Small Biz Matters: People, Policy, Purpose.

How to Transform your Idea into Business from a Legal Perspective

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: 6 March 2018

Setting up a business can be both simple and complex. It’s relatively simple to register your business name and start as a sole trader.  But is running your business as a sole trader the best option for you? Today we will talk about some of the common business structures that you can consider when starting up and also some tips to help you decide on which structure may best suit you and your business.

Here to help us today is Addy Pong from Small Business Legal Team based in North Sydney. He’s helped many small businesses get up and running the RIGHT way.

Welcome to the show Addy.

Topics we’ll be covering:

Structuring & setting up your business

• Introducing the analogy of how choosing the right business structure is like choosing the right car.
• Going through the legal differences of different structures (sole trader, partnership, company and trust) and also how to set up each of those structures and the legal documents required.
• Ownership of assets and business risk exposure –  Sole Trader vs Company
  • Illustrating by an example as to how your personal assets can be exposed to business creditors if you are operating as a sole trader E.g. if you are operating as a sole trader and your business is indebted to a supplier, the supplier can make a claim against you personally, whereas with a company they can generally only sue the company.
• Limitations of trading as a sole trader compared to a company:
  • The difficulties of attracting investors to the business (as a company you can raise capital by selling some of your shares to investors, whereas you cannot do this if you operate as a sole trader)
  • Not being able to introduce employee incentives such as offering employee shares (I will go through what is an employee share scheme and the benefit of it as an employee incentive)
• The potential problem and costs that you may face if you are required to change your structure down the track because it doesn’t suit your business needs (e.g. switching from a sole trader to a company)
  • The need to renegotiate your contracts (e.g. with your employees, suppliers and landlord)
  • If your business owns real property, then you will be required to pay stamp duty on the transfer of this property to the company.
• 5 quick questions to ask yourself that can help you decide on the right business structure:
  • Are you planning to run solo or will you be thinking of having business partners down the track?
  • Are you looking at growing your business or is it more about providing a steady source of income?
  • Will your business acquire any real property?
  • What is your acceptable level of business risk?
  • Is estate planning sometime that you have in mind when starting this business?

To find out more go to their website: http://smallbusinesslegal.biz/

Making a Business Work with Local in Mind

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: 27 February 2018

Let’s face it. Running a business is intrinsically linked to your own personal success. Whether it be managing your time effectively,  having an end goal in mind or knowing your real WHY how we feel as a person can and will directly impact on our business success.

There are loads of fantastic strategies for business growth we can apply to our business and life coaches can provide some insight into applying goal setting techniques to business success. One such coach is Richmond Dinh of Bamboo Coaching who is an expert in building habits AND traits to improve your business success - and life success!

Welcome to the show Richmond.

 

Topics we’ll be covering:

 

Having a vision

An end goal, Being outcome focussed but the principals can apply to many aspects of our lives including the financial side

 

Hunger

Knowing your why, ambition, why is it important for you?

What’s the deeper reason

Think at a deeper level

Succession planning, think beyond the numbers – that’s the vision

The deeper purposes will help you to break through the barriers to succeed

 

Pro-activeness

Why DON’T you take action?

Multiple reasons as to why that exists and how to avoid

Tips on avoiding procrastinate? Its dead time

Scheduling is so important, you don’t have the luxury of stopping to relax as often

 

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

Top Lead Generation Techniques

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: 20 February 2018

Last time we had Gary on the show he taught us all about the importance of sales and how to improve your sales technique with new and existing clients.

In a second of this series, our Sales expert Gary Loewensohn will be sharing with us Top Tips to improve Lead Generation and a small business. And loads of them are FREE!

Welcome back to the show Gary and thanks for coming back on the show to share more of your insight into small business sales techniques and lead generation.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Lead generation success factors
  • Key point is that in my own experience and what I see across my consulting peers is that there is no one technique that is a winning technique. So this means we all need a blended approach to lead generation utilising all means available to us. Email, cold calls, referrals, Inmail on LinkedIn & LinkedIn referrals Facebook, etc,.
  • Its an industry proven fact that getting through to your prospect in a B2B engagement can take as many as 12-14 touch points for a senior exec in a larger business so persistence is key to success. I see business that say I called 3 or 4 times and gave up. This means that they only achieved 25-33% of the activity required to connect with a possible lead. For a smaller business I think 5-6 touch points is more realistic to connect with an owner or MD. Of course, you need to mindful of not pestering someone so using your better judgement on when to stop based on the size of organisation and level of contact you are chasing.
  • Messaging of communications needs to show a promise of value and be tailored to the customer you are approaching. Generic approaches of any type look exactly like that are swiftly dealt with. You and I do it every day. So, you need to be personalised in the approach and have engagement.
  • Target contact/s. Who are you best approaching. Is it the ultimate decision maker or an influencer or perhaps both independently? Careful consideration on this one as the approaches may be very different but cannot undermine one another.  
• Sales Strategies using these outbound techniques to drive results
  • Email - Email addresses can mostly be found be found using browser plugins for chrome like Lusha for LinkedIn , Hunter for websites etc, simply asking switch for email address or just guessing the extension.
  • LinkedIn - Inmail can only be used on paid version of LinkedIn but is essentially an email to a person through the LinkedIn platform.
  • Phone - So many are afraid of it but still a favourite when used in a blended approach. If you are following up on email or Inmail it makes the call a lot warmer than a cold call.
  • scripting of content (The most important component of all)
    • Promise of value and customised to the target
    • Research the customer through web / LinkedIn / FB/ other contacts
    • Ensure your content and approach aligns with the value the customer would want to see from the product or service you are offering. Don't just pitch your product.
    • Think about the emails / calls you get and which ones engage you and keep you reading or listening. Ask people you know to give feedback on how they see your approach.

