Small Biz Matters: People, Policy, Purpose.

Launch of CISCOs new SMB Strategy - CISCO Start

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services

 

The recent Deloitte connected small business report declared that the growth of digital technology in Small business could potentially equate to 50% grow in revenue and 50% more revenue per employee in the sector. Presently small businesses are sitting at only 11%; the basic level where they may only have a website. The growing adoption of cloud based software will assist with this exponential growth.

I was invited to the launch of CISCO’s new dedicated SMB strategy on 12th July. Normally when we hear about these things we expect the larger companies to be literally eating smaller ones in their attempt to grab the a chunk of the small business market share (once they realise how lucrative we are). But in this case, they’re recognising the role of small business as the relationship builders, the collaborative force that we are, building daily to improve our reputation, networking and referrals in our own small business community. And the IT Management Consultants are an important component of this CISCO strategy.

Cisco wants to be a technology partner. This new portfolio of hardware, software and cloud products offers simple, secure and reliable enterprise-class end-to-end solutions. What does that meant to those of us who aren’t IT Gurus? It’s basically a one stop shop for hardware and software to support you on your rocky IT road. Interestingly they have rolled this out using locally based IT consultant to deliver it to us as small businesses. And that’s what I’m exciting about. The fact that a large company is recognising small business’ strengths as a partner.

The solutions have been designed to give SMBs high levels of protection, automation and efficacy, which are fundamental to survival, growth and expansion.  There is hardware of course which will be available through retailers like JB HiFi and a great new product called CISCO Umbrella strategy which protects the user against webpages which are deemed to be unsafe or from a particular region who is considered dangerous. They’re also developing partnerships with the likes of Amazon as a marketplace and working with telecommunications companies to develop the resilient infrastructure we so desperately need.

The SMB world is growing and it’s great to see a large corporate like CISCO sit up and notice the power of our market. Not only using us for our market share but collaborating also.

 

In this interview we hear from :

Ken Boal, Vice President of Cisco ANZ - discuss the growth and roadmap of Cisco’s Small and Medium Business product portfolio, the importance of digital transformation for Australian SMBs and the ongoing cyber security trends and threats that affect them.

Peter Strong, CEO of Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) - to discuss the current state and future of SMBs in Australia, underpinned by the adoption of technology.

 

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that has been making the Internet work since 1984. Our people, products, and partners help society securely connect and seize tomorrow's digital opportunity today. Discover more at newsroom.cisco.com and

To find out more go to their website: https://www.cisco.com/c/en_au/solutions/small-business.html

Small Business Journeys - Life's Lessons

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 7 August 2018

We love here on Small Biz Matters to learn through other’s journeys and today is no exception. Two brothers, Hornsby born and bred going through not only life’s journey but a small business one to boot! But there’s is an interesting one where they’ve truly utilized their life’s experiences as well as those they gained on a J.O.B

So today’s show is really a Hornsby Centric one  

Welcome to the show Jon & Josh.

 

Topics we’ll be covering:

Small business journey

• Growing up in Hornsby community minded schemes, what sort of a place was it like to grow up in, working with my brothers (7 kids and a close family)
• Getting involved in fundraising for local schools
• Tenacity, resourcefulness, growth & fixed mindsets – “The Hornsby Mindset”
• Uni & business – marketing for financial services
• Working in media in an established media company
• Decided to take a sabbatical which turned into a couple of years in India – what did you learn from this time? Appreciation of time to yourself & immersing yourself in this cultural “awakening”. Time to yourself up to 5 month trips and avoiding the tourist trail.

 

Your first stint running a business – what skills did you bring?

• LastMinute jobs – online casual parttime and casual jobs site – got bogged down in the start up phase and coming into market with the perfect product/platform. Got gazumped by someone who had the the same idea but came to market sooner and better
• Difficulty in online marketplace & developers the relationships were difficult
• Flooded market & inexperience & young age factor

 

So where did Gone Bush Adventures come from?

• The passion was still there, the passion which was awakened growing up and an unconscious skillset
• Started out as inviting friends & co-workers on trips with interesting people.
• Consistent reaction from their experience was what made you think of it as a potential business
• “this is a powerful place” Its so close to Sydney and yet it seems to the city-based population to be out reach or uninteresting.
• Josh is the numbers guy John’s the creative – being a duo
• How on earth do you run a business with family?

 

How did you take this from a fun adventure with mates to a business?

