Business Model

So who has changed their Business Model under the strains of the GFC coupled with the non existent Govt support for small Business and the Financial Ball clapping liquidity squeeze from the Banks.

I'll start it off
My restructure was to shake loose 7 employee's and retain one-Myself.
Less overheads
Less stress
I have given up my Role as Surrogate father,Psychologist and motivational coach.
I failed to read the ASIC fine print on the obligations of being a boss that excluded the above roles.
I have also laid off the Book keeper that so dillegently did all the Tax departments transfer of burden work for My business.

After spending thousands on Employee training on the advice of a SS member i now put all that money into up skilling my personal skills.
Funny thing is i actually appreciate the money i spend on myself :/ and put in the appropriate study effort.

I am still amazed at how much literature i receive from various Govt organisation informing me of their great idea's in relation to how they can provide grants for my Employee's and the extra things i have to participate in to make their jobs more palpable and attractive.
Co invest Long service leave contributions for the owner/Employee of a Company-"What a joke"-Just to name one.

I no longer have to spend money on End of year Christmas parties on top of... thousands of dollars of motivational bonuses through out the year..thats pretty nice i have to say.
Total Net result=Freedom,Peace of mind that things are done right the first time,Less stress and a brighter happier future.

Ohh and anyone who does not or has never run a Business can just move along to the RE section of SS and put this down to a gratis obfuscatory Rant.

REDBACK

 

Sad to say, but under Fair Work Australia people are following your example in droves. Until the day arrives that there are separate and intelligent IR and employment laws tailored for small business it will continue to be the case. While IR laws are written for companies the size of Ford and BHP and then blanket applied to every business in Australia down to the smallest plumber or shoe shop we are in trouble and people will simply continue to decide that it is too stressful and dangerous to be employers. The same globalisation that has allowed Australians to cease patronising Australian businesses and instead buy directly from overseas works both ways - Businesses can also hire surrogate workers overseas by simply having their items made offshore, or buying them offshore in instead of making them here. Stupid legislation such as double time penalty rates on Sundays and increasing the super scheme to 12 percent is simply another nail in the coffin of small businesses continuing as employers.

I hope that sense will prevail soon and small businesses will be given some consideration as they are collectively the nation's largest employer. The big problem that they face currently is that the ACTU owns the Labor Party and FWA, and they actively try and destroy small businesses and contractors because to them anyone that is not paying union dues is not a worker, they are vermin.

 

You're paying out 7 redundancies?

 

In the late 70s early 80s it was triple time on sundays

 

Yep all done.

 

I guess that was a different time, people worked week days and most places closed on weekends. Now we are a 7 day society, the retarded part is that on one hand the government demands that employers give workers more and more flexibility in their work hours and conditions, and at the same time decreases flexibility by making it more expensive to employ people on Sundays. It is a puritanical stone age throwback.

 

Very true,sad part is we were taken to Fair work and even after proving in the Prelim that most of the claims were BS we then still had to go and prepare case's for a Mediation which took days and days to prepare documents etc.All the Employee had to do was make one phone call and Fair work would take on the burden and expense for the rest.
Its an amazing one sided system.

 

Yep it needs to be the same across the board .

While i understand jonesy's point i feel there needs to be some incentive for people to work on their days off ..That includes the warped tax system we have

 

Small businesses (defined as a business employing fewer than 15 people) are not obliged to pay redundancy pay generally according to the FWA website. Were you being a good boss and looking after your people anyway?

 

dont you know that members of ss are nice people/boss ?

 

Jonesy
For simplicities sake that was the short answer i gave Clawhammer.
There are many nuances in the act that require a payment to be made mostly in the Employee's favour.
Its quite an amazing piece of legislation and i wonder how much input Small business had.Zilch i am guessing.

REDBACK

 

Overall, my businesses have put on more people than have been laid off.

That said, there have been a few opportunities that I've looked at recently which I've held off on because the regulations involved made them unattractive. I might come back to them later, but something new comes along every other week anyway so maybe not. I've already committed to one new business project for next year.

Hardest thing has actually been dealing with idiot suppliers. One in particular I'm going to have to either dump or buy out and fix the way they do things.

 

I left my previous employer because the red tape and uncertainties at the start of the Fair Work Act meant they couldn't renegotiate my individual agreement when it expired.

