Visa Delays Anger Small Business Owners

small businesAre you one of the small business owners waiting for the processing of 457 visas for foreign workers?

According to reports a number of small business owners are angry at the delays in processing 457 visas, meant to facilitate the filling of temporary skills gaps, but now with these delays the whole purpose of the visas may be defeated.

Although the Department of Immigration and Border Protection boasts about processing claims within 40 working days or 8 weeks, a number of small business owners have complained about 4 months + delays.

As these small business owners explain, running a small business, lack of key staff due to delays and shortages could have devastating financial effects on the business.

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/john-durie/small-business-angry-over-section-457-visa-delays/news-story/f53d0b941627c2403cc3abb8d014ce35

How The Budget Helps Small Business

aus money

According to an article on Smh.com.au the 2016 federal budget is full of surprises for small businesses.

There was also welcomed news for small business owners with regard to accessing the small business entity tax concessions.

Currently for a business to qualify as an SBE it must have a turnover of less than $2 million.

This threshold has been the same for a number of years and has been long overdue for an increase.

Qualifying as an SBE provides small businesses with many tax concessions including “simplified depreciation rules, the ability to fully write off assets costing less than $20,000 in the first year, simplified trading stock valuation rules, and an immediate deduction for prepaid expenses that cover a period of 12 months or less”.

Read more at http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/finance/a-super-budget-that-helps-small-business-20160508-gopioe.html

Successful Aussie Businesses That Cracked The US Market

us aussie flag

An article on HuffingtonPost.com.au highlighted how some Australian small businesses are cracking the American market. And it still has opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs.

But the sheer size of the market means many businesses are overwhelmed about where to even begin and how to get a slice of the market share.

The article goes on to give some success stories for US domination and tips for other start-ups that are trying to crack the market.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/05/26/how-these-aussie-small-businesses-have-cracked-the-us-market/

Things That Happened in Technology That Affect Your Small Business

technologyThere are certain developments in the technological realm that have an impact on your small business.

Here are the top 4:

  1. Twitter has stopped focussing on the “buy” button.
  2. Snapchat could now be worth $18 billion.
  3. Monitoring of employees is reaching all new levels which are creating new levels.
  4. GoDaddy offers a new app to evaluate your start-up idea.

Find out more at http://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2016/05/29/small-business-tech-this-week-twitter-abandons-the-buy-button-and-now-you-can-eat-your-six-pack/3/#45dbeb4614b8

Where Small Business is Leading the Way

innovationNot everything a big business does is right, there are some tips small business can give to bigger firms.

Even without the huge budgets, some small business are doing their marketing right. Some even better than the big firms.

Small businesses are known to drive innovation and some big companies are now realising the importance of fostering a small business culture.

In a recent post on HuffingtonPost.com.au business resilience expert and founder/CEO of the Resilience Institute Stuart Taylor gives his advice.

Taylor explains that in recent times, entrepreneurs and startups have been the ones driving change and innovation, challenging the status quo and most big businesses aren’t yet equipped to follow their lead.

Read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/05/28/what-small-business-can-teach-the-big-end-of-town-about-disrupti/

Small Business Mental Health

mentalhealthSmall and medium business  mental health is one of the major issues for the 2016 federal election.

Public health and Medicare are major election issues but the Council of Small Business Australia is urging politicians to make the mental health problems in the small business sector a priority.

Employee mental health is often spoken about, and that’s good because it is important, but employers’ mental health can easily be neglected. We cannot afford to overlook the mental health of this sector of the industry.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/federal-election-2016-small-business-mental-health-a-priority-20160523-gp1mr2.html#ixzz49i1V3yCe 
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

Help Coming Up with a Name for Your Small Business

open for businessA recent article on HuffingtonPost.com.au provided some advice and inspiration for those battling to find an appropriate name for their business.

A major challenge that many new business owners face is one that has a massive impact on the success of their business – the business’ name.

In the article some top Australian small business owners share their stories of how they came up with the names for their start-ups.

Read the article here for more inspiration and advice.

Why Small Business Owners Suffer From Mental Ill Health in Silence

mentalhealthSmall business owners are usually good when handling workplace health and safety issues regarding their employees but are often slow to act when they themselves are involved, particularly  mental health issues.

Small business owners in Australia are the least likely to ask for health with mental health issues and risk losing their companies as a result.

