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In 2023 a lesson for small Businesses is to be prepared. Were you impacted by the recent Optus outage?
You never know what challenge may present itself and you can’t predict 'unplanned' events. Natural disasters, hackers, technology failures, power outages, human error or a pandemic if you are a small Business you are vulnerable and exposed. No one is safe from such threats! 
Are you ready?
This isn’t about being a doomsday sayer or pessimistic thoughts, it's about adopting sound Business thinking, logic and practices.
Disasters do happen as we have just experienced with the cyber security breaches and technology breakdowns!
Are you one of the many Businesses affected, did you lose valuable business, time and money! And not to forget the essential emergency services out of action.
The learning from this disaster is that every Business needs to have a backup Plan, the go-to Plan B for when Business as usual’ isn’t that!
I don't need to tell you that when your Business ‘goes down’ so do your sales and revenue, your livelihood!
This is where your Back-up Plan kicks in! It allows you to continue to function with minimal disruption to look after your customers and to maintain relationships, reputation and brand image. Taking care of Business is taking care of you and your most valued asset, your clients.
If you are a Small Business owner it's critical you have a well-defined Backup and Recovery Plan in place, ready to access in times of ‘disasters’. When Plan A fails you have Plan B!
Why a Backup Plan
With todays reliance on technology as the means for doing most Business activities and transactions it is vital that systems are available at all times. Whether retail, hospitality, Industry, factory or administration most Businesses operate using electronics.
Image! What if there is an intense fire in your building, or extensive flooding, not to mention IT systems failure or malware attacks. Blackouts, systems are down causing confusion and likely chaos, not to mention lost business and unhappy customers and clients.
Smart Businesses have contingencies in place, a Plan B, Recovery and Backup systems that save data, protect it and make it readily available without extensive delay when a crisis occurs.
How - to Develop a Solutions Strategy
To develop a Backup Plan starts by identifying your Businesses requirements.
Boost your spouse's super and reduce your tax by making spouse contributions.
Tell me more!
How Does it work?
If you make an after-tax super contribution into your spouse’s super, you may be eligible for a tax offset of up to $540.
Consider this strategy if;
- Your spouse has an assessable income of less than $40,000 p.a.
What are the benefits?
- Grow your spouse's super
- Qualify for a tax offset of up to $540.
How is the spouse offset calculated?
- To qualify for the full offset of $540 in 2023/24 you need to contribute $3,000 or more into your spouse’s super. Your spouse must earn $37,000 p.a. or less.
- A lower tax offset may be available if you contribute less than $3,000 or your spouse earns more than $37,000 p.a. but less than $40,000 p.a.
Example Case study:
Bill and Mary are married and have two young children. Bill works full-time, earning $100,000 a year. Mary has reduced her workload and is now working two days a week and earns $32,000 a year.
The couple want to make sure Mary keeps growing her super while she is working part-time. Bill contributes $3,000 into Mary's super account. This entitles him to a tax offset of $540 which will reduce his income tax when he completes his 2023/24 tax return.
There are important things to consider when exploring the above and eligibility conditions apply. For more information check the ATO website
Need help, have questions and want answers and solutions?
Contact Blackburn Accounting we are your family Business Specialists offering a range of services including Superannuation and Retirement Planning.
Something we have all heard, said or hoped for!
Running a Business like Clockwork, when the ‘business operates without problems or delays, or happens regularly.’ To manage, run something efficiently, in a reliable matter.’ You could say the ‘cogs’, the wheels and the functions of the Business are well-oiled, finely tuned and operating and running smoothly. Like a quality clock or watch!
Let's begin by asking the burning question! How well is your Business operating?
When we examine this, there are many moving parts that make up a Business. We need to be aware of all elements of your Business, like cogs that make up a watch or clock.
- How well is your Business operating?
- What cogs function well?
- What others need work?
The Key to Success is to design your Business to run itself! …..like Clockwork!
When your Business runs like clockwork it will flourish and grow, and so will you!
Impossible! It’s POSSIBLE, READ on.....
Start by tracking how your Business currently runs. Identify all the functions and actions, activities and decisions you and your Team make. What are the systems and processes? Simply put, find out what makes your Business run, ‘tick’ and chime! or breakdown!
Next, Read our 4 Tips to get your Business running smoothly like Clockwork.
- Plan for Success 2. Optimise Systems 3. Invest in Staff 4. Set the Standard
In your way, there they are Roadblocks, barriers and obstructions, holding you back, stopping you from achieving the success you and your Business deserve!
You may be feeling such obstacles are insurmountable and too difficult to deal with. You are daunted, overwhelmed and even exhausted trying to find answers!
But don’t give up, there are strategies you can adopt to overcome them. You can achieve the success you deserve!
READ on, to learn how you can bypass Roadblocks to achieve your Business Success.
Let’s get started by looking at some possible Roadblocks
- Cashflow challenges
- Under utilising resources
- Lack of confidence
- No Marketing Plan
- Poor Customer Service
- Time
Are these familiar to you?
Yes! Check these 6 Tips 'how to get around them'.
1. Cashflow Challenges:
A barrier for many small Businesses, you find you are robbing Peter to pay Paul, and with no Financial Plan or Strategy you are operating on the edge. Stressful and often nail-biting times.
To overcome this barrier
Simply put, ‘good supplier and customer management will ensure you have a consistent flow of money coming in from sales to be able to pay your bills’. And don’t we all want that?
There are ‘9 Ways to Help get your Cash Flow flowing’! Click on the link......... https://blackburnaccounting.com.au/blog.
2. Under utilising Resources:
This can be both human resources and equipment that are available but not fully utilised or employed efficiently to maximum capacity and capability. Employees lacking training, or without empowerment are wasted resources. Equipment may be in need of upgrade or repair. In this situation, productivity is compromised.
To remove this obstacle
Even the most successful of Businesses and Business Leaders will share their experiences of setbacks, mistakes and sometimes failures along their journeys. The common thread is their willingness to speak of ‘lessons learned’ that turned these stumbles into opportunities. Opportunities for growth, improvement and overcoming challenges.
Capturing lessons learned provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on past events and experiences and identify areas for improvement. This allows Business and Teams to gain insight and understanding into what worked well and what didn’t.
Most importantly how and what can be done differently next time to avoid making the same mistake twice.
3 Reasons Why Lessons Learned are Important
- Avoids Reinventing the Wheel – saves money! Reflect, evaluate and record lessons learned to guide the future. Essential to document the tools and techniques used to help you and others save time and money going forward.
- Don’t Make the Same Mistake Twice – it’s been said a million times before but still resonates. To quote Albert Einstein ‘if we cannot remember our past mistakes and avoid them, we are simply going to make the same mistakes again.’ The key is to document the lessons learned, sharing and revisiting them to ensure the same mistakes are not repeated.
- Reflection – provides the opportunity to review both ‘failures and successes’. It's important to relive success as a reminder of how to succeed and how to build on that. Analyse what made the venture a success to take to future projects.
No matter what the Project, Business venture, or Political Campaign undertaking a Lessons Learned exercise is invaluable in understanding what went wrong, and critically how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
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