Small Biz Matters: People, Policy, Purpose.

Who are your strategic partners and how can you implement a change management process to grow your business?

Small Biz Matters – #168 Providing the small business community with educational content and advocacy since 2014
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 4 August 2020

Running a small business is never a solo road; your path is guided by key stakeholders and strategic partners who help you. They might be people who work within your business, key clients, suppliers or supportive advisors.

Fostering these relationships is very important to running and growing a successful small business. But equally important is recognising who is STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT to your business development.  As yourself, what role can this partner play in building foundations, growth of even calling it quits? Are they strategic for growth or just supportive? Do you collaborate with, or are you guided by them?

So we’ve brought someone onto the show who’s hugely experienced and keen to share this knowledge with our listeners. Annie Gibbins, in the role of CEO of several large medical institutions, had led teams who couldn’t exist without the partnership and guidance of strategic partners. Constantly engaging with and recognising the value of your key stakeholders can make or break these businesses. She is also an inspirational and dynamic business leader who is all about THRIVING - in business and life and author of Becoming Annie - A biography of a curious woman.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• As a change management CEO, what has been your strategy to influence significant change in Glaucoma Australia?
  • 4 pillars
    • Stakeholder engagement
    • Clarify UVP
    • Build Trust and Credibility
    • Rebrand
    • Go Digital
    • Risk Awareness Campaigns which drive testing
  • What change have you achieved over the past 2.5 years?
    • Massive stakeholder engagement (Ophthalmology, Optometry, Pharmacy), Digital Referrals (Oculo), 300 referrals per year have grown to 7000 in 2 years
    • New Strategic plan – Detect and Defeat.
    • Patron – Governor General
    • Ambassador – Kirk Pengilly INXS
  • What have been the biggest challenges?
    • Mindset
    • Funding model
    • Small team
    • Website and CRM (new ones coming in the next 6 months!)

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

About our Guest:

Annie Gibbins is the Chief Executive Officer of Glaucoma Australia. In this role, Annie is a powerful force for change in the war against the blinding impact of glaucoma and 100% passionate about eliminating preventable glaucoma blindness.

With over 25 year’s experience in the Health Education sector and qualifications in science, education and business, Annie has developed high impact skills in collaborative change management focussed on patient centred outcomes and data driven evidence.

Annie’s is also the CEO of Lipstick Consulting, and her previous roles include CEO of the Australian Institute of Ultrasound, CEO of the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine, National Education Manager of the Australian Orthopaedic Association and Senior Nurse Educator TAFE, NSW.

Who knew Commercial Leasing would make or break the entire economy?

Small Biz Matters – Providing the small business community with educational content and advocacy since 2014
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 4 August 2020

When the chips are down you need a peak body on your side. And boy are the chips down right now.

Right now small, medium and even large retailers are losing income and purging employees to the point of no return. And their biggest overhead? Commercial Rent. And suddenly, the Code of conduct is everyone’s business. What are the Small business owner’s rights and the landlord’s responsibilities? What is mandated and what is inferred?  Which level of government administers and is policing the protections?

And importantly; who can you turn to for help?

Right now the National Retail Association is flooded with queries about what has been mandated. Kyle Swain is the Leasing Advisor to the National Retailers Association and has been in the room supporting and negotiating for you and your business so we’ve brought him on Small Biz Matters to help you understand the changes.

Topics we’ll be covering:

Background - The creation of the National Cabinet Code of Conduct and the SME Commercial Leasing Principals

How did the code of conduct come about and who did the National Cabinet consult when it was created?

• What is it’s intent?
• Administration committee (a group of advisors in this case made up of 4 peak bodies) gave info to National Cabinet.
  • National Retail Association’s advisor contributed to the guiding principles for the agreement to protect the tenants
• Then the States give effect to the code through legislation. So some states were quick to act and others slow to implement the desperately needed change.
• It is a mandatory National Code of conduct but many landlords wouldn’t act until the legislation actually assented in each state.

So how does this work for business owners who have multiple locations across multiple states?

• What’s the main difference between the states?
• Confusion around the different data required by landlords in each state

Now: what’s the current impact on small business?

You mentioned you’ve had a big increase in businesses seeking information about the Code of Conduct to achieve rent relief and understand what their requirements are.

• There is a lot of grey area and it’s very open to interpretation. It’s not robust enough.
• How tough is it out there? It’s not just the Mum & Dad small-scale operators; the participants are across the board in terms of size
• How important is this code of conduct to keeping businesses alive?