I was lucky that the medium sized business I went to already had a good business model after they were forced to restructure just under a decade ago. The business model served us well through the GFC while we saw a few of our competitors operating under the standard "pyramid scheme" models go into administration or were forced to sell themselves cheaply. Basically, around 2/3 of the employees effectively act as their own small business unit (with all associated upsides and downsides) and the purpose of the company is to provide various support services and sort out the very rare disputes when the strong internal collaboration turns to internal competition. Can almost think of it as a Harvey Norman model. It works very well with the right people, which is the catch - It's hard to find the right people.

A strong added benefit is the strong built in succession planning focus which means that we have enough young blood that the company doesn't have the baby boomer or key person risks (touch wood).

 

Try Social Work. The broad and diverse range of employers there is something to be experienced.

I got assaulted by someone I was caring for in late 2011, had a cracked tooth and a little more besides... The company I worked for had an apparent policy in place for this. Called 'Tough shit, if you go on workcover you'll never work in the industry again'.

Got my workcover, got back in work. Set up my own social care contracting business. Happy as a pig in the proverbial shit for 6 months.

Now time for a career change. I've had 12 years in Social Work - and you can't work in a paint shop and not get splashed...

 

Its a shame really that you are looking to leave - it must be hard seeing all the hard ships (and hard asses/lost causes) time and time again .. and the rewarding cases (people who actually want your help) in the minority.

 

++++1 Just like you we now only employ ourselves and use our kids part time. I will never again employ people. We use technology and limit the work we take on and charge top dollar. You will never go broke making a profit. Have another new business starting in late January early Feb that does not involve any bank finance. It dovetails in with existing businesses and as the cash flow increases will mean the less valuable parts of existing income streams will be re-examined. Pareto's law; http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/Pareto081202.htm

Kind Regards
non recourse

 

Very much so, I mean I'm sad to leave the industry - but I've tripled the burnout time for the industry (average of 4 years, done 12) and I don't want to be one of those despondent, 'when does my shift finish' social care workers.

I've touched some lives in really rewarding ways, specially after working in Child Safety here in Queensland. Met some kids who've really turned their lives around. However I've also seen a 14 year old rapist walk free after a sickening crime was committed due to having a 'celebrity' lawyer, several abuse cases go unresolved or even be given any scrunity, and a child I used to care for kill themselves in a high speed joyriding crash here in Brisbane. I simply can't deal with that sorta tragedy any more.

Time for something practical - anyone based in Brisbane wanna take on a pikey? Were a hard working breed - keen to learn a new trade and get stuck in to some good honest work!

 

REDBACK,

it's so refreshing hearing your comments. Unfortunately fair work's exemptions for small business are not worth the paper they are written on. We are fortunate and have 3 very good employees, at the moment, but we have had a couple in the last few years that seem to want to make it their mission in life to make us suffer because we have dared to be nice bosses, pay them well above the award, give them bonuses, listen to their days of our lives trailer trash drama and not bat an eyelid when told they are still stoned from the night before. How dare we be such suckers? We deserve for them to walk out 2 weeks before christmas, our busiest time, send us a letter of resignation (when they realise that they f..ked up royally this time) and ask us for their holiday pay and bonus and loading and a reference and thank us for being good employers and when we have to use outside work rooms to do the work they have left and we withhold the cost it's cost us, and we refuse to pay them the pissy 9 days holiday pay theY have because they were never able to work a full week because of their shitty, f..ked up, drama filled created lives, they boo hoo to fair work that they have been unfairly dismissed.
We held out for 6 months, and then had to pay the holiday pay. We only held at out of principal. Oh yeah and the fact that we are supposed to be a small (under 15 employer), the award states that we are entitled to withhold payment where no notice has been given/served, 2 of my employees stated that she had told them that she was gonna make us pay dearly for being so nice to her? I state again - how dare we?
The government aren't interested in helping us. They're too busy self serving, giving out jobs for the boys, and producing bread and circuses for the brain dead masses. Until something is done many small businesses will only employ casuals.
Thank god for the 3 good staff we have. Unfortunately the government's have for too long spoon fed workers a steady diet of bs and we are becoming a lazy society who thinks we're all owed something.
Bring back a good days work for a good days pay!
Happy new Year to all.

 

Off-shoring for me, that's what I'm doing now and have been for months, Asia is a much nicer place to do business