15 Actionable Tips to Optimize Your Agency Spending and Maximize Profits

Welcome to Peaceful Growth, where you will find actionable tips to grow your agency to $5M without working overtime.

In this issue, you'll learn:

• How cutting costs can boost profits faster than increasing revenue.

• Steps to find and eliminate unnecessary business expenses.

• Tools to track and control your recurring expenses.

A few weeks ago, I shared how you can generate Pure-Profit for your agency with pricing creativity. While pricing is a powerful tool, my second favorite growth lever is optimizing costs.

In my early years, I was more focused on increasing revenue than maximizing profit. Looking back, I’ve learned that the number that matters most in any business—especially an agency—is the bottom line: Profit.

As an agency owner, it’s very natural to focus on bringing in new clients, launching new services, and selling more to grow revenue instead of focusing on tracking and optimizing for profit.

Unoptimized and unintentional expenses eat into your profits faster than you might think.

Cost = 5x Revenue

For example, let’s say you land a $10,000 project with a 20% profit margin, netting you $2,000 in profit. Now, if you eliminate $2,000 in unnecessary expenses, you achieve the same result—without needing to find a new client. Optimizing costs has the same, if not more, impact as driving new revenue. Being strategic and intentional about your spending can make all the difference.

Here are 15 ways to optimize costs and boost your agency’s profit:

1. Conduct Quarterly Cost Audits. Work with your finance team to review all recurring costs every quarter. You’d be surprised how much waste you can uncover by simply doing regular reviews.

2. Save on Payment Processing Fees. Instead of paying high fees to PayPal or Stripe, explore free options like wire transfers, bank transfers, or checks—especially for larger transactions.

3. Leverage Stripe’s Startup Benefit Program. If you’re using Stripe, apply for their startup-benefit program, which could save you up to $20K in fees and benefits.

4. Opt for Annual Subscriptions. Some software offers discounts of 10-15% when switching from monthly to annual payments. If you know you’ll use a tool long-term, make the switch to save money.

5. Explore Cheaper or Free Alternatives. If you or your team aren’t particularly attached to a specific tool, look for free or less expensive alternatives that can offer similar features.

6. Audit Unused Software Licenses. Check your subscriptions for any unused seats or licenses and cancel the extras. For example, if you have 50 Grammarly accounts but only 30 active users, reduce those extra seats.

7. Cancel Auto-Renewals. Many tools auto-renew annually. During your quarterly audit, ask your team if they still need these tools. If not, cancel the auto-renewals to avoid unnecessary charges.

8. Negotiate Vendor and SaaS Costs. Reach out to vendors to negotiate better deals or pricing terms. You can also use third-party negotiator or tools like Rocket Money to help with negotiations.

9. Create a Subscription Tracker. Maintain a central tracker of all software and subscription expenses. During quarterly reviews, your finance and IT teams should assess whether each subscription is still necessary.

10. Perform a People Audit. Your team is likely your biggest expense. Conduct a regular people audit to ensure every employee is adding value. If someone were to leave today and it wouldn’t impact operations, they might be more of a cost than an asset. This isn’t about layoffs but being strategic and correcting hiring mistakes.

11. Foster a Cost-Conscious Culture. Encourage your team to contribute cost-saving ideas and reward them for their suggestions. A culture of cost-consciousness can lead to creative ways to save money.

12. Use Browser Tools for Discounts. Take advantage of browser extensions like Capital One Shopping or Paypal Honey to automatically find discounts or coupon codes during online purchases.

13. Always Ask for Discounts. Before purchasing tools or software, contact the provider’s support team and ask for discounts. Many have offers they don’t advertise publicly.

14. Use Cash Back Credit Cards. Maximize savings by using credit cards with high cash-back rates. For example, a 2% cash back card on $50,000 in monthly expenses would earn $1,000 in rewards.

15. Join SaaS Deal Marketplace. There are platforms like Secret that help you find great SaaS deals and savings. Consider joining them.

👋 Until next time, Anil / CEO and Co-Founder of Multidots, Multicollab, and Dotstore.

FYI…I also write about personal growth and Enterprise WordPress.

In Case You Missed It

By the way, in my last issue, I shared “What to Say When Your Clients Go Silent on Payments” Check out this link!

In this issue, you'll learn:

• How to handle non-paying clients

• Effective email strategies to recover unpaid invoices

• Key contract clauses to include for payment protectionActionable steps to take if the emails don’t work

• Pro tips for preventing payment issues in the future

More Ways to Grow Your Agency

#1: I’ve interviewed founders who have scaled their businesses from $500K to $10M. Want to hear their secrets? Tune in to the Peaceful Growth Podcast for insights on how to grow your agency.

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#3: We’re always looking to invest in good and profitable businesses. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level by tapping into my network and expertise, just reply to this email.