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 
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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.

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/