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

When it comes to cyber security, the weakest link is the user - the actual human being behind the computer. You could have the best systems in the world doing what they do best, but if someone clicks on something or does something at a user level, then you can potentially compromise a lot of the work.  The common misconception is that cyber security and cyber crime is an IT issue. It is, but it&ap...

With the end of Jobkeeper approaching in March for those businesses still meeting eligibility criteria, and other tax concessions being phased out, business owners need to look beyond March. The COVID-19 crisis has provided some indirect beneficial outcomes. It has in many ways been a catalyst for businesses to closely examine how they operate, who they transact with, and the efficiency and profit...

What are the traps businesses fall into with digital marketing? Where does your website fit in with your marketing strategy? Claire Wendell from Click Click Media discusses the problems many businesses face when trying to get started with digital marketing. Claire states, "You really want to try with your online marketing to showcase who you are as a business. The behavior of consumers online...

Sandra Zalud shares some of the lessons learned from her experience of starting a business and provides some key advice for anyone getting started in business. Even with 25 years' experience with lending and assisting a mortgage broker, there were lessons to be learnt when Sandra started her own mortgage broking business. Sandra Zalud has been a representative of Liberty Network Services for...

When processes and procedures aren’t documented… A customer’s issue may be handled incorrectly Customer service won’t meet customer expectations Errors will be made How much time is wasted by other employees learning how to do someone else's job (badly) on the fly? How much of their own work do they not get done while they are covering for someone else?  Paul Sweeney from Pretium Solutions Ch...

Every business has risks. Identifying the cost to your business from losing one of your key people is the first step in protecting your business from loss.  Jim Mills from Merit Wealth identifies the major risks to your business from losing a key person. How do you identify the impact? How do you create a plan to financially protect your business from the loss resulting from death, disablement or...

Jason Smith, from Capital Plus Finance, shares his lessons learned from creating and successfully selling his business Cash Flow Advantage. Jason didn't start his business with a plan of selling. But the decisions he made and the systems he implemented transformed his business into a profitable business that ran independently of him.   When the time came to sell, Jason had a very saleable bus...

Employers now have a new issue that has come to the forefront that's to do with a case concerning casual employment, and it has the potential to significantly change the way that employers look at casual employment. Before we actually look at this issue, it's important to understand what is meant by casual employment and the reasons why we have casual employment. Casual employment is the...

Rita Morar from Keystone Business Advisory  provides Part 2 of our discussion of the five pillars of success. In Part 1 (Last Episode) we dived deeply into this discussion of what is a primary motivator and why people need to understand what motivates them to have a really successful personal life and business life. In this episode Rita Morar unpacks the next four pillars of success. Rita Morar is...

Rita Morar from Keystone Business Advisory explains the five pillars of success. In Part 1 of this two part discussion Rita discusses the first and most important pillar of success which is  our primary motivation. A foundation of success is to identify and utilize your primary motivators. Find out how understanding your primary motivators can help you grow your business. Rita Morar is a Relations...

We are hearing from business owners about opportunities that now exist. Many are planning on how they will capitalise on these opportunities. “Creating opportunity is about more than just thriving in an unstable, sometimes scary world. It’s about becoming the best version of yourself, and creating the life where you have all the opportunities you need to reach your full potential. To increase the...

It's important to have contingency plans as part of your risk management strategy. What plans do you have in place, right now, to deal with scenarios where your business isn't able to function for a period of time? From there, it is then essential to think about how your insurance can help you make these contingency plans happen. Dave Ferris, from DavelCorp Insurance Brokers, looks at bu...

Personal Goals play a valuable part in defining your business goals and the specific actions you need to take. A major cause of stress and anxiety for business owners is the failure of their business to enable their personal goals to be met. In this episode we explore why personal goals are very important in defining your business goals. How do your personal goals shape the goals and targets for y...

What's the point of a business plan?  My business is already up and running. Are business plans and goals the same thing? What do you need to include in your business plan? Are there any tools to help me create a business plan? Paul Sweeney, from Pretium Solutions (Chartered Accountant & Business Advisory) discusses why creating and reviewing your business plans are important activities f...

What kind of funding does your business need? What do you need to do before you seek funding? What are the steps involved in preparing and submitting your finance application? Are there alternatives to borrowing? Jason Smith, from Capital Plus Finance, discusses these issues and more. Your finance needs to be part of your overall business strategy, so it's important to get it right. Find out...

You may be an expert in your business - but do you know much about protecting your business? How about risk management? Most business owners don't know very much about insurance and they don't understand exactly  what insurances they will need. Dave Ferris, from DavelCorp Insurance Brokers, discusses why it's so important for business owners to have the right types of insurance and...

Cloud solutions aren't just for large businesses. Small businesses can also benefit from using tools that are cloud-based. Having data in the cloud allows users to access information quickly, which enables small businesses to make decisions and react to change effectively.  Luke Iacovelli, from UNITECH Solutions, discusses the importance of having your business IT in the cloud environment. He...

Sandra Zalud, from Liberty Network Services, discusses the ways that businesses can use business loans. While funding is always an issue when starting a business, a business loan isn't available until a business has been trading profitably for 2 or more years.  There are many other ways that a business loan can be used. For example, businesses can use a business loan to pay off tax debt or to...

Our guest speaker, Harry Nathoo from Keystone Business Advisory, explores the topic of making great sales in difficult, changing times. Some key areas include: developing an overall strategy for marketing and sales targeting your sales efforts to make the most out of the marketing budgets of small businesses the importance of training sales staff No sales means no business, so this is an area of i...

When we start a business,  we do so because  we want freedom. Then we become slaves to that business, and unless we grow by using scale to grow our business, we are not going to enjoy the freedom we want. Jim Mills, Financial Advisor with Merit Planning Hills, discusses this dilemma that faces most business owners. If you don't scale, if you don't build your resources and your processes...

It can be easy to stay motivated when your business is going well - but what about when things are hard? What do you do to keep yourself on track and maintain that passion for your business? Raj Nathoo, from Keystone Business Advisory, suggests we need to do two things. Firstly, he suggests we need to be open to change because what's going on around us is forcing us to adapt and adopt what&ap...

There are some very common tell-tale signs of when a business is under financial distress and heading for trouble. As a business owner there are some key aspects to running your business that you must proactively manage.  Bruce Gleeson from Jones Partners explains why managing cash flow and your compliance obligations are fundamental in avoiding business failure.  A key is to "get more busine...

What are the common  IT requirements for any business ? How you can avoid costly mistakes with your purchasing? Computers and Information Technology have become essential for businesses. A new computer, usually on sale,  is often one of the first purchases made for a new business. However, there is a danger that on-sale and free versions of software can add up to a costly, inefficient and risky wa...

Why do business owners feel stuck, and fail in achieving their personal and business goals? In this episode, Harry Nathoo from Keystone Business Advisory explains how a mindset of resilience can help you the business owner to not only survive, but thrive as we navigate through this crisis and beyond. Harry Nathoo has a proven track record of success in sales and marketing, strategic partnerships a...

In this episode we’re grateful to be able to share with you an interview from Alive 90.5’s Grow the Business - People Edition. Paul Sweeney is talking with Alive 90.5 hosts Paul Cripps and Kylie Thomas about 4 key areas to managing your business through and beyond the current crisis. These four areas as being key to managing a business through and beyond the current crisis. Cash Flow management -...