Small businesses like cafes, restaurants, bookkeepers, accountants, lawyers, conveyancers as well tradies like plumbers, electricians, carpenters, builders, tilers etc are all startups when they first begin. The term startup has been linked mainly to new technology, digital, online and applications for mobile devices and although these are busienss startups the term actually applies to all businesses and we aim for our course to help all of these business startups with some fundamental business skills to ensure they last a long time and grow and employ more people.
Hairdressing salons are all about people, scheduling and gossip. They are located all over the world and are a fascinating place to watch. I had my hair cut the other day by a recently graduated hair dresser and she did a fantastic job with the cut and the conversation.
Hair dressing salons are a simple business insofar as renting a shop, putting in comfy chairs and mirrors and washing bays and then matching a customer with a hair dresser. The biggest issue is scheduling the right number of hair dressers to match the demand from customers, particularly if there are lots of drop ins.
Trim and Styles Hairdressing was using an Excel spreadsheet to manage their staff but now they’re using Xero and here’s why.
Airtasker is an Australian success story in the Gig-economy for individuals who want their own micro business doing odd jobs for other people. Just like Uber, Ebay and other online marketplaces they leverage their digital marketing and brand to help individuals find clients and customers – for a fee.
Airtasker and marketplaces are a great place for people who want to start their own business but these systems fail when a better alternative comes along.
Setting goals is not just about earning more money but at this time of year many people spend their time thinking about how much they want to earn and what type of work they want to do.
Although earning money seems like a goal the real goals you should be setting are more practical and relate to what’s currently going on in your life. We’ve been working on some new initiatives and I hope you take advantage of them to have an extra source of income. Continue reading FREE Digital Marketing Seminar Presentation
EMPLOYEES IN GERMANY have the world’s shortest work week, according to SME Magazine. Their work week averages just 26 hours due to strict workplace relations laws that promote a healthy work-life balance.
Sweden is also known to have implemented a 6-hour workday, or 30-hour work week, following research which has found that countries with shorter working hours generally have higher disposable incomes, greater productivity, and a stronger economy as a result. How can you do this in Australia?
These factors combined produced a bottleneck effect in the job market, which made it difficult for certain workers to advance their careers, while others, typically young graduates, struggled to gain a foothold in the job market at all.
Freelancing and working as a contractor is popular among young workers due to fewer job vacancies that exist because older workers are remaining in their jobs for longer.
ONLINE INDUCTIONS ARE WIDELY used for contractors who visit building sites or any other site where they perform work that can be risky, like plumbing, electrical, HVAC, roofing, security etc.
Many inductions are delivered manually by a qualified staff member (usually in the WH&S department). Usually any person in the organisation or business who hasn’t yet been inducted will be notified about the forthcoming induction and urged to attend.
Would you be able to adapt the figures to adapt to change?
THE TRADITIONAL REAL ESTATE agent model is being challenged by disruptor sites like BuyMyPlace and Purplebricks. These sites are offering homeowners low-cost way to sell their homes and agents are increasingly having to be open to different ways of operating.
But change can happen at any time in any industry and it can happen swiftly; business owners and operators in all fields need to be able to adapt to change and see it as an opportunity to do their business differently. Often times, what’s required is a change to the way you price your products and services. And there are many things other people in business can learn from the real estate industry.
I was looking for a roofer to do some work for me recently. The first roofer I spoke to said he could solve my problem for a flat $1200; estimating the work could take between one and two days. Another roofer I spoke to, and ultimately ended up hiring, said he would charge me his $600 a day “day rate” until it was fixed; it only ended up taking one day.
How much time do agents spend selling your home?
Like Rome, a home isn’t sold in a day. Depending on the property and its location it could take anywhere between four and six weeks; quite likely less, but sometimes more.
But an agent doesn’t spend every one of those days working on your property. They spend portions out of their day working on it. An agent will often have three or four listings at the same time so they’ll split their time among those listings, while also chasing down leads for new listings.
Consider the Purplebricks method
Purplebicks has determined that it will cost between $4,500 and $6,000 to appoint one of their “property experts” to sell your property. Although they’re licensed real estate agents, they don’t call them that, because the service is different. (Buyers arrange inspections and make offers through the Purplebricks “property portal,” which homeowners also use to make appointments with buyers and accept offers.)
The Purplebricks fee, which is payable regardless of whether the property is sold or not, covers the cost of an agent-appraisal, all the marketing and advertising costs, as well as conveyancing. But the homeowner does the rest via the Purplebricks property portal software.
Find an agent that’s willing
If you’re prepared to pay an agent for the time they spend working on the sale of your home, regardless of whether it’s sold, you might find one that’s willing to alter how they’re paid. More real estate agents are trying to be as transparent about the process as possible, and this is just one more way that they can be.
Sweeten the pot by breaking the process down into phases (a four-week campaign may have two; a six-week campaign three) and pay them once each phase has been reached, like you would a builder. You can even add another sweetener: a bonus if the agent sells your home over a certain threshold.
For the agent, the upshot is getting regular money (which is good for their cash flow), rather than waiting until the property is settled.