What about the big boys: Westfield etc. What’s your report card on them?

• It’s the landlords who have, over a number of years, pushed “market rents” to a level that is unsustainable for SME’s and resulted in such a large percentage of tenants and occupiers of real estate, whether it’s a retail premises, a commercial office space or a warehouse, who don’t have 3-6 months of cashflow in the business to survive a sustained downturn such as a pandemic. For many, particularly in retail, even 1 month of having to close the business and receiving no revenue, even if 50% of the rent is waived, will result in financial failure,... and we’re seeing that in small numbers already, and expect to see it in huge numbers after JobKeeper ends.  
• So my report card on landlords generally is that the bigger ones are certainly fulfilling their minimum obligations under the Code, but not really doing enough to fulfil the ‘intent’ of the code and I fear they will suffer the impact of that for the next 3 or 4 financial years rather than having 1 bad year.

The future: The continuing negotiation process between peak bodies & government across different scenarios

• The ‘reasonable recovery period’ - why is it important to understand what the definition of this period is?
• Returning to the two versions of “normal” - with or without the vaccine
• How dependent is the industry on Jobkeeper and why is it important to remember the impact it’s removal will have?
• With Jobkeeper now extended, will the Code of Conduct also be extended? And do we know what’s going to happen after this Code of Conduct period ends?

How can small businesses improve the negotiation process?

Where can those affected small businesses go for help?

• Peak bodies
  • Webinars and understanding the legislation
  • Know your rights, know where to go for help, educate to understand your requirements. Peak bodies can also support in the mediation process on the side of the small business
• Small business commissioners at state level & ASBFEO

To find out more :

The National Cabinet Mandatory Code of Conduct - SME Commercial Leasing Pricipals - https://www.pm.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/national-cabinet-mandatory-code-ofconduct-sme-commercial-leasing-principles.pdf

About our Guest:

Kyle is the Retail Director for LPC Cresa who were founded in 1993 and are now one of Australia and New Zealand’s’ leading, independent, tenant-only leasing and property advisory businesses, and part of the global Cresa group.

Lpc Cresa advises office, retail and industrial tenants exclusively across every stage of the property lifecycle and seek to level the playing field when negotiating with landlords and developers to ensure tenants achieve the best possible outcomes.

Lpc Cresa has built a reputation as the preferred problem solver among occupiers of real estate through their unwavering commitment to providing tenants with professional, high quality and independent property advice.

As the Retail Director, Kyle is passionate about helping retailers improve their bottom line through strategically aligned property outcomes and has particular expertise in optimising lease portfolios.

Kyle has post graduate degrees in both Property Economics and Business Administration and a solid background in retail management having worked for major Australian retail brands including Coles Myer Group before entering the property industry.

Kyle has been the Leasing and Tenancy Advisor to the National Retail Association since 2017, providing advice and representation to Australia’s most representative retail industry association with more than 24000 shopfronts nationwide, positioning Kyle as leader in tenant-side retail leasing, tenant representation and retail advisory services.

In his spare time, Kyle is a Childhood Cancer Awareness advocate and avid cyclist, riding 250-300km per week before most of us even get out of bed.

 

Creating content marketing that works

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 21 July 2020

 

In the world of small business, marketing strategy can seem like a long battle requiring constant tweaking and analysis. We work tirelessly to post, upload, photograph, describe, blog, video and it can sometimes seem like a waste of time.

 

Well, without a strategy you might very well be doing that; wasting your time!

 

What is important is knowing your product, knowing your clients and their customer journey as they navigate all your marketing collateral. It’s a simple strategy and a great starting point for many small businesses who may not yet have even given a strategy a thought.

 

Laura Prael specialises in supporting small businesses in her business LEP Digital; drawing on years of working with big corporate brands and is here to share with us her understanding of the customer journey and why this is an important piece of the strategy puzzle.

 

Welcome to the show Laura.

 

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Content marketers often refer to the customer buying journey - what is that and why is important?
  • Is it literally a linear pathway from start to finish or is it more nuanced than this?
  • Where does the idea of the ideal client fit into this?
  • Essentially, thinking about what you’re trying to achieve; how do you want the potential customer to behave?
• Has the customer journey changed over the years - if so, how and why?
  • The impact of social media, different forms of advertising
  • The importance of creating brand awareness
• How can you use content marketing to support the buyer’s journey?
  • Linking this back to your marketing strategy
• What are your tips for creating an effective buyer persona?

