I don’t usually talk about my business on this blog, that’s what this one is for. But I’m going to get a little businessy just for one minute because I think this is important and useful.

I’m all about saving money, but there are some things that you just need to pay for – because they’re worth it. Still, if you factor in benefits, perks and affiliate options, you can often find ways to make things pay for themselves.

Here’s how I do that with my office rent, virtual assistant and online billing system.

OFFICE RENT

My “office” is an informal “whatever is open” desk space at LaunchPad in the CBD. Ticket price: $275. So why don’t I just work from home or a coffee shop? Because my LaunchPad membership is worth it’s weight in gold. Here’s a breakdown of why…

- free coffee. every. day.
Savings: at least $60/month

- free lunch once or twice per week
Savings: $40-$80/month

- free printing. and I print a lot. (JK KATY I DONT PRINT THAT MUCH)
Savings: approx. $25-$50/month

That’s already a hard cost value of $125-$190 PLUS I have amazing perks like free internet, access to conference and meeting rooms, discounted (and often comped) tickets to tech-related events where I can learn new skills and network AND I get to sit in a room all day with some of the most creative, entrepreneurial people in this city. That is INSANELY priceless.

VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

I have a virtual assistant through a company called Zirtual which totally rocks and you can read more about that here. I opt in for the 20 hour/month plan which runs $400. BUT, Zirtual offers a $100 referral fee.

For the month of April, I referred two new people so I’m down to paying $200 for the month of May. Because I’m so happy with the service and naturally want to tell everyone about it like ALL the time, there’s an opportunity for me to completely cover the monthly fee.

ONLINE BILLING

I use a program called Freshbooks to invoice my clients, track time and projects and record expenses. Freshbooks unlimited is $30/month. I know a lot of people who create manual invoices each time they send one out (which is a waste of time) and track their expenses in a spreadsheet (leaving room for error AND wasting time).

In 2012, I sent out 110 invoices that were auto-generated from Freshbooks. When I receive payments, I check a single box that generates a receipt and emails it to my client automatically. And the newest feature that really makes all of this worth it is that I can now upload expenses from my business credit card. Which means no manual expense entry which means I’m saving a shit ton of money on a bookkeeper or time doing it myself. (I would never be able to do it myself).

I could keep going but I really like doing things in 3′s and it’s time to start the work day; hope yours is awesome and efficient!

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