Small business thread

ShinyStuff said:
Clawhammer said:
Re; I.R. & OHS;

Don't forget these laws came in because of all the abuse and accidents that occurred because of dodgey employers. In the age group of most of this forum, I know you've all worked jobs where we were treated like scum and expected to do dangerous tasks that the owner wouldn't risk himself or his family & friends to do.

These sorts of employers scar you psychologically. Remember how much you hated going into that place? I know of 1 politician (ex- I.R. Union lawyer), whose sole purpose in life is to never let what happended to him happen to another person. He was on the National Health & Safety Harmonisation Working group. And he was not alone on that committee. These people have more money, influence, energy and drive than the whole business community can fight against. These laws will stay and get tighter.

And what it all comes back to is all an employer has to do is to hire the right people look after them like they were friends and family.
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This reminds me, when i was in my early twenties i worked my arse off all day and sunday for years, 10 to 12 hour days and the guy i was working for paid me cash but reassured me that it was all above board. I went to do my tax return and asked for two years of group certificates and he did the bolt. I was being shafted as he was taking out too much tax (i was not getting enough nett) and so i was reassured it would be okay at return time... Guy took about 10k off me, which for 15 years ago was alot for me.

It was a business that took alot of money and there were five of us working through the week for him, and so now i am very dubious working for small businesses as i often think, is it all above board or not?? That was the thanks that i got for my honesty (never once took a cent from the till) and for always doing extra things for him... One day i will run into him and i often wonder what i will say..l probably nothing. :-)
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I had something very similar to that happen to me when I was young. When I put my tax return in I made sure the "Tax Paid" figure matched what he wrote on my pay slip, even though he didn't provide a group certificate. Got all the tax owed, not sure what happened to the employer.
 
I left school in year 10 many moons ago having started many businesses within the ICT industry and now rolled most of it into my current company. Yes the school of hard knocks is probably the best education you can ever get. I have also helped many of my friends who have started their own businesses and have been doing quite well.

A business plan and exit strategy is great as to a guide in what you may do in the business but life is always full of surprises and I will say this the quicker you are at identifying and resolving the problem the more successful you can become. I redo my busines plans every December to reflect wether or not I have achieved the goals I set out previously and question why?

My exit strategy has always been the profit to effort ratio, if its too much effort for very little profit thats a sign for you to get the HELL out. For example when digital phones first came out One.tel was paying $600 - $800 per contract but today some phone companies are paying approximately $80 per contract plus airtime, on top of that look how many phone dealers are out there.

Which brings me to my next thing which is PASSION, if you love what you do then very little effort is required to make profit.

I have always had a passion in technology and since re-establishing my IT business in 2005, I have organically grown the business through word of mouth.

The next note would be ENVIRONMENT, surround yourself with like minded people, this could mean your employees, business partner (personally I would not have a business partner again), clients and most importantly friends and family who will support you. As part of the environment you need to know your industry very well, economic climate and things like that.

And the most important thing I would like to say when running a business, EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT. Hence why you need to have good support.
 
ShinyStuff said:
Clawhammer said:
Re; I.R. & OHS;

Don't forget these laws came in because of all the abuse and accidents that occurred because of dodgey employers. In the age group of most of this forum, I know you've all worked jobs where we were treated like scum and expected to do dangerous tasks that the owner wouldn't risk himself or his family & friends to do.

These sorts of employers scar you psychologically. Remember how much you hated going into that place? I know of 1 politician (ex- I.R. Union lawyer), whose sole purpose in life is to never let what happended to him happen to another person. He was on the National Health & Safety Harmonisation Working group. And he was not alone on that committee. These people have more money, influence, energy and drive than the whole business community can fight against. These laws will stay and get tighter.

And what it all comes back to is all an employer has to do is to hire the right people look after them like they were friends and family.
Click to expand...
....

This reminds me, when i was in my early twenties i worked my arse off all day and sunday for years, 10 to 12 hour days and the guy i was working for paid me cash but reassured me that it was all above board. I went to do my tax return and asked for two years of group certificates and he did the bolt. I was being shafted as he was taking out too much tax (i was not getting enough nett) and so i was reassured it would be okay at return time... Guy took about 10k off me, which for 15 years ago was alot for me.