• The marketing skills kicked in & client relationship roles helped. Maintained the network through platforms Linked In over 6yrs (how?). You saw early a “guerrilla tactic”.
• You recognised its importance as a resource early on. How do you connect with people? LinkedIn was very important
• Start using their language to market to the right people. You had to explore what worked, the right package, vocabulary to cut through to the right people.
• Using testimonials, stick to your core, which for you is the nature immersion experience.

 

Next Phase : Learning & Development phase

• Marketing speak; getting it right
• Bring potential clients away from the bright & shiny things
• Competing with the easier option
  • The client wants to know the ROI
  • We capture data on participants through surveys at the start of engagement AND the end
  • It needs to be more than a bushwalk to be valuable asset / experience to corporates.

 

Conclusion:

• Don’t just think of your last 5-6 years’ skills working in a job think of the whole immersive experience of life.
• Time pressure is removed when you’re young but so is the experience.
• Has it changed for young people? Do you think you could have done this 10yrs ago or did you NEED those experience to help you get to where you are.
• Is there more bravery in the next generation of business startups?

 

Lessons learned:

• Focus on quality rather than growth
• Find your voice and find what’s valuable – what do you represent? You can be dragged into something away from your core – even your clients
• Niche as early as you can & understanding what the market wants

 

To find out more go to their website: https://www.gonebushadventures.com.au/

Compliance on Steroids

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 31 July 2018

Compliance, a very annoying and unavoidable part of running a small business. But you think YOU’VE got it tough? You haven’t experienced  anything like the hoops, hurdles and red tape the tattoo industry has to put up with just to start operating let alone exist. However you feel about the practise itself this legitimate industry has to go through an almost surreal set of parameters to exist.

Here to share her incredibly resilient journey is Erika from local tattoo enterprise Black Widow. I guarantee after this ½ hour show you’ll never complain again about what you’re expected to comply to.

Welcome to the show Erika.

• What does the Tattoo industry do for the greater public?
  • That the tattoo industry actually does a lot for the general public. People come to us artists for artwork that commemorates lost loved ones, personal expression, pain of divorce or brake ups and appearance remedies. We provide our artwork services and listen to our customer story with an unbiased opinion. Over the Recent years young ones come in for self-harm scar cover options also.
• Red tape is in the tattoo industry with regard to gaining leasing property having it compliant by council and set up all has to be done prior to the Operator license application  
  • It can take longer than 13 months to be granted.
  • Not one legitimate person in small business can afford to keep a shop open for any length of time without trading!
• Licensing issues
  • SLED and NSW Fair Trading do not communicate to each other let alone their clients ‘us’ - the tattoo industry who pay a lot of money for their licenses.
  • In Erika’s experience paperwork is misplaced and all of this falls on your license being granted or not.
  • There are police finger and palm prints required for each license, each time.
  • Without this the small business owner has to wait to be allowed to trade.  
  • The police have the power to take a license away if they feel someone is not of ‘good character’.
• Insurance
  • The high insurance premiums make it hard to obtain a premise leases
  • The landlord housing a tattoo shop have their premiums increased.
•  Where do you see the industry in the future?
  • I personally would like to see the actual role or position of a tattoo artist more promoted or obtainable for kids in their future.
• So why do you do it?
  • A tattoo artist financially will always be able to put food on the table and as a career it’s one of the best in the world! There is not a better feeling than doing a great tattoo and having your customer super happy with it.
  • I go home happy nearly every day. It’s the best job in the world!
  • My shop has entered the small business awards this year and I'm hoping it does well as recognition through a NSW local business chamber will be a positive step for the Tattoo industry.

 

Here is Erika’s story in her own words…

Having my license granted took me 13 months and nearly killed me, literally as I was closed by possibly corruption associated police and poorly implemented regulations.

I followed the NSW Tattoo Operator instructions from NSW Fair Trading by the book, keeping emails and noting down all correspondence and advice. I had obtained my NSW Tattoo license prior to working at Bondi Ink in Oct 2013. I moved to Aussie from NZ as the tattoo licensing was being introduced and I supported the industry movement.

In my first year of business I built my team up to 4 and we attended the first Sydney Tattoo show in March 2016. The following Monday after the event I had police contact all my team and tell them my shop was closed down. I then was contacted by an officer who told my licence was removed and I cannot trade. I also had Police attend my premise and inform me I am not to trade until further notice.... I contacted NSW fair trading, business chamber, local MP, the ATO, ASICS the media and the police ombudsman, ATG, my lawyer, my accountant – any one ‘pleading’ help as I was on the verge of losing everything.

