Turn your Idea into a Business!
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you have a hobby that you enjoy or you have the dream of launching your own business. Whatever it may be, you want to turn that idea into a business!
There are a lot of steps and important decisions you must make when you decide to start a business. It’s important to be aware of the required registrations, think about how you want to trade and how you want to keep track of your income and expenses. These can all be daunting concepts for many entrants into the small business world.
Fortunately, there is an abundance of information available online that can guide you in the right direction and provide you with a wealth of knowledge of how to successfully start and run your own business.
First things first though, get registered!
If you haven’t already got one, you’ll need to register for an Australian Business Number (ABN) before you can trade and collect money for the goods or services you provide. This is an important first step in starting up your business as it identifies you as an eligible business participant within the Australian Tax Office’s eyes and enables you to legally trade.
Once you have the name of the business you would like to trade as it’s important you register that too! As a helpful tip, if you like a particular name try and search the ASIC Business Name Register before you proceed to make sure that business name is available. Business Name registrations can be done through ASIC Connect or through the Australian Business Register and will involve entering in some general information such as your name, address, business address and the type of business industry you will be entering into.
There are a few other types of registrations that may affect your business, but we’ll go into those in more detail further on!
Once your have registered for an ABN and registered your business name, it’s official, you have successfully started your own business!
If you haven’t given it much thought already, it’s now time to get into the nitty gritty of how you want your business to run. From invoicing to collecting payments and managing your inventory and cash flow, there’s a lot to think about!
There are many apps on the market to help you run your business, too many to go through in this blog! It’s important to choose the right app for you and your business however. As a starting point, you should look at the pricing of subscribing to the app to see if its affordable, look at what services it provides and whether it matches what you require and read reviews to see the level of usability and functionality of the app. It’s also important to see if the app can be downloaded onto your phone for mobile and on-the-go functions.
We often suggest to clients with a startup business to commence their journey with Wave Financial Software. This is both a desktop and mobile software that is completely FREE! The major benefits of Wave Financial is that there is no financial commitment required and the functionality and services the software provides is generally more than enough for startup businesses. It’s services range from invoicing, payment collection, accounting and reporting and has special features such as invoice collection reminders and receipt scanning for immediate uploads into the software.
However, for those startup businesses with inventory to manage, Wave Financial unfortunately might not be your best option as it currently does not have an inventory management service. Using software such as Xero or Quickbooks might be your best option as both have powerful inventory management systems.
Once you’ve filtered through all the information there is on how to effectively manage reporting and invoicing and chosen your software, it’s time to watch the beautiful flow of money coming in and out of your business as your software picks up every transaction and presents you with powerful data that gives you an insight into how your startup is performing.
We recommend startup clients to use a Bookkeeper or an individual experienced with income and expenses within your industry as it’s often overwhelming for new business owners to know exactly how to treat certain transactions. A Bookkeeper can also free up your time and take away the hassle of record keeping and reconciliations which is often a time consuming task for business owners.
Once your up and running it might be time to consider those other registrations we mentioned before. If you would like employees to work with you, you will need to register for PAYG Withholding Tax to enable to you to withhold their tax on wages and declare it to the ATO through lodging a Business Activity Statement. If you earn over $75,000 gross income in your business, you will need to register for GST and again lodge the GST collected and Paid to the ATO through lodging a BAS. Other less common registrations for startups include Fringe Benefits and Fuel Tax Credit registrations and are only required in certain circumstances. All these registrations will need to be done through the Australian Taxation Office through your MyGovID/Business Portal or through a registered Tax or BAS Agent.
Running your own business is an exciting and fulfilling experience and provides you with the opportunity to learn, grow and explore so many different aspects of the world around you. It’s important to know and understand your obligations as a small business owner however to ensure your business is set up and reporting its duties correctly. But for now, this quick guide should be enough to get you up and running and on your feet!
If you would like any further information on how to startup your own business please feel free to get in contact with us!
E: contact@metricbookkeeping.com
M: 0480 281 652