Keeping businesses profitable

THERE are 15,619 businesses in Toowoomba yet most of them turn over less than $500,000 a year and 63.9 per cent have no employees.

Experts say everything from bad planning decisions to slow internet are preventing businesses from growing.

The Toowoomba Chronicle

asked two of Australia’s leading business gurus about what it takes to survive and thrive.

Entrepreneur and Shark Tank star Naomi Simson* says it takes little effort to set up a business but making a success of it is a different beast.

“If you have got an idea in the morning you can have it registered with a website and everything else done by the afternoon and away you go,” the founder of RedBalloon Australia and the Big Red Group says.

“The hardest part is about scaling a business and growing it – and finding customers.”

Ms Simson said scaling up was expensive and new operators could expect to not draw a liveable wage for 18 months or more.

About 41 per cent of Toowoomba businesses turn over less than $100,000 a year and 37 per cent earn $100,000– $500,000.

Just 6.4 per cent hit $2 million in annual turnover, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.

Ms Simson said she was not surprised by this.

Council of Small Business Organisations Australia CEO Peter Strong has long been an advocate for enterprising startups.

He said planning was the key for people wanting to keep their businesses on track.

“You need to do a classic forward business plan with cashflow management so you know how much money you need to come in to survive – to cover your rent, your power, your suppliers,” Mr Strong said.

“You also need to manage your emotions – do not get so excited that you do not apply normal due diligence.

“Get yourself an adviser who knows your industry – not a relative but a professional – and listen to them.”

Mr Strong said business owners struggled if there was limited access to good quality internet.

* You can read Naomi Simson’s column, Biz Talk, online and in print in The Chronicle.