I lost my premises, my team, my car to pay my team out and had to go and contract car paint for work in Sydney to try and save up for my shop’s re-opening.

The reasoning of which I still have not had. Now anyone who knows me has a clear view that I will never in this life time be affiliated. I have done ‘my time’ since 2005 in Queensland in a  (awful experience as a apprentice) - I have 17 years later earned the right to my own shop.

By the time I was re-instated with my operator license I had gone from a full business where we had a team that had just taken time off together and attended a Sydney tattoo show promoting our shop. To just $900 in my bank account.  

My Customers and my team sat with me on a daily basis, waiting for the phone call or ‘okay’ you can keep trading… I was in despair and couldn’t resolve the situation. I made it public knowledge that if I cannot tattoo and custom paint then there is no place for me on this planet.

I am a small business owner, I do everything I am told to via the regulatory Organisations - so I should be able to make my small tattoo business work here in NSW!

I finally found a location where I wouldn’t be trading on any existing tattoo shops toes and re-opened my premise. I had a Current Operator License AND a ‘merged’ licenses doc and corresponded from NSW fair trading to make sure everything was ticked off stating mistakes cannot happen again in all written correspondences.  I have not heard from any authority since and am currently licensed with both a Tattoo artist and Tattoo operator license.

To find out more go to their website: https://www.blackwidowtattoo.com.au

How Small Business can Tap Into Gig Economy Resources... Confidently!

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 24 July 2018

In the second of our shows dedicated to the Gig Economy we welcome Ben Eatwell, the Chief Marketing Officer of WePloy. Last week we mentioned WePloy as a provider of short term admin staff to all businesses, large and small. Rather than a “race to the bottom” as many Gig websites offer (where it feels as though the lowest rate will get you the job) Weploy strictly adheres to Employment Law and payroll requirements, making it a compliant option for small businesses to utilise short term staff.

Today we’re chatting to Ben about the changing nature of employment in Australia. Without the aid of HR teams, in house legal teams and large scale data how can small businesses monitor, analyse and react to changes to their own staffing and those businesses around them?

Welcome to the show Ben.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Broadly your journey and what’s led you to be so passionate about WePloy and the service it provides to large and small businesses
• Managing risk & uncertainty through workforce design
  • Headcount costs (admin, payroll, super) - for small business it’s a major hurdle
  • What sort of analytics should you monitor as a small business?
  • Do you move towards flexible workforce where you can potentially be under-resourced or hire workers who can be flexible in their ROLES to provide you with more than just their job description?
    • The difficulty here is projecting where you’ll need staff and hiring the right people.
  • The broad shift towards contingent staffing - what does that mean?
    • In corporate its being represented by a “flattening out” of company structures where employees are utilised for their skillset not necessarily for their job description. Leading to project teams being established across the company rather than one area of the company looking after a specific project.
    • And THAT’S what small business already achieves.
       
• The impact of absenteeism on business
  • Be aware of your entitlement balances on your balance sheet!
  • Loss of productivity & affect on the bottom line but in a small business you’re more likely to feel the affect day to day.
  • Absenteeism isn’t just taking leave - its also when employees work from home.
  • A lesser analysed affect is the degradation of company culture, and the cohesion in teams dilutes.
  • BUT working from home reduces stress so there is a balance to be found.
     
• Enabling scale through project based working
  • Improving communication between team members is a key skill and needs to be managed by the business owner - you are the project manager.
  • Explain what Role Atomisation means and why small business should be aware of it to use
  • Admin staffing can be a great place to start for initiating project based working into your business.
• The role of contingent staff in the future of the workforce - Let’s talk about the value of Admin staff!!
  • What expertise can they bring
  • Short term admin employees can really change the culture of a workplace - Ben, can you give us an example of where short term admin placements have completely changed a business for the better?

 

About Ben Eatwell

Ben currently leads growth and marketplace for Weploy, an on-demand staffing platform whose vision is to create a more empowered and fearless future of work. Ben joined Weploy from LinkedIn where he lead the marketing function for the Sales Solutions and Marketing Solutions lines of business across Australia and New Zealand. With previous experience within media and market research as a General Manager, Ben has built and lunched multiple new divisions for a range of organisations, both large and small.

To find out more go to their website: https://www.weployapp.com

Understanding the Sharing Economy and how to tap into it as a Small Business

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 17 July 2018

Some of us as Small Businesses shy away from the Sharing Economy; fearful of the unknown - the competition, lack of compliance and unsure of where we, as small businesses actually stand. But the fact is, if that’s your level of awareness of the Gig Economy, you’re missing out on  a huge resource and income for new business. Melinda Livingstone from IncomeConnection is here to dispel those myths and help us, and educate us as small businesses on how to tap into the great opportunities the shared economy can provide.

