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How small business owners can save time and money

Reduce overheads and automate everyday tasks with these clever ways to make every dollar work harder for your business.

By Hanna Marton

  • How small business owners can take advantage of discounts, automate tasks, manage their cash flow, and reduce everyday expenses. 
  • Tips for building a brand on a budget and managing cybersecurity.

With rising prices squeezing small businesses, every dollar counts. But cutting costs or staff isn’t the only answer. Instead, savvy business owners are finding ways to stretch their spending further.

Score discounts on stuff you already buy

Why pay full price when you don’t have to? From mobile bills to forklift hire, CommBank Yello for Business¹ gives eligible business customers exclusive discounts that help with everyday expenses. It’s worth the effort: less spent on the necessities means more to reinvest in your business. Simply log in to the CommBank app, switch to your business profile and tap CBA Yello to start saving today.

Save time and money with automation

Every hour spent on admin is an hour you’re not future-proofing your business. Investing in smart tools—such as automated invoicing or AI-powered chatbots—can streamline operations, reduce errors and free up your time. “Automating bookkeeping is a terrific way to free up time for working on your business, rather than in it,” says Rowan Johnston, a CommBank business performance optimisation manager. 

Examples of tools that you can use include Xero, QuickBooks and Rounded. This is more crucial as your company grows, he adds. “Often when a business becomes big enough to employ more people, allowing the founder to get off the tools, they end up spending much of their day managing leave, pay and rosters and managing invoices. This can reduce their ability to quote on bigger jobs or tenders or look at the market to see how to meet changing consumer preferences.” 

“I use an automated calendar booking link,” says Debbie Bailey, business consultant and four-day work-week advocate. “Going backwards and forwards on emails or messages just to set up meetings can be exhausting, especially when working with global clients. This simple hack has saved me hours.” Bailey’s also a fan of automatic note-taking tools, such as Otter.ai. “I’ll put the transcript from a meeting into [AI-powered chatbot] ChatGPT and say, ‘Give me the most important elements from this meeting and what actions I need to take.’”

“Automating bookkeeping is a terrific way to free up time for working on your business, rather than in it.” - Rowan Johnston, CommBank business performance optimisation manager

Know your cash flow

Funds don’t always surge like Niagara Falls; nearly 80 per cent of Australian small-to-medium businesses experience cash-flow problems, according to research commissioned by CommBank. But small tweaks—such as using business credit wisely and applying for grants—can help prevent the tap from drying up altogether. “For those in the warehousing and retail space, it’s important to focus on inventory,” says Johnston. “Ensure stock moves quickly so that cash comes back in the door soon after it’s been spent—rather than waiting months to be paid by customers.” On the flipside, you can negotiate for longer payment terms with your suppliers, which is not the same as delaying paying bills (that’s just rude).

Tip 

CommBank’s tailored cash flow management course is complimentary for all small business owners, regardless of who they bank with. Created in partnership with the Australian Graduate School of Management at University of NSW Business School, the short online module can help you better understand and optimise your cash flow.

Market smarter not harder  

Yes, you can build a top-shelf brand on a budget. Search engine optimisation (SEO), social media and email marketing will help you reach the right customers without spending a fortune, while brand partnerships and customer referrals (i.e. word of mouth) are powerful and cheap.

Focus on your demographic, advises Johnston. “Sometimes less is more with marketing. You can spend half as much money and hit the same number of customers if you just think about your demographic. A kid’s clothing label, for example, probably wouldn’t market to 20-year-olds; a tradie specialising in heritage renovations wouldn’t market in new housing estates. Ensure you market to people who will take up your service.” 

Social media is a marketing game changer but if it’s not in your skill set, handball it to a specialist, says Bailey. “It might take me 10 hours a week to do social media but if I outsource it, I can use that time to focus on clients and potential business. Be smart about how you allocate resources.” If you’re strapped for time—or money—you can share content across platforms.

Trim your everyday expenses

Sometimes the biggest savings come from the smallest tweaks. Audit your subscriptions, shop around for better deals and review the commission rates of third-party resellers you engage.

Reduce waste, says Johnston, such as by repurposing leftover supplies. For example, if you’re a painter and have extra cans of the uber-popular Dulux Natural White, suggest the colour to your next client; they’ll be thrilled if you pass some of the savings onto them. But beware of bulk-buying. Sure, buying larger quantities of stock can come with a large discount but it could result in you having more product than needed. 

It also pays to manage casual staff judiciously. “You can easily end up paying an employee a few hours’ work for nothing because you didn’t have a job for them to go to or didn’t line jobs up correctly,” says Johnston.

Keep your customers safe

Are you prepared for a cybersecurity incident? If you answered no, you’re not alone. According to the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, cybersecurity is the third leading pressure facing small businesses. The first step in alleviating some of that stress—and reducing your risk—is ensuring everyone in your business has the training and tools to help protect the company. 

Cyber Wardens is an interactive e-learning platform that delivers easy-to-use education to help staff carry out cybersecurity inspections and risk audits, keep passwords and data safe, update software and report threats or suspicious messages. Next, consider platforms that do the customer-data heavy lifting, to avoid collecting—and protecting it—yourself. ConnectID is a CommBank-backed digital-identification tool that allows businesses to verify customer data quickly and safely. 

To learn about how CommBank backs small businesses, visit the CommBank small business hub.

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Things you should know

¹CommBank Yello for Business is at this stage only available to invited sole proprietor customers and single director corporate customers. A customer who meets the eligibility criteria but is not a sole proprietor or a single director corporate customer, or is one but has not been invited by us to participate in CommBank Yello for Business, will not be able to access CommBank Yello for Business at this stage. Offers are made by third parties not CommBank and will be subject to their own terms and conditions which can be accessed through the CommBank app. Offers may be varied or withdrawn at any time, without the control of CommBank.

An earlier version of this article was published in Brighter magazine.

This article provides general information of an educational nature only. It does not have regard to the financial situation or needs of any reader and must not be relied upon as personal financial product advice. The views expressed by contributors are their own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of CBA. As the information has been provided without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs, you should, before acting on this information, consider what is appropriate for your circumstances, and where appropriate, consider the relevant Target Market Determination, Product Disclosure Statement and Terms and Conditions available on our website. You should also consider whether seeking independent professional legal, tax and financial advice is necessary. Every effort has been taken to ensure the information was correct as at the time of publishing but it may be subject to change. No part of the editorial contents may be reproduced or copied in any form without the prior permission and acknowledgement of CBA.