To find out more go to their website: lep.digital 

 

About our Guest:

Laura is an accomplished copywriter and communications professional with more than 13 years of experience working in senior digital communications roles for large companies. Over her career, she’s mentored and trained more than 600 professionals in topics including writing for the web, content marketing, and building a personal brand. Today, she’s best known for founding a fast-growing award-winning digital content marketing agency, LEP Digital. The company is now in its sixth year running and employs a team of four women.

 

In 2018, she won the Regional Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Business Award by the NSW Business Chamber and two international Stevie® Awards for Women in Business in the Female Entrepreneur of the Year and Women-Run Workplace of the Year categories.

                                     

Her recent speaking experience includes keynote speaker at the City of Parramatta Council for International Women’s Day 2020, speaker at the Marketing to the Rural Sector Conference 2019, keynote speaker and panellist at the University of New South Wales and University of Newcastle, and private presentations for various businesses. Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Newcastle, and a Master of Public Relations & Advertising from the University of New South Wales.

Finally, a good news retail story!

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 21 July 2020

 

There are certain types of stories we all listen to in times of crisis. Stories of strength when overcoming personal hardship, of growth in economic slumps, of great leadership when dealing with unusual situations, and those ones which inspire us when we simply don’t want to adult anymore.

 

Well this story will tick the box ALL OF THE ABOVE.

 

With literally no previous retail experience Karen Edbrooke started Big Girls Don’t Cry Anymore, using extraordinary work ethic and desire to assist women, it is now  a rare success story in a weird world of retail closures. Founded before social media and online sales, she has been forced to adapt not only the way she sells to clients but how she interacts with them. Her team has completely changed, her products have evolved, and her business is a great example of how the retail world is now survival of the fittest.

 

Welcome to the show Karen.

 

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Growing your online sales
  • Where was the starting point? Did you divert away from your strategy or start over in the crisis?
  • Socials – did you increase your budget?
  • employing the right people & the ideal worker who can adapt
  • top tips on finding the right fit
• Passionate about upskilling retail workers in IT
  • what the industry leaders can do to improve the candidates
• Helping the local business community
  • mentored other female entrepreneurs
  • using her space to support other businesses
• Operating in times of crisis
  • Adjusting your mindset & staying focus on what you want to achieve,
  • keeping your team focussed

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

 

About our Guest:

Big Girls Don’t Cry Anymore was founded by Karen Edbrooke in Brisbane in 1992. Edbrooke got inspiration for the business whilst recovering from a serious car accident.  Edbrooke grew increasingly frustrated by the challenges that larger women faced in the fashion and lingerie industry.  She believed that mainstream lingerie manufacturers in Australia ignored the needs of larger women.  Upon realising that the Australian lingerie industry was ignoring a significant portion of the female population, Edbrooke decided to take action.

 

Founded before the birth of the internet and the existence of Facebook, the business has been forced to adapt, but has done so with immense success.    Big Girls Don’t Cry Anymore has a large social media following.  They currently have the largest social media following of any independent Lingerie Store in Australia. They currently have over 105,000 ‘followers’ on their Facebook page and hundreds of thousands of followers on other platforms.

 

Before her accident, Edbrooke was working at the National Australia Bank.  She never went to university and she is completely self-taught in business.  She uses her experience to teach others about how to start a business from scratch.   Edbrooke’s passion for her brand, extraordinary work ethic and desire to assist women to find the right fitting bra has helped her to create one of the country’s leading business success stories.  The business is now the most successful retailer of lingerie and swimwear for women of all sizes with customers across the nation and around the world.   Services are also offered virtually through virtual bra fittings, live streamed fashion parades and a number of other innovative offerings.

What’s your Innovation Frustration?

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 14 July 2020

 

At the cutting edge of technology the innovation revolution is fast paced, exciting and inspirational. Many new startup small businesses play in the tech space and there like in all small business worlds, innovation comes in many forms. Each small business at some point adapts or pivots or evolves and that can be considered an innovation.

 

Just like small business and all the hurdles that come with it, those who navigate the techpreneur space have their own Innovation Frustrations. Whether it’s in a corporate environment where the wheels  turn so slowly it can be painful, to those familiar small business compliance issues we all know and love, innovative tech businesses face the same trials as we all do.