Welcome to the show Melinda.

Topics we’ll be covering:

Tell about your journey, background, previous skills

I worked for over 20 years in the superannuation, investment and financial planning industry and one of the problems that I saw was that many people retire with not enough money to live comfortably. The age pension is insufficient and is being reduced all the time. For example last year my parents-in-law had their age pension cut due to threshold changes. A couple of weeks ago I read about cuts to energy concessions for age pensioners. So when I left my corporate job, I thought what can I do to solve that problem for ordinary Australians? Wages growth is flat, so it’s hard for working people to save more. I looked at the future of work as part of my thesis for my Masters degree and I became aware of the opportunities in the sharing economy. I learnt how we can generate an income by sharing what we already have. So I started my business to help ordinary Australians improve their income situation. And being a business owner, married to someone who works in a small business, I am very aware that the sharing economy has opportunities for small businesses as well. My background is in product development, technology and finance.

The Sharing economy - what is it?

• It is creating value by sharing excess capacity.
• The sharing economy is also called the gig-economy, collaborative consumption, the experience economy or the new economy.
• It is nothing new, we have as a society been sharing things for a while. We are used to libraries, spotify music, eBay and second hand shops.  It is just that technology has made it so much more convenient, efficient, affordable and transparent.
• Examples - The platforms that you are likely to have heard of are Airtasker / Uber / AirBNB

Why has it exploded ?

• On-demand technology, enabled by our mobile phones and cloud data storage
• Secure payment now more comfortable
• Testimonials / ratings facilitate trust
• We have a desire for a greater with community, local business, smaller businesses
• Move away from faceless organisations
• Sustainability, avoiding the throwaway society
• People look for experiences rather than stuff
• Australian entrepreneurs are solving problems and making life easier
• Supporting groups of people who find the conventional job market discriminate them - e.g. older workers, stay-at-home mums, migrants who otherwise find getting work difficult. These reasons are why the on-demand sharing economy is a major trend and is the future of work. Time Magazine described it as one of the ten ideas that will change the world.

What are the opportunities for Small business to tap in?

• Firstly, if you have spare capacity; spare space such as spare office space, spare desks, spare warehouse space, perhaps your kitchen or cafe is unused for part of the day? Someone else may pay money to use your space.
• Perhaps you have spare equipment that another business can pay to borrow?
• Or spare capacity in your logistics, in your shipping?
• Your business may have a large social media following?
• Spare capacity of all different kinds can be monetised.
• For spare office space, there is Liquidspace, Sharedesk and Rubberdesk. For industrial and retail space there is Altspce. For spare kitchen space, there is cookitoo.    
• For spare logisitics, there is FreightExchange. For spare equipment there is Mobilise. I am really just touching the surface of all the options available for businesses to monetise their space capacity
• Secondly, you can save money. For example, expert online staff training on almost anything can be accessed at a cost of about $15 per course from Udemy. If you want to make a video, it used to cost at least $10,000 for a marketing agency to make one for you. Now if you know what you want, you can access the videograther from FreelanceCollective or Calling all Crew, the talent from The Right Fit, the background music from Envato. Cut out the middle-man and have more control
• You can organise and pay for small tasks and only pay for what you need. Small business now has access to the sorts of products and services that previously were only accessible to large corporates; with transparency, in small, flexible parcels.
• If you have no connections (e.g. migrants or are doing work in another city or new in business), these online market places make it easy to find a supplier, or several suppliers and choose the one that is right for you.

What are the pinch points that the sharing economy can solve:

• In business we are time poor, we are looking for a quality result and a good price.
• With the sharing economy, all sorts of problems can be solved easily. On Airtakser, a business can post any task that is legal and moral. The sorts of tasks that have been posted by businesses are include taking Instagramable photos of their branded cars in great locations, handwriting Christmas cards, doing a corporate gift drop or a setting up a flash mob as a promotion.
• Other problems that can be solved include finding a quality meeting room for a client meeting for an hour almost anywhere you want at a good price on Sharedesk.
• Attracting and paying for great talent for a day a week, perhaps to advise on an acquisition or a project from the platform Expert360. Unlike a consultant, they aren’t trying to hit you up for ungoing work.
• Also if you need an employee for just a day, such as your receptionist is sick, you can send a request to Weploy and they can get a pre-screened worker to you straight away. Some businesses then like the person who has been sent and may offer them a job down the track.     
• Testing out options and getting feedback before going ahead. Traditional market research is expensive, but you can at very low cost put an ad on Airtasker for a few people in your target market and give them a task such as give you feedback on your website or meet you for an interview discussion.