It was a business that took alot of money and there were five of us working through the week for him, and so now i am very dubious working for small businesses as i often think, is it all above board or not?? That was the thanks that i got for my honesty (never once took a cent from the till) and for always doing extra things for him... One day i will run into him and i often wonder what i will say..l probably nothing. :-)
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you should have no issue working for a small business - If you fill in an employment declaration form when you are employed and you receive a payslip each week detailing your hours, rate, total earnings, tax withheld, super and accrued leave. You can log into your super account and see if the super is being paid and check your relevant award and the ATO's tax tables to make sure that you are being paid and taxed correctly.
 
Never go into a partnership.

Have the best accounting and legal advisors you can afford.

Be ruthless with your accounts recievable.
 
I've been doing a lot of thinking about businesses recently and I am dead keen on some sort of location independent business.

I think as GP mentioned, the important part is planning what you want from the start. If that is an exit strategy to make a sale in 2 years time, plan for it.. I see a lot of business owners locked into being at work as they are the only one with the knowledge, or the only one reliable enough to do the work. Without the owner, the business is worth diddly.
 
r0dman said:
I've been doing a lot of thinking about businesses recently and I am dead keen on some sort of location independent business.

I think as GP mentioned, the important part is planning what you want from the start. If that is an exit strategy to make a sale in 2 years time, plan for it.. I see a lot of business owners locked into being at work as they are the only one with the knowledge, or the only one reliable enough to do the work. Without the owner, the business is worth diddly.
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The lack of proper succession planning is going to continue to make available a lot of good opportunities. There are lots of babyboomer owned businesses where most or all of the ownership is by one "key" person. This includes multi-million dollar businesses with 20-100 staff. The ones with good planning started progressively selling down the shares of the old guard to the next generation(s) years ago.
 
Make procedures for everything you do, if youre not available you will need to be replaced, also very good for when selling, shows professionalism and dilligence.

Think OHS&E (ocupational Health, Safety and environment) These can be costly for a start up business to create and impliment.
 
Don't let things get out of control financially. Keep your books up to date and learn what the important metrics for your business are and monitor them. If you are in retail keep a counter on your desk and clock it for every person who walks in the door, and record the total every day, it is invaluable to be able to look back on any date and see how busy you were in previous years when you are deciding whether to open on particular days such a public holidays. Metrics are everything, they tell you whether you are growing or contracting and what items or services you have that are working for you and which are anchors.
 
Jonesy said:
Don't let things get out of control financially. Keep your books up to date and learn what the important metrics for your business are and monitor them. If you are in retail keep a counter on your desk and clock it for every person who walks in the door, and record the total every day, it is invaluable to be able to look back on any date and see how busy you were in previous years when you are deciding whether to open on particular days such a public holidays. Metrics are everything, they tell you whether you are growing or contracting and what items or services you have that are working for you and which are anchors.
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I like this!
 
One other thing that I think is worthy of a mention is how to approach the ATO. From my experience the best way to deal with them is to keep in good communication with them. I have invariably found that the people that answer the phones there are very willing to help and they actually seem to have quite a lot of discretionary power. The worst thing to do if you are late paying or in trouble is to ignore it. Call them speak to them and if you are polite they will often cut you a lot of slack. I have a friend who was well behind in his BAS payments and had accrued some fines, and by calling and speaking with the ATO he was able to have the fines waived and a payment arrangement put into place.

As for other bills, particularly in these days where you receive no interest on your savings, IMHO it is best to pay your suppliers immediately on invoice. Even though it is a bit more work, I do a bill run every 4 days and pay everyone. The result is that our suppliers will do anything for us and give us preferential treatment because they know that we are a great customer for their cash flow. I think that the "30 day account" is no longer viable for most small businesses.
 
