Speaker 1: Hello.
Speaker 2: My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yor the
Speaker 2: Order KERNI Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we
Speaker 2: get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would
Speaker 2: like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of
Speaker 2: which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging
Speaker 2: the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through.
Speaker 2: As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
Speaker 2: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
Speaker 2: and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Let's get into it.
Speaker 4: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome back, my friends.
Speaker 4: I'm Victoria de Bayn, the owner of several successful businesses,
Speaker 4: and I'm joined as always by one of the hardest
Speaker 4: working side hustlers.
Speaker 3: I know, miss Jess Garci. Hello. I'm so excited.
Speaker 4: I'm really excited for today because Jess, what are we
Speaker 4: talking about.
Speaker 3: It's our first end of financial year themed episode and
Speaker 3: we're talking about your favorite time of year.
Speaker 4: I get really excited about end of financial year because
Speaker 4: I feel like it's such a good time to reset, refresh,
Speaker 4: get stuff going and what a better time to release
Speaker 4: this than with enough time for you guys to get prepared. Like,
Speaker 4: it's not going to be dropped on June thirty, because
Speaker 4: that's way too late. We're giving you enough lead up
Speaker 4: so that you can get stuff organized. But also this
Speaker 4: isn't the only end of financial year episode we'll be
Speaker 4: dropping because.
Speaker 3: In a couple of weeks. Yes, we have a very.
Speaker 4: Exciting accountant joining us so that we can get all
Speaker 4: of his tips and tricks as well, So we're not
Speaker 4: just preparing you with one app but multiple, So you're
Speaker 4: welcome in advance, absolutely.
Speaker 3: But today we're talking all about specifically small business stuff,
Speaker 3: so some changes that are coming to SUPER this year,
Speaker 3: which might be handy for employers to know whether or
Speaker 3: not you need to get an accountant. Which look at
Speaker 3: us doing that right before the accountant episode, it's almost
Speaker 3: like we did that on purpose.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, she need an accountant? I mean at
Speaker 4: the end of the day sometimes no. So we'll go
Speaker 4: through that, yeah.
Speaker 3: And then after the break, we've got a list that
Speaker 3: VD is put together with five things that you should
Speaker 3: be reassessing at this time of year before we get
Speaker 3: into the brand new financial year. But before we get
Speaker 3: to that VD, what is the ATO flagged that they're
Speaker 3: going to be focusing.
Speaker 4: More on this year generally, So if you've listened to us,
Speaker 4: she's on the money episodes around tax before, you've probably
Speaker 4: heard that. Every single year, the ATO outlines and makes
Speaker 4: a list of things that they're going to be paying
Speaker 4: closer attention to this year for the next round of
Speaker 4: tax reporting. And we're going to touch more deeply on
Speaker 4: this in our upcoming community Q and A with our
Speaker 4: tax accountant. So don't worry, we won't be giving specific
Speaker 4: tax advice today, but generally this year, what they're focusing
Speaker 4: on is record keeping, which I'm not surprised. I feel
Speaker 4: like some of us are getting a little bit slack
Speaker 4: when it comes to keeping records. And as I always say,
Speaker 4: keep your receipts, whether that is the physical copy of
Speaker 4: the receipt or you snap a photo, save it in
Speaker 4: your phone, like just make sure you've got record of it,
Speaker 4: because I feel like this is where money just like
Speaker 4: seeps out of your business, Like if you're not keeping
Speaker 4: track of the little things they actually add up, like
Speaker 4: you might go, oh, Jess, just keep that. That was
Speaker 4: a laptop I bought a new laptop. It was two grand,
Speaker 4: but like you're spending a couple of hundred bucks maybe
Speaker 4: every single month that office works, and on printing and
Speaker 4: on things that you can claim, so like, don't let
Speaker 4: them slip away, because they're as big as the laptop
Speaker 4: at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 4: The next is they're really focusing on rental property income
Speaker 4: and deductions because a few people have been taking the
Speaker 4: mickey when it comes to deducting things that maybe shouldn't
Speaker 4: be included in their rental properties, so being super aware there.
Speaker 4: And then number three is they're keeping an eye on
Speaker 4: capital gains from crypto assets, property and shares. So obviously
Speaker 4: they are always going to be looking at capital gains
Speaker 4: in general, but I think that they're peeling their eyes
Speaker 4: a little bit closer when it comes to crypto nowadays
Speaker 4: because it isn't as trackable and now it's actually easier
Speaker 4: for them to do a little bit of a deep
Speaker 4: dive into your digital history. So I would be keeping
Speaker 4: your finger on the pulse when it comes to making
Speaker 4: sure that you are even keeping track of your crypto
Speaker 4: because just how many times have we heard from people
Speaker 4: in the She's on the Money community that are like,
Speaker 4: I bought crypto, but I don't know where it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you got to keep an eye on it.
Speaker 4: They're like, oh, I bought a wallet, or I downloaded
Speaker 4: a wallet and I bought some crypto.
Speaker 1: I don't know where it is, or I can't remember
Speaker 1: my password.
Speaker 4: Like be on top of it because if it's making money,
Speaker 4: you might owe some tax.
Speaker 3: Oh, owing tax is good because it means you're making money,
Speaker 3: and that's what we all.
Speaker 4: If you can't find your password, like, that's not going
Speaker 4: to feel good paying tax for money you can't access.
Speaker 3: What about that guy, Sorry, I'm going on a full segway,
Speaker 3: the guy who the like one chance at the password?
Speaker 3: I think so he bought like a bunch of bitcoin
Speaker 3: when it first dropped for like real cheap, don't know
Speaker 3: how much was, but insanely cheap, and then it ended
Speaker 3: up being worth like twenty million dollars or something. It
Speaker 3: must be nice. But the whole problem was I think
Speaker 3: you're right, he couldn't remember his password and he had
Speaker 3: it like stored on a hard drive that he got
Speaker 3: rid of and sent to like the tip or something,
Speaker 3: and so he must have tried to get in his account,
Speaker 3: couldn't for some reason, and then his one chance at
Speaker 3: finding it was gone. And apparently he was like going
Speaker 3: to the tip, like searching, trying to fold at the
Speaker 3: tip every day. I did there, I don't remember.
