In the free online sessions, business owners can learn about various aspects of small-business operations, including:

• Starting a small business
• Record keeping
• Claiming small business tax deductions
• Cash flow for small business success
• Goods and services tax (GST)
• Hiring and paying workers.

The masterclasses are targeted by state and territory and each run for an hour. There will be several live sessions for each region across the coming months; business owners can register via the business.gov.au website.

The ATO also provides 30 short free courses, which are already available on its website.

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When I first decided to return to study, it wasn’t because I lacked experience. I had already spent two decades in branding, design and digital consulting whilst living on three different continents.

But after stepping away from the traditional workforce to raise my daughter, I knew that re-entering the business world on my own terms required more than just industry knowledge. It required confidence, credibility, and an up-to-date skill set that reflected the rapid evolution of the digital landscape.

Why study was the right choice for me

My last formal qualification was awarded more than a decade prior, and in the digital space, that’s a lifetime. Technology, software, and industry best practices had all evolved, and I needed to refresh my knowledge to remain competitive.

While I considered self-study and informal learning, I ultimately opted for nationally recognised, remote learning programs that allowed me to gain new qualifications while continuing to work.

Returning to study gave me more than just updated skills; it reignited my confidence. The structured learning environment also gave me access to business coaches and networking opportunities, further strengthening my transition from “stay-at-home mum” back to entrepreneur.

It wasn’t a decision I made lightly: I was the primary parent of a baby and had no external support system. But I knew that upskilling – and then starting my own business – was the best option in the long run. Despite the inconsistent income, financial risk, and challenge of upskilling, I knew that having my own venture was the right choice.

Juggling study, work, and parenting was gruelling

The first 12 months were exhausting. I was balancing full-time study, full-time consulting, and full-time parenting, all while navigating a cost-of-living crisis and a world-wide lock down no one saw coming. Every assignment, every client meeting, and every moment of learning had to fit into the small windows of time when my daughter was asleep.

There were no breaks, no safety nets – just the determination to make it work because I had no other choice. Most nights I went to bed at 3am.

Would I recommend this path to others?

Yes, and no. I will always be an advocate for self-improvement, evolution, and upskilling. Learning new skills – whether through formal study, mentorship, or professional development programs – is one of the best investments anyone can make in themselves and their business. However, I wouldn’t recommend the specific path I took to just anyone.

Balancing study, work, and parenting without support is not how it’s meant to be. It was a test of resilience, not an ideal blueprint for success. But sometimes, when circumstances leave you no choice, you discover just how much you’re capable of.

For those considering study before launching a business, I’d advise focusing on timing and support. If you can space things out – taking on one major commitment at a time – you’ll give yourself the best chance to succeed. If that’s not possible, know that it can be done, but it will demand everything from you.

The question is: how badly do you want it?

The post I went back to study before starting my own business – here’s what it was like appeared first on Inside Small Business.

The Winning Business course, which is part of the Selling to the NSW Government program, will provide practical tips on how small businesses can identify and respond to opportunities in the government marketplace and be more competitive in securing those government contracts.

The course covers the following topics:

• Getting your business ready for contracting
• Understanding your customer
• Preparing your business pitch
• Building a simple business proposal, including pricing and understanding risk
• Getting the customer to agree with your proposal
• Making a success of a contract with a new customer.

Governments have been identified as viable customers for small businesses. Recent studies suggest that $3 in every $10 spent in Australia is spent by federal and state governments, a significant contribution to the country’s economy.

However, small businesses are also facing challenges in dealing with the government as different agencies have varying lists of requirements, not to mention requirements that other customers do not usually require.

As such, the course aims to provide clarity and strategies to help small businesses secure these potential opportunities for their growth.

The course will take approximately 40 minutes to complete and a certificate will be issued upon completion.

Access to the course can be found on the Training & Resources for Winning Business and Selling to Government page of the NSW Small Business Commissioner.

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• They found an underserved need that is not currently being met in the market.
• They believed they could deliver a service more effectively and or efficiently.
• They wanted more autonomy.
• They wanted a different way of building wealth.

The above are examples of what I call the ‘owner’s vision’ – the unique picture of what you want your business to be, the raison d’être that every small-business owner starts out with. It’s important to keep your owner’s vision in mind to keep your business on track and prevent you from making business decisions that you later regret. Unfortunately, many small-business owners lose sight of their owner’s vision along their journey.

Case study: “John”

Recently, I worked with an SME owner whom I will call John. John’s business is very successful from both a cultural and financial perspective. He received an offer to buy his business that, on the surface, seemed like a good one to take.

After supporting him in drafting his owner’s vision, however, it became clear how poor the offer was. By clarifying John’s vision, we discovered that he has very specific criteria that need to be met for him to sell. John had always wanted to build other SMEs, and retaining his business provided leadership development and funding to fuel expansion.

John’s situation is an example of the need for guardrails to reduce the risk of reactive decision-making. If John had accepted this offer, he would most likely have suffered from seller’s remorse.

What is your vision now?

