Today’s business owner is increasingly focused on the bottom line. Inflationary pressures and lower revenues affecting many companies may require some tightening of the belt.

Below are some tips you may consider to cut business expenses and increase profits.

1. Analyze and refit your business premises for energy savings. Plug those air leaks. Turn off the lights when leaving the room.

In Europe, many hotels have motion detectors in the hallway that turn on the lights only when someone enters the hallway and elevators that start running only when someone approaches them rather than all the time.

You could even offer incentives to employees to help reduce the electric bill by sharing the savings.

2. If you have a business that has a fleet of cars, when the time comes, switch to hybrids or other low-mileage vehicles.

We cut our gas bill in half with a new hybrid Camry that gets 36 mpg. Ford and Honda have hybrid offerings too.

There was also an attractive tax credit we received that offset a good portion of the sale price.

3. Shop at the wholesale clubs.

And offer to share costs of office supplies, cleaning supplies, and paper products with your business neighbors.

4. Barter.

If your business offers a product or service appropriate for barter, ask a supplier if there are any trade possibilities. Or join a barter association where you offer your products or services and gain points to trade for other products or services.

5. Turn off all computers and copiers when not in use and shut off the power at the source.

This can be easily done by plugging the computers and copiers into a surge protector.

Some electronics use 25 percent of their power when in standby mode.

6. Need free advertising? You could try a site such as Craigslist.com or a pay-per-click ad.

You only pay when someone is interested enough to click on your ad, and you can set a maximum daily budget.

7. Recycle, reuse.

There is no longer any stigma attached to reusing printed paper and printing in-house documents on the backside of the paper for cost savings.

8. Check an auction site such as eBay.

The auction site may be a great place to find bulk items, office equipment, and supplies that are either not sold at wholesale clubs or are no longer widely available.

9. Join an online forum in your industry.

That way you can see what others in your niche are doing to cut costs.