Speaker 4: I don't know if I sing through brubbishuldn't be like, yeah,
Speaker 4: want to join me?
Speaker 3: Worth twenty meal, I'll pay you one off. I'll pay
Speaker 3: you a meal, like straight off the top. I'm not
Speaker 3: missing out so funny, but yeah, check in on your
Speaker 3: stuff is the moral of the story. Save you passwords
Speaker 3: away safe. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4: All right, so back into the episode, because I feel
Speaker 4: like too many of us would actually go on a
Speaker 4: complete tangent talking about crypto. Absolutely, there are two topics
Speaker 4: this week that I want to take a little bit
Speaker 4: longer on. I've obviously mentioned the three above. Actually, Jess,
Speaker 4: can you hear that?
Speaker 3: I can hear a little something something in the background.
Speaker 1: What is it?
Speaker 3: It's a little sweet baby. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Harvey has joined us for a recording. He is in
Speaker 4: his carrier on my chest asleep right now, and we thought, great,
Speaker 4: what a time to record a podcast of his asleep.
Speaker 4: He's decided to be a very noisy sleeper. But we
Speaker 4: will continue on and do the episode. So if you
Speaker 4: hear a little squeak here and there, I promise it's
Speaker 4: not Jess.
Speaker 3: He's just very passionate about tax.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he hears tax and he's like, Oh, it's me.
Speaker 3: I'm dreaming of tax.
Speaker 4: Anyway, back to this the sharing economy income issue. So
Speaker 4: at the moment, the sharing economy, I feel like it's
Speaker 4: really up and coming. We've still been talking about it
Speaker 4: for a long time, but the ATO is convinced that
Speaker 4: many people in their sharing economy are not properly declaring
Speaker 4: their profits and their gains. So if you work through
Speaker 4: Uber or air Tasker, or any of the many sharing
Speaker 4: economy platforms that exist now which allow you to rent
Speaker 4: out your personal assets or like your personal services, you've
Speaker 4: got to keep an eye out. Especially this year, the
Speaker 4: ATO is now receiving reports directly from companies like Uber
Speaker 4: and like air Tasker, which they're then going to use
Speaker 4: to highlight datam matches.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and remember, if you're using one of those platforms,
Speaker 3: it's your responsibility to set aside the tax. Because I know,
Speaker 3: if you're a small business owner and maybe it's your
Speaker 3: first year selling stuff, or if you are someone who's
Speaker 3: ubering or door dashing or whatever. You don't have someone
Speaker 3: taking out your tax the way you do when you're
Speaker 3: an employee. So if you haven't been thinking about that,
Speaker 3: it might be a bit of a nasty shock at
Speaker 3: tax time when you have quite a substantial tax bill,
Speaker 3: because you need to be setting aside, you know, thirty
Speaker 3: thirty five, forty five, whatever your tax bracket is percent
Speaker 3: because at tax time it's your responsibility to payment.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 4: Similarly, if you rent out a property or like part
Speaker 4: of a property on Airbnb or stays, you're going to
Speaker 4: be under the spotlight this year. The ATO has numerous
Speaker 4: third party sources of data which it can use to
Speaker 4: identify if you're actually receiving rent and they're on the
Speaker 4: lookout at the moment for mismatches with tax return data
Speaker 4: that you're reporting. So they now have complete access to
Speaker 4: being able to review your banking transactions and they might go, oh,
Speaker 4: my friend that's coming from Airbnb, can we have a chat?
Speaker 1: So I think it's really important to just be on
Speaker 1: top of it.
Speaker 4: And then the big one JESS is work related expenses.
Speaker 4: So the ATO recently claimed that there was an eight
Speaker 4: point seven billion dollars shortfall between the tax individuals are
Speaker 4: expected to pay and the tax that they are actually paying.
Speaker 1: That's crazy, that's so much money of money.
Speaker 4: And the ATO believes that work related expenses claims are
Speaker 4: the biggest element in that quote tax gap and have
Speaker 4: signaled that they're going to be looking really closely at
Speaker 4: the deduction this year, so I would expect them to
Speaker 4: focus in particular on a couple of things. So first
Speaker 4: is deductions from work from home expenses.
Speaker 1: I feel like after COVID, a.
Speaker 4: Lot of us just kept claiming a few things that
Speaker 4: maybe we shouldn't have been and the ways that they
Speaker 4: can be claimed changed last year with the introduction of
Speaker 4: that new sixty seven cents per hour fixed rate, and
Speaker 4: then they've enhanced substantiation requirements, So you've got to prove it,
Speaker 4: my friends. And we expect the ATO to check claims
Speaker 4: pretty thoroughly, because don't forget, they've got AI working for
Speaker 4: them now, so it's not all just manual. They just
Speaker 4: chuck it in and I'm pretty sure AI could whip
Speaker 4: through everybody in Australia is really quickly. But they're going
Speaker 4: to be particularly looking at verifying whether taxpayers have a
Speaker 4: record of all they're working from home hours over the
Speaker 4: entire year in the form of time sheets or diary
Speaker 4: or like copy of their work rosters and such. So
Speaker 4: they're going to go, oh, Jess, you said you worked
Speaker 4: from home. Yeah, how have you been working from home? Yeah?
Speaker 4: And I mean it's easy for you because you've got
Speaker 4: an employer who will write a letter that just says,
Speaker 4: just works from home, full stop, end of story.
Speaker 3: But if you've got one of those.
