If financial stress and an increased workload are taking a toll on your mental health, it’s essential you seek help. Specialised counsellors may be able to offer you some coping strategies and advice to help relieve the mental burden, which will in turn allow you to better manage your business. In Australia, there are a number of measures in place to help business owners who may be struggling:

• Ahead for Business helps small business owners take action on their mental health and wellbeing through personalised resources and tools tailored to their specific needs.

• Partners in Wellbeing is a Victorian Government-funded program with experienced staff who use an evidence-based approach to provide support and strategies to improve wellbeing. They offer free, confidential, one-on-one support to improve your financial, business, and emotional wellbeing.

• The NewAccess program has been developed by Beyond Blue to give small business owners support during challenging times. Eligible for any business owner aged 18 and over, the program offers six sessions with a coach to help overcome difficult issues and manage stress.

• The Small Business Debt Helpline, is a national, free and confidential phone-based counselling service that offers advice to small business owners struggling with their business finances.

If you haven’t already, now is the time to analyse every cent your business is spending. Ensuring your operations are lean is not just an important response to economic challenges, but an exercise in setting up your business for long-term success, so use this opportunity to do a deep dive into your expenses. Use your profit and loss statement for the past six months to list all your expenses in order from highest to lowest. Review your list with an ultra-critical eye:

Insurance and utilities
Are you getting the best deal for your insurance, electricity, internet, gas? By shopping around you may be able to find a provider that’s willing to beat your current rate. An easy way to reduce your energy bill is to ensure appliances and lights are turned off after hours.

Salary and wages
Could you save on wages by outsourcing some work? If you run a hospitality or retail business, analyse your sales data to understand when the busiest days and hours are, and align your roster accordingly.

Supplies
Start by negotiating with your suppliers and looking for alternatives. Don’t hesitate to switch if you find a better deal elsewhere. If switching suppliers isn’t feasible, go granular. Is every product on your supply list absolutely essential? Could it be switched for a cheaper alternative? Can you optimise the frequency of your orders so as to make the most of discounts for buying in bulk?

Equipment
If you need new equipment, search for secondhand options first. Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, and eBay are good places to start. Similarly, consider whether there is any unused equipment you could sell.

Inventory
Can you reduce your inventory? Lowering your inventory levels means fewer shipping and storage costs, and less risk of items becoming expired or spoiled. Avoid minimum order quantities (MOQ) by splitting the cost with fellow business owners who need the same stock, or by offering to pay your supplier a little more money for less inventory.

Financial services
Payments technology has evolved significantly in recent years, and with the banks no longer dominating the market, it’s much easier to get a better deal. EFTPOS providers like Zeller offer one low, flat fee with no sign-up fees or monthly rental fees. Also consider whether surcharging is right for your business. Passing on your transaction fees could save you thousands of dollars a year.

Marketing and advertising
If you are not seeing a return on investment for your marketing or advertising efforts, consider discontinuing them and trying something else.

Transportation and travel
Cut interstate travel by opting for video conferencing instead. If you have employees who are paying for their travel costs, implement an expense management system, like Zeller

[With the bank] my costs for five terminals across my three locations were in excess of $5,500 a month. 
So I said enough is enough.

Kirsten Pitman, Nino’s of Victor Harbour

When average customer spend is down, you need to focus on attracting more customers, at a higher frequency. There are a number of small business marketing tactics that you can take:

Communication
Keeping your customers – and prospective customers – in the loop with your latest products, specials, or services is key to making sure they don’t forget about your business. Sending a monthly newsletter and posting regularly on social media is simple and free.

Online presence
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your website and online presence to appear higher in Google search results. The higher your ranking in Google, the more customers will be drawn to your website. Adding keywords that are relevant to your business, linking between pages on your website, and creating a Google Business Profile is a simple but effective place to start. With a Google Business Profile you will also be able to manage Google reviews. Invite satisfied customers to leave a review for your business – not only will it entice other customers to your business, but it will also improve your search ranking.

Price reductions
While this may seem counterintuitive at a time when your own costs are rising, going against the grain could be enough to keep your customers returning to your business, rather than heading to a competitor.