Is it REALLY a threat to small business?

• No, it is a resource to tap into. It’s also another way gain new clients. Some businesses will put their product or service on a sharing economy platform and see that as an additional another channel for them.  
• These platforms can help with the administration side - Weploy pays insurance, super, as they are the employer. If you rent out your spare space on Rubber desk, they manage the rent collection into your bank account.
• There is a perception that the sharing economy is ‘a race to the bottom’ on price. Price is can be a factor, but other drivers such as choice and convenience are much stronger. In the recent Mary Meeker Internet Trends report, the average worker in the sharing economy in the US was earning an average of $34 per hour vs $22 for the average US worker.  It is a big market place that includes the professionals on Expert360 earning up to $3,000 per day vs a host on MadPaws earning $25 for a doggy sleep-over. I know the owner of Airtasker is keen to set guidelines for the rates of jobs that are appropriate but it’s also a marketplace.

How do you tap in to the sharing  Economy?

• There are over 150 sharing economy platforms operating in Australia, many of them specialise in sharing between businesses. A marketplace is created when information flows freely between people; so your spare capacity becomes the solution to another businesses problem. If you are a bricks and mortar business, have good relations with your neighbours. Networking within other groups also helps. Joining business Facebook networking groups.    
• Think laterally about your opportunities, such as your:
  • spare office space / desks / meeting rooms
  • Spare parking spaces
  • Spare storage space
  • Outsource your staff if you have excess staff capacity (on secondment) rather than letting them go.
  • Restaurants who don’t utilise their space all the time for after hours for food prep or as an event space!
  • Understanding your seasonality on your business - look at your numbers!
    • Losing a key client
    • Times of year where you’re slower
  • Expert360 is where you can offer your services as a consultant (more premium as opposed to AirTasker)

Melinda is speaking at two events in Chatswood next month, on the 22nd and the 29th of August, if you are interested in hearing more there is information here  on the IncomeConnection website. She has also written a free e-book on opportunities for businesses in the sharing economy.

To find out more about what has been covered today, go to their website: www.incomeconnection.com

About Melinda Livingstone, Founder IncomeConnection

Melinda is the Founder of IncomeConnection, a social enterprise that helps people find opportunity in the sharing economy. She has over Over 20 years experience in superannuation, investments and strategy for organisations such as ipac and Bridges Financial Services. Her last corporate role was as Head of Channel Development for Colonial First State, part of the CBA. She has a Bachelor of Commerce, a Masters in Business Management and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is the Chairman of FOLIA, a charity that raises funds for children with disability and she is a volunteer with Sydney Refugee Teams, helping refugee families settle into life in Australia.

Tackling the App Journey for your business

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 10 July 2018

It’s like a chicken before the egg scenario. Do you app research or do you just dive head-long into the technology that claims to make your life easier… without really knowing how it works. Do you trust the reviews, the testimonials and the company to do what it says it will or do you really try it out before investing  too much time.

Selecting the app is the LAST thing you should do whereas The app is the not the asset, it’s your data which is crucial. SO a good start is, like everything, asking yourself what the journey is for both yourself and the client to assist. the Crap in, crap out.

Welcome to the show Matt.

 

Topics we’ll be covering:

How is small business affected by the "mobile first, cloud first" revolution

• Brief history of business and productivity applications - system of record, system of process, system of decision, system of engagement (and very early stage: system of intelligence)
• Where applications were very complex before, they are easy now. Having applications in the cloud is like having power from the grid - no need for an expensive and difficult to maintain power generator for the factory - same as the applications, just subscribe and plug in. This enables also mobile - which is allowing to do work no matter the location, no matter the device

 

Take the customer journey as the starting point for the selection of applications

• There is an app for everything - especially in the marketing space we have seen an explosion of new applications on the market - one company identified over 4000 applications (and probably stopped counting). Customer Relationship management applications, accounting applications, there is no shortage. The typical buying process of small businesses start with the accounting - got to keep the ATO happy. Same as "all roads lead to Rome" -unless you are in Rome - all data flows to accounting, which makes it a less than ideal starting point of the selection process - and typically, additional applications get "bolted on" the business without thought of integration of process.
• Example: you use a direct mail campaign application, Mail Chimp is good and used quite often. What happens when your customer unsubscribes. How is that reflected in your CRM system? When you next take an export of all customers for another campaign - how do you ensure that previously unsubscribed customers are excluded? And how do you see within your CRM the open, click and bounce rates?
• Example 2: we all know the frustration when calling a support line from a large company - you explain the issue to the front-line agent, the agent cannot help you and transfers you - and you have to explain everything again...

