Negotiate your rent! Here’s how.

Although #SaveNYC may be spreading on social media, the catchy slogan is not going to save small-business owners from skyrocketing rents. New Yorkers may want to help their neighborhood dry cleaner, but when it comes to choosing between a higher paycheck and a lower one, most of us opt for higher — as do landlords.

Yet not every small-business owner is fated to lose his or her space to a powerful retail chain. Over 18 years of mediating disputes between strong, opinionated and savvy New Yorkers, I've learned some tactics that go a long way toward giving small-business owners an edge — well as mistakes that doom them — when it comes to negotiating their leases.

Here are five approaches they should use.

By Elizabeth Clemants