My work has historically consisted of one deadline after another. Mostly imposed by the government, but some imposed by clients.

I was looking at my “to do” list for today which is mostly made up of items that have to be done by a certain date, and it got me thinking about the origin of the word “deadline”.

So, I did what we all do in today’s’ world. I Googled it and got quite a surprise for my efforts.

It appears that the derivation may have come from the American Civil War. In the prisons, there would be a line or boundary called the deadline. If a prisoner went beyond it, they would be shot dead.

Makes sense, doesn’t it? Deadline.

According to Wikipedia, the word deadline was used in the early 1900s in the printing industry as the line in a printing press that delineated the end of the area that would print. 

It was also used at that time in the publishing industry for the time by which material had to be submitted to make it...

A curveball can come in all shapes and sizes. There are the small ones that just throw you off track a little bit, and then there are big ones that come out of nowhere that rock you to your core. 

As business owners, we’re on the receiving end of a curveball all the time.

A CURVEBALL COULD BE:

• the client who doesn’t pay your invoice on time, 
• a client who promises to pay your invoice on a particular date and doesn’t
• the employee who demands a pay increase
• an employee who resigns unexpectedly
• notice from your landlord to vacate the premises or not extend your lease
• major price increase from a supplier
• a significant change in the exchange rate that impacts your purchases
• your bookkeeper disappears without a trace 
• a major client doesn’t renew their contract
• you lose your biggest customer or client

SWOT ANALYSIS.

In reality, we should be ready for curveballs. We should have thought about the various possibilities of what could go wrong and...

What you read on social media can be misleading and frustrating information. 

Benjamin Franklin is attributed to the quote “… nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. I’d add to that, changes in tax laws. 

It seems like every year; there’s another change in taxes that impact business owners. Big changes took place with the introduction of the GST and Superannuation Guarantee.

THEN THERE ARE THE SMALLER CHANGES THAT CREEP UP ON US, OFTEN WITHOUT MUCH FANFARE.

The recent implementation of Single Touch Payroll (STP) is one of those changes that has crept up stealthily upon us. Businesses employing 20 or more staff had to comply with this legislation on 1 July 2018. 

From 1 July 2019, employers with 5 – 19 employees are required to report under the Single Touch Payroll system. There is a transitional period to 30 September 2019 by which time you have to be reporting.

For employers with 1 – 4 employees, there...

Do you look at your financial reports with bewilderment, frustrated that you’re not getting information that is useful for you to manage your business?

The answer may just be that your accounting system has been set up to make it easy for your accountant to produce financial statements, not for the easy production of management reports.

Management financial reports are fundamental to success in business.

If financial reports are set up to provide you with the information you want and need to be looking at, they are a fountain of information and insights into what’s happening in your business: the good, the bad and the downright ugly.  

Does your profit and loss statement show just a couple of lines for income and then the expenses listed alphabetically from A to Z? If the answer is yes, it’s time to shake up your reporting.

HERE ARE THREE WAYS TO LOOK AT YOUR FINANCIAL REPORTS:

INCOME.

Think about the different income streams you have in your business,...

In the next couple of weeks, let’s make sure you end the financial year strong.

Another financial year is almost over, where did it go? How was the year for you, good, bad or downright ugly? With just two weeks to the end of the year, it may be too late to have a chat with your accountant to do some tax planning unless you already have, but there’s still time to take action on a few things.  

MY FIVE TIPS WHEN THE END OF THE YEAR IS THIS CLOSE ARE:

1. CHECK YOUR PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENT.

First of all, you need to know whether you’ve made a profit for the year or not, and how much that profit is. It’s worth having a good look at each line in the profit and loss, making sure it makes sense, and nothing looks out of place.

One way to do this is to compare this years’ figures against last years and look for the anomalies.

Unfortunately, though, the profit showing in your profit and loss statement may not be the figure that you will pay tax...

What’s your plan to achieve your goals, does it include routines rituals and rewards?

Are you a planner or a go with the flow type of person? There’s no right or wrong here, it’s just a question of what works well for you and whether there’s an in-between where you get the benefit of both styles of living.  

I’LL CONFESS, I’M A PLANNER.

I’ve always been a planner but in recent years, I’ve taken on a bit of the go with the flow style. When travelling, I’m the one who plans what we’ll do each day on the trip, and whilst sometimes the plan would change due to weather conditions, we pretty much did exactly what I’d planned.

More recently, I’ve not done the day by day plan but rather got a list of places to go and see and put them in priority order and if we don’t do everything that’s ok, or we might find something more interesting to do instead.

So, it should be no surprise that I also plan my...

In business, we need both capacity and flexibility, but there are times when they just don’t mix.

Strategically in a serviced based business, we want to be highly productive and utilise the capacity we have available in the most efficient way possible to make the most revenue.

Whilst productivity at 75% or 80% sounds like there’s flexibility, the reality is that the other 20% to 25% is spent in admin tasks, internal meetings and a plethora of small tasks. And these aren’t considered specifically client delivery tasks.

Recently, I was asked to do some work which I knew would take me close to a day and a half. The challenge was that I already had work planned for the next day and then two full days of meetings. For me, there was no question about what to do.

The decision was simply to put off the work I’d planned for the next day and prioritise this new work. It needed to be done urgently and I would keep working until it was done, which on that particular...

In a product business, you've got a more complicated calculation than service businesses. You probably know that, but the starting point for everyone is knowing how much money you need to pay your personal bills.

Starting off, looking at your home budget, how much money do you need to pay or contribute to the household costs? Rent, mortgage, fire, electricity, utilities. Internet, motor vehicles if they're not in the business, holidays, entertainment, food, that's an important one, and kid school fees, kids' clothing, extra curricular activities, holidays. Everything that you would normally spend at home, you need to work out what that is. If that's split amongst different members of the family, what your contribution needs to be for that.

If you're already drawing a particular set amount out of your business as a salary wage or drawings, depending on your business structure, that's great. But just double check that you have got the right number for the purposes of your household,...