The Future for Australian Businesses

One of the gold mines of information on Australian businesses is the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Like many people, when I used to hear of the ABS, I automatically fell into a coma.

I mean … hearing about statistics ranks just above a rectal probe and below cleaning my teeth in terms of excitement.

But my ever-expanding interest in Australian businesses led me to the ABS’ annual “Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits” report.

A review of the 30 June 2018 figures yielded some interesting facts.

• There were approximately 2.3m businesses in Australia;

• Of these, 1.4m businesses did not employ anyone;

• 600k businesses employed 1 to 4 people, including the owner;

• The net increase in the number of businesses  from 2017 to 2018 was approximately 75k;

• Of this net increase, 65k did not employ anyone and 25k related to the road transport industry (think Uber, Didi, etc);

• 572k businesses had annual turnover between $0 and $50k;

• 792k businesses had annual turnover between $50k and $200k;

• 787k businesses had annual turnover between $200k and $2m.

Now even stopping at this point the above seems to be telling a pretty stark story.

Most businesses in Australia either don’t employ anyone or employ very few people.

They’re basically one-person operations struggling to compete with each other and the big corporations.

And around 60% of them don’t earn over $200k annual turnover.

And that’s turnover, not profit!

I’d imagine it’s a similar situation in the USA and UK.

Now the above figures were for the 30 June 2018 year and the 30 June 2019 figures are due to be released in February this year.

But I’m guessing we’re going to see a continuation of this trend.

And that’s with a government hell-bent on trying to make everyone an employee.

So the obvious question is …

How can you make sure your business doesn’t simply become a statistic?

Actually, this is one reason why I decided to release my new book in the near future.

I got tired of seeing smaller businesses working hard, having not a lot of time and under a lot of stress.

And without the rewards to enjoy at the end of the day.

It’s not a book you’ll see on any university or business recommended reading list.

In fact, it talks about some things that go against the grain of conventional wisdom, yet were implemented by two very successful business owners here in Australia.

The reality is not many business owners would be willing to try some of the things mentioned.

Which is why those that do may well end-up being ahead of the bell-curve going forward.

You can be amongst the first to get some advanced extracts by joining the Sculpt community below.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Want to become part of our ‘Sculpt” community and be notified of new articles and special benefits? Then join here.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Any thoughts about what I’ve mentioned above? Then go to www.sculptaccountants.com.au/contact and let us know.

Until next time.

Please Note: These articles are provided for education purposes only and should not be construed as specific advice. Always seek professional advice in relation to your personal and business circumstances.