Speaker 4: Flexible, you know jobs where you're like, oh, I work
Speaker 4: from home a day a week, and then you're telling
Speaker 4: the atos three like, you might end up in a
Speaker 4: little bit of a pickle because you almost guarantee your
Speaker 4: employer is not going to be very happy to back
Speaker 4: you up on something that's not entirely true. Well, I
Speaker 4: don't want to get into water because they're claiming that
Speaker 4: you're in the office on their tax returns. True, one
Speaker 4: of us is not making sense here, so let's just
Speaker 4: make sure that we're on the same page. They're also
Speaker 4: going to be looking at deductions for occupations, so costs
Speaker 4: like rent and rates and mortgage interests are all going
Speaker 4: to be under the spotlight as they're actually not allowable
Speaker 4: unless you are running a business from home. So I
Speaker 4: know historically a few cheeky business owners have been claiming
Speaker 4: mortgage or payments because they're quote working from home, but
Speaker 4: they have a warehouse down the road. So we need
Speaker 4: to be really careful because that's not how you do
Speaker 4: it right. That's just not on my friends. And then
Speaker 4: as always, just things like mobile phone and internet costs
Speaker 4: are going to be looked at. Claims for work related
Speaker 4: clothing and I know dry cleaning and laundry always comes
Speaker 4: up every year, people like.
Speaker 1: Did you know you can claim it?
Speaker 4: Yeah, if it's got a logo on it and was
Speaker 4: provided by work, and even then you've got to substantiate it,
Speaker 4: so be careful. Things like overtime meal claims and union
Speaker 4: fees and subscriptions, and then you know motor vehicles are
Speaker 4: going to be looked at again. So I think it's
Speaker 4: really important to just make sure that you're doing it
Speaker 4: right because incorrectly claiming deductions under the rule that allows
Speaker 4: US taxpayers who have incurred work related expenses of three
Speaker 4: hundred dollars or less in total to make a claim
Speaker 4: without receipts means that you need to be extra careful
Speaker 4: because if you get audited, they're going to go, Jess,
Speaker 4: We'll wear are your receipts. You didn't have to submit
Speaker 4: that when you submitted your tax return, but we are
Speaker 4: well within our rights to audit you and ask you
Speaker 4: to prove those costs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and at the end of the day.
Speaker 4: Just don't claim things you're not paying for, like tax system.
Speaker 4: I don't know about you, Jess, but I'm very grateful
Speaker 4: to have in place. I feel like we are very,
Speaker 4: very lucky. Let's not take advantage of it because the
Speaker 4: ATO actually believes that lots of taxpayers are claiming they're
Speaker 4: three hundred dollars when they didn't incur any expenses at all.
Speaker 3: Yeah. The rule isn't that you can just claim up
Speaker 3: three hundred hundred bucks, like because you want to, like,
Speaker 3: you still have to have spent the money.
Speaker 4: You can claim up to three hundred dollars without having
Speaker 4: to go through the rigmarole of like getting receipts and
Speaker 4: submitting them. Yeah, but after that you do that doesn't
Speaker 4: just mean us a free three hundred bucks to claim.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 3: And as someone who has been audited and everything was
Speaker 3: all fine, it was just because I worked multiple jobs
Speaker 3: and claimed lots of things. But at the time it
Speaker 3: was like, oh, that's a flag. I feel like a
Speaker 3: lot of people just assume that, Oh I'm a small
Speaker 3: business or I'm just a small little fish in a
Speaker 3: big pond. They're not going to come after me. They will.
Speaker 1: No, I'm miss jessic Riccie got got.
Speaker 3: Well they can get me good because I haven't. But
Speaker 3: they got you.
Speaker 4: They made you anxious, they did. They may be very
Speaker 4: stressed even though you had receipts. It's like when you
Speaker 4: drive past the cops. I don't know about you, but
Speaker 4: like I'll be driving completely like normally, completely legally, yeah,
Speaker 4: and I would just like have a little bit.
Speaker 3: Of a the cops are there. They're going to get me,
Speaker 3: you know. I'm like, did I murder somebody?
Speaker 2: Know?
Speaker 4: Are they going to pull me over? Why would they
Speaker 4: pull you over? Victoria? Like, because you're looking real sas now?
Speaker 4: Driving fast? Should I turn off my radio?
Speaker 3: Literally?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 3: I know that all of those things can sound very
Speaker 3: overwhelming and very complicated. So there's probably a lot of
Speaker 3: people listening right now, VD going should I just get
Speaker 3: an accountant?
Speaker 1: I mean you could. They are tax deductible.
Speaker 4: We love that, and you've got the receipt because if
Speaker 4: you pay an accountant, you can claim it the next
Speaker 4: year in your tax return, which is kind of attractive.
Speaker 4: But yes, there is a reason the ball is seventy
Speaker 4: five percent of Australians actually use a tax agent, and
Speaker 4: that's because tax is not that simple. So we're gonna
Speaker 4: like do a community Q and a session with our
Speaker 4: accountant very soon. But I think it's really important to
Speaker 4: remember that the tax system isn't there to confuse you. Yeah,
Speaker 4: Like doing it online yourself is completely possible, and it'll
Speaker 4: just take a couple of hours for you to go
Speaker 4: through in DIY. At the end of the day, they
Speaker 4: want to make it as simple as possible. We just
Speaker 4: need to make sure we're doing the right thing. We're
Speaker 4: not claiming things that we didn't incur and we're not
Speaker 4: taking the absolute mickey. I think it's just really important
Speaker 4: that we're doing the right thing. And if you feel
Speaker 4: like you need help, a tax agent is and can
Speaker 4: be a really good idea.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the ATO website has some awesome resources for
Speaker 3: anyone who is doing their own tax return, like they
Speaker 3: release every year. There's a comprehensive list of what you
Speaker 3: can and cannot claim based on your industry list all
Speaker 3: the limitations. So if you're wondering, can I claim my laundry?
Speaker 3: Can I claim this? Can I claim that? Like they
Speaker 3: outline it, They're not expect you to just take a
Speaker 3: punt in the dark. So use that website, use Google,
Speaker 3: like you'd be amazed at what you can do by
Speaker 3: yourself without one hundred percent, And like, why not have
Speaker 3: a crack.