As a small-business owner, you need to clarify what you want the business to deliver in service of your own aspirations. Ask yourself questions like:

• How much time do I want to spend working?
• How do I integrate my family and other interests into my life?
• Do I want to sell my business? If so when and how?
• Do I want to keep the business and build for the long term?
• What sort of work do I enjoy? What roles in the business do I want to do?
• If I want to scale/grow, what will my part be and in what roles?
• What do I want for our people?
• What do I want for our customers?
• What are the possibilities for future ownership?
• What values are critical as cultural guardrails for the business?

The process of documenting your owner’s vision leads to many other discoveries. What are the possibilities for succession of ownership? Many owners think the only option is to sell the business. However, building a family-, employee-, leader- or stakeholder-owned business are all feasible ideas. Learning about your options can expand your business vision.

In sum, give yourself the time to make sense of what you want your business to deliver, using the above questions as a starting point. Being clear on your owner’s vision can pay dividends and steer you away from unwise business choices.

The post Why maintaining your owner’s vision is key to long-term business success appeared first on Inside Small Business.

The Innovate to Grow: Agrifood WA program was made possible through the efforts of national science agency CSIRO with support from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD).

Monika Szabo, SME Collaboration Manager for CSIRO, said that Innovate to Grow is a great opportunity for businesses looking to turn an idea into a viable research and development (R&D) opportunity.

“Innovate to Grow aims to boost WA agribusinesses’ innovation performance by supporting businesses in advancing their ideas through the innovation pipeline and educating owners on how valuable R&D can be to them through this journey,” Szabo said. “With assistance from experienced researchers and innovation experts, participants can examine their technical and business challenges, explore their research, development and innovation opportunities, and develop actionable business and funding plans.”

DPIRD Investment Services Manager Peter May said this program presented an excellent chance for WA agrifood businesses to innovate their business.

“In addition to the learning benefits from the program, participants will increase their professional network and become part of the program alumni,” May said. “This program complements a range of existing agrifood industry innovation programs supported by DPIRD.”

Applicants are welcome to apply for the program until Monday 13 March. The program will commence on Tuesday 4 April.

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The 10-week Innovate to Grow Mining/METS program is open for eligible SMEs that are in the early stages of engaging in R&D or pursuing a new idea in the mining/METS space, with experienced researchers and innovation experts who will guide participants in handling technical or business challenges, exploring R&D opportunities, and developing actionable business and funding plans.

Upon completion of the program, participants may be able to access facilitation support, through CSIRO, to connect to research expertise nationally, and may be eligible for dollar-matched R&D funding.

Monika Szabo, SME Collaboration Manager for CSIRO, said the Innovate to Grow program was designed to help SMEs understand how to engage in R&D by showing them pathways to access funding, mentoring, and a highly connected network through research organisations and their own sector.

“The Innovate to Grow program is aimed at Australian companies with less than 200 employees, and currently is offered at no cost to participants,” Szabo said. “In doing so we hope to remove some of the barriers that smaller enterprises face when they have an idea they would like to pursue.

“At the completion of the program participants will have received assistance in defining their goals, developing a business case for R&D from a university or CSIRO, and even prepare a funding proposal,” Szabo added. “Their professional networks will also receive a boost as they will connect with peers in their cohort, sector-specific mentors, and with CSIRO, which has the largest mineral resources R&D capability in the world.”

CSIRO’s Innovate to Grow: Mining/METS program will accept up to 20-25 SME participants. Applications are open until 13 February and the program will commence on Monday 9 March.

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The two-week hands-on program Endeavour Singapore will run from 2-16 July at the emerging Asian start-up hub of Singapore, which is home to more than 3800 tech-enabled start-ups.

HEX will be one of the first education programs recommencing in Singapore, following tourism restrictions being recently eased. Already, start-up founders and students from around the globe have indicated their participation in the program including those from Australia, UK, Vietnam and the US.

As part of the program, participants will get to learn from business, social impact and innovation companies like Google and Zendesk, and, in collaboration with Victorian Government Trade & Investment – South East Asia, Victoria’s service offer for Australian scale-ups, participants will work on their own real business problems and develop their own start-up ideas that will address such problems, with the support of business experts and mentors.

Participants will also get to learn new economy skills like rapid prototyping, market research strategies, growth hacking, pitching their idea, as well as raising capital and investment. They will also have direct access to investors, accelerators, founders and professionals from Australia and Singapore and build their business support network.

Jeanette Cheah, CEO and founder of HEX, said, “We’re extremely excited to be kicking off our first international program since the pandemic started, and have students and startup founders from all around the world join us in the fast-growing startup ecosystem of Singapore. The past two years of international border closures and restrictions forced us to rethink and redesign our programs and delivery, and while it was a challenge, we are proud to share that we successfully had around 1500 students across 13 countries take part in our virtual programs.”

Cheah added, “As educators teaching students how to innovate and respond to the fast-changing business world, it was important for us to ‘walk the talk’ and evolve our business strategies so we could continue to thrive. It’s been a long-awaited moment to re-launch our global programs, and we’ve been working closely with Australian Government agencies to make this possible. Whether you’re an early-stage startup founder with an idea or a student who is keen to learn hands-on skills and knowledge about innovation and entrepreneurship, we encourage you to apply and learn from a strong network of business experts.”

