How To Boost Your Creative Business’s Bottom Line In A Weird Economy
Running a creative business in uncertain times isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to feel like juggling flaming swords. Let’s talk about strategies within reach to reduce expenses and increase profit.
Being in the creative industry often means juggling artistic passion with the practical challenges of running a business, and weathering periods of economic instability.
With some thoughtful strategies and smart adjustments, you can increase efficiency, reduce costs, and create a financially thriving business that allows you to focus on what you love most.
Here are proven, practical ways to optimize your operations and improve your bottom line as a creative entrepreneur.
This post includes affiliate links, which means we may earn a modest commission should you make a purchase through them—at no additional cost to you. I only recommend stuff I’m already using and feel confident to share with you.
1. Optimize Your Business Space
Whether you work out of a home studio, a co-working space, or a rented office, your business space holds key opportunities to reduce expenses.
Strategies to Implement:
Evaluate your current space requirements. Are you paying for square footage you don’t need or not seeing the types of opportunities you thought you would in a shared space? Downsizing or subleasing unused areas (if allowed!) can free up funds for other priorities.
Rearrange your workspace for higher productivity. An intuitive, well-organized space not only saves time but also keeps your team (or yourself) working efficiently. Plan time to organize and set small, incremental goals to donate, sell, or repurpose furniture, supplies, and other underutilized items that are taking up space where you work.
Create collaborations. Drive foot traffic to your space by creating opportunities to promote yourself with other tenants or coworkers. Organize a weekend sales event or after-work business talk series. Promote your events on local calendars and create a press release to send to influencers and media outlets. Get creative with bringing potential clients and customers to you through proactive collaborations!
2. Leverage Technology for Efficiency
Affordable tools and apps can streamline your creative workflow and reduce operational time and costs. Automation systems can help you free up time and energy!
Here’s how you can leverage technology:
Use automation tools for repetitive tasks like invoicing, bookkeeping, or project reminders. Popular tools such as QuickBooks or HoneyBook can save you hours of administrative work every week.
For project management, apps like Trello, Notion, or Monday.com keep team collaborations on track and ensure no deadlines slip through the cracks. I personally LOVE Basecamp for keeping project correspondence, files, and tasks on track.
Avoid overspending on hardware with cloud-based solutions that replace the need for pricey on-site servers. Storage services like Google Workspace and Dropbox Business offer flexibility at lower costs.
If your business model requires you to set appointments with clients, collaborators, and teams, check out Acuity Scheduling for easy appointment setting that works with your existing calendar system. Clients can easily book, reschedule, and cancel, saving you time corresponding about your availability. You can easily embed the scheduling tool into your website, or provide a direct link to the client to get on your calendar!
3. Check Back In On Supplier and Vendor Expenses
Suppliers are typically providers of raw materials and components that are used to create a finished product. If you make handmade soap, for instance, you are likely working with supply companies to purchase bulk ingredients. Artists may be purchasing primed canvas rolls and paint from a wholesale supplier.
Business vendors include service-as-a-software companies, like Buildfire for mobile app development and Design Pickle for graphic design and video editing.
In certain creative business scenarios, you might find yourself working with both a supplier and a vendor. Printify, for example, is a supplier that connects businesses with vendors to supply print-on-demand merchandise.
You can save money on your reoccurring subscriptions and materials with planning, research, and staying in communication with your suppliers and vendors.
Tips to Get Started:
Ask for bulk discounts or explore extended payment options to improve cash flow with suppliers that you have an established relationship with.
Regularly reassess supplier and vendor prices and compare options to ensure you’re getting the best deals. Use an app like Honey on mobile and as a browser extension to compare prices across the web, and track price dips and increases.
Sign up for newsletters and make sure it’s hitting your inbox to stay notified about big sale events from your favorite suppliers and vendors: Anniversary sales, overstock sales, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and year-end sales are all opportunities to score reduced rates on products and services. Elementor, for example, does an awesome birthday sale in May every year that offers an abundance of savings for the WordPress website builder.