Speaker 4: You don't have to press submit. If it all becomes
Speaker 4: really overwhelming and you're like, oh, I cannot do this,
Speaker 4: then maybe go see a tax stage yet, But like,
Speaker 4: why not go and give it a crack instead of
Speaker 4: just assuming that you can't do it. I also love
Speaker 4: those websites, yes, because they sometimes trigger your memory into
Speaker 4: being like, ah, I did actually incur that. Let me
Speaker 4: sort through my things and find that receipt. So definitely
Speaker 4: refresh yourself if you haven't.
Speaker 3: One hundred percent now VD Something that I know I,
Speaker 3: as an employee, have been looking for to this new
Speaker 3: financial art is the increase in maybe one of your
Speaker 3: favorite investments, which is super.
Speaker 4: You're getting more super Jess, I'm paying you more super
Speaker 4: Slay for me you win superanuations going up zero point
Speaker 4: five percent, which doesn't sound like a lot. But superanuation
Speaker 4: used to be nine and a half percent, which at
Speaker 4: the time I was like, yes, slay, this is great.
Speaker 4: It's now eleven and half percent from the first of
Speaker 4: July this year, which is very, very exciting. So employees,
Speaker 4: I would be checking your super and making sure. I
Speaker 4: don't know if employers are going to be very happy
Speaker 4: with me saying this, but like making sure that you're
Speaker 4: negotiating and that it doesn't come out of your take
Speaker 4: home salary. Yeah, because some employers are going to be
Speaker 4: switching that point five from your take home salary and
Speaker 4: going well, Jess, actually you signed an agreement with me
Speaker 4: that says that you get paid a seventy thousand dollars package.
Speaker 4: So the percentages have changed and I'm now allocating more
Speaker 4: of that package to your superannuation and you'll have lace
Speaker 4: take home pay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that I don't think is fair.
Speaker 4: In this economy, we are trying to increase our super
Speaker 4: because it's not enough, and you know what else is
Speaker 4: not enough? Usually our pay is at the moment like
Speaker 4: we are in a cost of living crisis. Stand up
Speaker 4: for yourself and have that conversation. So if you have
Speaker 4: a package system at work, I would be making sure
Speaker 4: that maybe you renegotiate.
Speaker 1: If you or not packaged.
Speaker 4: Make sure that your employer isn't taking it from your
Speaker 4: salary just because they think that maybe you won't check.
Speaker 4: And that's how it happens, Jessica. No, it's going up
Speaker 4: point five percent. Of course it gets taken out of
Speaker 4: your salary, doesn't though.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 4: And then for employers, make sure that you are paying
Speaker 4: your employees the correct amount and know when that changes
Speaker 4: and when you need to start implementing that.
Speaker 3: Also, if you're an.
Speaker 1: Employer, are you paying yourself super?
Speaker 4: How many times do small business owners lax on the
Speaker 4: super thing and then get all the way down the
Speaker 4: road and find that they don't have a nice little
Speaker 4: super balance to see them through retirement. You work so
Speaker 4: hard as an employer and as a business owner that
Speaker 4: you're not setting yourself up for the future. Like if
Speaker 4: you sit business owners down, and I could just sit
Speaker 4: you down, jess be like, why do you do what
Speaker 4: you do?
Speaker 1: Come up with a million things like.
Speaker 4: You're passionate about it, you enjoy it, but at the
Speaker 4: end of the day, you're doing it to increase your
Speaker 4: income to put yourself in a better position, not paying yourself,
Speaker 4: super you'r doing the opposite. Yeah, and you're wasting heaps
Speaker 4: of time to ultimately end up in a worse off position.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely not one out of ten cannot recommend no hate
Speaker 4: hate hate.
Speaker 3: But let's go to a really quick break because on
Speaker 3: the flip side, V, we're going to get your hot
Speaker 3: take on the five things that all us small business
Speaker 3: owners should be reassessing at this time of year before
Speaker 3: we start the new financial year.
Speaker 4: So don't go anywhere, coffee, tim, Welcome back everybody. Okay,
Speaker 4: what are the five things that you think end of
Speaker 4: financial year is the perfect time for small business owners
Speaker 4: to be reassessing your coffee consumption. That's not your coffee consumption.
Speaker 4: Never questioned how much coffee you have.
Speaker 3: Pump it straight in, straight into my games.
Speaker 4: Now I'm a mum ten million coffees, thank you. Otherwise
Speaker 4: we are not showing up to work. But the end
Speaker 4: of financial year, I feel like is a really good time.
Speaker 4: It's kind of like year New me, but like you
Speaker 4: get to do it every six months. Yeah, so we
Speaker 4: can have the real end of year and then we
Speaker 4: can have the financial end of year, and we can
Speaker 4: use this as a time to either pivot our businesses,
Speaker 4: or we can pivot ourselves. Like there's no such thing
Speaker 4: as too late to implement something. But the end of
Speaker 4: financial year is honestly the perfect time to reset, review
Speaker 4: and recalibrate. So I've written down five things because like
Speaker 4: that's what I got to in my list, and I
Speaker 4: was like, yeah, five will do. Five is also not overwhelming,
Speaker 4: so we can look at all of them. So we
Speaker 4: are going to review our objectives. We're going to look
Speaker 4: at business growth. How fast are you growing now? Like
Speaker 4: what does growth actually mean in your business? You might
Speaker 4: not think it makes a lot of sense because you're,
Speaker 4: you know, eighteen months in and you go, oh, should
Speaker 4: I be reviewing this v And you might say, but
Speaker 4: being I am assult trader, Like what's the point?
Speaker 1: Absolutely, because it can motivate you.
Speaker 4: It can show you where you've come from and where
Speaker 4: you're going and what that looks like, how much are
Speaker 4: you going to grow your business in the next year?
Speaker 1: What's the plan?
Speaker 4: Are you actually going to be growing it by staff
Speaker 4: members or are you just growing it by the amount
Speaker 4: that you charge? Because now your quality is better and
Speaker 4: you have a better reputation, and you should be increasing
Speaker 4: your fees consistently. Jessica, We've spoken about this before because
Speaker 4: for me, increasing fees should happen regularly. It shouldn't just
Speaker 4: be like one day you wake up five years into
Speaker 4: business and go been charging the same thing for five years.
