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Is Your Software An
Investment Or An Expense
by Bonnie Boots
Every penny you spend on your business can be defined as either an
investment or an expense. What's the difference? An investment is
property or other possessions, such as stock certificates, that are
acquired for future financial return or benefit. An expense, on the
other hand, is money that is spent to accomplish a purpose but is
not expected to bring in a financial return.
In large corporations, investments are favored. Expenses are frowned
upon. When a corporation wants to improve its bottom line, the first
thing it does is cut expenses. As the owner of a small business, you
can benefit by standing in the shoes of a corporate accountant and
looking over your own expenditures.
Take a look at your computing environment. Your computer is an
investment. It will work for you on a daily basis for a number of
years. The same can be said of your operating system, which is most
likely Windows. The picture begins to change, however, when you look
at software.
Open up your start menu, and take a look at your list of software
programs. Do you know what each program does? Do you use each one?
If you're like many internet entrepreneurs, you'll find numerous
names on your program list that are meaningless to you. You don't
use the software. You don't even remember when or why you bought it.
When you acquired this software, you undoubtedly thought of it as an
investment, something that would work hard for you and increase your
profits. But now it's just an expense. Not only did you waste the
money you spent on unused software, you're also wasting the space it
takes up on your hard drive.
How can you change this picture? First, open a new document and make
a list of all the software installed on your hard drive. Then find
out what each and every bit of it does. This won't take long. Just
Google the name of the software, then cut and paste a brief
description.
Now that you know what all your software is meant to do, see if you
can maximize your investment in it. In many cases, you'll find the
software is actually quite useful. You either forgot you had it, or
never learned to use it. Make a commitment, right now, to learning
that software and putting it to good use.
If you don't want to learn the software or can't think of any good
application for it, consider selling it on an auction site. You
could even trade it on a forum to someone who also has unused
software. There's nothing wrong with recycling software so long as
you uninstall the files fro your own hard drive.
As a last resort, if you don't use the software, and don't want to
bother with selling or trading it, simply uninstall it from your
hard drive. You'll free up precious space and help your computer run
better. A well-running computer, remember, is an investment.
About the Author
Bonnie Boots is the publisher/editor of The
Internet Wizards Magazine for people who want to create their own
products and market on the internet. Register for your free 1-year
subscription at http://www.theinternetwizards.com |
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