Ask your supplier or vendor if there are any opportunities to provide a video testimonial in exchange for a one-time or reoccurring discount. You may discover an opportunity to collaborate with your favorite products and services in a new way while saving money on a product or service that you love!
4. Optimize Your Marketing for ROI
Marketing is essential, yet it can be one of the most significant expenses for small businesses and client-driven freelancers. Shifting toward data-driven, high-impact strategies allows you to achieve more with less.
Steps to Take:
Track and analyze your marketing channels to identify the best-performing tactics, including email campaigns and social media. Focus your budget on what works, and eliminate or adjust underperforming efforts. If you are doing your own analysis, check out these tools to better understand your marketing performance in addition to native data and analytics tools within your social media dashboards:
vidIQ is a YouTube analysis tool that can help you understand your growth and ways to improve. My favorite tools include the keyword research feature and trending topics explorer. You can also chat with an AI Coach to help you make sense of your YouTube data!
Tailwind is a social media analytics and scheduling tool specific to Pinterest. If you sell artwork or handmade goods or offer a service, Pinterest can drive traffic and sales to your creative biz and blog posts.
Metricool offers free and paid plans that connect your social media accounts and allow you to access analytics to draw insights from.
Switch to organic marketing approaches with content creation like blogging and putting the focus on building an engaged social media community (Hello, Substack!). These methods are cost-effective, and drive clicks and interest in what you are selling while building long-term customer relationships with your audience.
Double-task your software by working with free and low-cost tools that allow you to design and schedule social media posts in one place, like Iconosquare ($39 a month, 14-day free trial) and Adobe Express (Free plan or $99 a year, 30-day free trial).
5. Cut Out Non-Essential Overhead
Sometimes, simplifying your business operations can dramatically impact your bottom line. Many businesses unknowingly pay for services or subscriptions they don’t actively use. I’m totally guilty of this, too.
Here’s what to do:
Audit monthly expenses to identify redundant or unnecessary costs. Examples might include software subscriptions, rarely used tools, or services that no longer align with your workflows. Use a tool like Monarch Money to track subscriptions and expenses.
Consider hiring skilled freelancers for specific tasks rather than maintaining a subscription for ongoing services. This approach is especially helpful for creative industries with fluctuating workloads. You can find talented freelancers through Facebook Groups, referrals in local business organizations, and reputable platforms like Fiverr and Upwork.
Keep evaluating and tweaking your business spending habits regularly to ensure every cost brings tangible value to your business.
6. Invest in Yourself
Boost your productivity and reduce turnover costs by sharpening your skills, gaining new skills, and putting new work in your portfolio. Here are a few free and low-cost ways to invest in your creative skills.
Ways to Foster Growth:
Explore online courses, workshops, and certifications in areas that align with your business goals. Coursera offers free and low-cost courses on a range of topics that can help jumpstart your creativity and lead to more client work. LinkedIn Learning ($39.99 a month, free trial period) also offers skill-building online training courses.
Learn how to conquer Meta ads and digital marketing on Instagram and Facebook for your clients or your own creative business with Meta Blueprint. Access live training workshops and explore certifications to grow your skills.
Apply your design and digital marketing skills into new work for your portfolio with the mentorship program Acadium (Formerly GenM). Accepted applicants are paired with a business owner mentor for three-months of hands-on work that can lead to a paid position, case study for your resume, and applied work for your portfolio.
Balancing Costs and Creativity
Running a creative business means managing a delicate balance between artistic freedom and practical financial management. But profitability doesn’t have to come at the expense of your artistic values.
Try these strategies to take control of your expenses, improve efficiency, and grow your bottom line while maintaining authenticity in your work.
Start by auditing your current operations and experimenting with one or two of the above tips. Watch as small changes lead to major improvements in sustainability, ROI, and long-term financial health.
Try setting a 30, 60, and 90 day challenge for yourself to operate leaner and incrementally increase your business growth.