Speaker 4: I need to shock my clients and increase it. Now,
Speaker 4: that's just going to cause you a whole heap of issues.
Speaker 4: What number you choose is entirely up to you. We're
Speaker 4: going to have a look at your financial targets. What's
Speaker 4: the magic number that you're aiming for? Is there a
Speaker 4: magic number? Or are you so shocked at what you've
Speaker 4: already achieved this year that now it's time to set
Speaker 4: some bigger and better challenges. Set it and then work
Speaker 4: backwards to determine what you're able to achieve.
Speaker 3: Also a little tip for anyone who's got a side
Speaker 3: hustle or their sole trading in addition to their full
Speaker 3: time job. Now is a good time to assess how
Speaker 3: much you have made in your side hustle or small business,
Speaker 3: add that onto your salary and check whether that's going
Speaker 3: to bump you up a tax bracket.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you could be boogier than you.
Speaker 3: Thought you were, because if that's the case. We're putting
Speaker 3: this episode out now so you have time to maybe
Speaker 3: make some deductible purchases that you need to make for
Speaker 3: things like that to drop you back down attacks brush.
Speaker 4: She's a genius, but that's really important as well. Not
Speaker 4: only do you make deductible purchases, just you could put
Speaker 4: some money in your super and that would bring down
Speaker 4: your taxable income, wouldn't it.
Speaker 3: We love to see it.
Speaker 4: Oh, we love super so sexy does so much for us.
Speaker 4: The next thing we're going to review jess personal aims.
Speaker 4: Why are you doing it? Because I feel like so
Speaker 4: many times we lock ourselves into these businesses and we
Speaker 4: lock ourselves into these ideas.
Speaker 1: What do you want to get out of this?
Speaker 3: Are you still.
Speaker 1: Getting out of this business?
Speaker 3: What you want?
Speaker 4: Is it sparking joy? Are you happy? If you are not,
Speaker 4: what are we changing? Maybe business isn't for you. And
Speaker 4: I'm not saying that because you know when it.
Speaker 1: Gets hard throwing the towel. That's not what I mean
Speaker 1: at all.
Speaker 4: I've just spoken so many times recently to small business
Speaker 4: owners who go, I wish I hadn't started, like it's
Speaker 4: not for me.
Speaker 3: I didn't realize how much work. It was.
Speaker 4: I just wish i'd stayed in my salary in payg job. Yeah,
Speaker 4: well you can go back to that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 4: No, absolutely not. And maybe you go, oh, I've actually
Speaker 4: realized that this side hustle thing v it is for me.
Speaker 4: I do not want to work for somebody else. I
Speaker 4: actually need to take charge and really turbo charge this
Speaker 4: because I'm over it. I give it six months before
Speaker 4: I have to quit my job because I'm so passionate.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so what are we going to do the next thing?
Speaker 1: Sexiest thing, Jessica.
Speaker 4: We want to review your actual versus your budget. So
Speaker 4: what did you actually spend and what did you budget?
Speaker 4: If you didn't budget, what are we budgeting for next
Speaker 4: financial here, jess because that's super important. How are you
Speaker 4: tracking against your revenue and your profit targets every month?
Speaker 4: Do you have revenue and profit targets every month? If not,
Speaker 4: now might be the time to go, all right, well,
Speaker 4: I have this side hustle and ultimately I'd like to
Speaker 4: make one thousand dollars per month. How am I going
Speaker 4: to work backwards and make that happen? And vice versa?
Speaker 4: Like if you're making one thousand dollars a month and
Speaker 4: you're like, wow, I didn't see this coming. How do
Speaker 4: you do it? How can we scale that? What does
Speaker 4: that look like? Are you ahead? Are you behind? Are
Speaker 4: you right on track? So, depending on where you are
Speaker 4: in relation to your budget, this is actually going to
Speaker 4: determine where your decision making needs to change in the
Speaker 4: new year, which is kind of helpful. You're like becoming
Speaker 4: your own business mentor, and that's genius. Yeah, we're going
Speaker 4: to look at our cash flow. So cash flow is
Speaker 4: different to your budget, and you need to always remember
Speaker 4: that reviewing inventory levels like how much stuff have you
Speaker 4: got or work underway is important at this time of
Speaker 4: year because you might be able to move some of
Speaker 4: it before the end of year and put some extra
Speaker 4: dollars into your bank account or make some extra plans.
Speaker 4: Like maybe you're running out of stock. You know, you've
Speaker 4: been so busy that you haven't had time to stop
Speaker 4: and reassess.
Speaker 3: You go far out.
Speaker 4: Actually, by the time I order new stock, it's going
Speaker 4: to be two or three months before that arrives. Yeah,
Speaker 4: like maybe I need more sooner than I thought I did,
Speaker 4: and that could be a stumbling block later down the track.
Speaker 4: That actually puts you backwards. Let's review our debt. What
Speaker 4: debt have we got? Have we got a business loan?
Speaker 4: Who owes you money? Is the important one? Chase them up?
Speaker 4: Fell up your following up our invoices, and we are
Speaker 4: not sorry to follow up our invoices. If you're feeling
Speaker 4: so awkward about emailing a client, do you.
Speaker 1: Know what you did?
Speaker 4: You just got an assistant, Jess, we love, we'll love
Speaker 4: an assistant. And back when I couldn't afford an assistant,
Speaker 4: what did I have, Jess?
Speaker 1: Fake assistant?
Speaker 3: I did?
Speaker 1: I had a fake assistant. Before I had.
Speaker 4: Jess, A fake assistant would follow up on behalf of
Speaker 4: me and be like, Hi, so sorry, I work for
Speaker 4: Victoria and I'm just chasing this debt that you definitely
Speaker 4: haven't paid. And then they'd say check with Victoria, and
Speaker 4: I'd be like, I did I have Victoria?
Speaker 3: No, I never let that pat out of the bag.
Speaker 4: And to be honest, if you're a client of mine
Speaker 4: from like twenty fifteen and you've heard.
Speaker 3: That, no you haven't.
