A wonderfully articulated open letter from Tony Negline of The Australian, to Garry Weaven of Industry Super Funds, highlighting to Mr Weaven why SMSF’s are so popular with Australian investors.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wealth/weavers-comments-miss-point-on-smsfs/story-fn85l14t-1226083071658

FREE Strategy of the Month

An excellent post from Seth Godin here.

We all need business plans, but I do find that at times they are created just to tick the box that it’s done.  I’ve personally found Action Plan’s more useful, but if you have to present to a bank or investors, they wont cut it.

I don’t know about you, but our household is being bombarded with telemarketing calls at the moment trying to sell us insulation.  We are getting up to 4 calls in a single night.  As immensely annoying as these calls are, surely the fact that they continue suggests that the businesses responsible must get sufficient results to justify the time/expense.

None the less, telemarketing is not how I would choose to promote my business.  So what other prospecting options are available to Australian businesses?

A useful article can be found here http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures-ownership/13401252-1.html

The data is US based but it offers some useful insights.  I found it interesting that cold calling was almost twice as successful to businesses as it was to households.  I wonder if that is because businesses make more purchasing decisions, or perhaps are more time poor.

Not surprisingly the personal referral was the most successful method of gaining new customers, but it was interesting that when it was up to the customer to contact the supplier, the results dropped off, even though a personal referral was made.

So given referals are the most successful, here is a great article by Wendy Berry – 7 Tips for Effortless Prospecting.  Her referal book is a great idea, as much as anything just to keep the issue of asking for referrals front of mind.

Have you come accross any great prospecting tips?  Please share via the comments.

And don’t forget, Guidance Financial Services specialises in the advice needs of business owners and the self employed, so if you need any help with Key Person insurance, Self Managed Super, Income Protection, Business Expense  insurance, or any other wealth creation or protection item, give us a call on 03 9870 6544 or email. Remember, appointments can be held via Skype or phone, so we can help you wherever you are in Australia.

by Adam Claydon-Platt

There are a number of steps that any entrepreneur needs to consider when starting a business in Australia. The first step needs to be deciding what business structure you’re going to adopt before you get started. This is because the selection of the business structure is going to dictate which path you take when it comes to a number of subsequent decisions you will have to make. Therefore, examine the business structures carefully before you do anything else.

Types of Business Structures in Australia

Before you get going with your new venture, you need to select a legal structure for your business from one of these main choices: sole trader (also known as proprietor), partnership, trust or company. There are distinct differences between the four, so you need to have a general understanding of them before you can make a choice.

* Sole trader- this is a structure that is commonly chosen when one individual makes all the decisions for the company. This doesn’t mean that the business is strictly limited to only one worker. Typically, a sole trader is an individual owner of the business regardless of how many employees work for the business. This is a good structure for running a non-complicated business. This is especially true if there is not a lot of outside capital invested in the business where the sole trader would have complicated legal entanglements with investors. There are several advantages including less paperwork, operation under your personal name, less restrictive reporting requirements, tax losses may be deductible from personal income while the sole trader is entitled to all profits and ownership of all assets. The disadvantages include the sole trader is personally liable for all business debts, personal assets may be targeted for business liabilities, outside investment is usually quite limited to sole traders, time investment and business activity is conducted without the usual employee benefits and there are issues to consider for business continuity if the sole trader becomes ill or dies.

* Partnerships – are arrangements where there are several joint owners of a business who share the same goals and responsibility for making decisions. Most partnerships will create an agreement to cover particular issues such as the amount invested by each, profit division, business roles and responsibilities, rights and privileges concerning financial activity plus exit strategies for each owner as well as the business dissolution.

* Trust – are often a chosen structure running a small business although it is not a separate legal entity such as a company. Simply put, it is a business structure where a trustee, usually a business, carries out the commercial activity on behalf of the members of the trust which is set up through the creation of a deed. There are several types of trusts such as discretionary, unit or a combination of the two called a hybrid.

* Company – is actually similar to a sole trader or partnership, but it exists as a separate entity from the business owners. This type of structure protects owner assets from any type of business liability. It is subject to rules and regulations outlined in the Commonwealth law called the Corporations Act.

About the Author

Starting business in Australia enables you to take control of your life. Just follow the easy steps on our website, and you’ll learn everything you need to know about how to set up, maintain, and grow your business to the point where you can quit your job and spend your life doing what you love. http://www.startingbusinessinaustralia.com.au/

A great article here by Nina Hendy of Smart Company Magazine.  Input from various Australian business owners including yours truely.

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/entrepreneurs/20100121-the-entrepreneur-s-to-do-list.html

A good article here on strategies to build trust on-line.  This is a real challenge for on-line businesses.  In the real world, consumers can see, touch and feel the merchandise.  Even if they are dealing with a pure service business, they still interact with a person, and so reach a decision on whether to make the purchase with some confidence.  In the online world, most of these triggers are removed, which is why things like “Testimonial” pages become so important.

Let me know your thoughts if you’ve had experience building a successful ecommerce site – how did you build trust?

In his book The Business of Design, Roger L Martin suggests that to generate genuine innovation in your business, there is a need to adopt “Design thinking”.  He suggests we typically rely too much on analytical thinking, which merely refines current knowledge, producing small improvements to the status quo.

The attached article in Business Week promoting the book, uses the evolution of McDonald’s restaurants in it’s early days to demonstrate his theory.

We know that innovation is a great way to leap ahead of competitors, perhaps this book might help you make such a leap.

By Jamie Cheng

Under the new Fair Work Bill there was supposedly double the unfair dismissal applications in the months after the implementation in July 1, 2009. With the increase it becomes evident that employers should be wary of the new legislation to avoid significant costs.

A major change with the legislation is that small businesses are now more susceptible to unfair dismissal claims as of July 1, 2009. The definition of a small business has also changed. A small business is now defined as a business that employs less than 15 full-time equivalent employees.

Note: A business may employ more than 15 employees and still be classified as a small business as long as the combined hours of the employees are under 15 full-time employees.

Below is a table from the Australian Financial Review that summarises the rules around dismissals with a useful link to the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code, which if followed will be deemed a fair dismissal.

Fair’s fair

Rules around dismissals

Source: Australian Financial Review, Business hit as dismissal claims soar, October 20, 2009.

jamie.k.cheng@gmail.com

You would be hard pressed not to have seen one of Seth Godin’s books.  His blog is equally insightful.  Here is an example.  Seth posts most days, usually just a few paragraphs, occasionally a full page.  It is a good one to get the RSS feed as the topics are short and to the point.

I haven’t read all of his books, but Purple Cow was certainly one I found interesting.

A business doesn’t exist without customers.  And gaining customers requires a marketing effort.  Often today, that involves a web site.  The problem is their are millions upon millions of web sites.  How does your target client find yours?  Well the answer (in Australia especially) is that they look up Google.

So how can you help Google find your page and have it come up when a target clients is looking for your services?  Well there is a whole industry built up around Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).  The attached article gives the best insight I have thus far come across as to how this all works.  Within it, it also has a link to a more in depth article if you have  the interest and time.

http://blog.dinkuminteractive.com/search-engine-ranking-factors-what-really-matters/

Please comment (click on the above headline), we’d love to hear your feedback.