According to Kate Carnell, the first Australian small business and family enterprise ombudsman says small business owners are amongst the most affected by mental health problems.

She highlighted that smaller operators should seek help if necessary and assist those in their business that need help with mental health issues.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/small-business-owners-at-risk-of-mental-illness-if-they-dont-speak-up/news-story/120c21b53689b0ec6abae8a9eb696d55

NT WorkSafe Helps Small Businesses Improve Safety

nt worksafe

A pilot Small Business Safety Advisors (SBSAs) program has been established by NT WorkSafe to provide small to medium businesses improve their work health and safety standards.

The program was designed to improve the capabilities of smaller businesses to manage their own workplace safety processes.

Advisors will be working with businesses in the state on a request basis, providing assistance in improving WHS practices.

Part of the aim is to help companies with the challenges of understanding and implementing workplace health and safety laws and legislative requirements.

 

Source: http://content.safetyculture.com.au/news/index.php/05/safety-advisors-help-small-business-improve-work-health-safety-standards/#.VzTkEYR97IU

Starting A Creative Business? Read This First!

small busines

Starting a creative business can seem like a real challenge but some successful entrepreneurs have provided some advice for those of us doing it for the first time.

In a post on ArtsHub.com.au 3 creatives who have managed to succeed at their creative business start-ups gave this advice,

  • Learn to love failure.
  • Stop talking about your business and start actioning it,
  • Ask for advice when needed.
  • Believe in your idea and seek feedback, not from family but from mentors.

For more go to ArtsHub.com.au

Advice For When You’re Naming Your Business

open for businessMost of us, especially small business owners tend to name our businesses based on sentiment but there are some other aspects that need to be considered.

  1. Check the Australian Business Registry and see whether the name has been taken or not.
  2. Keep it short and clear.
  3. Don’t get overly creative, the name should still fit in appropriately with the business.

Find out more at http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/start-up-entrepreneur/three-must-dos-for-naming-your-business.html

Don’t Fall for These Employment Myths

myths debunkedA number of businesses were recently slapped with fines by the Fair Work Ombudsman because of payment issues with many companies found to have been underpaying their employees.

This prompted an article on Smartcompany.com.au highlighting some of the common misconceptions about employee payments.

Here are 7 employment myths that you shouldn’t fall for as a boss,

  1. You can deduct from workers to cover losses
  2. You don’t need to provide employees payslips if they don’t want them
  3. You can employ young workers as ‘trainees’ without lodging any formal paperwork.
  4.  Employees don’t need to be paid for time spent opening and closing a store.
  5. An employee must work for 12 months before they can take annual leave or sick leave.
  6. A full-time employee can be fired without notice during their probation period.
  7. You can’t ask an employee for proof of being sick, such as medical certificate.

Get more information at http://www.smartcompany.com.au/people-human-resources/industrial-relations/42360-seven-employment-myths-bosses-shouldn-t-fall-for/

Avoid These Five Bad Habits if You’re a Small Business Owner

small businessAccording to a post on Afr.com these are the top 5 bad habits of small business owners that you need to avoid,

  1.  Using the business as your own personal ATM
  2. Don’t just coast along, spending all your time on the day to day operations and never investing time in developing and working towards plans and goals.
  3. Remember that ‘cashflow is king’
  4. Don’t forget to invest in key people.
  5. Have systems in place so that the daily running of the business is not completely reliant on you.

Read more at http://www.afr.com/business/small-business/avoid-the-top-5-bad-habits-of-small-business-owners-20160413-go57a4

Loan Approvals for Small Business Soars

small businessIf you’re a small business owner looking for funding, there’s good news, according to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index.

According to the index, March 2016 saw the days of mass rejection of small business loans coming to an end, following the analysis of 1000 small businesses.

It was revealed that big banks approved 23 per cent of funding requests in March which is an increase from the previous month.

Institutional lenders also improved their approval rates from 62.7 per cent to 62.8 per cent in March.

Find out more http://_http://smallbiztrends.com/2016/04/small-business-loan-approval-rates.htmlwp_link_placeholder

Why Your Small Business Should Start a Blog

blog

An interesting article on Entrepreneur.com discussed the importance of having a blog for the small business owner.

The writer discusses the importance of keeping your customers/ readers coming back to your site with a relevant, valuable, information-rich blog.

This marketing tool for the small business helps you position your product, find your customers and decide how to reach them.

Learn more at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/271049