Feeling confident in your abilities is a strong starting point when you’re considering running your own business. Jarrod Whitbourne was able to manage demanding FIFO shifts as a boilermaker while completing an accounting degree - a juggling act that first gave him confidence in his business capabilities. With 10 years of industry experience and a...
Did you know that your average Australian small business signs eight standard form contracts per year? This is why it’s so important to know your rights when entering into a standard form contract, or providing a contract to others. While protection for consumers entering into a standard form contract has existed for many years, in 2016 similar...
Visitors to this year’s Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days had the opportunity to meet local small businesses and business advisers in the SBDC Regional Start Ups Arena. The Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days is Western Australia’s largest agricultural Field Days event, having started in the Wheatbelt town more than 50 years ago. A record crowd of 25...
Three new local government authorities are commencing the SBDC’s Small Business Friendly Approvals Program to streamline their licencing and approvals processes. The City of Karratha, City of Busselton and Town of Cambridge are the latest local government authorities to start the journey of examining and improving their regulatory processes through...
Most people associate record keeping with tax time, but having a good record keeping system in place can also help you monitor the health of your business. Record keeping can give you a more accurate picture of your business to help you understand how you are doing and so you can spot any potential problems sooner rather than later. The types of...
A friend is not just a friend these days. Your business can have friends, followers, fans and other supporters in your local area and far beyond with so many social media apps available. There’s no doubt social media can be the perfect advertisement for your business, build your search engine optimisation (SEO) and help to attract new customers. It...
Illegal phoenix activity has a significant impact on the Australian economy with an annual estimated cost of up to $5.13 billion. While illegal phoenix activity has many victims, the impact on small business, particularly, can have a catastrophic effect on their operations as well as personal lives. Illegal phoenix activity is when a new company is...
At a recent Founders, Leaders and Lawyers business event hosted by HHG Legal, I had the opportunity to catch up with Michael Malone, WA entrepreneurial legend and founder of iiNet. If you are not familiar with the story, Michael was finishing his studies at UWA in 1993 and realised that the end of university, meant the end of his internet access...
The 2019-20 SBDC annual report is now published, highlighting our progress in supporting WA small business. Read our 2019-20 annual report online, or for a quick overview download the single page fact sheet. The report provides a full overview of our achievements last year, including: providing more than 58,000 services to small business clients...
Small business owners wear many hats. From customer service and sales, to bookkeeping and recruitment — when you run a small enterprise, the buck stops with you. There’s no doubt that owning a small business has many rewards. However, it’s important to acknowledge that this lifestyle also comes with its fair share of challenges. There is the...
There’s more to offering a discount than simply reducing your prices. Offering discounts is a popular promotion technique to help increase sales and attract new customers, particularly if business is slow or you’re just starting out. Before you start offering discounts across the board, some careful planning, and considering other ‘value add’...
With prime position in the lobby of a busy inner-city building, Viaje Coffee was thriving under the management of Hugh Nguyen and his business partner Wayne Kang. “Before the pandemic, our business was going well,” said Hugh. “Viaje Coffee had a very loyal customer base and our business was growing. Then, COVID had a massive impact. The building...