Mark Bouris knows how hard launching a business can be – but says most people out there doing it don’t. Picture: Hollie Adams/The AustralianOne of the big business killers is our tax system. So many businesses – too many, in fact – fail because they can’t afford to pay the tax bills that turn up at the end of the first year of trading.
Yes, you can partly blame them for not putting money away for a financial impost they should know is coming, but the fact is it’s hard for a lot of people to manage turnover during those unexpected first 24 months, and many owners find themselves using the tax office as a kind of savings account, forgetting that someone will one day come knocking for the money they have – or should have – been putting away.
To be fair, the biggest problem is often small-business people being their own worst enemies. All too often, when I ask people why they’re going into business they give the same, shortsighted answer – to make money. They think it’s going to be easy, that they can somehow do better than everyone else, that they can out-trade or outsell the market. And in the current, struggling retail market, that is all too often a huge mistake.
People need to have a reason to go into business, a why that’s bigger than just “making money”. If that’s all you want to do, there are easier ways.
It’s who you know not what you know
But first a question Mr B. “Trump - success or failure?”