Some jobs are small and straightforward, while others are blow out and become time consuming and fiddly; some work is complex and requires fine detail, while some work is basic and low level.
Managing ones’ time and figuring out how to price for different kinds of work is always a challenge in the successful running of any business.
Our EzyStartUp Course teaches you how to use digital and social media marketing to attract enquiries, how much to charge, and how to clearly define the work to be done. We explore productivity tools like Google Gmail and Calendar to help manage time, improve sales and customer service, and how to manage the change in your charge-out rate depending on what clients are willing to pay in the market.
Will your business be able to stand up without an earnings guarantee?
WHEN YOU START A NEW franchise business, you may be offered what’s called an “earnings guarantee” or “income guarantee” for a period of time after you first start the business. It usually lasts the first six months but it could possibly last as long as a year.
Earnings guarantees are designed to help people transition from having a salary to being self-employed, by providing them with a top-up payment each month if their sales fall short; peace of mind for those would-be business owners, concerned about all the “what if’s” that come with starting a new business.
There’s lots to do in preparation for starting a business and the summer holidays is a good time for the ground work.
DID YOU KNOW research shows that by taking just one short course on small business management, the chance a business will fail is reduced by as much as 50 percent.
This is because business mismanagement is the primary reason businesses fail; the other most common reason is because owner/s fail to implement appropriate credit management processes. In both cases, this failure has come about because the owners, directors, partners or managers lacked the appropriate management skills to make it a success.
Learn the basics in business
The Christmas holidays is a perfect time for taking the steps needed to start your small business. While everyone else has gone on holidays, you’ll be ready to take on your first client or customer by the time business really starts kicking off again at the end of January.
So let’s get to it: there’s work to be done. And this work generally requires some rudimentary knowledge of Australian tax law, copyright law, trademarks and patents.
You should also have knowledge of particular software applications, and digital marketing.
Other key areas of business you need to know
The key areas business owners should understand before starting a business include:
Ordinarily, to become skilled in each of those areas, a person would have to take, at least, five different training courses. But few people are ever likely to do this. Instead, they’d be more likely to cherry pick the areas they’re least familiar with, and fly blind with the others. Needless to say, that’s where people run into problems.
Take Advantage of our Christmas Savings!
We don’t want you to wing it or fly blind — our goal is to help small businesses succeed which is what we’ve been doing for nearly 20 years.
We cover what you need to set up a small business in our EzyStartUp Business Course, priced at just $297. This course covers each of the key areas mentioned above that a small business owner needs to be familiar with, in addition to the following:
Our Last Dasher Sale is also on now with special Christmas discounts on our online training courses in social media, and cloud accounting software (MYOB, Xero) and Excel, Word and WordPress.
Don’t Wait — Become the Head Honcho Today
Use your time off from work this summer to begin working on your new small business. All of our training courses are delivered online, and can be completed at your own pace, so you can complete them while you’re actually on holidays, or relaxing at home or at a cafe.
And since one of the best ways to start a new business is by operating it as a side project to your other job, if you get all the start up stuff out of the way while you’re on holidays, it’ll be ready to go by the time you back to work.
Researching the Market is a Crucial Part of Every Business Strategy
In a previous post, Is Your Charge-Out Rate a Marketing or Business Strategy?, I talked about Mark the painter, who charged a really low day rate that ultimately proved to be unsuccessful, because he couldn’t carry out the volume of jobs he needed to for it to be profitable.
When I asked Mark why he chose such a low day rate, he said it was because no other painter could possibly compete with him. Sure that’s probably true, but obviously, for good reason!
What Mark really should have done was to research the market to determine precisely what other painters are charging, and for which services.
Determine the industry average
A good starting point is to determine the average price for your industry. Be diligent and look at as many businesses in your local and surrounding areas to ensure you’re getting a clear picture of what people are charging.
It’s really hard to justify charging much below the industry average, even if you’re trying to get new business.
As I mentioned in the last post about day rates, low prices is a numbers game. Unless you’re able to turn work around exceptionally quickly to justify taking a cut on your profit margin, then it’s probably not worth it.
In our work with National Bookkeeping we discovered that bookkeeper charge out rates fall into some distinct categories based on their knowledge, experience and how they prefer to work. These rates are a great guide to help you become comfortable with your own hourly rate.
Give customers savings in other areas
Rather than reducing your rates to get new business, try to give customers savings elsewhere. You can do this by providing something your competitors aren’t, which is why researching the market thoroughly is a crucial part of your business strategy.
If you determine that your competitors charge a call out fee or a fee to prepare walls, this is a good place to start reducing or eliminating those charges in order to make yourself more competitive.
How are people finding you?
If potential customers are finding you via your website, it’s important to have a good call to action that contains reasons for people to make contact with you. Then make sure you highlight the reasons to call.
Competitors copy so keep changing your offers
Believe it or not, one of the most challenging aspects of your market research and the OFFER you make to potential customers is that your competitors will also be researching what you are doing and if they feel it is a good offer they may copy it — so you may want to have a couple different offers and discounts and change them regularly to stay unique.
