SYDNEY – ISSUE 85 | MAY – JUNE 2017
CROWD SOURCED FUNDING Page 16
Bankruptcy and Family Trusts – Are They Still Effective? Page 18
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Contents Cover Story
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Chocopreneurs Lukatising a Retail Industry
Kate Orlova & Anton Morus A. Charles Smith
Regulars
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EDITOR’S LETTER
It’s Profitable to Be Famous
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Dmitry Greku
BIZINET LIFESTYLE
Learn about Your Family Treasures & How to Make the Most of Them Chris Underwood
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BUSINESS ADVICE Crowd Sourced Funding Steven Brown
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SELECT OZ
Why Now is the Best Time to Get Your Made-to-Measure Clothing? Farrukh Mirza
Bankruptcy and Family Trusts – Are They Still Effective? Bruce Gleeson
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Accountancy and Bookkeeping Digital Disruption, Are You Prepared? John Howard
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The Key Steps for a Small Business Marketing Plan
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Are You Prepared to Work with Your Web Developer?
Business Insights
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YOUR BUSINESS CALENDAR
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BIZINETWORK
Kym Heffernan
Daniel Moisyeyev Watch More @ bizinettv.com.au
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EDITOR’S LETTER
It’s Profitable to Be Famous Dmitry Greku, M. Sc., Editor and Publisher - BiziNet Magazine They say – “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. But how about “Who knows you”? There are many articles and discussions on that very critical topic – what attracts sales or brings in your revenue? Opinions tend to keep coming. Here are just some of them: smart marketing strategy, great HR policy, being proactive, digital and social marketing approach, look good and smell good—the list is endless. I don’t remember too many people talking about becoming famous. Yes, as simple as that – just become famous and people will listen to you and will buy from you. We, in GWP Media, experienced a multitude of different scenarios with our clients during the last sixteen years in business. Some of those stories are mind-blowing and, I confess, sometimes even made me a little jealous. We’re happy for our clients and proud of the results we achieve together. One of our first cover profiles went on to become a service supplier to the properties of the biggest retail chain throughout Australia. They called him after reading his story. He visited their office and an irresistible offer materialised. Another client started assembling their competitors’ clientele from all over Sydney. The opposition could see the depth of skill and knowledge from regularly reading the articles. In turn, it was grist to motivate their competition to start requesting our client’s services. A little IT firm received a multi-billion dollar international corporation as a new client shortly after graduating from a garage to its
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first office. Coincidentally, the conglomerate was relocating from Brisbane to Sydney and sourcing for local suppliers through BiziNet. They found each other. With our tenure in business, those stories can be reprised for a week or two or even three. The point is people must know you. It’s even better when they understand you. Your values, your skills, the knowledge, capture your eyes and see your body language thanks to BiziNet TV’s streaming video clips of contributors. As a result, they feel like they know you and become open to transact business. Save for Royalty, people are not born famous. Each person has an opportunity to make himself or herself famous. Not an ephemeral Justin Bieber notoriety, more about being accomplished as a consummate professional with a great history and a significant level of trust from other like-minded entrepreneurs.
Editor and Publisher: Dmitry Greku Cover Story: A. Charles Smith Contributing Writers: Steven Brown Bruce Gleeson Chris Underwood Farrukh Mirza John Howard Daniel Moisyeyev Kym Heffernan Art Director: Svetlana Greku Cover Design: Elvira Cherry Executive Officer: Daniel Moisyeyev BiziNet Magazine is published by GWP Media® ABN: 82 096 352 064 www.bizinet.com.au Printing: Blue Star Group International Distribution Partner DHL Express Postal Address: PO Box 7519 Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 International Standard Serial Number: ISSN 1837-199X Advertising Enquiries: p | 1300 889 132 e | info@gwpmedia.com.au w | www.bizinet.com.au
In April we sent multiple parcels of BiziNet magazines to all Austrade offices and some regional Chambers of Commerce in the US. In undertaking this outreach, we are building profiles of our members, contributors and our network to the biggest economy in the world. Our base is strong in Australia and international exposure will add extra business to those who work on their professional image with us and to our Alliance Partners. I invite you to talk to us, build your business and personal profile. We will put you before thousands of insider decision-makers and assist you in planning your digital, offline and face-to-face self-profile building strategy. We did this for ourselves, our clients and we’ll gladly do it for you. G e | editor@gwpmedia.com.au
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Copyright GWP Media® 2017. The opinions expressed in this journal do not necessarily reflect and are not to be regarded as the official opinion of the editor, publisher or their agents. All information contained within this journal is provided for general information purposes only and on the understanding that none of the content herein constitutes professional advice. The editor, publisher or their agents accept no responsibility for any claim, loss or damages arising out of or in connection with any materials contained in this journal. Readers should not rely on the publications in the journal and seek appropriate professional advice in respect of their own circumstances.
