| Volume 2 Issue 47 | November 25, 2008 |
In this issue of Whatworks you'll discover details of who's offering deals and discounts for small businss; how to join a warehouse club; buying on the cheap at government auctions; saving money with business barter and joining up with other biz owners to form a buyers group. Enjoy...and save a bundle!
Get It for Less
Deals and Discounts for Small Business
By Linda Formichelli
Entrepreneurs have a long history of bootstrapping – that is, starting companies with very little capital – and using ingenuity, not cash, to get the supplies and services they need. Luckily, many suppliers offer special discounts to small businesses. Digging up discounts and deals will help you:
Save money (natch); allocate your resources to other necessities; and offer the best prices to your customers. Here's where to find the deals: Read Full Guide
Join the Club
Profiting from a Warehouse Membership Club
By Jenni Simcoe
Sam's Club, Costco and BJ's Wholesale Club may not be the most glamorous digs, but stepping through the door of a warehouse member's-only club can help you live on Easy Street. Aside from buying office and break room supplies in bulk, you can cut costs with a variety of discounted products and services geared directly to small businesses, including these: Read Full Guide
Uncle Sam's Discount Mall
Buying at Federal Government Auctions
By Daniel Kehrer
The range of business-related items available daily from government surplus, seized and forfeited property is astounding -- everything from agricultural, marine, communications, computer and construction equipment, to furniture, tools, industrial machinery, real estate and medical equipment. Bidding in gov auctions was once cumbersome. But since Uncle Sam went digital it's become almost as easy as buying on eBay. Here's what you need to know: Read Full Guide
Cashless Buying with Barter
Guide to Business Barter
By Linda Formichelli
Long before the words "cash, check or charge" became a part of every transaction, we paid for our goods and services through barter. Now, once again, barter has become a credible way for small businesses to exchange goods and services. Business barter helps you save money; lets you use up overstock or products that aren't selling well; and lets you swap services over and over again. Here's how to tap barter power: Read Full Guide
Joining Forces
Small Business Buyers' Groups
By LaRita Heet
Big businesses, it seems, get volume discounts on just about everything, and until recently, small businesses couldn't compete. But today, small business buyers' groups allow the "little guys" to pool their purchases to earn volume discounts they couldn't get on their own. Three top tips for success with small business buyers' groups are: Read Full Guide
Quick reads, hot topics and cool tools for your business
Make your PC a Cash Register: Cash Register Plus ($300) is new software for small retailers that lets you ring up sales and process credit cards from your PC. Automatically tracks sales data and customer info, and runs reports. Be up and running in 5 minutes. From Intuit, maker of QuickBooks. Check out the YouTube video. Low-Cost Biz Valuation Reports: BizBuySell, a website for buying and selling small businesses, just launched a new customizable online tool that helps you determine comparable business valuations for as little as $19.95 per report. Valuation Reports are based on about 32,000 sold comparables, and some 50,000 for-sale listings on the site. low-cost alternative to Microsoft Office? Check out StarOffice 9, from Sun Microsystems. It's a full-featured office suite for under $40. Includes new versions of word processor, presentation, spreadsheet, database and drawing software. The latest update has native support for Mac OS X. Handy extensions let you create PDF files, reports, blogs and more.
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