Jonesy said:
One other thing that I think is worthy of a mention is how to approach the ATO. From my experience the best way to deal with them is to keep in good communication with them. I have invariably found that the people that answer the phones there are very willing to help and they actually seem to have quite a lot of discretionary power. The worst thing to do if you are late paying or in trouble is to ignore it. Call them speak to them and if you are polite they will often cut you a lot of slack. I have a friend who was well behind in his BAS payments and had accrued some fines, and by calling and speaking with the ATO he was able to have the fines waived and a payment arrangement put into place.

As for other bills, particularly in these days where you receive no interest on your savings, IMHO it is best to pay your suppliers immediately on invoice. Even though it is a bit more work, I do a bill run every 4 days and pay everyone. The result is that our suppliers will do anything for us and give us preferential treatment because they know that we are a great customer for their cash flow. I think that the "30 day account" is no longer viable for most small businesses.
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Well said jonesy pay them billls & keep them happy .I have the same approach . You look like a diamond compared to a lot of others who are late paying or string it out as much as they can & like you mentioned you get service above & beyond the riff raff.

I used to deal with a company & always paid within a day or two of them delivering even though it was a thirty day account & sometimes would pay for it when i was ordering & an acquantance dealt with the same company & was a bit shocked when he found out i would get things in hours sometimes(one of my workers was talking to him at the pub) & he would have to wait a day or two at times

Good customers are rare & are treated as such i believe
 
renovator said:
Jonesy said:
One other thing that I think is worthy of a mention is how to approach the ATO. From my experience the best way to deal with them is to keep in good communication with them. I have invariably found that the people that answer the phones there are very willing to help and they actually seem to have quite a lot of discretionary power. The worst thing to do if you are late paying or in trouble is to ignore it. Call them speak to them and if you are polite they will often cut you a lot of slack. I have a friend who was well behind in his BAS payments and had accrued some fines, and by calling and speaking with the ATO he was able to have the fines waived and a payment arrangement put into place.

As for other bills, particularly in these days where you receive no interest on your savings, IMHO it is best to pay your suppliers immediately on invoice. Even though it is a bit more work, I do a bill run every 4 days and pay everyone. The result is that our suppliers will do anything for us and give us preferential treatment because they know that we are a great customer for their cash flow. I think that the "30 day account" is no longer viable for most small businesses.
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Well said jonesy pay them billls & keep them happy .I have the same approach . You look like a diamond compared to a lot of others who are late paying or string it out as much as they can & like you mentioned you get service above & beyond the riff raff.

I used to deal with a company & always paid within a day or two of them delivering even though it was a thirty day account & sometimes would pay for it when i was ordering & an acquantance dealt with the same company & was a bit shocked when he found out i would get things in hours sometimes(one of my workers was talking to him at the pub) & he would have to wait a day or two at times

Good customers are rare & are treated as such i believe
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I would do this because if I didn't I would have to look for invoices, check cheques and generally hassle around to find what was paid and what was owed, paying on ordering or soon after , I knew if I had it, then it had been paid. Sometimes I even had to fight them to take a payment .
 
DanDee said:
renovator said:
Jonesy said:
One other thing that I think is worthy of a mention is how to approach the ATO. From my experience the best way to deal with them is to keep in good communication with them. I have invariably found that the people that answer the phones there are very willing to help and they actually seem to have quite a lot of discretionary power. The worst thing to do if you are late paying or in trouble is to ignore it. Call them speak to them and if you are polite they will often cut you a lot of slack. I have a friend who was well behind in his BAS payments and had accrued some fines, and by calling and speaking with the ATO he was able to have the fines waived and a payment arrangement put into place.

As for other bills, particularly in these days where you receive no interest on your savings, IMHO it is best to pay your suppliers immediately on invoice. Even though it is a bit more work, I do a bill run every 4 days and pay everyone. The result is that our suppliers will do anything for us and give us preferential treatment because they know that we are a great customer for their cash flow. I think that the "30 day account" is no longer viable for most small businesses.
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Well said jonesy pay them billls & keep them happy .I have the same approach . You look like a diamond compared to a lot of others who are late paying or string it out as much as they can & like you mentioned you get service above & beyond the riff raff.