 

The customer journey takes into account the desired road the customer travels to become and remain a customer at your business. How do you get your leads, how do the leads convert into customers, what are the touch points.

• Example: let's take a gardener. Leads come in from: referrals, advertisement, as well as a flyer distribution in the area. it is important to measure the return of customers from these channels. Once a potential customer asks for a quote, the gardener visits the garden, takes stock of the work (maybe some photos), as well as capture additional details of the potential customer. Sending the quote of the work on email gives the most options - for instance, adding the photos to illustrate (the gardener now has the name, address, phone and email address of the potential customer).
• When executing the work, all time and expenses are recorded in a mobile application, and again, photo's of progress are made. Once done, the gardener can send via the mobile phone, the invoice to the customer, which includes the labour, materials used, and potentially the photos. Because the invoice is immediately booked in the system (instead of a written invoice that needs to be processed separately), the gardener does not need to do any additional administration.
• During the quiet periods, the gardener sends out an email campaign, with tips for maintaining the soil, and propose work that can be done.
• As mentioned before, there is a vast number of applications available - when selecting applications, people tend to look at features and cost. The sales person tries to steer the conversation away from cost to "value"- value is important, but be careful if the vendor specifies the value for you. The actual value in applications is not in the features (we expect a minimum bar to be met) - it is how the application enables the data flow supporting the customer journey. Cost is also important - adding all these applications together adds up to cost - some applications are free to use - be careful - read the license model - what are you trading away for the free use? There are examples where you automatically share ownership of any intellectual property generated with the free use application. On the flipside, the more expensive an application is, the more difficult it is to get return on investment.
• If allowed: plug - Aurelian Group works with small businesses to assess and map their customer journey, and provides access to an "all you can eat buffet" of 40 applications for as little as $45 per employee per month - discounted to $35 per month if paid annually. Just like a buffet and you don't like the shrimp, you pass it - if you do not need an application yet, you don't have to use it. However, the applications you do use are designed to work together.

 

Matt’s Bio:

Born in The Netherlands, arrived in Australia in 2006 (detour - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, New Zealand)

25 years experience with Business applications (first application project: 16 week forecasting tool for a liquor distillery in The Netherlands - June 1993) - implemented small to (very) large application projects

From 2006 to 2017 worked at Microsoft, ended up managing the Dynamics 365 ERP implementation team at Microsoft, dealing with the largest customers across Asia

Now - with Aurelian Group, Matt is 100% focused on small business, enabling their customer journeys with simple to use integrated applications.

 

Key takeaways

The key take-aways for small business owners I would like to get across are:

- applications are not an asset, your process - how the data flows within your business to provide your customers a great experience is your asset - applications enable (or disrupt) this flow

- when selecting business applications, one should start with the customer journey you want to provide to your customers in your business - then select applications on how they facilitate that journey

- an integrated flow is more valuable than having the most feature rich applications - when data does not flow between applications, your customer experience during the journey is far from optimal (usually a poor experience).

To find out more go to their website: www.aurelian-group.com or www.unboxedbusiness.com

Identifying Phases

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 3 July 2018

The Small Biz Journey can be broken down in logical life cycles and it can often be useful to identify where you are in that journey. Why? So you can identify to pitfalls which other businesses in that same position often face. It helps to avoid making the same mistakes as other!

Our guest today is Salmin Khan, an expert in business advice in particular around the area of insolvency. He understands through his work with a great range of businesses; big and small what are the common problems, mistakes and solutions that business owners face at each stage.

Welcome to the show Salmin.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Ideally, the mindset should be that running a business is just a process of solving problems for yourself and your customers.

StartUp Stage

• At the startup stage, business owners will have a lot of enthusiasm but little direction and even less experience. The problem that they need to solve will be how to bring the first sales in, how to establish a presence in the market and how to build a product offering.
• The common mistakes at this stage are to over invest in things such as company cars, stock and premises. Startups often suffer from a lack of planning on how to reach their first customers. What this will often lead to is a dwindling in enthusiasm and the venture fizzles out.
• Common things we’ll hear at this point are “we just need to get the first few customers” or “we do it all”.
• The solution to this is to start with a plan. It doesn’t have to be a fifty page document but you do need to sit down and figure out your product, demographic and unique selling point. You also want to minimise your cash drain.
• A company will remain in the startup phase until they can commit to a set offering and systemise it.