 

Laetitia Andrac is highly experienced in this world. She’s worked with multinational giants to get them to move faster and nimble small businesses to get them to move slower! Each of these experiences have brought with them challenges to overcome. And overcome them Laetitia has! She’s with us today on Small Biz Matters to share those experiences from which we can all learn.

 

Welcome to the show Laeticia.

 

Topics we’ll be covering:

• Tell us about your background and what your experience can tell us about where innovation is today
  • Corporate Innovation, StartUp consulting, Bloomberg Cities (bringing innovation to socially driven strategies)
• What are the frustrations you can expect to experience when working in a corporate environment/team?
  • Frustrations driving within a large corporate, they are so slow and labour intensive. The obsession around controls, privacy, but then you can leverage their client base, they leads. Accepting the balance that there will be a slow to start then accelerating.
  • The difference between corporate and startup: fast to iterate, move from ideas to MVP but hard to get traction
• What advice would you give to those trying to innovate when working within a large corporate?
  • Be resilient. If doors are closed find a way to go through the window!
  • Making sure you don’t waste time with the wrong people. Who are making the key decisions?
  • In a practical sense what other departments do you need to be aware of in the process. Which other departments will be working with at every stage of implementation?
• Start up space - Confusion of innovation vs creativity in the startup space. Framework is crucial.
  • Just because you’ve got a great idea doesn’t mean you can bring it into fruition. Discipline of the 10 types of innovation.
  • Cover the 4 key mistakes I’ve observed on innovation: focus on creativity, go after a solution without investigating the problem, focus on product innovation only, launch too late when everything is perfect

To find out more go to their website: https://www.essentialshift.co/

 

About our Speaker:

Laetitia is an innovation and strategist expert, an accredited holistic coach,a proud mama of two little girls. She is born in France, lived in India and Brazil, and moved to Australia ~5 years ago.

 

With an insatiable curiosity and energy, she is dedicated to empower individuals, teams or businesses to bring their innovative project to life with clarity and impact by applying mindful and effective frameworks.

 

For over 12 years, she has designed, facilitated and led significant projects, working groups and seminars from ideation, innovation strategy, strategic planning, process improvement, to performance optimizations. She has worked with global companies, start-up/business owners, NGOs, public sector and local governments.

 

She is currently working part-time for a big corporate on innovation and big data projects and the rest of the time on her own consulting and coaching company: Essential Shift.

 

Through Essential Shift, she wants to share her passion and experience by blending innovation and strategy frameworks with coaching, mindfulness and ayurveda approaches. 

So your team is MIA as they WFH. Why communication, culture and leadership are your most important skills right now.

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 14 July 2020

 

Staff you never see, emails flying around at all times of the day, meetings on a screen… Welcome to the new world of staff and team management for small business. And if you hadn’t already nailed time tracking, online comms and screen sharing you might have just had a steep learning curve in the past few months.

 

So now we’re faced with this new normal being a long term reality.

 

Well, for some of us it’s new but for some tech savvy companies out there who are used to rapid growth, remote staff and everything being online it’s business as usual?

 

So what can we learn from these experts?

 

Well, for starters a workplace culture that evolves, hiring for values and not a creating a monoculture and crystal clear comms are key. Vu Tran the co-founder of GO1, a successful and fast growing tech company specialising in training software - with an interesting journey of his own to share.

 

Welcome to the show Vu.

 

Topics we’ll be covering:

 

How can businesses foster a strong organisational culture as more team members than ever are working from home?

As a larger business how do you draw on that experience of adapting to change from when you were a startup?

• We’re agile & nimble, we continue to evolve. The business keeps ticking away in the background whilst we continue learning
• As you start you hire what you know. As you grow you need to think of what the culture has to grow into Hire for cultural contribution not cultural fit – hiring for cultural fit makes for a monoculture.
• How do you grow towards values rather than a culture.

 

How do you find the different staff?

• Sharing the same values as you are a must
• Cultural contribution is the difference – age (diversity of experience), diversity of business backgrounds (NOT typical startups, different industries), culture (different backgrounds)
• Adapting & problem solving more valued than history of what’s been achieved.

 

How do you remain clear in communication with a larger staff base?

• Example – doctor patient comms.
• When a leader can’t communicate to their managers this has a trickle-down effect of the whole screen
• In crisis’ clear communication from government & health has flowed on to the whole economy
• Think about your customer journeys for one example. They need to feel confident in the product to continue engaging.
• As your team grows it’s important to keep reviewing your business plan and goals every quarter.

o   Focus on key areas & metrics and then subgoals. Everyone in the company knows which goes we contribute to

o   OKR’s is the system; setting objective and goal setting around this. Stretch goals so individuals know where they sit in achieving those goals. The objectives are met from bottom up not top down.

o   Even though we’re digital we still use butcher paper!

o   K.I.S.S

 

How do you remain clear in communication in this remote workforce?