Indecision, procrastination and overthinking things are such inhibitors to lead generation.

You just need to get started. And yes you will need revisit and re-shape your approaches as you

go but the key is to make a start.

And as always…. Don’t forget to Keep your reps happy!

To find out more go to their website: http://www.yoursalesmanager.net.au

Free plugins

Lusha – finding contact detrails up to 5 people per month

Hunter – emails on the website found

Hobspot – great CRM program

Yesware – tracks emails sent

Succession Planning for 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: 13 February 2018

Today on the program we’re talking to an expert about a side of running a small business very few people think about … but we MUST. Succession.

Planning to finish. How many of us included that in our business plan when we started all those years ago? Well, it SHOULD be. What is the process and what can you expect to happen? Often when we consider selling it might not be under the most pleasant of circumstances so you need to be prepared.

Today’s expert is Canaan Lim who is an industry leader in business buying and selling. He’s here to share his expertise on (this week) the selling process.

Welcome to the show Canaan.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Under what circumstances might you find yourself wanting to sell
  • Changes in lifestyle
  • Suddenly realising the value in your business
  • Approached by a potential buyer
  • Perhaps kids have expressed an interest in being involved
  • Psychology - are you prepared to sell when the time comes, you should always be looking at your exit strategy when you start a business - and death isn’t an exit strategy…. Am I the business?
•  Understanding the processing of selling your business
  • What needs to be up to scratch -
    • A smaller business you’re looking at P&L and Tax Returns, lease copt of franchise agreements
    • MUST have ATO Tax Returns & BAS up to date
    • Timesheets for staff - a couple of months AND YOUR timesheets - what is your involvement in the business?
      • Should you be thinking of a management strategy or employment strategy
      • Sometimes an exit can bring about an expansion - you look at it from the outside
    • Equipment leases
• What reporting should you have in place
  • The more the better?
  • Don’t Balance sheets form part of the purchase price? NO. You don’t take on the company that owns the business. You buy the business name and entity. So any liabilities/debts remain with the leases will be taken over
• Is it a difficult process?
  • How long can you expect it to take?
  • Is there a good time in the business year to transition?
    • New FY or best time to do this? Busy or not?
  • Who do you need to engage to help?
    • Good business broker - how they help? Licences up to date
      • Setup a face-to-face meeting
    • Goof legal team to check over the contracts - fast response time is important, charges
• And finally, all the due diligence in the world doesn’t replace your ability to run the business after you’ve purchased it. And for this reason, we’re going to welcome Canaan back to the program in a few weeks’ time to chat about the other side - BUYING a Business.

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

Understanding Business Structures at Different Stages of Your Business Journey

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: 6 February 2018

4 main business structures in Australia

• Sole trader
• Partnership
• Company
• Trust

Basic setup process for a sole trader

• Apply for an ABN
• What’s an ACN?
• Register Business name – link to the ABN
• Check business name isn’t registered with IP Australia
• Open separate bank account with your existing bank
• Some points to consider
  • Your revenue is considered personal income
  • You can employ but not yourself

What are the main differences between being a sole trader and a Pty Ltd company?

• What’s an ACN?
• Register Business name – this changes often to Pty Ltd
• Open separate bank account – new accounts!
• Fees with ASIC & accounting setup
• Director’s liability

From Sole trader to a company – what is the process?

• When to transition?
• Register Business name – this changes often to Pty Ltd
• Open separate bank account – new accounts!
• Working with accountant to setup new company
• New accounts for your finances
• Great structure to grow and scale

Learn from the Points Whisperer to make frequent flyer points work 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: 30 January 2018

We love our credit cards in Australia; that’s no secret and for many the reason we stick to this method of spending is for the “Points”. However the system seems to be grinding to a halt.

Many of our listeners would have heard about the recent changes to frequent flyer points. Back in May 2017 there was an overhaul of the point system in which major banks as credit card providers started scaling back their rewards offerings. As an example ANZ ended its relationship with American Express.

So with all these changes are the days of points flyer a thing of the past? Or do we as small business owners (who get little rewards from anything these days) just need to work smarter to make the most of the points system.

Today we welcome to the show The Points Whisperer  Steve Hui, Australia's Frequent flyer points concierge..

