Small businesses are vital to Australia’s economy. But they are also a lot harder to find and so more difficult to get started.
The best way to grow your small business is by getting advice, training and support from people who know what they’re doing. Unfortunately, most small businesses don’t know exactly how to get started — or how to find the right people and the right information for them.
If you want a business that grows, one that is able to provide opportunities for your employees and you, then start by asking yourself what your goals are. Understanding what you want and why you want it will help you make better decisions around small business growth and success.
The challenges facing small businesses
Small businesses are getting harder to run. The global economy has been racked with recessions, and now we’re seeing the effects of political turmoil. At the same time, big companies are making it more difficult for small firms to compete.
The importance of a strong business plan
The purpose of a business plan (and especially a business plan for your small business) is to get you from where you are now, to where you want to be in the future. You can’t do this without a solid understanding of what you’re doing and how it makes money, which brings us back to the question: who will be running your company in a couple of decades?
If your answer is “no one,” we don’t want you on our team. But if your answer is “yes,” then you really need someone else (or some other entity) as part of the equation. It is far more likely that all or most of your employees will be gone than it is that all or most of them will still be working at their current jobs.
And especially in Australia, with its ageing population and increasingly female workforce, women will be leaving the workforce at an alarming rate over the next 20 years.
So while no one deserves another job in 20 years, we have seen some encouraging trends across fields.
- Traditional industries like manufacturing are being replaced by businesses operating on an Internet-based platform (technology has certainly been critical for this);
- In Australia there are more women entrepreneurs aged 50+ than men;
- Small businesses growing faster than traditional large size enterprises;
- New companies founded by people under 35 are outperforming established companies in terms of volume and value creation;
- There is significant interest from small businesses in investing their own capital in new startups;
- The average age of founders is 23 years — younger than ever before.
This gives us hope that there might just be a way forward for small businesses and we have lots of ideas about how to make it happen.
Getting the right funding for your small business
There are a lot of ways to achieve success in entrepreneurship, and you need to find the one that works for you as an individual. You don’t need hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to get started.
Running a small business is not for the faint hearted. It will require a lot of work, but also a lot of luck. And that is exactly why we often hear people say they have “a great idea” and don’t know how to go about raising the money. It doesn’t matter if your business is a small one or large one, you need to be committed and determined enough to take on this challenge alone – without the help or support of others!
Luckily, there are many businesses in Australia who are looking after your financial needs; they are here ready to help you get going! They will support your company financially so that it can start operating smoothly and grow rapidly.
There are several options for financing for small businesses. These include the following:
Angel Investors
Angel Investors provide capital for startups from early stage companies seeking strategic investments in order to expand their growth into new markets . This can be used as capital for your startup, payments towards equipment costs or just for personal reasons like paying back repayments on debt etc..
Venture Capital Funds
Venture Capital funds invest large sums of money in high growth startups such as yours. The funds usually come with an exit window (the time limit in which the company has an exit strategy before investing more money into it). There is usually an exit fee attached which allows founders this time before exiting their start up ventures.. The founders can then use these funds as they please after they have been invested in by a venture capital fund.
Small Business Loans
Small Business Loans can be used by entrepreneurs who want funding but do not have access to conventional bank loans due to credit history problems or lack of collateral required by banks. This type of financing helps them meet immediate cash flow needs and gives them the opportunity to grow their business over the long term with low risk..
The role of marketing in growing your small business
The role of marketing in growing your small business
In the last few years, it has become apparent that there is a new group of people who have been gaining traction in the Australian startup scene. These people are not necessarily founders or early employees.
They are those who are doing all the work and they are doing it well. These people could be referred to as freelance marketers. They have made their success possible by getting paid to do what they do best: market your brand to customers.
There is no easy way to start a freelance marketing business and no reasonable way to expect you will succeed. You need to put yourself out there, make yourself known and build up a network for you and your marketing team.
There is also no guarantee that your department will be able to meet the budget you get paid for your work, so it is important that you get honest feedback from those who know what they’re talking about.
The importance of networking for small businesses
One of the most common questions people have about starting their own business is “how do I get started”? While there are many ways to start a business, if you are not one of the few thousand doing so in this country, chances are you don’t know who has done it before.
This is because the startup industry is still female-dominated and most women don’t have anyone close to them who has been there before (or even been to this conference).
There are also plenty of books out there that help you think about how you can be successful when starting your own business.
Tips for managing cash flow in a small business
This post is about how to get up and grow your small business. In the last few years we’ve seen a proliferation of different ways of getting up and growing your small business. This is partly because we are seeing more people going into this space than ever before. But it’s also because the same methods aren’t working for everyone in the same way, or at all.
So here are some tips to help you get up and grow your small business, no matter what the size:
1) Get Creative – Don’t be afraid to experiment with different approaches to running a small business. No one approach will work for everyone; you need to find a mix that works for you.
2) Keep it Simple – Most businesses have some kind of structure that helps them manage their cash flow. Whether it’s a bookkeeping system, or an accounting software program, or even just someone on staff who you can delegate all the details to, keep things as simple as possible inside your new business model.
3) Find Your True Calling – Wanting to run a successful business isn’t just about money; it’s about finding your true calling in life (and not having to pivot from one thing to another). Finding your true calling is often harder than getting money from customers (but sometimes it is). It involves listening deeply to what makes your heart sing, then figuring out what you love doing most in life, and then building a business around that.
4) Just Be A Good Boss – If being an entrepreneur means having time for people and time for yourself, then being an entrepreneur is actually pretty great! And if managing people means managing cash flows (which almost certainly involves managing a lot of other things too), then becoming an entrepreneur might be better still!
In fact, one of the best ways of avoiding burnout is simply getting out there and doing great work every single day. So if that means not being an employee — great! If that means managing cash flows while taking time off — even better! Whatever you do, make sure you take proper breaks from running your business in order to recharge and keep yourself energised so that you can continue doing what makes you happy every single day — without burnout!
Conclusion: Get up and grow your small business
We’re used to thinking of the entrepreneur as a lone wolf. We do the very best we can to help them find the right product, get it into people’s hands, and then make it big.
But that’s not how most businesses are run; most business owners are kept on a leash by their managers, who get what they want in exchange for keeping the business running smoothly — and that’s where business growth can break down badly.
If you want to grow your small business you need to change this dynamic. You need to own your company, not just run it yourself.
For example, imagine if you owned one of those fancy ski chalets with a fantastic view out over the mountains. You could have all sorts of fun on your own property, but if you didn’t have someone else doing all the work (and paying for all of it) then you wouldn’t be able to enjoy a few days exploring the mountains with your family in person.
You might think this is too much for a one-person business and that owning a small business is too much responsibility — but there are plenty of other businesses out there that were started by two or three people which had no formal structure at all, or ones that are owned by very large companies like Hewlett Packard or Google (that also happen to be thriving).
The key is making sure that owning your small business means you have control and ownership over everything: your tools, your processes and procedures, even how and when you communicate with outsiders — so that you can put in place strategies that will allow you and everyone around you to thrive (and give everyone an equal chance at success).
It may feel like hard work because it is very important for everyone involved — especially for those who don’t have years of experience under their belt yet. But if done correctly, this method will allow anyone who owns their own small businesses (even though they aren’t technically entrepreneurs) to quickly grow their company into something much more than just another customer-facing tool: it will set them up for long-term success.