Customer experience
Exceptional customer service is important at any time, but especially so when consumers are more selective about where they’re spending their money. Engaging with customers and building a relationship with them will greatly increase their chances of returning. It’s also important to understand their limits. Rather than trying to upsell them another product or service, try inviting them to leave a customer review online or referring your business to friends or family.

Sometimes it’s not feasible for customers to come in for a treatment every month, that's OK. They should be able to enjoy that experience.

Emily Keane, Cared for Skin & Body

When funds are limited, it’s tempting to want to put in more hours yourself rather than employ staff. However, in order for this to be a viable solution, it’s essential that you find ways to work faster and more efficiently, and one of the best ways to do this is with technology. There are an endless number of online tools and apps available, so to help point you in the right direction, below we’ve listed some of the most popular amongst small business owners. Most have free trials, so you can see whether they work for your business before having to spend a cent.

File sharing and organisation · Google Drive
If you’re still saving files to your desktop or sending documents back and forth between your staff or clients, a tool like Google Drive will save you ample time. Not only will your documents, presentations or spreadsheets be securely saved onto the cloud, but you can collaborate in real time and leave comments and notes, doing away with unnecessary emails and misunderstandings.

Design · Canva
Whether you need to create a social media post, brochure, poster, business card, gift certificate or merchandise for your small business, Canva will make the process much easier for the untrained designer. With 60,000 customisable templates to choose from, you can quickly create professional looking designs for your business—for free.

Billing and payments · Zeller
Rather than managing your money between several disparate banks and financial providers, Zeller lets you control your cash flow from A to Z. However you accept payments—whether in-person with an EFTPOS machine or online via invoicing or payment links— you can spend, manage, and save your money, and track every cent via an easy-to-use online dashboard and mobile app.

Accounting · Xero
If taking on more work means taking control of the accounts, it's essential that you swap the spreadsheets for accounting software. Xero is one of Australia’s leading accounting software platforms and will make end-of-month reconciliation and tax compliance much easier. Plus, if you use Zeller (above) you can integrate the two to automatically sync your sales data.

Contracts · Docusign
For businesses that frequently send contracts or agreements to be signed, an electronic signature platform like Docusign will speed up the process for both you and your clients. Rather than exchanging physical documents or scanning signatures, Docusign lets you send contracts electronically and have them signed legally online.

Inventory and shipping · ShipStation
For eCommerce businesses, not only will a shipping software platform save you from manually inputting data into a spreadsheet, it will also greatly reduce the risk of human error. ShipStation integrates with various online marketplaces and helps you manage, batch, and print shipping labels for multiple carriers from one dashboard.

Rostering · Deputy
Keeping track of staff availability, time off, hours worked, and wage costs can be overly time consuming. Adopting a workforce management platform like Deputy, will allow you to create rosters, manage shift swaps, and track employee hours, which will not only simplify your life but will also help you comply with award regulations.

If you’re fearful of increasing your prices, there are a number of ways to go about it to soften the blow and ensure you don’t get your customers offside.

Offer discounted bundles
Increase the price of individual products or services, but offer discounted bundles when several are purchased together. For example, if you run a café and need to increase the prices of your sandwiches, drinks, and coffees, offer a meal deal whereby if they buy a drink and sandwich together, the total is discounted. This will also help your business stand out and stay competitive.

Offer perks and added features
Improving the quality of your product, or adding in extra features, benefits, or improvements can also help to justify the increase in price. For your business, this might look like offering faster delivery, a complimentary service, new packaging, or free gift wrapping.

Add or raise fees
Instead of increasing the price of your product or service, you can introduce additional fees. This is a common approach used by small businesses, especially when costs like gas and electricity rise. It’s also worth considering whether surcharging is right for your business as passing on your EFTPOS fees is a simple and easy way to keep money in your business.

Time it right
The timing of your price increase is an important factor. Generally, the beginning of the financial year (after the sales) is a good time to adjust your prices. Otherwise, identify when your busiest season is, and implement the changes then.

Notify your customers
Whether in-store, via email, or face-to-face, it’s important that you clearly explain the reasons for the price increase to your customers. Educating your customers and being transparent with them will help build their trust and loyalty.

Need more advice?
Read our blog article on choosing the right pricing strategy for your business here.