Starting out in Business | Roadmap

So, you’ve graduated, you’ve finished your degree, know your trade, and you’re a pro at what you do. You’ve decided to go into business. Fantastic. That’s a great idea!
Now you’ve planted your business seed, the questions start coming:

How? Why? What does it actually even mean? Am I good enough? Will I actually make some money? How? Can I just start? What even is just starting? How?
You want to be excited and nurture your seed, so you can reap the rewards in the near future. But the question always seems to come back to how – and there doesn’t seem to be a clear next step.

​​Jump in and buckle up, we have done some hard thinking for you and created a road map to your business success.

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Download Roadmap

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The first stop is your Business Idea. You really need to put aside some time and start researching:

1. Is your business viable? Is there a demand for your goods/services? Can you create said demand? Who will you target? Will you need a business premise? Will you need a license?
2. Talk to a business advisor to assist you with the elements of starting a business such as growing and brainstorming your idea and developing a business and marketing plan. We recommend Business Advisory South West and Peel, who offer free consultations.
3. Learn: What is it like to run a business, what are the legal and tax implications of running a business?
4. Decide: Does what I have learned suit the lifestyle I want for myself?
5. Prepare a budget/cash flow and look at your financing requirement.

Your next stop is to review your legal and taxation learning and action your decisions from this learning – this is where your business can start to operate.

1. Discuss the different types of business structures with your accountant, and decide what it the best structure for you.
2. Work on understanding the legal implications of the structure you have chosen.
3. Once you have a thorough understanding of your structure, set it up (you may need help from an accountant here), apply for your ABN and register your business name. You can also register for GST, PAYGW and Fuel Tax Credits here if required.
4. Find an accounting system. It is a great deal easier to set yourself up from the start, than to get halfway through the year of manual bookkeeping and realise it is too hard, too messy and too confusing. It will cost you more at this stage to convert to an accounting system.
5. Apply for your required licenses or permissions to operate, buy your plant and equipment.
6. Implement your marketing plan.

 
Start trading!

1. Start operating your business. You may choose to do this on a small and slow scale, where you are available a couple of days a week, which will enable you to supplement your business income with salary/wages. Or you might like to start big bang style where you purely run your business.
2. Touch base. Check in with your accountant, your business advisor, and your clients, make sure you’re doing everything right. Accept feedback with grace and decide if you will act on it.
3. Concentrate on your cash flow, ensure that money in is equal to or larger than money out, identify issues ahead of time where you can, and create action plans to help solve these potential issues.
4. Seek help if you feel you need it, the more you learn and understand now, the easier the future will get!