• Worried about the incidental engagements which aren’t happening.
• What’s going through your mind at this time? Don’t have the answer, keep working,
• It’s not about the TECH TOOLS you use but the culture of communication.
• As leaders we need to be constantly communicating, keep calling people

o   Straight up Q&A with the leaders

 

How are you dealing with anxiety in your workplace?

• We’re big enough to have support staff
• Find those services which can support you to support your staff like Beyond Blue
• Make the opportunity to talk rather than diving into specific issues. It’s about the communication channels
• The most important thing is to be able to identify mental health issues
• Dispelling the myth  of asking Are You OK achieves nothing. Starting the conversation really does help.
• Not everyone’s a navy seal and has to be ridiculously strong

 

 

To find out more go to their website: https://www.go1.com/en-au/

 

About our Guest:

 

Vu Tran is the co-founder and Head of Growth at GO1.com, the world’s largest onboarding, compliance and professional development platform; a global business founded in Brisbane, Australia. Vu oversees GO1.com's structure and strategy, manages projects and stakeholder engagement while also working part-time as a practicing GP.

 

About GO1

GO1.com makes it easy for businesses to train their staff, with the world’s largest compliance, professional development and general training marketplace. By providing a single platform that extends from first aid training through to degree bearing courses, GO1 makes it easy to find and compare the best training options available. The marketplace features over 500,000 courses and other learning items created by local and international experts. Customers include SEEK.com.au, Oxford University, State and Local Governments and St John Ambulance.

Update from ASBFEO & Small Biz Matters

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 7 July 2020

Small Biz Matters is proud to announce a new collaboration with the Australian Small Business and Family Enterpris­­e Ombudsman - regular updates from Kate Carnell about all her office is doing to advocate and support small businesses. Kate Carnell, as an independent advocate for small business owners, has the legislative power to influence our nation’s lawmakers, ensuring legislation and regulations are put in place to help small businesses grow and in these times, survive.

Small businesses are the engine room of the economy and it’s ASBFEO’s role to do all they can to ensure they have the freedom to innovate, employ and thrive well into the future.

We’ll be regularly broadcasting information on small business strategies, programs and legislative updates which you, as a small business owner in Australia can rely on from the office of ASBFEO and Small Biz Matters.

In the first of the series Kate’s speaking to us about the COVID-19 recovery plan, improvements to payment times and updates in the areas of taxation and procurement.

Welcome back to the show Kate Carnell.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• The COVID-19 National recovery plan
  • What is ASBFEO’s role in these sort of discussions & who does ASBFEO speak to when advocating for us?
  • Is it similar to a lobbyist’s role?
• Taxation update
  • We know about the instant asset write-off which has been extended but in terms of tax (particularly with it being EOFY) what other developments has ASBFEO been working on for small business?
• Procurement panel update
  • What is the intention of the procurement panel and why does ASBFEO believe this is an important reform?
• Payment times
  • Something we are passionate about here at Small Biz Matters is accelerating the economy through ANY sort of improvement to payment times for small business.
  • Have any of the recent reforms made any difference in reality for small businesses?
  • Is mandating payment times a reality or even a possibility?
• Access to justice
  • One of the roles of ASBFEO is to support small business in business disputes. Can you give some examples of the sorts of scenarios and businesses you’ve helped?
• IR reforms – federal level, small business award
  • Industrial relations is a real minefield for small business. In some ways it actually restricts our ability to employ and as Australia’s largest employer in these times of employment crisis it’s not ideal.
  • What’s currently happening in this space to reduce the compliance burden for small business?

To find out more go to their website: https://www.asbfeo.gov.au/

About our Guest:

The Ombudsman - Kate Carnell

"In this role I will seek to bring together the many voices within the small business community in a way that promotes growth in this vital sector."

Kate Carnell is the inaugural Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO).

As the ASBFEO, she is an independent advocate for small business owners.  Her office has the legislative powers needed to effectively influence our nation’s lawmakers, ensuring legislation and regulations are put in place to help small businesses grow.

The ASBFEO office also provides small businesses and family enterprises with assistance should they find themselves involved in a business dispute.

