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How to start a business in Australia?
Starting a small business?
Ready to start your own business? Great! Want to put everything in place to ensure that your business not only gets off to the very best possible start, but also has everything in place for a sustainable, profitable future? Of course you do! That’s where this guide is really going to help. We’ve identified a number of actions which business owners can take in order to optimise the chances of starting a business that stays the distance. Use our business start-up checklist to make sure you cover all bases, setting you up for success. In addition, read on to discover the five things that could absolutely transform the way your business will operate.
Starting a business in Australia checklist.
So you have a general idea of what it is you want to do and who it wil
l appeal to. Now it’s time to turn an idea into a plan! Thorough planning is one of the hallmarks of a successful business. With studies showing that businesses with a realistic plan are significantly more likely to thrive, the time to start putting your ideas on paper and fleshing out the detail is now!
How to come up with a great name for my business?
The name and tagline which you adopt for your business are two aspects which are surprisingly important. Names needn’t be exotic or unusual, but they do need to be picked with a firm eye on SEO appeal and target audience. The inclusion of a geographical location can be perfect for service-based businesses, whilst a business with a wider reach might benefit from a name which makes a statement to their audience. Combined with the tagline, the name plays a key role in defining the business.
Register your business on everything!
As well as registering your business name (and trademarking if appropriate), you also need to be securing that name across social media and acquiring a suitable domain. Even local, service based businesses will need an online presence in order to do well. The right domain name can boost customer awareness, as well as ensuring that you can develop a consistent brand across all devices. Domain, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube – Everywhere. Secure your name across as many platforms as you can so that it can’t be taken.
Planning your business startup
It’s time to put the flesh on the bones! Your business plan needs to cover everything from what you need through to financing options, how you will overcome key challenges, who your audience is and, crucially financial forecasts. It’s worth spending a bit of time working out several scenarios: from worst-case where you make no profit for a year or more through to a best-case option where profits soar. Remember to be realistic and build in contingency plans to solve any problems which may crop up. Make sure that you have clear, measurable goals against which you can measure progress
Check you business legal arrangements
Before moving forward, it’s vital to make sure that you have the necessary insurances, lease agreements and contracts in place for your business to run. Particularly when it comes to complying with relevant legislation, making sure you are operating legally is a priority. Get in touch with Legally Shalini shalini@legallyshalini.com.au who is absolutely brilliant to work with. https://legallyshalini.com.au/about/
Launch your website and finalise your branding.
The sooner you can begin to grow your online presence, the better. Even if you haven’t begun trading yet, making your audience aware that you’re in the picture and ready to start trading is a good way of optimising the chances that you hit the ground running. Take the time to define what your business is about: not just what makes it unique, but also what values and characteristics underpin the way you work. Consider your audience: what is it they want? Creating a distinct persona for your business, along with distinctive branding (for example a logo, corporate colours or other design specifications), helps you generate interest from the start. Deciding who you are and what you’re about is the first step towards creating consistent, high-grade marketing that should see you get the results you deserve.
It is super easy setting up a website, contact us to learn 5 simple steps to setting up a WordPress website or ask us to help you. Bluehost offers some great hosting services and in no time you will be up and running.
Consider the presentation (packaging) of your product and/or service.
Once you’ve established your branding, the best way to present your products or service will become much clearer. You’ll already be clear what values your business intends to emphasise, and also have a clear idea of the colours and designs which are going to define the visual aspects of what you provide. Armed with this information, working out how best to showcase your business is usually a fast, straightforward process.
Why marketing your business is so important?
Marketing is critical to success! If people don’t know you’re there, they’re not going to use you! Whether you’re starting a business with a local reach or attracting national (or even international) clients, marketing matters. Although there’s plenty you can do yourself, a professional touch often gives the added value needed to move your marketing from mediocre through to magnificent.
Think about a tagline? A tagline is always suggested to those who have a business name that hasn’t given an obvious connection to the services or products provided. You can also register and check for name availability here.
