The Business Behind Your Business - Real Advice to Help Small Business Owners Build, Lead and Thrive

We are joined by Daniel Munday, the host of Small Business Dads podcast and the owner and manager of DPM Performance, who specialise in supporting the fitness needs of people who are 40+ years old. We talk about some of the tools and strategies we use in creating a podcast, plus we discuss the challenges and triumphs of running a business and balancing that with family life. Check out our Behind t...

This week we're looking at a topic that is very relevant in today's business climate. Paul Sweeney explores the question: If you are going to survive in small business, it will be necessary to know what your cash needs are going to be, both cash in and cash out. What do you need to consider when working out how much cash to keep on hand? Cash flow is the life of any business and its mana...

How do you succeed in small business? Paul Sweeney shares some of the key steps and tools all business owners should have in place to help them succeed in business. In this episode, we explore how using each of these contributes to running a successful business. Get advice before starting: Business Plan Budget and Cashflow Forecast Accounting records Regular financial reports Review Budgets and Ca...

How do you manage talent when everyone is working remotely? It's a question being asked by many business owners and managers during these current periods of uncertainty and continued COVID lockdowns. So how do we manage our employees who are working virtually? Harry Nathoo and Paul Cripps discuss how we can achieve this. They suggest that we need to move beyond traditional viewpoints on manag...

Paul Sweeney and Paul Cripps discuss three essential tools that every business needs. Accounting software – accounting (including payroll), bookkeeping, taxation CRM Software - Customer Relationship Management Software Sales Tools - the process where a prospect commits to buying from you Accounting Software Accounting is, as everyone knows, an integral part of operating any business. Accounting so...

Paul Murray, founder of AccountKit, shares his experience of the start-up process from an idea, to a minimum viable product, to now having an established business that recently celebrated it's 5th Anniversary. Paul Murray shares some key lessons for anyone contemplating starting a business or for anyone who has already launched their business.   Key points raised by Paul include: Importance o...

 In our 50th Episode, Bruce Gleeson is back to share his 10 Essential Steps to Take Now If Your Business is in Crisis . After our last conversation with Bruce, which is only a couple of weeks ago, we discussed "What you should be doing when your business is in trouble". Some of the feedback we received was, "Thank you. That's great advice. Can we get some practical steps on wha...

How do you manage employee leave during a COVID lockdown?   If your employees are unable to take leave, how do you as an employer manage the increasing liability for annual leave accruals? Can you force an employee to use their annual leave while your business is in lockdown? Can an employee cash out some of their annual leave?  Paul Cripps and Ben Baumgarten take a deep dive into these questions....

Learn all about how content marketing can help you grow your business.  Join Leanne Shelton from Write Time Marketing as she explores these issues.  As a business owner, you may be an expert in your field, but are you also an expert in describing your business, services or products? And how they are going to solve the problems faced by your customers? Probably not! That's where a professional...

A lot of these family businesses haven't properly recovered from the impact of the first round of COVID-19 lockdowns during 2020.  What should you be focusing on as a business owner especially during a second and subsequent periods of COVID lockdown? Bruce Gleeson shares with us what all business owners in crisis or financial difficulty should be doing. In fact, the strategy Bruce shares is r...

Declining or flat-lining profits (or even profits that aren’t increasing as quickly as you’d like) could be a major red flag for a small business. However, many business owners fall into the trap of doing the same things that worked in the past and hoping to achieve the same or better results – despite the evidence from what the numbers say. It’s important to work out how to increase profits for a...

The 2021 Financial Year has just finished. For many the results will not be great. We all want it to have a better year coming forward.  So, what do we need to do now? In this episode, Paul Sweeney outlines 7 steps to take now to make your next financial year better . Paul Sweeney Chartered Accountant & Business Advisor, launched Pretium Solutions after a long and successful career in accounti...

