Many microenterprises begin their journey with great attention to costs. Every investment is carefully considered, every expense evaluated thoroughly. Then, over time, something changes. The business grows, the needs increase, and with them, subscriptions to services, software, and platforms that seem indispensable multiply.

In the beginning, €9.99 per month for cloud management software seems like a negligible amount. Adding an email marketing platform for €15, a project management tool for €12, a storage service for €20, a CRM for €30… it all makes sense. Or rather, it seems to.

The problem is that no one ever takes a moment to calculate the total. Those small, seemingly insignificant costs add up and eventually become a heavy expense that can erode a significant portion of the profit margin.

And the funny (or sad) part is that we often don’t even notice. The subscription model or monthly payment gives the illusion of minimal impact, spread over time. But if at the end of the year we stopped to sum up all these “micro-investments,” we might discover that they are draining thousands of euros that could be used more strategically.

This isn’t about demonizing spending. Every business needs tools to operate at its best. The issue arises when control is lost: duplicate services, underutilized tools, solutions chosen without proper evaluation of the impact. We get used to paying, without questioning whether that cost is still justified.

I’ve seen companies with three (!!!) different tools for managing the same activity, simply because the first one was activated during the startup phase, the second was suggested by a supplier, and the third was imposed by a client. No one ever stopped to ask: do we really need three? Wouldn’t one be enough?

And here’s the key point: how much of what we’re paying for do we really need?

The biggest mistake would be to react with indiscriminate cuts. It’s not about eliminating everything, but about spending smarter. This is where a strategic approach comes into play: periodically analyzing costs, understanding which ones bring value and which ones are just unnecessary baggage.

At Rastan Consulting, we guide companies and professionals through this process:

We analyze the flow of expenses, highlighting areas where costs have become wasteful.

We help identify more efficient alternatives, consolidating services and negotiating better conditions with suppliers.

We build a sustainable optimization strategy that doesn’t compromise quality but makes the company more agile and profitable.

In this market, it’s not who spends less that wins, but who spends smarter. And the difference between a microenterprise that struggles to grow and one that successfully scales its business often lies right here: in the ability to manage every single euro intelligently.

And you, have you ever done a check of your recurring costs? Are you sure every service you’re paying for is truly necessary?

If you’d like to delve deeper into this topic, we can talk. The first step in optimizing is always becoming aware.