So you want to start a business?

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Do you have a passion that you want to turn into a business?
Before you get too far down the track, you should make sure all of your “business” ducks are in a row, right?

Here at Books In Order – Bookkeeping, we have put together the following checklist that you should think about AND more important have already started to action, BEFORE you have started to sell your goods and services to the world.

1. Have you done a costing of your service/product?
Have you thought about how much it will cost for you to create something that you will be selling? Have you worked out what price you will sell your service/product for? It is important to ensure you will receive some profit so do all your calculations prior to starting up.

2. Do you have your business AND personal budget set up?
We’re assuming eventually you will want to focus 100% of your energy onto your business, especially if it is your passion. To do this you will be needing to create enough profit to be able to live off. But how much money do you need? That’s when a personal budget comes in! Whilst a business budget is important to ensure you are ticking off everything involved in running it, your personal budget will tell you how much you need to earn in order to live comfortably. Take this into consideration when you setup the costing of your product and your business budget – it all works hand in hand.

3. Have your looked into the licenses and registrations you will need to operate?
Make sure these are on your checklist – you will need to do this before you can start selling your product:
– Australian Business Number to operate (ABN). The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) also have great resources to assist all small businesses, so check them out.
– You will need to decide what type of business structure you are going to trade through (sole trader, company, etc.). Have a chat to us – we can help set this up.
– Insurances and perhaps other licences, depending on the industry you are in and what you are creating.

4. Give me the money!!
But where’s it going to go? Have you thought about what happens when you start to earn money and you start to get paid? It’s a good idea to open up a separate bank account for your business, rather than the money being deposited into your personal accounts. Keeping your personal money away from your business money is very important. While you’re at it, look at opening up another 1 or 2 sub accounts so that you can keep tax money aside – this will be a big help come tax time – trust us!

5. Don’t forget about the financial administration of your business!
Yes, it may not be as fun as creating your product, but in order for your business to stay afloat and running smoothly, you need to also look after your administrative tasks, such as bookkeeping. There are many accounting software packages and partner apps on the market to choose from and you should always ask for assistance for the initial set up before tackling this part yourself. We have helped many new businesses with this and we’d be happy to help you out too. We have years of experience helping small businesses set up their accounting records on packages such as Xero (which we are Certified Advisors for), MYOB and QB Online. contact us here – we’d love to help your business!

6. Digital space – don’t let it overwhelm you!
We’re not only talking about Facebook and Instagram here. There are various other digital platforms that will become a part of your business, including banking, bookkeeping, purchasing, data storage, communication, marketing and advertising. Don’t let it overwhelm you! First steps first, the dreaded password! How are you going to remember them all? Look into a password storage solution that will keep track of all of your different passwords and add another layer of security for you and your business.

Are you ready to take the leap and start your business? Get in touch with us and we can assist you will all aspects of setting up the bookkeeping side of your business including Payroll and BAS preparation & lodgement.

Feel free to contact us. We’d love to chat!