The author points out that you don’t have to be one of the big boys to ask for and receive concessions on your contracts.

The top tips to save money are:

1. Pay your bills on time. If you have a track record of great payments, vendors may be more willing to give you a discount when you ask.

2. Ask for shorter contract times. Sometimes you if you can’t help the price, other terms are negotiable.  If you are negotiating for an equipment lease, for example, if you only feel comfortable with a 2 year commitment, instead of 5, ask for it.

3. Explain your circumstances. Vendors may come up with creative solutions themselves if they know, say, that you have recently lost a big client.

Bonus Link:

If you are a small business looking for office space, warehouse, or retail space in the Montgomery, Alabama area, you might like this article, also from the WSJ:

Finally, Renters Have Some Pull

Are you looking for a cost effective place to rent? Contact us, we can hook you up directly with the people that have space to rent.  You won’t owe us a dime for the effort.

I was listening to the Dave Ramsey radio show the other day.  He was counseling a couple that was fearful of their future.  The husband had just received notice that his factory job was cutting back to only 3 days a week for the foreseeable future.  The wife conceded that the factory job wasn’t really husband’s dream job, and he had always viewed it as temporary even though he had been working there like 10 years.  Ramsey said, in effect, why not view this as an opportunity? He recommended the book 48 Days to the Work You Love to help them decide what they want to do with the time.

What about here in the Montgomery area? Is this the time to start your small business, to fulfill your dream to work for yourself?  But how to you get it done in a “tough times?”

Click here for a great video from WSJ that addresses just that.

They answer questions like: How do I get started? and How to finance? and How to protect my ideas? and most importantly: How to do it on a bootstrap budget?

What about you? Have you recently started a Montgomery small business? Comment here and let us hear about your experiences.

By the way, a big part of planning for a new business is figuring out how much your rent will cost. Why not let is help you figure out if you need to rent some commercial real estate in Montgomery and if so, how much it will cost. We’re glad to help, even if you never end up renting anything.

Bonus – here’s a video from 48 Days author Dan Miller – about his book No More Mondays:
Click here to view the embedded video.

If you own a small business in Montgomery, or are planning on having one one day, you will want to make plans to come.

Date: January 28, 2009

Time: Noon

Place: 600 S Court Street, Montgomery, 36104

Cost: $15 / members – $17 / nonmembers

Registration Deadline: Jan. 26, 2009

Contact: Heidi Ellis (334)240-6863

Usually, lack of money  / financial planning is the biggest reason that small businesses fail.  Why not go check out this event and learn all you can?

Pat Kitano has a great blog named Media Transparent.  In his latest post, he gives:

10 Steps To Successful Marketing via the Social Media

Pat lines it all up in a quick, informative slideshow.  I recommend it.

Social media is becoming a huge part of many business marketing efforts, be they large companies or small.

Here are 4 ways you can save some cash in the $4 / a gallon era:

1. Send2Fax.com – there is no need to order that extra phone line just for your fax. No need for people to have to call you for a heads up before they send a fax. Send2fax.com gives you a toll free number, dedicated only to you. When people fax to it, it converts the fax to a PDF file and emails it to you. To send a fax, you simply email it to their fax number followed by @fax.send2fax.com. Only about $12 a month as opposed to about $60 for another land line.

2. PrimoPDF – finding money to start up a small business is hard enough without coughing up tons of dough for new software which you never use. If you do regular work with PDF files, there is no need to buy Adobe Acrobat at $400. Go to primopdf.com and download their free software. It allows you to print anything to a PDF file. It acts like another printer. You simply save the file for posterity, or to email someone else. Then, they don’t need any special program to open it, because the Adobe PDF reader is free.

3. Montgomery Area Small Business Incubator - This is sponsored by the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. It is one of the best resources in Central Alabama for small businesses. Give them a call. Ask about their various programs. They can teach you the answers to questions that you haven’t even considered yet. Their education programs are backed by Montgomery’s biggest players in commerce, so it pays to let them help you.

4. Google Docs – Again, no need to shell out mega bucks for software that lets your small business create professional looking documents. Google Docs has FREE programs to replace things like Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Plus they allow you to save your documents online, and share them (via email) with whomever you want. Unless you use all of the bells and whistles of Microsoft Office, you can get by with Google Docs. I love it.

Are you a Montgomery area small business owner, and have more tips to save money? Help us all out by commenting below!