Casual Employment Changes - A Good News Story for Employers Recent amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act) change the workplace entitlements and obligations for casual employees. These changes came into effect on 27 March 2021. In February 2021 (episode 24) Paul Cripps and Philip van den Heever discussed the changes that were in the pipeline for casual employment. Paul Cripps from PK People...

You might be surprised to find out just how many different government grants and assistance programs are on offer. Depending on your specific business and the markets you supply to, different grants might be applicable. Is your business leaving cash on the table? By not taking advantage of government grants and incentives which may be available to your business, are you turning your back on financ...

When selecting a business structure for a small business, there is a cheap way and an expensive way. The cheap way is to do it right first time – by getting advice from an experienced professional. But the expensive way is commonly disguised as the ‘low-cost’ method. Make sure you consider the real costs of setting a business up – selecting the wrong structure through poor advice can become a cost...

Landing pages are often dismissed as a cheap alternative to websites. Phil Wendell from Click Click Media explains how every business can use landing pages as part of their marketing strategy to target new customers. By using landing pages, you can quickly and easily test your market and get feedback.  How much did I invest in marketing this landing page? What were the results? How many leads did...

What is RegTech? How does it affect my business? What should I be doing? According to Deloitte, "RegTech (Regulatory Technology) is more than a buzzword, it is a very real movement that is already having an impact on regulatory compliance." Deborah Young, CEO of the RegTech Association explains what RegTech is, and how RegTech is used every day by businesses everywhere. The RegTech Assoc...

Tax planning is a legitimate strategy all business owners can take advantage of to minimise tax. Tax planning is not just for big business. Every business can take advantage of some simple strategies to reduce tax this financial year. Paul Sweeney, Chartered Accountant and Registered Tax Agent,  explains some simple strategies to reduce tax this financial year for your business. Paul Sweeney Chart...

The Australian economy's recovery from COVID-19 is well underway. The Federal Budget is focused on securing Australia's recovery and rebuilding. It is a plan to invest rather than reform. Many have argued that it is a bland budget, missing the opportunity to deliver more tax cuts to help business owners. So how do the measures announced in the budget help your business? Where are the opp...

What is unfair dismissal?  Who can apply for it? How does the Commission consider cases before it?  For many employers, unfair dismissal can be a roadblock that prevents them from hiring because they don't have a good understanding of unfair dismissal and it's associated risks. It's useful for businesses to understand which employees can apply for unfair dismissal and what types of...

Are you struggling to engage your employees who are working from home? Do you want better ways to support your remote team? Find out more about emotional intelligence and how a greater understanding of this skill can affect your business and help you all work as a cohesive team. Managing remote workforces has its challenges. Given how common this situation is, it's worth learning the skills t...

Have you thought about trying networking but not sure where to start? Maybe you're not sure what you'll get out of it or if it will be worthwhile? Sandra Zalud from Liberty Network Services shares her experiences with business networking as a small business owner. Sandra found one important benefit that she received from business chambers and other networking groups was education on  how...

PART 2 of our look at cyber security and the insurance you need to protect your business.  In this episode, we look at what happens if there's a cyber attack and I have to make a claim? What's the process? Join Dave Ferris (Davelcorp Insurance Brokers) and Luke Iacovelli (UNITECH Solutions) as they dive into the issues around cyber crime and how best to protect your business from cyber a...

Is your business appropriately protected from cyber crime? Do you have specific cyber insurance coverage? Many small and medium businesses don't understand the issues involved and are at risk of costly cyber attacks.  In the past, it was the mega companies that were being hacked and they had teams of cyber loss control staff trying to prevent this by designing good security systems. Now, the...

In this episode, we're going to delve into some of the practical steps that you can take to reduce your exposure to cyber crime. Luke Iacovelli (UNITECH Solutions) returns to help your business identify some of the practical steps you can take to reduce your cyber security risk and exposure. Many businesses are experiencing the following situation - their IT systems at the office are up-to-da...