LIFE ON PLANET EARTH IS GETTING BETTER, THANKS TO GLOBAL TRADE. Big businesses and small are helping the world’s economies to flourish. New found wealth brings better health (the average person lives one third longer than 50 years ago) and education (today 90% of kids in developing regions of the world go to primary school). This is the power of global trade. Of course there’s still a long way to go, but one delivery at a time, the more we keep on trading the better it’s going to get for everyone, everywhere. Read more online.
dhl.com/globaltrade
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Introducing Our Contributors
Chris Underwood
Steven Brown
John Howard
Kym Heffernan
Chris Underwood is the Managing Director of Underwood Jewellers. He began in business as a jeweller when he was 19 years old and never looked back. A creative flare for designing and crafting quality jewellery is the basis for what quickly became a one-on-one custom service. Further specialization in preowned jewellery and valuation services sets the business apart. “Whether customers are looking for a gift, a specially designed piece, a repair or valuation, we like to take the time to listen and explore the best way to help them.” Underwood Jewellers complements a range of services and original collections with popular, world-class brands including PANDORA, THOMAS SABO, HUGO BOSS and others.
Steven Brown founded Etienne Lawyers in 2003. They are best described as having an ‘International Reach with Small Firm Personal Service’.
John started his adult career in the role of mechanical engineer. The previous disciplines and problem solving aspects of his engineering career held him in good stead to switch careers.
Kym Heffernan has 25+ years of "hands-on" business, sales and marketing experience start, working in and working with hundreds of businesses across multiple industries. Today Kym is currently a Director and founder the Marketing Strategy Co, a Sydney-based Strategicfocused Marketing Agency that works with small to medium businesses to create more leads, clients and sales.
With qualifications from Sydney and Macquarie Universities, Steven has gone on to have over 30 years in the law. With his own practice and a passion to help others succeed, Steven is a total professional, informing and educating along the way. Steven specialises in all aspects of helping businesses to stay out of trouble and grow. He enjoys the cut and thrust of litigation and is a balanced negotiator for all alternative dispute resolution methods.
After hard study and practice he set up his first business ‘Spreadsheet Modelling Systems’, later expanding into higher end Business Intelligence with the new name ‘Smoothstream Business Intelligence’, aimed at the SME business sector. With new invigorating passion John is now challenging the status quo of business software.
Kym also has a Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Business (studying Marketing, IT, Finance and Strategy) and a Certificate in Business Broking (to qualify as a Business Broker) and is a Certified Practising Marketer (CPM) and Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certified.
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Steven Brown p | 02 8845 2400 www.etiennelawyers.com
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smoothstream.bizinet.com.au
John Howard p | 02 9871 4484 www.smoothstream.com.au
Kym Heffernan p | 1300 676 448 www.themarketingstrategy.co
Towards our Greater Sydney "Infrastructure Landscape of Greater Western Sydney" Panel Discussion Featuring Ms Lucy Turnbull AO, Chris Heathcote and John Vassallo.
Ms Lucy Turnbull AO is Chief Commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission The Greater Sydney Commission is leading metropolitan planning to make Greater Sydney more productive, sustainable and liveable. One of the key initiatives of the Greater Sydney Commission is the Three Cities initiative, involving the established Eastern City, the developing Central City and emerging Western City in and around the new airport. Chris Heathcote is CEO of the Global Infrastructure Hub Launched by the G20, the Global Infrastructure Hub is mandated to grow the global pipeline of quality, bankable infrastructure projects. It has a key role in implementing the G20’s infrastructure agenda including making recommendations on best practice approaches to delivering and financing infrastructure projects. John Vassallo is CEO of Celestino Celestino is an Australian owned property development company, creating Sydney Science Park in Luddenham. Sydney Science Park is a $5bn project that will create an internationally recognised epicentre for research and development in the heart of Western Sydney. The Park features innovative, technologically advanced and sustainable designs and features. Event Details Wednesday, 21 June 2017 12.00 pm - 2.00 pm PARKROYAL Parramatta Governors Ballroom 30 Phillip Street Parramatta To register go to: www.bizinet.com.au/events Please use registration code D762
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GREAT AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS PEOPLE
This is understandable given the brand’s determination to take chocolate design and creation into more than the mere ‘yummy’ factor but into a stratospheric ‘wow’ realm, using all locally sourced natural products, low-sugar, no preservative and no vegetable or palm oil base.
