Businesses of all sizes can benefit from cutting costs. But if they are not carefully considered, they can prove disastrous. After all, to grow, companies must increase sales, not cut costs. When essential business systems are denied capital in order to cut expenses, stagnant growth or negative cash flow can result.

At the same time, if you don’t spend money on a critical business system, you might end up with unintended consequences. In reality, many entrepreneurs are being cheap when they think they’re being frugal. The problem is that being cheap leads to problems, while being frugal leads to efficiency.

As a frugal business owner, you might wonder how to appear generous without spending a fortune. Remember, you’ve got to make sure your business is profitable. It’s still okay to be generous despite that.