Growth Phase

• At the growth phase, the company now starts to bring in customers and the enthusiasm again returns but suddenly the workload will increase very quickly. The owners will have to deal with marketing, bookkeeping, operations, compliance and now the new customers.
• If this isn’t managed properly, the owners become fatigued and growth stops.
• The problems at this stage can best be described as “growing pains”. You’re getting a lot more work but the cashflow isn’t well managed. You need to employ staff but they don’t seem to be working well together. The work comes in bursts because most of the sales are through word of mouth.
• Common things you hear at this point are “I’m just so tired with work”, “we can’t pay this quarters BAS bill”, “It’s impossible to find good staff” and “We don’t advertise, it’s just word of mouth”.
• The growth phase will end too quickly unless the owners set in place systems and procedures to manage HR, Marketing, Operations and Accounting.
• Some of the mistakes made at this point are: not managing cashflow, trying to do all the work themselves (cleaning, admin, operations, bookkeeping) and not having a system to manage staff efficiently.

Maturity Phase

• The final stage is maturity. Here, the owners have hopefully offloaded a few of their responsibilities. If this is done well, the business will begin to transition into more of a passive investment where they can work or inject capital as they see fit.
• However, complacency starts to become an issue here and issues such as employee misconduct and stagnation start to occur. When the owner doesn’t properly manage staff you can start to see things like theft occurring or larger errors causing customer complaints.
• Additionally, if the owners don’t pay attention to new trends in the market, new competitors will outstrip them.
• Lastly, now that there’s money in the business, where there is more than one owner you can start to get director disputes which can kill the business completely.
• This may also be the point where owners will look to sell the business, which leads to another whole set of issues that need to be addressed.
• The solutions to these problems are to have a routine of having management reports done every month to check the financials. To avoid disputes with other owners I recommend a sit down meeting once a month or fortnight to set out responsibilities and iron out any disagreements.

Overall

• Overall, the best advice I can give any business owner at any stage is to have a trusted advisor who has experience in these issues. It’s often that my clients call me to have a quick chat about employee issues or whether google adwords is better than facebook ads.

To find out more go to their website: http://tactnsw.com/

End Of Financial Year Success

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 26 June 2018

Ah, the end of Financial Year (otherwise known as EOFY by retailers trying to be original each and every year) can seem daunting and a little bit scary for businesses. There are accounts to reconcile, payroll and super to check and pay and of course the June BAS ever present in our bookkeeping part of our lives. But it DOESN’T have to be that difficult….

Joining us today is Michele Grisdale, a BAS Agent and Bookkeeper from Rainforest Bookkeeping; whose philosophy is “We Give You Time Back to Enjoy Life”. The is a real ambassador for the profession; believing in the importance of compliance and accuracy but balancing it with making the software we implement in our businesses actually doing the heavy lifting.

Welcome to the show Michele.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Sole Traders and Small Businesses are critical to the growth and development of this country
• The problem they do their TAFE or education require for their skills but no one tells them how to run a business.  TAFE has finally started to realise this an is now offering fully-subsidised Skills for Business Training. https://www.tafensw.edu.au/skillsforbusiness
  • This is a step in the right direction and you need to be educated about how to run your business BUT it is still keeping all of the business stress reliant on you and your partner.  
• Why it is much more expensive to try to do everything yourselves?  If you are trying to do everything yourself or relying on a partner, how much unnecessary stress is it adding to your life
  • how much are you losing trying to do everything yourself?  3 hours per week doing paperwork - how much could you be earning during that?
  • how much are your relationships suffering - is it worth it? Time for data entry, filing, storage - then finding the paperwork for the accountant at tax time.
• Why using cloud systems and less paper saves us all time, money and real estate
• End of year success means starting the year off right
  • Choose a Cloud-based solution and remember its not always about which one is initially cheaper
  • Find a way to reduce data entry
  • Do you want to grow or just find better processes to free up your time?
  • Look at whether you need an employee or if its better to use subcontractors
  • Do you have a pro-active accountant?

To find out more go to their website: www.rainforestbookkeeping.com.au

Rainforest Bookkeeping was founded because we found so many small businesses and sole traders had no time to themselves. When cloud technology came along, we had time to offer more services and better advice because we had real time data. No longer were we spending 3-4 hours a day on data entry for each client - YAY!