Founded in 2017, HEX has delivered future-focused innovation and entrepreneurship programs to more than 5000 students and founders. It has also led more than 40 local, global and virtual study tours, including regular visits to Silicon Valley, Singapore, and Tel Aviv, to name a few.

University students taking part in HEX programs are eligible to receive academic credit from participating universities. AT the moment, HEX is affiliated with more than 37 global universities, and has academic credit approved across Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK and the US.

HEX is accepting applications for Endeavour Singapore until midnight on Sunday 24 April.

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Companies that have not been able to maintain pace, particularly small businesses, have risked falling by the wayside. However, as a country Australia is currently experiencing a major technology skills shortage, which is only expected to grow unless businesses take the lead to counter the growing gap.

A recent report revealed Australia will require an additional 156,000 digital technology workers by 2025, which represents an estimated one in four jobs forecast to be created during that period. Against this backdrop, SME’s must determine how they will need to digitally transform and understand how best to empower their team to support, create and uphold their digital transformation.

One of the most common hurdles facing skills development programs is budgetary constraints and perceived value or return on investment. To stay ahead and overcome these hurdles, SME’s can follow three simple steps: identify the gaps, invest in your people and adopt long-term planning.

Identify the gaps

To be able to bridge the tech skills divide, small businesses must be able to pinpoint where they are falling short so they can take steps to address the problem. It is crucial for business owners to take the time to get to know the capabilities of their team and identify maturity of tech skills across the board.

Business leaders must ask themselves how ready and committed they are to making tech skills a core part of the business strategy. This allows companies to be more strategic in how they tackle internal skills gaps and prepare their teams for the next stage of the company’s development.

Invest in your people

The tech skills gap is a complex and ongoing issue, which SMEs and enterprises alike, time and time again fail to resolve because it’s being tackled with the wrong approach. These are often reactive, short-sighted with the one-off training sessions. To avoid this, businesses should be looking internally and providing employees with the tools to be able to become a long-term solution for the challenges they face. No one knows a business better than those who are living and breathing in the day-to-day operations.

By not tapping into this knowledge of the innermost functions of the business, managers are potentially missing out on crucial insights. Many businesses have found that employees, when given the opportunity to develop their skill set, become more engaged, motivated and innovative while also increasing workplace satisfaction rates.

Plan long-term

With the rapid shift to flexible working, businesses were left scrambling to accommodate the evolving environment taking more of a ‘Band-Aid’ approach to their problems. While it may seem futile to plan long-term, particularly when the last year threw many plans awry, tech skills are only becoming more in demand, which is why it’s critical for businesses to be in the best position possible to handle unforeseen circumstances.

Your tech strategy is your business strategy and without it, businesses will lack the direction required to make the best decisions for their future.

While the future of work post-pandemic is still developing, integrated skills development tools will continue to pave the way forward for SMEs looking to maintain a competitive edge, increase productivity levels and reducing the potential damage of unforeseen circumstances by future-proofing the business.

The post Tech skills development: the key to unlocking your business’s full potential appeared first on Inside Small Business.

According to the Swinburne University of Technology research, more than half of Australian workers do practically no learning at work. In addition, only just over a third of working Australians said their workplace encouraged learning from colleagues, and only one in five Australian workers were engaged in the most collaboratively diverse project work.

“Disruption is eroding our skills quicker and quicker, especially as digital transformation has been accelerated by the pandemic,” Dr Sean Gallagher, director of the Centre for the New Workforce at Swinburne University of Technology and author of the report, said

“This same disruption is continuously changing customers’ expectations and behaviours, creating a risk of rapid erosion of businesses’ value if they don’t get on the front foot and innovate.

“We have an opportunity post-COVID to reimagine our workplaces, both physically and culturally, to encourage the kind of learning and collaboration that our survey found can uplift skills and boost innovation and value creation,” Dr Gallagher added. “Unlike most tech solutions, learning and collaboration are value drivers at the immediate disposal of most organisations. Businesses can start creating the future-ready workplace today.”

Bronwyn Evans, Chief Executive Officer of Engineers Australia, who helped prepare the report, said that it reinforced the importance of continuous learning to the success of both individuals and organisations.

“Learning and collaboration in the workplace have always been important to supporting productive work, but this new research by Swinburne demonstrates that we need to recognise their importance in driving the creativity needed to solve the increasingly complex problems we face,” Evans said. “All workers have a role to play, and I support the finding that work needs to be reimagined as a pathway to innovation.”

The report also reiterated the surveys which repeatedly showed most workers don’t want to return in person full time as working from home helped improve their productivity.

“We need workers to return to offices in urban hubs around the country for at least a few days each week,” Martine Letts, CEO of the Committee for Melbourne said. “By redefining the office for collaborative work focused on creativity and creating value, not only will this provide a compelling reason for workers to come together but it will help create smart cities. I strongly support a key recommendation of this report that organisations transform their physical workplace as a place for innovation.”

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