Speaker 4: But that was because I was really anxious and I
Speaker 4: really hated following up debtors. Now I'll pick up the
Speaker 4: phone in two seconds and be like, hey, you're right,
Speaker 4: what's going on? How can we you know, follow this
Speaker 4: up and come to an agreement because I need you
Speaker 4: to pay your debt the end of the day. That's
Speaker 4: how it should be. But if you can't, I totally
Speaker 4: get that, adopt a fake assistant. Maybe you've hired a
Speaker 4: fake assistant this phone year, Jess, and.
Speaker 3: Put a hard deadline on it. I would say, like,
Speaker 3: I feel like when you're having those emails like now,
Speaker 3: is a really good time of you to say, hey,
Speaker 3: please ensure this is paid prior to the end of
Speaker 3: the financial year, because a lot of businesses will also
Speaker 3: get that, they'll understand and they probably need to tidy
Speaker 3: things up on their end as well before the end
Speaker 3: of the financial year. So if you even just expressing hey,
Speaker 3: like I need this done prior to efy like you
Speaker 3: might have a bit of luck.
Speaker 4: And hopefully people are paying. If they aren't paying in
Speaker 4: the new financial year, you could potentially look at putting
Speaker 4: a caveat on your invoices as well. That basically says
Speaker 4: at the bottom of the invoice, if the invoice isn't paid,
Speaker 4: it could be referred to debt collectors at your expense,
Speaker 4: and that actually puts you in a more powerful position
Speaker 4: so that if you need to go down the debt
Speaker 4: collector route, you don't have to pay the debt collector personally.
Speaker 3: You get your full sum and the.
Speaker 4: Debt collector can add the amount that they are charging
Speaker 4: on top of that invoice, whereas if you don't disclaim
Speaker 4: that on your invoice, they'll take it out of the
Speaker 4: total sum that is payable. Yeah, I speak from experience
Speaker 4: as someone who's had to collect debts before, Jessicaret, I.
Speaker 3: Can tell you've been wounded. I've been burned.
Speaker 4: I've been burned, and you don't have to be because
Speaker 4: I'm learning for both of us, jess absolutely. And then
Speaker 4: we are going to look at our key expenses, so
Speaker 4: direct costs associated with raw materials and components and other
Speaker 4: bits and bobs that make up your products, typically a
Speaker 4: large expense known as the costs of goods sold or cogs, Jessica.
Speaker 4: And catch up with suppliers if you've got them, and
Speaker 4: discuss your plans for the new year, and get them
Speaker 4: all on board, like get them intertwined into your excitement.
Speaker 4: Like I think that that is going to motivate you,
Speaker 4: but also make sure that everybody is on exactly the
Speaker 4: same page.
Speaker 1: I'd be looking at all your other expenses. What's happening there?
Speaker 1: Are there any trends?
Speaker 4: Are you always occurring way more expenses than you thought
Speaker 4: you would?
Speaker 3: Jess Like?
Speaker 4: Is admin taking you way longer than you thought? What
Speaker 4: expenses can you bring down? How can we save money?
Speaker 4: Review your bank statement? How many subscriptions have you got
Speaker 4: inside your business that you're not using?
Speaker 3: Oh like?
Speaker 4: Did you subscribe to the AFR and then you don't
Speaker 4: read the OFAR? Don't get me wrong, I do. Don't
Speaker 4: take it off me. But if you weren't, that's a
Speaker 4: good time to cut a subscription, do you know what
Speaker 4: I mean? Now is the time to cut things. And
Speaker 4: if you're consistently cutting things, your business expenses won't get
Speaker 4: out of hand.
Speaker 3: Speaking of things getting more expensive, what else should we
Speaker 3: be looking at right now? You'll pricing? Love it?
Speaker 4: So I'm not saying review your pricing because it's getting
Speaker 4: more expensive and you should lower your prices. We're valuable businesses.
Speaker 4: We are increasing our prices, Doessica. But what you need
Speaker 4: to be doing is a sales analysis. So how many
Speaker 4: units did you sell? What units sold? Or how many
Speaker 4: dollars have you had in sales? And what are the
Speaker 4: effects of any promotions you've run. Are the promotions you're
Speaker 4: running actually helpful or are you running promotions because you're like, oh,
Speaker 4: I probably should do a sale because everybody else is
Speaker 4: doing a sale.
Speaker 1: But it actually puts you behind.
Speaker 4: Because sometimes we might have a product and the margin
Speaker 4: on the product's five percent, Like we're not making much
Speaker 4: at all. But maybe you were like, oh, everyone else,
Speaker 4: see my industry is doing a twenty percent off sale.
Speaker 4: Like that's actually putting you in the whole. Like that
Speaker 4: is not a good idea at all. So review these
Speaker 4: things and review them consistently so that we're always on
Speaker 4: top of it. What is the effectiveness of your sales
Speaker 4: team if you have one, Like, if you've got a
Speaker 4: sales team, they're actually driving sales. So in most of
Speaker 4: your sales coming organically through tiktoks, Like, let's understand how
Speaker 4: the business is driving us forward.
Speaker 1: Are there any interesting trends that you can see?
Speaker 4: Is there anything different that might be impacting your sales
Speaker 4: this year versus the previous year. We're going to do
Speaker 4: a margin analysis. Yes, so I was talking about this before,
Speaker 4: but which product or service is most profitable. What could
Speaker 4: you do to improve the margins or the sales of
Speaker 4: this product? What has been the impact of any discounts
Speaker 4: they've be offered? As I said before, are you offering
Speaker 4: too much of a discount because everybody else is? Or
Speaker 4: is a discount something that you might want to consider,
Speaker 4: like new financial year sale or something to drive a
Speaker 4: peek in sales at the beginning of your financial year.
Speaker 3: And where are you making the most money?