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Broadly your small business journey and what led you to start your own business
  • Tell us about this fantastically unique concept for a business and how you consult to other businesses?
  • How do you use LinkedIn to improve your business development prospects
  • Tell us a little bit about your altruistic project - Linfluencers (I can talk a little about this, and how to use Linkedin like-minded people)
• Are the days of points really over or is this change for the best for small business?
  • Why SME are missing out on this perk, because even their accountants don’t understand it
• Can you give us some top tips to make the most of points?
  • Do you spread it out amongst several points providers as you shop or specifically work the system of one retailer to get better points?
  • Do points trump sales?
• How can businesses make the most of their points for travel and other benefits for their employees and the business owner?
• What are some common misconceptions
  • Upgrades are not better value
  • How do upgrades work
  • Chasing status (and status credits) only works for some
  • Credit card reward points are not the same
  • Airline points are not the same
• What’s the real difference between flying First class, Business and Economy?

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

Stress at Work and Natural Ways to Reduce it

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: 23 January 2018

Stress. Some would say to be expected when you’re running a business. But no one told me it was going to be quite THAT stressful, right? There are long days, missed family moments and many, many long hours losing sleep trying to get that pitch, that web wording, that client work completed.

It’s as though there is a page for your To DO List that goes on FOREVER. But have no fear small business colleagues. You already know we’re all about practical strategies here on Small Biz Matters and there are some great practical strategies to help you alleviate the stress of running your business. Here to share some with us is Christine Pope, Homeopath Nutritionist & Naturopath.

Welcome to the show Christine.

Stressed, overloaded, overwhelmed, overwrought! For many small biz people this can be a common challenge and in this podcast with Christine Pope, Naturopath we look at what some common stress symptoms are and how you can use diet exercise and lifestyle improve your resilience to stress.
Physical symptoms can often include headaches, stomach upsets, palpitations and mood changes. So how can you ensure that you are treating the cause of the symptoms ?
Dietary changes are really critical to help you become as resilient to stress as possible. There are a couple of simple changes that you can make which will assist, in particular adequate protein is critical. Loading up on simple carbs and coffee is not the answer.
Lifestyle changes that you can make are often as simple as backing off from the screen at night. Learn how you can improve sleep hygiene to get better sleep.

Topics we’ll be covering :

• What are some of the physical symptoms of stress?
• Can I change my diet to help manage stress better? (Fats, proteins and carbs)
• Is it worth looking at supplements ? (Magnesium, Multi, Adaptogens)
• What else should I consider (sleep, sleep hygiene, exercise)

To find out more go to her website: https://www.facebook.com/christine.pope.7

Stress at Work and Natural Ways to Reduce it

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: 23 January 2018

Stress. Some would say to be expected when you’re running a business. But no one told me it was going to be quite THAT stressful, right? There are long days, missed family moments and many, many long hours losing sleep trying to get that pitch, that web wording, that client work completed.

It’s as though there is a page for your To DO List that goes on FOREVER. But have no fear small business colleagues. You already know we’re all about practical strategies here on Small Biz Matters and there are some great practical strategies to help you alleviate the stress of running your business. Here to share some with us is Christine Pope, Homeopath Nutritionist & Naturopath.

Welcome to the show Christine.

Stressed, overloaded, overwhelmed, overwrought! For many small biz people this can be a common challenge and in this podcast with Christine Pope, Naturopath we look at what some common stress symptoms are and how you can use diet exercise and lifestyle improve your resilience to stress.
Physical symptoms can often include headaches, stomach upsets, palpitations and mood changes. So how can you ensure that you are treating the cause of the symptoms ?
Dietary changes are really critical to help you become as resilient to stress as possible. There are a couple of simple changes that you can make which will assist, in particular adequate protein is critical. Loading up on simple carbs and coffee is not the answer.
Lifestyle changes that you can make are often as simple as backing off from the screen at night. Learn how you can improve sleep hygiene to get better sleep.

Topics we’ll be covering :

• What are some of the physical symptoms of stress?
• Can I change my diet to help manage stress better? (Fats, proteins and carbs)
• Is it worth looking at supplements ? (Magnesium, Multi, Adaptogens)
• What else should I consider (sleep, sleep hygiene, exercise)

To find out more go to her website: https://www.facebook.com/christine.pope.7

Navigating Entitlements for Employers

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: 9 January 2018

In the third interview in this series; Small Biz Matters brings back a local expert on Employment Law; Michelle Archer from Archer Law practice based in Hornsby. After the response from the last podcast I’m pleased to welcome back a true, local expert on the subject. So welcome to the show and thanks for sharing all of your knowledge with us this morning.

POINTS WE’LL BE COVERING:

• Best practice in handling compulsory Xmas closure period as company policy
• Leave requests when employees have none accrued
• When good employees go bad – and don’t come back from holiday!

Emotional Intelligence

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: 21 November 2017

Ush Dhanak from Collaborate HR joins us this week to discuss the hiring process, the "getting out of the rabbit hole" technique and how to apply emotional intelligence in your business.

• What is EQ?
• What does it mean for the hiring process
• “Getting out of the Rabbit Hole” technique
• How can we use it in small business – employees & other relationships
• Applying emotional intelligence as a sole trader – client relationships