In the throes of starting a small business, it’s easy to get sidetracked by all the duties you have to perform. But in the midst of trying on and tossing aside different hats, you may find you’ve overlooked some of the most important costs in creating a successful startup.
You might already know that hard money loan-to-value ratios typically waver around 60% to 70%, but extraneous costs to starting a business might make you think twice about opening your doors. Financial planning is nothing new, but countless small business owners will forget to budget important costs into their final budget as they secure vendors and hire new employees.
After you’ve secured a building for your operations and calculated the cost of rent and utilities, it’s time to nestle into the nitty-gritty parts of financial planning that you’d rather tuck into your desk drawer and look at later. Here are some of the top financial costs you might be overlooking as your business begins to take shape.
1. Insurance
If your company hasn’t invested in liability insurance, that’s one of the first checkboxes to tick off. Without the proper liability and worker’s compensation insurance, even one accident or product malfunction could potentially cause your business to fail.
Your best bet is to talk to an insurance provider about all the insurance options available to you. This includes workers comp, property insurance, auto insurance, and more. It’s estimated that the average small business will have to shell out more than $1,281 annually for insurance premiums alone.
This cost seems high, but it’s worth it in the end. The total compensation and medical costs that are garnered from employee slip and fall accidents will culminate to over $70 billion each year. Unless you want to pay for these high costs out of pocket or get sued, getting the proper insurance is a necessity.
2. Financial Consulting
Small business owners are leaders. As such, it’s not uncommon for these forerunners to have a do-it-yourself attitude. In the process of managing their new company, however, they may find certain aspects of their business falling through the cracks.
According to some small business specialists, almost 90% of small businesses will close their doors within the first three years of opening without the help of a financial consultant.Luckily, there are more than 700,000 consulting firms ready to provide services throughout all industries, whether you’re establishing a startup or opening your third store.
A financial consultant can offer you great tips on reaching more people and implementing a sound business strategy. However, financial consultants can also perform audits to ensure your business is running as efficiently as possible. Just like an energy consultant will monitor your home for leaks and cracks, a financial consultant can poke holes in your business strategy and help you to develop sound resolutions to fix these issues.
They can even help you identify extraneous costs in utilities and more. They might recommend you switch to paperless billing or install low-flow toilets to save a few bucks. Toilets alone account for more than 24% of the water use in our homes. Even though these costs seem minimal, they can add up to large savings by the end of the year.
3. Marketing Costs
Simply buying a building and hanging an “open” sign in the window isn’t enough to encourage foot traffic. When you really want your business to make a splash in the local community, you have to consider physical and digital marketing costs.
“Digital advertising reflects the way people shop today, which is online, and offers targeting opportunities that weren’t possible before,” notes Harry Chapin, founder and CEO of Forge Worldwide.
When you want to form a trustworthy business and reach a new audience, you have to fork over a few bucks in the process.
According to a recent study from business news website, The Manifest, more than 57% of small businesses will pay just under $50,000 in advertising per year. On top of that, Millennial business owners are leading the charge with 61% spending more than $50,000 each year.
This is primarily because Millennials and other younger generations recognize the pervasiveness of online advertising. Paired with the relative affordability and eco-friendliness of digital marketing, it’s becoming a true reflection of the way we shop today.
According to some studies, search engine optimization strategies can boost your conversion rates by 14.6% or more.
Starting a small business is a worthy endeavor, but don’t ever think it’s going to be easy. If you’re thinking about investing in a business startup, don’t forget these three extraneous costs.