An ABN, or Australian Business Number, is a must if you’re a sole trader or starting a new business. But how do you get an ABN? And, how much does an ABN application costs? Here’s everything you need to know. What is an ABN? An ABN is an Australian Business Number. It’s an 11-digit number that the government and community can use to identify your business – as an example, you can find this on a website of a small business [...]
As a small business owner, you’re always busy: managing staff, developing a marketing strategy, pursuing client referrals or completing any number of other tasks on a day-to-day basis. So, it’s understandable that keeping clear, accurate and comprehensive financial records falls to the back of your mind. But bookkeeping is incredibly important: both to keeping you informed of your business’s financial standing and also to avoid negative consequences for failing to report financial information properly. Here are five tips to [...]
Choosing your own work hours, deciding which projects you take on, and possibly even pursuing your passion. Sounds like the ideal work situation, right? With a little creativity, you could be running your own business from home sooner than you think. For many, working from home became the new normal in 2020. Some companies have truly embraced this change – choosing to adopt a remote or hybrid work model on a long-term basis – as have most employees, who have [...]
If you’re a business registered for GST, you’re probably aware that you need to lodge BAS, or a Business Activity Statement. So, where do you start? Read on to find out. Preparing and submitting a Business Activity Statement (BAS) is part and parcel of running a small business, assuming your business is registered for GST. But if you’re new to the small business world, it might be your first time encountering the BAS reporting system – it’s important to be [...]
Running a small business always comes with its challenges, and with the arrival of a new year comes the added pressure to assess how you’re doing things, and where you’ll go next. Regardless of the industry you’re in, the size of your company or the amount of success you’ve experienced so far, here are six business goals that will never go astray. 1. Reflect on the past year — the highs, the lows, and everything in between It’s important to regularly [...]
Getting Australians back to work. We can all admit 2020 was a rollercoaster, and unfortunately small businesses and their employees had front row seats. Luckily, with the introduction of JobKeeper, many Australians were able to keep afloat while they weathered the storm. However, with unemployment at 7% in October and the economy struggling, a new scheme was introduced. The Job Maker Hiring Credit is a $4 billion Government scheme designed to support a stronger economic recovery and get more Australians back [...]
Growing your client base is great, but it can take time away from the day-to-day operations of your business. One way to minimise the problem? Referrals and returning clients. If you’re a small business owner or freelancer, you’d know that some of the highest praise from a client includes them returning to do business with you, or referring your business to someone else. That’s because it means more business for you – without any marketing efforts or expense spared. But [...]
Seed rounds, venture capital, angel investors… what does it all mean? Finding investors can be daunting for any start-up, but with a little practice, you’ll be comfortable in no time. You might have the best business idea in the world, but without the funding to pursue it, it’s not going to become the next unicorn. Making things trickier again is the world of investment itself: networks can be hard to break into, and even the language used by investors can [...]
For small businesses and freelancers, finding clients is only half of the struggle. Managing your payments can be tricky at the best of times, and the problem is only made worse when payments are late. Here’s what to do if your clients aren’t punctual with pay. From trades, to media, to agriculture – the last few years have seen a rise in precarious employment across almost all industries, with short-term and freelance contracts becoming increasingly common. But with late payments [...]
It’s natural to become attached to a project you’re working on, and when you’ve started your own business, there are plenty of good reasons for doing so. But doing too much work has its downsides – so how do you strike the right work-life balance? Work-life balance is often held up as a glorious ideal; a goal for somebody else with a different set of work pressures, but hardly realistic for us as individuals. This is, however, a dangerous line [...]
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