We can show you how to eliminate data entry and paper in your business. We can show you how to get your time back and stop discussing business all the time. We can show you how to automate many processes and eliminate double handling of every

piece of paper. We can show you how to have everything ready for your accountant all of the time and eliminate the end of quarter/year stress.

And if you want a little about me:

Originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia USA, Michele Grisdale arrived in Sydney in 1995 (22 years ago) and loved it so much she never left.

Her original background was in Marketing for an international television broadcast equipment manufacturer designing brochures, logos and trade show exhibitions.  She was transferred to Sydney to get ready for the 2000 Olympics as the company had a large contract with NBC US.

In Australia she has worked in with manufacturing, import/export, logistics, food safety, e-commerce and the building industry.

She and her husband also own a hair salon on Sydney Northern Beaches so her experience with service businesses and apprentices is extensive.  

Rainforest Bookkeeping's clients are small business and sole traders with Trades as a speciality. Their clients include plumbers, electricians, carpenters, shop fitters, builders, glaziers, window tinting, handyman services, Architects/Drafting, Financial Planners, Announcers, Hairdressers, Beauty Salons, Personal Trainers, Psychology Services, IT Services, Butchers, Liquor Shops, Property Maintenance & Cleaning, Property Investment; Wholesalers; Sports Professionals

Rainforest Bookkeeping is 100% Xero and 100% ReceiptBank.  

App Partnerships:

• Xero
• Receipt Bank
• ServiceM8
• Timely
• ExpenseCheck
• and many more

Michele has four adult children all living in Sydney and two 1-year old kelpies.  Oh, and she still only works 4-5 days per week. Work and life balance is crucial.

Learning from the Experts - Connecting with the Community

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 19 June 2018

We can learn a lot from the experts in small business. Those more experienced; business advisors who are leaders in their fields and in fact community groups who act as a real Hub for everyone; tapping into the resources and local businesses to support those around them from all walks of life.

A real bastion of community groups in Australia is the PCYC. Around for decades, they are the experts when it comes to collaboration and creating a hub around you as a business within their community.  

How do they connect so well?

Take for example Small business: Did you know PCYC Hornsby KuringGai has meeting & boardroom facilities available to small business at a great, reduced rate? And they can cater for functions? Breakfast meetings are a great option too. Thinking of hosting an unusual, collaborative event for the local community? Chances are the PCYC has the facilities you need.

Joining us today is David Grant, the Senior Club Manager & Peter Kirkwood from PCYC & Rotary.

Topics we’ll be covering:

Here are some other great ways in which your local PCYC engages with and supports the community.

• Engagement with twelve local primary & high schools
  • St Edmunds disability programs
  • In-house sports programs for schools in area
• Great working relationship with Magpies, Northern Districts Cricket Club for cross referrals
• Provide sporting, recreational, fitness and cafe facilities for over 7,500 people of which 60% are locals (2077, 2076 and 2074 post codes)
  • Gymnastics NSW
  • Disability Sports programs
  • New programs PCYC Youth & connecting with Rotary Youth club
• Support local trades people and suppliers by utilising local businesses
• PCYC employs locally!
• Through working with Police Community Liaison officers PCYC listens to local businesses relating to issues they may be facing with disaffected youth by tapping into the resources PCYC can provide to these young groups.

To find out more go to their website: https://www.pcycnsw.org.au/hornsby-ku-ring-gai/ or call (02) 8998 5400

Fundraising and Working with Small Business

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 12 June 2018

• The fundraiser taps into big business to assist small businesses and community groups.
• The fundraiser offers community groups and small businesses the opportunity to generate additional revenue with minimal expenditure.
• Small Holes Media has utilised a known movie franchise, “Mamma Mia!” to successfully engage community groups and small businesses to reap rewards for everyone.
• Small Holes Media has utilised entrepreneurial techniques, rarely used in the TV industry to generate jobs, income and community benefits.

Small Holes Media Pty Ltd Founder/CEO, Scott Everingham, wondered whether he could bring joy to the world coinciding with the release of "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again".  

Scott's solution is to recruit local charities, schools, sports/bowling clubs and social organisations  in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand to sell tickets to charity "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" film screenings, with a part of the proceeds going to local charities and breast cancer charities.  

The aim?  To create the world's biggest pink party, raise millions of dollars for breast cancer charities in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand and generate funds for organizations on a local level.

According to Inc. Magazine, small businesses that support charitable causes can benefit from a variety of factors, such as increasing brand exposure, boosting employee moral, tax deductions and the satisfying feeling of helping those in need.