The Business Behind Your Business

The Melissa Caddick Ponzi scheme rocked the investment world when it came to light a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, this kind of fraudulent behaviour is nothing new or unusual and we all need to guard against it.

Our special guest, Bruce Gleeson (Jones Partners), is the liquidator for Melissa Caddick and has been very busy working on this case. Bruce shares some advice to help investors protect themselves from Ponzi s...

Are you curious about starting a business? Do you want to learn more about the SaaS industry?

Maybe you are interested in becoming an entrepreneur yourself? Listen in and gain some insight from our special guest, Stuart McLeod, co-founder of Karbon. 

Stuart has had many experiences as an entrepreneur. He started off in his early days with creating a tool to solve his own business problem, and luckily found a gre...

Did you know that a series of changes to industrial relations laws have been happening in Australia? Some have come into effect in Dec 2022 and others are happening throughout 2023. Many business owners are not aware of these changes.

It is necessary for business owners to keep on top of this information - ignorance is no excuse. Penalties will apply to businesses not following the new rules, once a law comes into effect.<...

Do you feel like you are stuck in a rut making the same goals for your business every year because these goals are never achieved?

Maybe it's time to take a closer look at how you are setting your goals.

Paul Sweeney (Pretium Solutions) explores how goals are developed - and asks the all-important question of what lies underneath your goals, the why.

Find out how you can create a plan for your busine...

Business owners spend a lot of time thinking about the things they should be doing. What are the latest trends to get on top of? What are the newest tools you need to be using? What are your goals and targets for the year ahead?

But few business owners take the time to think about what they need to stop doing.  We all pick up habits, some good, some not so productive.  And sometimes it's useful to take a moment and ev...

Are you feeling stuck in the day to day routines of your corporate job? Have you ever dreamed of running your own business? You are not alone! Many people take the plunge into the SME waters - but is it worth it? And is it the right decision for you?

If you are thinking about making a move, then this is the episode for you!

We are joined by Wendy Minne from Nova Mentis, an accredited business coaching organisatio...

Paul Sweeney, the host of The Business Behind Your Business, is back and ready for another exciting year of delving into the world of small business. 

We are settling into 2023 now with the Australian summer holidays fading into memory and busy routines returning. We are also seeing a push from many businesses to have staff back in the office after the last few years with many of us working from home. It's a period of...

Maybe you've been wondering how this podcast came about?

A bunch of factors coming together resulted in Paul Sweeney wanting to create a podcast focused on content to help small business owners.

First of all, Paul comes from a small town where he saw first hand the implications of local businesses succeeding or failing and how this affected the whole community. This background inspired Paul to want to help bu...

Are you guilty of mindless spending at work? Maybe you have cash leaking from your business and you don't even realise it!

Paul Sweeney (Pretium Solutions) explores some of the most common areas where money is wasted:

• Unused or under-used subscriptions
• Unnecessary licences
• Old subscriptions from past employees
• Automatic renewals

These areas are often overlooked by business owners.

Take control of your &ap...

Standard operating procedures (or SOPs) are about making things simpler at work and saving time.

The work day is full of so many tasks and it makes sense to keep things as easy as possible. SOPs help you organise and streamline your activities to make the best use of your time.

This is especially important for small business owners who may be wearing many hats and having to carry out a variety of jobs throughout ...

We assume accuracy is beneficial all of the time, but perhaps not always necessary. You can think of situations where accuracy might be sacrificed for speed perhaps, creativity, or just to get the ball moving on a project. Remember the saying by  Catherine Carrigan, 'Perfect is the enemy of done.'

But when is accuracy essential in business?

Accuracy is required in your business' financial reports. T...

Running a successful business is all about the profit, right?

While being profitable is the ultimate goal of a business, one of the most important factors (and one of the biggest pain points) is management of cash flow.

So what can you do to improve your cash flow?

Paul Sweeney from Pretium Solutions explores some crucial aspects of cash flow:

• Understand what cash flow is - and how it is different to p...

Running your own business is amazing, right? The freedom, the power, the money - more like, the STRESS!

Stress is something that everyone experiences, but for small business owners, it can feel extreme as you try to grapple with every problem imaginable and find solutions to please everyone. It's an uphill battle that can leave you feeling very much alone.

There are strategies to help you deal with this commo...

Sales is commonly listed as a problem area for businesses. But where to begin with fixing things? What can you do to improve your sales?

Nathan Williams, founder of Customer Return, joins us to look at some of the biggest sales issues faced by businesses including:

• Developing the right pitch
• Creating a sales process that works
• How you can target your 'ideal' client
• Getting repeat sales
• Making referrals work for you

Nath...

It's something that all businesses (and individuals) dread - a data breach. We all know by now how important it is to protect our data. But despite the tools and education available, these data breaches still happen. And sometimes, like the recent Optus breach, they are massive.

This incident has led to many important questions being asked:

• How did it happen and how can we keep it from happening again?
• What sorts of...

As part of our celebration of our 100th episode, we asked our listeners what topic they would like covered. The consensus was to do a compilation of the best business advice from listeners.

So that is what you will find in this jam-packed episode!

We heard from business owners and professionals about the strategies that have made a positive difference in their businesses. From human resources tips, to the best min...

Delegation can be a great tool for business owners to use - but only if used correctly! Otherwise, employees can feel resentful ("I'm getting the jobs no one else wants!") or overwhelmed ("This isn't my job, why am I doing it? I have no idea what to do!")

Raj Nathoo from Keystone Active Learning shares some helpful tips on using delegation successfully.

Find out why it's importan...

Do you need to know more about your customers or competition? What about trends affecting your industry? Or generational shifts in society?

Successful businesses are all about providing great solutions to difficult problems faced by your customers. To make sure you are on the right path, it is crucial to have the right information to build your business.

Access to data can help your business grow and thrive. It c...

We'll be back after a short break - there's more podcast episodes to come

It's been a busy year! Between running a small business, sharing business information in this podcast and keeping up with family, we are always hopping! We have decided to take a short break from producing weekly podcast episodes, but rest assured, we'll be back with more content to help you run a successful business!

Upcoming epis...