Small businesses are the engine room of the economy; it’s a big reputation to live up to, so we need to do all we can to ensure they have the freedom to innovate, employ and thrive well into the future.

About ASBFEO

Australia is a nation of small businesses and family enterprises.  It’s a dynamic and exciting sector that allows people with an entrepreneurial spirit to pursue their dreams.

One of the fastest growing in the economy, the sector presents many opportunities – and challenges – for those who dedicate themselves to pursing a small business venture.

The ASBFEO's role is to support small businesses and family enterprises to enable them to grow and thrive.

The ASBFEO was launched on 11 March 2016 and has two key functions: to assist and to advocate for small businesses and family enterprises.

ASSIST:

We understand the challenges facing small business owners. We provide access to dispute resolution services for those who may be involved in a disagreement, so they can try and find a solution to their problem without having to go to court.

ADVOCATE:

There are a number of different activities the Ombudsman may conduct in fulfilling the role of small business advocate. Broadly these include:

• Conduct inquiries and research
• Work with other arms of government
• Contribute to other inquiries
• Promote good business practice.

The Accidental Pivoting Champion

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 7 July 2020

Whilst everyone interested in small business is trying to reinvent themselves through pivoting and adapting there’s one small business who is living it … and everyone is talking about their story. From the Prime Minister, to the media, to national advocates the story of StoryKings is reinvigorating our faith in the small business economy to dust themselves off and reinvent to success.

So how did StageKings do it? With amazing speed and efficiency actually. They saw an opportunity and grabbed it with two hands, hung on to their employees, and collaborated with other small businesses who supported them.

StageKings are as passionate about small business as the rest of us and we’re proud to welcome Jeremy Fleming, the CEO to share the story of their overnight (haha) pivot success and help out other small businesses to learn from their journey.

Welcome to the show Jeremy.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• What gave you the idea to produce remote working office furniture when your company sits squarely in the events industry?
  • Did you draw on your own experiences or your staff’s skills to meet the need?
  • How did that conversation develop with your staff?
  • After trying other ideas like pop up testing facilities and temporary waiting rooms, it was a discussions with a friend in Ireland with a similar company to mine that sparked the idea.  He discussed their plan to start making furniture, and suggested that we had the same machinery and know-how, and that we should look at doing similar.  We’d seen that other desk suppliers were out of stock and, relying on deliveries from China, they likely would be for some time.  So our Head of Production, Mick Jessop, and I decided that work from home desks was the idea to run with.  With a history of design, and a furniture building hobby, Mick ran with the idea, and overnight had 2 designs ready for production. 
• You had the idea, what steps did you take to get it up off the ground? What did you do first and then later, how did you recognise and chase the organic growth?
• We moved very quickly with the idea that we had at 11am on Sunday morning, to having prototypes build on Monday, the eCommerce site written overnight on Monday night, a photo shoot on Tuesday morning, and on sale 3pm on Tuesday afternoon. I started with an open letter that I posted on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, which focuses solely on our story, and what we planned to do to keep our people in work.  That post quickly went viral, and withing days had been seen, shared or liked by a million people.  The organic growth is due largely to us focusing on our story, and not trying to sell a product.  Of course it helps that the products go together very easily without tools, they look great, and are very functional, but the story is what got people interested.
• Did you know it would succeed in those beginning days or were you really throwing your business and all its resources at a possibility
• We worked on the idea not realising how big it would actually get. We thought it would keep some of our crew working, and that Mick and I would do the sanding, and deliver to people on our way home.  We thought we might sell 100 desks in a month.  We quickly realised that it was going to be bigger than that, when on our first weekend we were featured in multiple newspapers, and on the TV news.  Within 3 days of starting we were taking 200 orders per day, and needed to bring back a bigger crew than we had when Covid hit.  We now have over 50 crew working, made up of out of work event industry workers.
• What advice would you give to small businesses out there who are fearful of the risks associated with Pivoting?
• It starts by being agile by nature. As a staging company, nothing we ever do is ever exactly the same, so we really pivot the way we work frequently.  One day we could be building a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and the next week we could be building a 26m tall lion as the centre piece of a stage (which actually happened last year).  We looked at the furniture as another project, and looked at what we needed to do to make that work.  Outside of that the biggest thing for me was to move quickly.  Don’t over analyse.  If getting started is not going to put a huge strain on finances, and you have the equipment to get going, do it, and learn along the way.  We didn’t get a lot of things right when we started this, but had we procrastinated for another week, we would not have had the same reaction, and we wouldn’t have done near as well as we’re doing now.      
• Has this experience changed your core business forever or simply split you into two niches? How can a small business recognise when it’s NOT working?
  • Has it re-invigorated your staff
  • How will it change your outlook? What lessons have you learned from this side business that crosses over to your core business?
  • We will still build stages again once the live event industry opens up, but we will also continue to manufacture furniture, likely as a separate company. With the focus returning strongly to Australian Made, and Shopping Local, I see a very good opportunity to grown our product range, and partner with other designers to grow that part of the business