Once you have a name you will need to register it. Now this does not fully protect your name so sometimes (depending on your business) you can look at Trademarking which can protect your name and branding. More info can be found here about Trademarking.
Five values that define business start-up success.
Adopt these five values and see the difference they make to your enterprise.
1. Be persistent! Starting a business is the easy part: sustaining it is the challenge. Remember that nothing worthwhile is ever easy. Keeping going is one of the defining features of business owners that make it.
2. Revisit your plan. Don’t leave your business plan gathering dust! Its value is a living document which helps hold you to account can be enormous. Regularly checking back to ensure you’re on track helps to ensure coherent operation and sensible decision-making.
3. Don’t expect to make much money initially! Businesses frequently take years to mature. If you expect to immediately make a living from your business once it launches, you may well have to think again. In the first instance, it’s wise to have some other way of paying your bills for the first twelve months or so of operation. Put your profits back into the business!
4. Pursue customer loyalty. Your business depends on not just attracting customers, but engaging with them. Treat your customers like gold! From making the purchasing process as appealing as possible through to providing opportunities for engagement and rewarding loyalty, treating customers well isn’t just good manners, it’s also pivotal to your success.
5. Operate in an honest, transparent manner. Your customers will value exactly the same things in their business dealings as you do. By acting with honesty, courtesy and accountability, as well as providing an excellent service or product for a fair price is the best way to show customers you’re the organisation they should be doing business with.
9 steps to start a business
Apply this rule to anything in life and you will conquer. Write down a check list of the things you need to accomplish in preparation of launching your business.
- Register a business name Visit Here to Register Your Business Name
- Prepare a business plan
- Business Finances – Self Funded or Funded? How do you plan to cover loss? Seek a good Accountant to help you. Choose a system that works well for you such as Xero or MYOB. When to add GST, don’t apply GST if you don’t need to, it only creates extra cost and added work to your monthly bas, however eventually you will want to aim for this position keeping in mind building your business takes time and eventually you will get there.
- Branding – You will need a logo and some kind of branding strategy. Branding can take a while so get this started while working on other preparations. Read our blog on the Importance of Branding.
- Insurances and Contracts – this is so important. Seek a lawyer to draft up your contracts and shop around for the right and most affordable insurances.
- Images, Advertising and Website Content – Will you be needing a Website? How will you be advertising your products professionally?
- Investment – What will be a priority now is what you will outlay now but don’t inject into your business with things you don’t need straight away, this can potentially set you back. Inject when you know you can afford it and when it moves up on your priority list. It is wise to have 2 to 3 accounts one for business expenses, one for interest making savings to cover tax bills, unexpected bills and downturns, one for saving to go back into the business.
- Packaging? How will you be delivering your Services and Products?
- Marketing Plan – Set yourself up to succeed
How to build your business Successfully?
Running a business is no easy task, but it’s one that you have to commit to. If you don’t believe in what you’re doing, it’s going to show.
So how do you stay grounded and keep your head up when things get tough?
First and foremost, be good to yourself! Make sure you’re taking care of your health and your finances: 60% of Australian businesses fail within the first three years—so don’t let yours be one of them.
Next, watch your expenditure. It’s easy to get carried away with the excitement of starting a new business, but if you don’t have the money for it now, don’t spend it! Cash flow is so important: once you can maintain a sustainable cash flow, manage it and learn to save!
Take it from us:
There are plenty of ways to save money while still keeping your business afloat. One way is by underpaying yourself—or not paying yourself at all until the business is off the ground. It may seem counterintuitive at first glance, but this strategy can actually help keep you solvent in those early days when cash flow isn’t quite what it should be yet! Your savings will keep up with your expenses and give you an extra cushion incase things get tough down the road.
