For some people starting a business in Australia, deciding whether to set up as a sole trader or establish a company can be pretty daunting. How do you really know which option is best for you? It can be confusing. Between the labyrinth of government websites, lawyer’s legalese and accountants Excel spreadsheets… deciding the best structure can be incredibly tough.
Making the right decisions when starting a business can be hard. Hopefully this simple layman’s guide to deciding whether to sole trade or start a company will help.
Business founders who decide to start up business as a Pty Ltd company are often on the right track. The benefits of a Pty Ltd company structure make setting one up the wisest option. This is especially the case if you are:
starting up with business partners, be they Directors or shareholders
seeking fast growth
plan to supply to major corporations
intend to hire staff
seeking to maximise the benefits of a tax effective business structure
considering equity investment
want ‘street cred’ as an Australian company
already considering exiting the business at some stage
If one or more apply to you, you should seriously consider forming a Pty Ltd company. That’s not to say setting up as a ‘sole trader’ is not a suitable option. However, people who set up to ‘sole trader’ usually fall into one of the following categories:
starting up a hobby business to supplement income
starting a part-time businesses
planning to work as a one man/woman band for the foreseeable future
testing the waters in business for the first time
looking to run a business that fits an existing lifestyle
generally not seeking significant growth.
Every person’s circumstance is different so exceptions to the guidelines above do occur. The decision is not always simple or clear cut. Age, industry sector, start up capital, family status, asset base and a range of variables should be taken into consideration.
For this reason, input from a professional, such as a lawyer, accountant or a specialist start up firm is very much worth considering.
What else determines the decision to choose between sole trader and Pty Ltd?
In a word, liability. And it is so important a point it deserves a section of its own. As a sole trader your liability is unlimited. That means if you are sued your personal assets (house, car, money in bank, valuables etc.) are 100% exposed. A Pty Ltd company structure offers a better level of asset protection, as the business is its own legal entity (and therefore separate from you).
Regardless, for all new businesses we highly recommend business insurance. It’s like going out for a walk on a cold Winter’s night with a really warm jacket on. However, for sole traders with 100% liability risk, insurance cover is doubly important.
What about the cost?
Setting up a Pty Ltd company in Australia is a little more expensive that setting up as a sole trader. However, for the sheer value it delivers, we believe that …
Affiliate marketing is a growing business over the internet these days because of the number of businesses vying to drive traffic to their sites and generate more sales. As we all know, website traffic is one of the deciding factors to a company’s success over the internet, be it in search engine rankings or customer following. This is why a lot of online companies these days are paying top money to affiliates who can drive traffic to their sites and generate sales for them. In most cases, commissions as high as 75% of a generated sale goes to the affiliate who is able to sell the product through his or her website or blog.
A lot of people are taking advantage of affiliate marketing because of the high income potential without money going out of their pockets for start-up expenses. This is more promising than the conventional methods of starting a business where you have to shell out a chunk of cash to open shop. What’s better is that affiliates can do business without leaving home and can make money even if they don’t go online on a particular day. If you want to be an affiliate marketer, here is a guide that can help you.
First off, think of a niche that has a need for certain products or services but is rarely tapped because of its size. Large companies don’t market to small niches as this may prove costly for them in terms of the number of customers actually buying the product.
Second, find a very good affiliate marketing program that is related to the niche you’ve chosen to market. You can search the internet for websites that offer lists of affiliate programs that cater to almost any niche. Make sure to compare each program to come up with the best rates with which you will be paid once you become successful in producing a sale.
After you’ve chosen the right affiliate program, create a website or a blog that will cater to content relating to the niche you are trying to market. Make sure that these are optimized so your readers and potential customers can easily find you.
Always provide fresh content for your readers and target niche. Affiliate marketing is only successful if you keep the contents fresh and informative so people can be encouraged to try out the product you are promoting. New posts and write-ups should be done on a regular basis to keep your target audience checking back for additional information.
It may also be a good idea to sign up for search engine and RSS directories and encourage your followers and customers to sign up for RSS feeds. This will keep them updated on whether there is new content available on your site or blog.
Of course, do not expect to earn from these programs overnight as this requires patience and a good network of affiliate sites that you can set up. For each niche that you want to target, create a …
Three years ago I was not a runner. I was somewhat athletic but I certainly was not a runner. Now, here I was, approaching mile 22 of my first full marathon and self doubt was starting to creep in. “What was thinking? The longest I had ever run during training was 20 miles. What made me think I could get to the finish?” Every ounce of my body was screaming in pain. The worst part was the pain was so much more than physical; it was total mental and physical exhaustion beyond anything I had ever felt before.
So what could I do now? I had visualized myself finishing this race everyday for at least 100 days. I had given up so much of my summer fun to train and push myself to complete this challenge. I had recruited the support of my friends and family. So what could I do now that my body was screaming NO? I let my vision guide me through the pain.
With my little sister running alongside me, pushing and encouraging me, there was only one answer; just get to Todd. You see Todd is my husband and he was waiting for me at mile 22 so that he could “bring me home”. In preparation for the marathon, I had asked various members of my friends and family to run alongside me during consecutive segments of the race so that I would always have someone to help pace me. It turns out, Todd and Sarah’s job was about much more than pacing. They were great support to help me through the toughest physical and mental challenge of my life.