I used to deal with a company & always paid within a day or two of them delivering even though it was a thirty day account & sometimes would pay for it when i was ordering & an acquantance dealt with the same company & was a bit shocked when he found out i would get things in hours sometimes(one of my workers was talking to him at the pub) & he would have to wait a day or two at times

Good customers are rare & are treated as such i believe
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I would do this because if I didn't I would have to look for invoices, check cheques and generally hassle around to find what was paid and what was owed, paying on ordering or soon after , I knew if I had it, then it had been paid. Sometimes I even had to fight them to take a payment .
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I do it because of my filing system .....on my desk ....in the consul / glovebox /doortray of my car & work ute in the pocket of my clothes in the washing basket on the fridge when the missus finds them in the dirty clothes ,under the ashtray on the bar lol . fk me 30 days it would be lost & long forgotten like you said cross checking stuff is a PIA..

Im sure its much easier for someone in the one place like an office all the time .
 
Stick to what you know.

In my line of work I've seen very few businesses sucessfully diversify. In the unsucessful pursuit of growth through diversification most businesses seem to lose their core focus and end up going backwards.

Work out what you're good at, do it better than everyone else, and then do more and more of it.

C
 
So today my wife, like millions of other mums went into Office Works for the sticky plastic stuff to cover the kids' school books with. When she got it home, it was apparently of "below-par" quality. Far enough "below-par" that my better half felt compelled to take it back for a strong word and a refund. The person behind the counter was, apparently, unsurprised and put it on the growing pile in the corner.

Business moral? I'm not sure. Pick any one from the following, or add your own....

Recognise when you've got a niche market and look after it.

Take care of your good name/reputation.

Don't underestimate your customers.

If you're gonna sell crap, make sure you spread it wide and thin.

Etc...
 
Tacrezod said:
So today my wife, like millions of other mums went into Office Works for the sticky plastic stuff to cover the kids' school books with. When she got it home, it was apparently of "below-par" quality. Far enough "below-par" that my better half felt compelled to take it back for a strong word and a refund. The person behind the counter was, apparently, unsurprised and put it on the growing pile in the corner.

Business moral? I'm not sure. Pick any one from the following, or add your own....

Recognise when you've got a niche market and look after it.

Take care of your good name/reputation.

Don't underestimate your customers.

If you're gonna sell crap, make sure you spread it wide and thin.

Etc...
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Australians had better get used to it. Did we think that demanding ever cheaper prices for things would not have a consequence? I have noticed recently that it is becoming increasingly difficult to buy "mid level" quality goods. In order to satisfy Australian consumers demand for Chinese pricing of goods businesses are delivering in the only way possible - They provide customers with the quality that they are paying for, ie: they stock Chinese made goods commensurate with the price that the consumer expects. You aren't going to get a Honda if you are only prepared to pay Great Wall prices, but you might get something that looks like a Honda.
 
Makes sense to me that the market to aim for is the high end quality market. Larger profit margins, less sales which means less customers to deal with too, but those that buy from you will likely buy again as they are from a niche that you can aim for.
 
Read this somewhere in the book 'Beware The Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt' by Harvey Mackay (an oldie):

QUALITY
SERVICE
PRICE

Choose any 2 of the following options.

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Developing your emotional and social intelligence is an absolute must if you want to succeed in getting into the B quadrant. IMO the B quadrant is heavily about being a leader and drawing out the best in ppl. Forget about trying to reinvent the wheel and doing things 'my way'; that's the biggest reason why ppl end up in the S quadrant. Leverage ppl's skills and abilities and utilise it to your company's advantage.

Surrounding yourself with winners and successful ppl (ie. environment) is also a huge factor, aka Napolean Hill 'Mastermind Group'. That includes feeding yourself daily with positive & uplifting books, MP3s, YouTube videos, seminars, etc. You have to build that inner-strength and belief up so that you can withstand the tide of negativity and mediocrity from other ppl.
 
According to the Libs Policy Booklet that Hockey et al have been flashing about:

Page 11 said:
There are 11,000 fewer small businesses actually employing people now than there were in 2007. Small business start-ups have dropped a staggering 95 per cent. The number going bankrupt has increased by 48 per cent. Small business insolvencies instigated by the Australian Taxation Office are up 46 per cent on previous years.
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