Recognising when a small business isn’t working can be difficult if you’re embedded in that business day in, day out.  It often takes removing yourself (emotionally and sometimes physically), to take a look from the outside.  This allows you to scrutinise things that appear to be working, but maybe not well enough, and consider a better way.

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

About our Guest:

“Jeremy Fleming is the Managing Director of Stagekings, the company responsible for some of the most well-known temporary event structures of the past 5 years.  Building stages and sets like the Opening Ceremony at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, the set for Ninja Warrior, the replica Edinburgh Castle at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Sydney, Shakespeare’s Pop up Globe Theatre in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, Ultra Music Festival, and the Adelaide 500 Concert Stage. 

Jeremy is currently navigating Stagekings through the most difficult time the event industry has experienced, since the outbreak of Covid-19.  Seeing a chink in the supply chain he has pivoted the staging business to manufacture work from home office furniture, and now return to work office furniture to fill the gap in the market, and to keep Stagekings in business.  By doing this he has reemployed staff, as well as employing many more out of work event crew to help in the manufacturing of the IsoKing desk range.  On top of this over the past 3 months Stagekings has raised over $41,000 for Support Act – the Heart and Hand of Australian Music, through the sales of the desks.”   

Getting prepared for (possibly the weirdest) End of Financial Year

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 30 June 2020

You may have been distracted by a couple of international crisis’ in the past few months but here we are again; end of financial year! Hopefully 2020 will keep moving this quickly so we can get back to some semblance of normal small business life but in the meantime your requirements haven’t changed as a small business.

Single Touch Payroll reporting, super obligations, BAS deadlines and wrapping up your end of financial year finances and still there, whether you’ve bounced back from this weird economy or not.

One positive aspect of experiencing a slow down is we can all focus a little more on your admin and bookkeeping and what the EOFY requirements are from the ATO.

Joining us today is Andrew Watson, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Small Business Experience, Small Business, at the Australian Tax Office. He’s going to share with us what the ATO expects, supports and how they assist if you’re one of the many many businesses experiencing hardship.

Welcome back to the show Andrew.

Topics we’ll be covering:

• What should small businesses do to prepare for Tax time 2020?
  • Record keeping and who’s responsible for this?
  • Increase in digitising of document and record keeping - recording and reporting are getting faster
    • Mention of e-invoicing
    • How does e-commerce feed into this? Digitised businesses are more likely to keep on top of their obligations
    • New developments in the business platform
  • Typical errors we in EOFY processes inc - apportioning incorrectly business/private especially home office expenses
  • How is this different due to covid.
  • STP Finalisation - how is this different from the old payment summary for the first time
  • Instant asset write-off timings - installed and ready to use rather than when it was ordered and paid for - beware of self assessment. The affect of the supply chain changes
  • Give examples
  • Shout out to bookkeepers & accountants for their help with bringing the legislation to small business

• What do small businesses need to know about the stimulus packages and EOFY?
  • Coding the stimulus measures on your tax return - Jobkeeper / Cashflow boost credits / talk to your accountant about the state based payments

• What if a small business is impacted by multiple disasters (i.e. bushfires, COVID-19, and drought)?
  • ATO relief and support thats available - deferments, PAYGI drop to NIL but bear in mind you can’t amend once the next quarter’s BAS is generated
  • Switching from quarterly to monthly
  • Debt relief
  • If they’re not happy with the service then escalate, and of course

• So how do businesses access this assistance? Through the Business Portal? I’ve heard about myGovID changes. Do Businesses need to use myGOVID to access the Business Portal?
  • Extension to availabilities of the ATO - giving 1800 number out, which is for tailored, specialised support and available indefinitely at the moment. Struggling with different issues like losing homes, losing records
  • Changes to MyGovID system

To find out more go to their website: www.ato.gov.au

About our Speaker:

Andrew Watson is an Assistant Commissioner for the Australian Taxation Office in the Small Business line. He is currently responsible for understanding how small businesses engage with the tax and super systems, collaborating with small businesses, industry groups and government agencies to shape the client experience and drive improved digital services. His area also helps small businesses manage cash-flow and digital readiness so sustainable and viable businesses can thrive, and advocates for small businesses within the ATO.

