AKA: How to adult like a boss when all you want is soup and Netflix. Let’s be honest — when you’re a small business owner, taking a sick day can feel like trying to take a holiday on Mars. You’re the CEO, customer service team, bookkeeper, IT support, and coffee runner all in one. So when your body waves the white flag and says “nope, we’re out”, panic sets… Read more
When to Know It’s Time to Pull the Pin on Your Business (and How Your Financial Reports Can Spill The Tea) Let’s be honest, no one starts a business thinking, “Can’t wait to shut this baby down one day!” But sometimes, the smartest move isn’t pushing harder… it’s knowing when to stop pushing altogether. Before you panic (or pour yourself something stronger than coffee), take a deep breath — because… Read more
Xero Summer Series kicked off in Melbourne today, and to say I walked out inspired was an understatement. I feel like I have royally been kicked up the bum with some home truths that I not only needed, but it was what I had been waiting for. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good accounting junket (I mean conference) and I love a good chit chat (I mean… Read more
I haven’t done many personal blogs about the impact of being an accountant during a worldwide health pandemic and economic crisis. I am not sure I have had the words, the heart, the strength. But we are now 12 months post Covid, and I feel like I will be mentally scarred forever. I still remember attending an accounting conference in early March 2020, and at this stage there were jokes… Read more
So the Morrison government gave a sneak peak at what JobKeeper 2.0 will look like from October 2020, and whilst most people are losing their minds, there are some good changes coming. How will you be impacted? What should you be doing now? And how can you prepare for life “post JobKeeper”? Well first and foremost, JobKeeper 2.0 is not legislation yet so we can’t tell you the exact impact… Read more
Increasing efficiency and minimizing costs are essential to running a profitable business. Yet many small business owners waste countless hours on meetings that lack focus, run on too long, and pull staff away from more productive tasks. Follow these seven tips to make your meetings more efficient and cost-effective. What’s your goal? Every meeting should have a clear objective, and a reason the meeting is needed (versus an email or… Read more
Social media time management and web strategy concept with a clock and social network word and sign printed in multiple colors 3d render image. With social media, you can connect with business associates quickly and creatively. But this communication mode is not without risk. A thoughtless post can offend customers and other business partners and damage relationships rather than build them. By following a few ground rules you can be… Read more
Business dashboards are a valuable business intelligence tool, offering an “at-a-glance” big picture view of a company’s performance. Most accounting software companies are jumping on the bandwagon, which is making your life so much easier to instantly see your business highlights. Some business owners use a dashboard to track KPIs relevant to just one aspect of their business, such as sales growth, marketing, or financial data. Others rely on an… Read more
If you’re like most small business owners, there are never enough hours in the day to complete every task on your list. So how do you set good business habits to ensure the right things get done at the right time? Often you’re faced with prioritising what you need to do right now – deal with a customer, meet a deadline, attend an event – and the things you know… Read more
The start of the financial year is the perfect time to dust off last year’s business plan and set some new goals for the next 12 months. While some entrepreneurs love planning, others feel overwhelmed by the process. How do you decide on just a handful of goals that take priority, with so many moving parts that make up a business? These tips can help you get started brainstorming how… Read more
Coming up to the second round of JobKeeper reporting and we are still so bloody shocked by the amount of crap information being thrown around in relation to who is eligible for this funding. And more importantly, why are people not qualified to give this advice so happy to throw around these “JobKeeper Myths” like confetti?? Let me bust some of the crap information and myths around JobKeeper that people… Read more
Email marketing is one of the best ways to develop a relationship with your customers. Yep – even us nerdy accountants can use email marketing. But let’s not confuse email marketing with spam. Nobody wants spam. The key to maintaining high open rates with your email campaigns is to craft catchy subject lines for every email you send out to your customers. You need to get their attention, and amongst… Read more
Since the first internal corporate note was sent—probably reminding employees about casual Friday—companies and organisations have relied on written communications to keep employees up-to-date on company policies, procedures and changes happening within. These days, though, more companies are switching to videos to relay information to their staff. In a lot of ways, video is more effective than written communications. It grabs peoples’ attention, conveys important information quickly and is usually… Read more
As many business owners look to life after COVID-19, an important question comes up: how do we plan to reopen our business? For most businesses, the easing of restrictions doesn’t mean an overnight return to “business as usual”. There are rules and regulations in place about how businesses can operate, including how many people can be on their premises at one time and how employees must be protected. Customers may… Read more
Running a business in a smaller city may mean you have a more limited talent pool to draw employees from, but it doesn’t mean you won’t have access to top notch workers. You may need to alter your recruiting strategy to show those skilled employees why they should consider working for your smaller business instead of going to a large corporation in a big city. Here are some ways you… Read more
In this week’s update, as well as some updates on government support for businesses, we’ve included a number of resources to help with navigating your business out of the dire situation we’ve all been in. No doubt there are still tough times ahead but there are many reasons to be hopeful and we’re here to help you through it all. JobKeeper The first JobKeeper payments are expected to flow… Read more
Most small business owners face a time in their career when they have to communicate in ways or about topics they aren’t comfortable with. COVID-19 has put business owners in the position of having many conversations that are uncomfortable and stressful. Whether you’re communicating with employees about business issues during the pandemic, hoping to negotiate a rent reduction or changes to credit terms, or asking customers for help in keeping… Read more
I have no words to describe the past three weeks of being a business owner running their own accounting and bookkeeping business during the Coronavirus pandemic, but I will try. There has been so much negativity, so much uncertainty, increased levels of stress and anxiety, frustration through the roof, so many tears – and that is from both clients and from me. “We are not immune to any of it,… Read more
It’s hard to escape the news of the Coronavirus as it continues to have a huge impact on people across the world. Closer to home, the Morrison Government has announced a stimulus package in response to the anticipated economic downturn. This package includes a number of economic stimulus measures for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 income years, with most of targeted at helping small to medium-sized businesses. Here to help But… Read more
Over the course of a few weeks nearly everyone’s business and life has been turned upside down due to Coronavirus. It has been a crazy time with toilet paper shortages, pasta shortages, businesses forced to close or stand staff down and overload of information (and mis-information on social media). With the recent Coronavirus disruption in mind, we wanted to help support you however we can. We have seen a number… Read more