Newslines Radio: Keeping a small business successful

February 2012 – Program two

Broadcast date:	6–12 February 2012
Duration:	12 minutes
Presenter:	Nathan Ramsay
Content:	Small business owners and agencies talk about how to keep businesses up and running.
Talent:	Chris Dragisic, Indigenous Business Australia, ACT Steven Rawls, business owner, VIC Leigh Harris, business owner, Inguides, QLD.

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PRESENTER: Hi, I’m Nathan Ramsay and you’re listening to Newslines Radio, a weekly program produced by the Australian Government on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues.

One of the big issues for our people has always been how to care for our families.

Running a small business is being seen as one way of creating income and prosperity for our families and communities, and it’s also a way of us becoming more self-reliant.

Last program we had a look at what to consider before you start up a business and this week, we’re taking a look at how to keep that business operating successfully over the years.

It’s the nuts and bolts of business: things like managing staff well, maintaining a work–life balance, keeping the books, networking and not being afraid to ask for help when you need it.

Newslines Radio’s Jeremy Geia prepared this report.

GEIA: Small business is vital and one of the solutions in getting Indigenous Australians into work and out of the unemployment zone.

But why choose to run a small business? It can be a lot of hard work.

For some people it’s the independence and self-reliance that’s attractive. For Cairns-based small businessman Leigh Harris, running a business is all about Indigenous people sharing wealth and skills.

HARRIS: For Indigenous people in business, particularly small business, I mean sometimes a lot of Indigenous mob, they want to stay a small business. I want to stay a small business. I don’t have any grandeur to be a large multi-national company or a large company in Cairns. But what I want to do is I want to be able to share the wealth. I want to be able to connect to people and I’ve already got those connections anyway in Aurukun, in Brisbane, in Yarrabah.

We’ve all got different skills and I want to be able to farm work off to people. I want to grow other people and bring them into the wealth of operating a business.

GEIA: Once you’ve started your business it can be a struggle to keep it operating. And with the financial crisis affecting economies around the world I thought I’d ask a few Indigenous business operators how they’re coping with the situation.

Melbourne-based Indigenous photographer and Taungurong man Stephen Rawls is a solo business operator and says, while growing a business has its challenges, there are also many benefits.

RAWLS: For me that sits in line with who I am. I’m a pretty independent person but that helps fuel the drive to do well. And in saying that, you’re by yourself so that means everything you need to do, from dealing with clients, the general public, your marketing, which is what you have to do to get your name out there, one of the things, and the less exciting work – the administration and fulfilling obligations in regards to the tax office, record keeping – you’ve got to do that too.

Maybe one day I could delegate and have someone else do some of the less exciting work for me but we’ll see what happens. It’s been challenging but yeah, we’re working towards it!

GEIA: Steven says maintaining his business relies on him building and keeping up business contacts and networks.

Another thing he says we should know about how he runs his business is that it’s a seasonal venture, so he earns a second income through part-time work, to keep him afloat.

This gives him the extra cash flow to purchase new equipment for his photographic business and to market his services and get more work.

GEIA: Leigh Harris, who we heard from earlier, may not be a household name, but he is the creator of Inguides, an online Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander business directory.

He’s a bit of a tech guru and is working on interesting projects such as Indigenous content for smart TVs.

Leigh has launched what’s believed to be the first ever Indigenous “app” for mobile devices like phones and tablets.

For him the secret to surviving the small business world is keeping it small and community focussed.

HARRIS: If you have the abilities, if you have the know-how, don’t be frightened to go out there into the real world and become a small business.

Successes that I’ve done, I’ve created some of the most innovative things and I think that strangely enough, those small innovations that I make from a small house in Cairns, I haven’t got a huge studio or anything like that, I think that what that’s done is it hasn’t…somewhere along the line it’s gotten picked up and people say, “Oh that’s a great thing,” but realistically, is that what I really wanted to do is just push that envelope, push the envelope towards that new technology margin that I’m talking about, you know.

So I think pushing envelopes is really good as long as you’re making an income out of it. I don’t think I’ve made too many mistakes along the line and I really think that Indigenous mob out there, any mob out there that want to create a business, want to start a small business…do it. Do it now.

GEIA: Leigh is another great believer in the importance of networking and thinks small business grows with more community interaction. He encourages everyone to get involved and for those already established to support others.