Speaker 4: Have a look at that and deep dive into how
Speaker 4: you can turbo charge that aspect of your business, because
Speaker 4: I promise it is easier to sell to pre existing
Speaker 4: clients than it is to attract brand new ones.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And if cost of materials and things have gone up,
Speaker 3: that's going to have eaten into your margins now, so
Speaker 3: exactly where it's a great time to go, Okay, well,
Speaker 3: if the cost of XYZ material has gone up by
Speaker 3: five percent, I need to be passing that five percent
Speaker 3: onto the consumer otherwise I'm now out five percent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: And the other thing I would do and not get
Speaker 4: hung up on, is a competitor analysis. So what is
Speaker 4: your market doing? Do you have any known competitors? What
Speaker 4: are they doing, how do your prices compare, how do
Speaker 4: your products and services compare, How close are your offerings
Speaker 4: to those of your competitors, and how do you differentiate yourself?
Speaker 4: Even more so, we always use, you know, the example
Speaker 4: of a candle business. There are so many of them,
Speaker 4: but they are all still successful, right because we all
Speaker 4: have different reasons and like key into your hobbit. I
Speaker 4: really like Jess, and I like a product, and I
Speaker 4: like having you in my house. Or you know, you
Speaker 4: might go to Mecca and buy your candles because you
Speaker 4: like spending a lot of money on candles. But it's
Speaker 4: one of those things where you need to do a
Speaker 4: competitor analysis. But I don't want you comparing and feeling
Speaker 4: less than or that you're not doing enough, because we're
Speaker 4: all on different journeys. Like if you're a photographer and
Speaker 4: in your first few years of working in a business, yes,
Speaker 4: obviously a competitor is a pre established business that's been
Speaker 4: around for fifteen years, But don't compare yourself to them
Speaker 4: and expect yourself to be at that stage or at
Speaker 4: that level.
Speaker 3: Use them as inspiration.
Speaker 4: Every time you feel envious, go why and try and
Speaker 4: channel that into becoming inspiration instead of envy. I think
Speaker 4: so many times it goes into envy because you go, oh, wow,
Speaker 4: I wish I could have that.
Speaker 3: You can if you work hard enough.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's a very cool outcome of doing a
Speaker 4: competitor analysis.
Speaker 3: I really like that. That's such a nice way to
Speaker 3: reframe it. Now. We did a business Bile episode about
Speaker 3: this recently on how you spend your time in the business.
Speaker 3: It was back on April twenty fourth, if anyone missed it.
Speaker 3: But I I think end of financial year is also
Speaker 3: a really great time to review how you are spending
Speaker 3: your time inside your business, right.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And I feel like in a financial year, as
Speaker 4: I said, every six months is a new year of
Speaker 4: some form and we should be using it. So I
Speaker 4: guess my best tip obviously, in addition to all of
Speaker 4: the tips above, I think it's more about reviewing your
Speaker 4: use of time. How much time are you spending on
Speaker 4: each part of your business? Are you working one hundred
Speaker 4: hours a week and making four dollars?
Speaker 3: Is that how you want to spend your time?
Speaker 4: How can we change it so that that's not always
Speaker 4: the outcome?
Speaker 3: You might find that.
Speaker 4: That's your reality, but you know that there's a bigger
Speaker 4: picture at play, and in a couple of years you'll
Speaker 4: be working one hour and making millions. So it's all
Speaker 4: about perspective as well. We're not saying, oh, don't use
Speaker 4: it how you want, But sometimes we find ourselves in
Speaker 4: a bit of a business whirlpool and we just keep
Speaker 4: doing what we keep doing because that's how we've always
Speaker 4: done it. But that doesn't mean it's correct. And then
Speaker 4: is it time to outsource some tasks? You know, if
Speaker 4: your business is growing? Like could we outsource something? Could
Speaker 4: we get a VA? Could we get somebody else involved?
Speaker 4: And then also like how do we know when is
Speaker 4: the right time to hire? And who are we're going
Speaker 4: full blown into having a full time employee?
Speaker 1: Are we're doing part time?
Speaker 4: We're getting a casual employee, We're just getting a VA
Speaker 4: for a few hours a month? Like what does this
Speaker 4: look like? And is this reasonable for our business at
Speaker 4: this time? And I guess speaking of this, if you
Speaker 4: have one, we are reviewing our team.
Speaker 3: We are reviewing performance to date.
Speaker 4: This isn't because we're trying to be savage, Jess, your
Speaker 4: team members deserve a review, Like I know you and
Speaker 4: I like sitting down and going all right, Jess, what
Speaker 4: have you achieved this year? Vice versa? How have you
Speaker 4: liked working with me? What does this look like? How
Speaker 4: does this work? It's a two way street when it
Speaker 4: comes to team performance review. Have you scheduled performance review
Speaker 4: meetings with all your team members before the end of
Speaker 4: the year or before the end of the financial year,
Speaker 4: whichever you want to do. Do you actually have formal
Speaker 4: documents to support the performance management process in your business?
Speaker 4: Your business is not too small to have formal documents.
Speaker 4: I feel like so many times small businesses go I'm
Speaker 4: too small. I know, Jess, really well, Jess. Do we
Speaker 4: do formal performance review in our team?
Speaker 3: Of course?
Speaker 4: But it's so helpful because it lets us slip out
Speaker 4: of this friends and getting stuff done and day to
Speaker 4: day and going all right, well, actually we've got this
Speaker 4: formal dog, let's go through it together. You've put your
Speaker 4: notes in it, I've got mine. Like, where are you
Speaker 4: at with these things? Because even though we're friends, you know,
Speaker 4: I'm the business owner and you work for me, and
Speaker 4: we have you know, gone beyond that. I feel like
Speaker 4: you deserve that from me and vice versa, and if not,
Speaker 4: now's the time.
Speaker 3: To do it. There are heaps on Google.
Speaker 4: I can always share mine at some point, but I
Speaker 4: think kicking off the new year with tangible targets for
Speaker 4: your team gives them more motivation.
Speaker 1: And you know what.
Speaker 4: Motivated people do, just make money, make more money, and
Speaker 4: we like that. We're going to be looking at rewards.