What to Consider
There are many things that you need to consider when starting a business, but one of the most important is cash flow. Cash flow is the amount of money coming in, minus the amount going out of your business. This can be hard to manage at first, but once you establish a good system it’s much easier to understand how much money is coming in and going out, as well as when and why it’s happening.
Set yourself a goal
If you’re not sure where to start, consider setting yourself a goal.
One way to do this is by writing down how many bookings or products you want to sell per month, and then figuring out how much money you’ll make from those sales. Taking out your expenses and figuring out your profits will be a great guide on how much you could potentially earn each month.
Financial tools
One way to make sure that you’re aware of what’s happening with your cash flow is by keeping careful records and maintaining a budget. This can be done with spreadsheets or even pen and paper! By knowing exactly how much money is coming in and going out of your business on a daily basis, it will be easier to find ways to improve your cash flow without spending too much time worrying about whether or not there will be enough money left over after expenses are paid off each month.
Another thing that helps keep track of finances within an organization like this one is using software programs like Xero or Quickbooks which allows you not only to produce quotes and invoicing but you can keep track of all transactions while also giving reports that show where all money has gone throughout any given period (such as quarterly reports).
How to stand out in your business?
Pricing and Value
When it comes to starting a business, many people think the key to success is doing whatever it takes to undercut their competitors. But that’s actually a bad idea.
Here’s why: if you undervalue yourself and your expertise, you’ll attract clients who don’t value you either—and they will be nightmarish to work with.
That said, I do understand the desire to compete on price alone. It can be tempting to get into the lowest possible price bracket and offer the best deals possible in order to win over clients. But that strategy only works for so long before it starts backfiring.
So what should you do instead? Find out what makes YOU special—what can you offer that is better than anyone else? Then make sure your clients know about it! Don’t hide behind low prices; let them know what sets you apart from the rest of the pack and how much value they’ll get from working with someone like you.
Pricing your product or service properly is a key component of running a successful business. If you price too low, you’ll damage the industry you’re in and potentially put yourself out of business.
If you’re finding yourself feeling stressed and overworked because of your small business, you may need to re-evaluate your approach.
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of running a business, but it’s important to take a step back periodically and look at the big picture. Why? Because if you don’t, you might not realise that you’re doing something wrong—and that can lead to some serious consequences down the road.
Example
Take Mary, for example. She started a photography business and was very excited about it—until her workload became overwhelming and she started hating what she did. The problem? She had priced herself too low to begin with.
Mary thought she could make ends meet by taking on more clients than she could handle. When they started complaining about having to pay for extra services or wanting more for less money than she charged for their package, she got tired of hearing about it constantly (and feeling like her time was being wasted). In turn, this caused her to make mistakes on projects that weren’t even hers!
The moral of this story: You must be willing to put yourself in a position where you can affordably provide quality service for your clients
Pricing your product or service properly is very important. Not only is it bad business practice to price too low, but it can also contribute to you burning out. Instead, work on providing value to your product/service and then price it accordingly. This will help you sustain a profitable business that has happy clients and a happy business owner!
Where to begin starting a business?
Starting your own business is a big step. It’s exciting, but it’s also intimidating.
If you’re a new business owner, one of your most important assets is a quality visual story. Getting professional branding through graphics and photography is literally one of the first steps to any new business.
It’s not enough to have amazing SEO and great copywriting on your website—if there are no images or logos that convey what you’re all about, it’s going to be hard for people to understand what makes you special. Imagine having a website full of stock images and generic graphics? Not only does it look unprofessional, but it also says nothing about who you are or what you’re trying to do.
We know that this can be difficult to navigate—that’s why we at Telling Designs offer more than just beautiful logos and images: we also guide and mentor our clients every step of the way on a successful launch. We set them up with the right tools that will help them market their product or service consistently with their branding.
With many other tools we share with you, Telling Designs sets you up on your journey as a start up to a pathway that sends you in the right direction.
We hope this has given you the pointers you need to enjoy stunning success with your business start-up.
Get in touch if you would like to work with Telling Designs
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