Statistics - How can small business access, digest and use the ABS data?

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner.
Date: 23 June 2020

As small business owners we are often reminded to learn who our ideal client is and research this with gusto until we have a perfect image in our minds as to who they are and what makes them tick. We normally gather this info from anecdotal experiences and conversations with other business owners or mentors. 

But what about the ideal location, B2B details, demographic, political persuasion, customs and habits, and social media use? This would be great info to help with your marketing strategy but where can you find it?

Luckily there’s a government department who are real boffins when it comes to collecting, analysing and delivering this sort of data right into your lap.

Its there for the taking and today we welcome John Shepherd the General Manager, Industry Statistics Division at ABS to explain how and why we should tap into this goldmine of data.

Welcome back to the show John.

Topics we’ll be covering:

The ABS has been doing a lot of new and interesting things recently.

• What sort of changes has the ABS made in response to COVID-19?

Here John will highlight some changes (ie Rapid surveys, modifying work programs)

• What is the ABS hoping to achieve with these changes? (eg collecting data from small businesses owners, getting a pulse on Australia to understand how they are being affected)

Here John will highlight some key findings from the COVID19 surveys, general impacts on small businesses and how the info has been helping decision making

The ABS collect data from a range of businesses. Can you run through the processes with how it’s done with small businesses?

John will be highlighting and running through the following:

• How ABS collects data (ie: Sending out letters with login codes, what it looks like)
• Letting businesses know how they can find out if the letter is legitimate
• Detailing why it is important for small businesses to complete surveys – this includes touching on sampling, provider burden
• Answering the questions “Do I have to do this?”

What insights does ABS data provide about small businesses?

This is where John can highlight some findings that ABS data highlights from various surveys including:

• CABEE (Counts of Australia Businesses, including Entries and Exits)
• COVID
• Business indicators
• Other relevant surveys

What sort of data and statistics are available for small businesses to use?

Here John can go over high-level info that ABS collects and how small businesses can use it, which will include things like:

• High level overview of what data ABS collects – ie demographic, business
• Give “high level” examples of how businesses use data – CPI for to adjust for inflation etc
• Overview of where small businesses can find more info – ie on website (including points of interest), social media
• Then go into detail about HOW small businesses can use the data through “data story examples”

To find out more go to their website: www.abs.gov.au 

• All about the ABS - https://www.abs.gov.au/about?OpenDocument&ref=topBar
• ABS response to COVID-19 - https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/home/ABS%20responds%20to%20COVID-19.
• A handy calendar that lists statistical releases for the coming six months - https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/webpages/ABS+Release+Calendar

 

Our Guest: John Shepherd

John Shepherd is the General Manager leading the Industry Statistics Division. The Industry Statistics Division is responsible for developing, compiling, analysing and disseminating statistical information across a range of sectors including Agriculture, Environment, Building and Construction, Transport, Tourism, Financial Institutions, Innovation and Technology. The Division also produces Main Economic Indicators including Private New Capital Expenditure, Retail Trade, Business Indicators, Building Approvals, Job Vacancies, New Motor Vehicle Sales and Housing and Lending Finance. The Division includes the Statistical Infrastructure and International Branch, encompassing the International Relations & Regional Statistical Development section, the Business Register Unit and the Statistical Standards and Infrastructure section. The Division is focussed on working with its partners to provide a strong information base for policy development and evaluation. John joined the ABS in June 2019 after a lengthy career at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

At the ATO, John held a number of senior roles in his 28 years, including leading significant change programs and projects focused on improving the client experience. John’s most recent role was leading the implementation of the Single Touch Payroll (STP) initiative, enabling employers to report their tax and superannuation information for their employees at the same time as they paid staff. STP aims to streamline business reporting to government and support better tax and super experiences for all employees. John also played an active role in superannuation reform, including leading the implementation of SuperStream and a number of other superannuation reform initiatives including online superannuation account consolidation.

John is a passionate Movember ambassador and fundraiser for men’s health initiatives.

John holds a Masters of Taxation from the University of NSW and is based in Canberra.