Speaker 4: Your team deserve to be rewarded. Incentives and bonuses can
Speaker 4: be a really great way of rewarding contributions that your
Speaker 4: team members make to your business. Don't forget they are
Speaker 4: working for you. They are working to build your business,
Speaker 4: and that deserves to be rewarded. They can obviously be
Speaker 4: really effective in increasing activity during slow times and really
Speaker 4: motivating your team. I've heard from a lot of people
Speaker 4: who have said I can't afford rewards.
Speaker 1: I can't afford the benefits for my team.
Speaker 4: And don't get me wrong, we're all in different places
Speaker 4: to offer incentives or bonuses, but you need to make
Speaker 4: sure that your team members feel valued and you could
Speaker 4: go hejs. Obviously we're not making heaps of money as
Speaker 4: a business, and I really wish I could pay you more.
Speaker 4: How about I give you a couple of days off
Speaker 4: next month, not included any sea like there are lots
Speaker 4: of ways to incentivize your team members that don't include cash.
Speaker 4: If cash is in short supply, which for a lot
Speaker 4: of people at the moment it is. That doesn't mean
Speaker 4: you can just not look at your team members and
Speaker 4: make them feel valued career development plans and discussions around that.
Speaker 4: Even if you have a performance review discussion with your
Speaker 4: teenage year how clear are their career development discussions? Where
Speaker 4: do they want to be in twelve months? Where do
Speaker 4: they want to be in three years? I feel like
Speaker 4: you need to be open with your team to the
Speaker 4: point where that could be not with you.
Speaker 1: And that's not a bad thing.
Speaker 4: And I've always said that, Jess, I would keep you
Speaker 4: every day for the rest of ever. But I also
Speaker 4: would never want to get in the way of your
Speaker 4: career development. And if I become a beautiful launching pad
Speaker 4: into a bigger, better career for you, slay like, that's amazing.
Speaker 3: I've been part of that.
Speaker 4: But I think that too many times people assume that
Speaker 4: by having career development discussions with their team, they have
Speaker 4: to have the career inside their business. Like I go, oh, Jess, well,
Speaker 4: where would you want to go? And at the moment
Speaker 4: you're kind of sitting at the top of what you
Speaker 4: do in my business. Yeah, so how do we have
Speaker 4: those career development discussions where you might go, well, I
Speaker 4: actually want to stay here and I really would like
Speaker 4: to do ABCDN next year. That's adding additional value to
Speaker 4: my business. Or you might go, yeah, look at some stage,
Speaker 4: I'd like to launch into big business and take on
Speaker 4: a really corporate structure.
Speaker 3: Great, how can I help you to get there?
Speaker 4: Because I promise you're going to get more from your
Speaker 4: team if you're helping them to get where they want
Speaker 4: to go than if you go, Oh, but you have
Speaker 4: to stay in my business forever in a day.
Speaker 3: That is such a good point, and it really is
Speaker 3: so true. I guess for both an employer and an employee,
Speaker 3: it's really important to be checking in with each other.
Speaker 3: Is there any other last little tipbits before we go
Speaker 3: away that you reckon? People should really be getting on
Speaker 3: top of this end of financial deseason.
Speaker 4: Your clients and your customers. So let's review our service.
Speaker 4: Are we serving who we want to serve? Who are
Speaker 4: your most profitable customers? How do we get more of
Speaker 4: those ones who are your least profitable clients? How do
Speaker 4: we have less of those what are your service highlights? Like,
Speaker 4: have there been some like flashes of brilliance? Like have
Speaker 4: there been some things that you've been like, Wow, actually
Speaker 4: we knocked it out of the park for that client.
Speaker 3: Just how do we do it again?
Speaker 4: How do we do that and take that magic of
Speaker 4: that experience and give it to everybody in our business?
Speaker 4: What are the low lights? Have there been some issues
Speaker 4: along the way? How do we make sure it doesn't
Speaker 4: happen again in the next twelve months? And then maybe
Speaker 4: you could open it up as an opportunity for feedback.
Speaker 4: Now is a perfect time to get feedback and survey
Speaker 4: your customers. Seek feedback through surveys or focus groups or interviews,
Speaker 4: or just pick up the phone and be like, hey, Jess,
Speaker 4: long time no speak.
Speaker 3: Are you still loving working with us?
Speaker 4: You said that ages ago, but like, has the service
Speaker 4: been the same? I'm just gathering some feedback to make
Speaker 4: sure that next year is our best year yet. And
Speaker 4: I can almost guarantee that everyone's going to be like,
Speaker 4: oh yeah, Jess, I really want to be on top
Speaker 4: of this. So go to your most important customers first,
Speaker 4: but send an email. You'll get some feedback and it
Speaker 4: will put you in the best possible position to have
Speaker 4: the best year yet.
Speaker 3: I completely agree, and I think like the overall theme
Speaker 3: of today's episode is like we're halfway through the yard.
Speaker 3: It's a really good time to stop and take an
Speaker 3: assessment of what you've achieved, what you want to achieve. Like,
Speaker 3: let's kind of get a bit of that new financial
Speaker 3: year you me and you know, just textalk of what
Speaker 3: you've done, because like it's been six months and that's
Speaker 3: incredible and we're so proud of you. For those of
Speaker 3: you who have been working in a business for six
Speaker 3: months or have been planning something, maybe you're just ready
Speaker 3: to launch it. I feel like I have nothing else
Speaker 3: with value to add. VD. That was an awesome episode
Speaker 3: that I feel like will help a lot of people.
Speaker 1: So fun. All right, Well, we'll see you soon.
Speaker 3: See on Friday.
Speaker 4: By The advice shared on She's on the Money is
Speaker 4: general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances.
Speaker 4: She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and
Speaker 4: should not be relied upon to make an investment or
Speaker 4: financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product,
Speaker 4: read the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice.
Speaker 1: Tailored towards your needs.
Speaker 4: Victoria Divine and She's on the money are authorized representatives
Speaker 4: of money. Sheper Pty Ltd ABN three two one is
Speaker 4: six four nine two seven seven zero eight AFSL four
Speaker 4: five one two eight nine
Speaker 2: H