HARRIS: Fair enough, you can go to university, but if you don’t want to go to university, if you’ve got a decent education or even if you haven’t you can go and mow the lawns of people and do things like that or create something that you’ve got a skill in. Don’t be ashamed to go out there and start your own business.

And the beauty about Indigenous business – this is the beauty about Indigenous business: no matter where you’re located somebody’s going to assist you, be it somebody you know in the community, be it somebody that you’re connected to, be it a family member, they’re going to give you work and you just progress from there.

Small steps; don’t look at the big steps because big steps in business is sometimes not good. Take little small steps and use that localised network. You don’t have to connect to this bigger broader network that is an Australian business network or a world business network. You have to do it on the ground. Small business survives on the ground in your hometown, in your home community.

PRESENTER: You’re listening to Newslines Radio, and we’re taking a look at some of the things that can keep small businesses operating.

Part of the trick is being able to ask for help and guidance when you need it. And that’s where Indigenous Business Australia, IBA, comes in.

The IBA is providing small business loans and training programs for people looking to get into business or developing their service to a bigger playing field.

Chris Dragisic is with Indigenous Business Australia

and she spoke with Newslines’ Jeremy Geia about good ways to develop a business.

DRAGISIC: The first question that somebody needs to ask themselves is being in business the right thing for me? Because being in business can be rewarding, liberating and especially financially but at the same time it’s financially challenging and quite stressful. There are long hours and a lot to do.

The consultants will actually help guide you through that process. We also run a series of workshops around that to take the first step and ask, “Is business for me? What’s it going to entail? Do I have the right skills?” and being able to grow a business.

The key thing is not growing too quickly and there’re a lot of cash-flow management issues that need to be addressed to be able to ensure that you grow at the right pace that you can actually handle at any point in time. So they are all the sorts of issues and challenges that are facing [you].

Being technically competent in something doesn’t always necessarily mean that you’re a great business manager. For example a great mechanic doesn’t make him a great business owner. He’s great at fixing cars. So consultants will help them to work on the other financial management and administration of their businesses.

GEIA: Personally, what do you think is an Indigenous success story from someone or a group that’s gone to the IBA and asked for a bit of support and maybe they got something and they’re flourishing now?

DRAGISIC: Going back to one of the mechanics: the husband is a mechanic, the wife had business administration experience and they came to us for a loan in 2006 and they had some challenges and one of the important things is undervaluing yourself, you just say you want to be able to make sure that you’re charging people the right price. And they had to be able to try and schedule their work and make sure that they fitted things in and they wanted to be everything to everyone but then they realised that they can’t do that. So they had to really try and find a way of making the people come back to them.

So they now have an 80 per cent customer return rate, and ways they’ve done that is they’ve looked at themselves and said, “OK, I’m providing a good service, it’s right for me to charge that right amount.” Because he was too worried that he was going to overcharge his customers and they wouldn’t come back, and mechanics get caught up in that, but at the same time they had to cover their costs and his labour component was the only way he could really make…that’s where the money-making is.

So, some of the things that they went and did, they did further courses to be able to market and how they can get further business out of there so they have a customer follow-up service plan, customer-care plan, so they follow up sending them service reminders, but now these days they send a text. We’re talking about technology…that phone call sometimes…everyone’s too busy – I haven’t got time for this. But sometimes it’s less intrusive to be able to send a text and just a little reminder. So that’s worked wonders for them and they’re still going strong six years later.

GEIA: One of the things that I hear from community mob when I travel around is getting ready for government contracts. Is there some sort of informational workshop that IBA does as well to help prepare or arm those business with that information to go out there and source that type of stuff if they want to do that?

DRAGISIC: If they want to do that. Some of the requirements, to be able to be in a position to do that our workshops cover off about their business ideas, their financial planning management, marketing and managing a business so incorporated into that process, if that’s something they really want to do how they get ready for it and making sure that they have the right insurance and all these other things that government contracts look for.

That they have enough money to be able to meet that and working capital is really one of the things that a business trying to get ready is that they usually underestimate how much money they need to start up their business. And that’s where they sort of get a little bit stuck and being able to pay wages and staff and if they are able to take on these contracts. So being ready, doing all that business planning is really one of the important things and once again that’s a support that we can provide.

PRESENTER: That was Chris Dragisic from Indigenous Business Australia. If you’re interested in starting a business or getting help to build an existing one then check out the links and information on our website at indigenous.gov.au.

That’s all for this week. I’m Nathan Ramsay. Thanks for joining us.