Running a successful home-based business in Mawson Lakes

Home-based businesses are the fastest growing small business sector in Australia, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a trend reflected in Mawson Lakes.

Adesire for flexible lifestyles has made home-based businesses a popular choice in ML. Lower overheads decrease the financial risk of starting up, while email and internet communication eliminate the need for a shopfront. Time saved commuting to and from work can be spent with the family or on the business. Living looks at three home-based businesses and the entrepreneurs who run them.

Julie Wasley who has been running her home business for 15 years says it takes courage to step out of your comfort zone in a salaried job and become self-employed, but for her the rewards, both financial and personal, have been very worthwhile. “I am my own boss and my business fits around my lifestyle,” she said.

When Kym Turner left the finance sector he transferred his skills to a consultancy. He advises that 5-15% of turnover should be spent on marketing, “but you have to be smart about how you do it,” he said.

Ian Lamb is in the start-up phase of a new business called Oz Bin Cleaning. His initial challenge is to build brand awareness, because he says, “no matter how good your business, it will only thrive if people know about you.” Ed.

Business: Oz Bin Cleaning

Owners: Ian and Jayne Lamb

Type of business: Mobile bin cleaning and sterilising service for residential and commercial premises.

Marketing plan: We have only been in business for 5 months so our focus is to build name recognition and earning referrals. To do this we have bright yellow vehicles displaying our business name, corporate t-shirts, we are networking, we tag garbage bins with promotional leaflets, door knock and advertise locally.

Biggest challenge: I need to structure my time carefully to fit everything in. There is so much to do to develop a new business concept.

Business wisdom: It’s not what you sell, it’s how you relate to your customers that counts.

See Oz Bin Cleaning advertisement on page 17

Things to do in setting up a home-based business

Attend to operational matters: Register your business name, know council and government regulations, especially regarding client parking. Are any approvals required? To check government licensing requirements go to http://sa.bli.net.au

Understand financial management: Get advice on tax and gst and ways to protect financial assets. Get approval from your financial lender or landlord before commencing business - some home mortgages and rental agreements prohibit business being conducted on the premises. Research insurance: Look into personal insurance, income protection, professional indemnity, public liability.

Kym Turner from Famous Performance Marketing.

Business: Famous Performance Marketing

Director: Kym Turner

Type of business: Sales and Marketing Consulting

Expertise : Kym has been in financial planning for 30 years. This year he set up a home office and is working full-time on a Business2Business model where he goes to the client.

Steps for self employment: Start with operational things such as registering your business name, consider tax and gst, get insurance for income protection and professional indemnity and find out how to protect your financial assets.

Marketing strategy: Do things smart. Spend your marketing $$ in the right places. To build credibility and authority write books (it’s easy online), use videos and have a good website. Advertise locally. Have lots of give-aways. Diversification and repetition are the key to effective marketing.

Business wisdom: People buy from people they know, like and trust. See advert page 23.

Business: Intimo Fashion

Director: Julie Wasley

Type of business: Direct selling in lingerie underwear and outerwear, specialising in fittings for larger ladies. “Big girls want to be beautiful too,” says Julie who divides her time between fitting women, training presentations and fashion shows.

Office: Two front rooms of Julie’s house are used as a fitting room, an office and a waiting room. “It is important to separate business from family,” she said.

Marketing strategy: Has a team of 50 women around Australia selling Intimo. “This is a people-oriented business so I talk to every one of my team every day by email or phone and I stay in touch with my customers. Constant communication is the key to my successful business.”

Business wisdom: Your attitude determines your altitude.

Consider your neighbours: Avoid complaints about clients visiting your business or the noise your business will create. Discuss your plans with your neighbours before you begin.

Establish an office: Build a home office/studio in a separate room or your garage, or hire a serviced office. Talk to Innovation House in ML about small office spaces for hire. See page 13

Manage your time: Get organised. Write a business plan with detail of your goals, opportunities, risks, budget and time constraints. Follow a to do list.

Build name awareness: Invest in a range of promotional material to let people know you exist, what you offer and where to find you. Allocate 5-15 % of your turnover to marketing. No matter how good your business, you need to constantly remind people you exist. Ed

Living Legend

Tireless Mawson Lakes worker, Maureen Morton, has been named a 2012 City of Salisbury Living Legend.

The annual awards, run by Salisbury Council, recognise people who are making an outstanding contribution to the community.

Maureen was recognised for her work with young people in the field of science education.

Presenting the award, Mayor Gillian Aldridge said Maureen is passionate about making young people aware of opportunities available in Science. She has been a key player in the Science at the Lakes Committee and has raised funds through Mawson Lakes Rotary Club to send students to science conferences and workshops.

Maureen has been a representative on the Mawson Lakes Community Trust Fund that has allocated many millions of dollars to community works in ML.

On receiving the award Maureen said that she enjoys her voluntary work because it benefits so many people in the community.

“To make things happen you need to be involved on committees so that you can quietly seed ideas from which many good things can grow,” she said. Ed.

What TREE is that?

London Plane Tree: Botanical name Platanus x hispanica (platanus x acerfolia))

This majestic, large tree with bright green leaves in summer and smooth patterned pale grey bark is widely used in Mawson Lakes as a shade tree. It is deciduous so it looses its leaves in winter and lets the sun shine through its bare branches.

It can reach 20 to 30 metres high and needs enough space to reach its full potential.

The tree is well-suited to ML conditions because it is tolerate of drought, wind, air pollution and heavy soil making it an ideal tree for urban landscapes. It likes a sunny position and has low water demands when established.

Flowers are red or yellow in clusters and the seed is a fuzzy rounded ball.

Water regularly when young and stake the tree, but don’t forget to remove the stakes as the tree grows. Prune when young to remove low growth and space lateral branches along one central trunk. Prune in winter.

The London Plane is planted along the streets of London to form dappled avenues. It is a hybrid of the Oriental Plane and the American Plane and can be long-lived. While the London Plane has larger leaves than the Oriental Plane, all three species can be identified by maple-like leaves, the dappled pattern left by the peeling bark of the trunk and larger branches and by the pendant ball-shaped clusters of seeds that remain after leaf fall and on through winter.

Plane trees can be seen on the corner of Parkview Drive and The Walk and along The Walk. The town centre has many examples. Ed.