Use WordPress, a Blog and Social Media posts to keep your business looking fresh online and as well as attract the attention of potential customers — we cover all of this in our Digital & Social Media Marketing Courses.
I RECENTLY MET A PAINTER during a residential renovation I was involved with in Newcastle (an extremely valuable experience that will help us add to our property investment courses.)
We got talking about how he wins new clients and he said:
I advertise on social media that I’m available for $150 a day because no one can compete with it.
The price he chose is insanely cheap, and he knew other painters wouldn’t be able to compete with this as a day rate. However, there are downsides to this. Such a cheap day rate also means that he’ll be stretched financially and that he won’t be able to hire anyone else to do the work. He’ll need to be paid daily and likely can’t afford to provide any sort of credit (like 7 day terms etc).
You’re more likely to get the job or get paid on the spot or pretty soon after if you do and it helps you
prioritise your work schedule (ideally using something like Calendar in Google’s G Suite)
keeps your cash flow healthy, which is important if you’re a tradie who goes out purchasing materials before you start a job
Sends a message that you are efficient and would like to be paid promptly
If you don’t invoice quickly your clients could forget what the invoice was for, call and ask questions about it because it’s no longer fresh in their mind and even put it off “Until the next payment cycle”, which is sometimes just an excuse for “some time in the future”.
Late invoicing is a pain for clients
During a recent renovation in Newcastle, I encountered a handyman named Paul. I asked him at least three times to invoice for the work he’d done before he finally sent one through.
When the invoice did come through it was in Microsoft Word format so I understand why it took so long — he would have been better using Xero or QuickBooks Apps on his phone! On top of this, he then said to me, “Can you please pay me quickly because I’ve run out of money!”
I chased him for an invoice so I could pay him quickly, after all, I believe that if you charge a competitive price and do a good job for professional services that you should be paid quickly.
I prefer to pay quickly because I don’t have the debt over my head and I want people to work for me in the future — it’s a form of goodwill from a customers perspective but not all customers are like that. Some customers see you as just another “Creditor” and are accustomed to string their Creditors out as long as possible.
Chasing someone for payment or an invoice or even a quote takes time and management — you have to note it in your diary, calendar, todo list or a report from your software program, and it starts to bring in feelings of resentment, particularly if they’re not feeling the best one day. Make it easy for customers to pay you and get your invoices out quickly.
Don’t invoice using Microsoft Word
When Paul finally sent me his invoice as a Word document there were a few problems I recognised:
First, it takes a long time to update a Word template, and it’s easy to make mistakes — leave the customer name, invoice number, date or other details unchanged, for example, which messes with your bookkeeping come tax time.
It’s easy to accidentally delete or change details in a Word document. It’s even easier to delete or change details in a Word document on purpose.
Paul had to get onto his computer to create the invoice
He doesn’t have a system of keeping track of who owes him money
It’s more complicated to make a note of and keep track of which Word Document (um, I mean “Invoice” has been paid)
Most people recognise a Word document and don’t think you’re very organised.
You definitely shouldn’t send invoices or estimates to customers in an “editable” Word document. It becomes a game of “he said, she said” if something goes awry, and that just further impedes a quick payment from your customer.
Don’t invoice late, then ask for prompt payment
When Paul followed up with a call asking me to pay the invoice promptly (and after I asked him no fewer than three times to send it in the first place), I paid it promptly because I happened to be available and organise payment.
However, the practice of doing this causes so many negative effects that it’s something every business owner should avoid. Here are some problems with asking for prompt payment after sending a late invoice:
If the first call you’re making to a client or customer after working with them is to ask them to pay you quickly, your business processes are wrong. Your first call, after working with a customer, should be a customer service call not a credit management one.
It builds resentment in the customers mind because they haven’t done anything wrong.
It makes you look desperate and, even if you are, it’s not your customers concern.
It stays in your customers mind for the next time they want to use you or someone else who offers a similar service.
Get set up on Xero and start being more professional immediately
Use cloud-accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks so you can quote and invoice on the go quickly, securely and easily. For help setting up QuickBooks or Xero for your business, visit our website to learn more about our Xero or QuickBooks training courses.
I RECENTLY WROTE about a Tradie Charging Too Little. In this I covered the four tell-tale signs, as told to me by a tradesperson friend of mine, that your prices are too low. But there are other business mistakes that owners, particularly tradespeople, make that can wind up costing them thousands in lost revenue — and when I say revenue I don’t just mean from existing clients but also past clients and new prospects! Continue reading 3 Little Mistakes that Cost Thousands
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Xero is a great bookkeeping program for tradies who are on the go and using their phones (or a tablet) all the time. From receipts scanning to creating quotes and invoices, receiving payments and keeping track of project costs.
bookkeepercourse.com.au/produ…
So let’s get to it: there’s work to be done. And this work generally requires some rudimentary knowledge of Australian tax law, copyright law, trademarks and patents.
And as a gift to you, remember our 
Use cloud-accounting software like 
