containers and commit yourself to placing all the papers you receive in different drawers/compartments. For instance, you can use one small compartment to hold papers you will be using in the next 1-3 days, another bigger compartment to hold papers you will need to reference in the next month, another to hold documents with long-term significance, etc.

I review my expenses every 3 months to evaluate whether I'm still finding value with each product/service. For instance, I might try a new software or subscription service and forget to cancel it if it doesn't work out. Or a vendor may come up with different levels of service that would give me a savings over my current plan. Or I might decide to move money from one advertising option to another if it is underperforming. I'm pretty frugal with my business expenses in the first place, but I always turn something up in this quarterly review that saves me money. And it only takes about an hour.

1. I use a web site to keep track of gas prices since I do a lot of driving and drive at the speed limit.
   
2. I use rebates as much as possible.
   
3. I use as much free advertising such as Craig's List and Google local as I can.
   
4. Buy used QuickBooks guides at used books stores for clients.
   
5. Combine trips to clients, shops, and friends.
   
6. I require a certain number of hours if I am traveling to someone's workplace.
   

I am thinking of providing a discount if people come to me or a neighborhood coffee shop.