Why did I choose to run a marathon? It is simple, the search for constant and never ending improvement. I have learned to always keep challenging myself and to make big goals that both excite me and scare me at the same time.
For me, becoming an entrepreneur and starting my own business in specialty medical sales was one of the biggest and scariest goals I had ever set.
I was a nurse. I had transitioned to medical sales after a few years and I found that I was pretty good at it. I had a strong work ethic and I related well to the people I was selling to. But, I was educated as a nurse. I really knew nothing about starting a business. The self talk and self doubt were very loud voices in my head.
These voices are built over time from past experiences. These voices are there to keep us in our comfort zone. I believe most people listen to their inner voices when they have a big idea. A person might see a beautiful house and think “boy, I would love to have a house like that”. And then in the next thought they would have cancels that idea, with a negative like “I could never afford that”.
Well that’s exactly what I did at first. I pushed the idea …
From Alexander the Great to Abraham Lincoln, leaders permeate our historical texts. Research is crucial to truly get what leadership is all about. Continue on to get educated on how great leaders developed their skills.
Creativity must be sparked by a good leader. Creative thinking prompts folks to take chances that lead to amazing outcomes. Appreciate curiosity and recognize possibilities. You should try out new ideas from time to time even if they aren’t all that clear to you. Your belief can assist others to create new concepts within the project.
One part of being a good leader is being able to spot talent in others. As you look for people to work for you, this will help you decide. That applies both to contracting people and hiring them.
Be someone who is known for being easily approachable. Some people think that using fear and intimidation is a good way to lead. This is not a wise choice and you will not earn the respect of others. Make sure your team knows you are there to work with them.
When speaking to your team, make sure you are prepared. Think of questions they’ll ask you. Answer questions honestly and in a professional manner. If you have the right answers, your team will admire you. It does also help to speed things up.
Provide incentives for a job well done. Everyone receives a salary of course, but incentives can be an extra motivation. If your employee goes way above their call of duty, make sure they see that you see that and try encouraging that with a type of gift or bonus. A good leader isn’t a cheapskate.
Think synergy as often as you can. You must set goals for your personal life. Always have clarity regarding your business goals. They should overlap each other. Work on your business and personal goals simultaneously. If you are unable to do this, you won’t have as much enthusiasm.
Take responsibility for what you say. A leader has to be accountable. Since you’re the leader of your company, your actions and words affect the whole business. If things have gone awry because of your actions, then you need to make good immediately. Do not rely on others to fix your mistakes.
Integrity is vital in being a great leader. Integrity is marked by honesty and a straightforward demeanor at all times. Without integrity, you will not get far. Leading in a respectable, moral way engenders trust and loyalty among team members.
Do not obsess over winning. In this day and age it’s simple to start breaking down everything into goals and spreadsheets. Lots of managers tend to think this way as a means to measure their workers’ effectiveness. But, if you concentrate on building a broader culture of achievement, you will have no problem meeting goals and benchmarks.
The high regards with which successful leaders have been held throughout history is undeniable. This is why people want to work hard to become like their …
It may be difficult to fully understand the field of mobile marketing when you begin to use it, but knowing as much as you can is key to your success. With so many applications, platforms, and codes, it is difficult to determine which options are your best bet. Listed below in this article are some simple steps that will help you have a successful mobile marketing strategy.
Putting a QR code on your print ads can help you appeal to tech savvy customers. This makes it easier for smartphone users to gain quick access to your website or promotion. QR codes should appear on business cards, brochures, catalogs and posters. The QR code provides additional information to people that are interested in your business.
You should always establish a home base for your mobile platform. You should want people to visit your webpage or keep them coming back to it. It is important to note that your whole business should never revolve around a mobile platform.
Limit the time that you send offers to your customers, nobody wants to receive a late night text. As much as a customer likes your product or service, and no matter how exciting the promotion is, they are not likely to be pleased by a late night or early morning text message.
Though many mobile users are connecting to the Internet, as well as using text messaging, that doesn’t mean that all these users understand text message abbreviations. If your marketing communications are not easily understood by recipients, the message is not likely to win you any sales.
If it is easy for a recipient to resend your ad, they probably will. Ease of forwarding as well as incentives for doing so are great ways to ensure that your ad is packing all of the punch that it is capable of.
Mobile marketing is a great way to attract more customers, but make sure that your mobile marketing campaign works cross platforms. Unless it works well with all of the most common devices on the market, you will risk losing out on thousands of prospective customers.
If you decide that a mobile app is right for your company, make sure it is easy to use and relevant to your business. Useless or difficult to navigate apps are unlikely to become popular among mobile users in your target market.
Optimizing your mobile websites for the search engines is an excellent method of improving your mobile marketing attempts. Most mobile devices use Google to search, so that would be a wonderful place to start with search engine optimization.
If you are planning on sending out text messages, give your audience the option to opt-in and let people know how often you are going to text them before they sign up. A poor implementation of an SMS campaign can have a drastically negative impact due to the fact that receiving SMS messages triggers alerts on mobile devices. Some users feel that SMS is too invasive into their …