by A. Charles Smith Katherine Hepburn once drily observed, “What you see before you my friend is a lifetime of chocolate.” There was no obvious sign that the product which tantalised the famously svelte actress recorded anything but desultory effects. She lived to a great age and enjoyed leading lady status in Hollywood for more than sixty years. Hepburn might have lived even longer had Luka been around to test her taste buds. Luka Chocolates at Wyong on the Central Coast of New South Wales has aeons of time to make up in order to record that sort of longevity and success but already after six years of development and growth it hasn’t paused to look back.
Luka is the brainchild of Anton Morus and Kate Orlova. Yes, that spelling ends with ‘us’ not ‘is’ emitting a clue to their Eastern European derivation. Such has been the spectacular emergence of their enterprise that they are hardly much older in Aussie residential terms than the business they have established. Born in the old USSR, they met in Sochi city, Russia in 2007. Love flowered amidst the romantic atmosphere of the tropical tourist city situated on the Black Sea. In 2008 Anton came to Australia to study English as required for him to continue his vocation as a Corporate Law Analyst. Kate graduated from Moscow State University in 2009 charting a career in science. Acceptance of her research proposal to the University of Sydney meant that she was granted a PhD Scholarship. She moved to Sydney in 2010. After many wonderful times together making some trips Australia-wide, they married. Their son Luka was born in April 2011. While science and experiments were going well and Kate’s thesis progressed according to plan, she began to ponder
that an academic career might not fulfil her expectations. Something was missing. After a long and difficult process of weighing the pros and cons, Kate chose to abandon that field and make a switch to fashioning a business. Anton and Kate jettisoned their innate reservations and submerged themselves into the project. Its genesis was a desire to undertake something good, useful and interesting and wanting to create a concept based on a product that most people enjoy and love — chocolate. “Going into chocolate was Anton’s idea. Australians love the things that are made and grown here. We were determined to meet that desire and create a niche market for quality, home-grown chocolate.” They found a unique opportunity to obtain the requisite knowledge, a recipe and necessary equipment from a Belgium chocolatier, who had dedicated his whole life to chocolate making. As newly-minted Aussies, they envisaged an opportunity to build an Australian chocolate brand in New South Wales with sanguine hopes and expectations to expand it across Australia and globally. The most difficult stage of this transition had begun for Anton. A lawyer in the mix of litigation and disputation, he morphed into becoming a trainee gathering the essential mix of knowledge and ingredients to create
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GWP MEDIA excellent chocolate recipes. It was his debut in an industrial kitchen and he even had to be shown how to switch on the mixer and do the heavy-lifting. “I have never held anything heavier than bunch of paper files,” he smiles ruefully.
ism, inc. with l Coast Tour nt during ra nt e C of e O E Abernethy, C (the ribbon cutting mom a (l-r) Robyne ov rl & Kate O Anton Morus event, Februar y 2014) ng ni e op grand
The next three months were extremely challenging, the traineeship dwarfing the hurdles he had hitherto faced even at University. It was one of the most difficult periods in Anton’s life. So fatigued was he mentally and physically after each day of theoretical and practical tuition, that he would fall asleep in the car as he was being driven home. Having baby Luka at twelve weeks old provided additional testing on the home front.
at Chocolates bers of Luka bruar y 2014 Team mem Fe ning Event, Grand Ope
One of seve n road signs. It took two years of hard work to obtain permission
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After training had been completed, Anton and Kate decided to implement their strategy. There was no mucking about. The family moved to the Central Coast of NSW and rented out a Factory facility at West Gosford. It was an area chosen because of its amenity, fishing, recreation, its proximity to Sydney and its potential for growth. They commenced chocolate production on their own account. For the next two years they fell into the rhythm of work/home. “It felt like the life was gone, no hobby time, no friends, just grit and determination with ‘have to’ and ‘must.’ We worked like machines, just non-stop,” says Kate. She dedicated the first year to understanding general business principles, finances, corporate relations and the necessary legal requirements for the company’s operations. It was not uncommon during 2011 and 2012 for one or both of them to stay overnight in the factory. They kept exhausting and protracted hours often with Luka sleeping on his baby mattress placed in a shopping trolley. Overcoming the myriad of obstacles forged for Anton and Kate a profound knowledge and understanding of the business of chocolate-making. In a remarkably short time, they managed to secure contracts to supply Five-star hotels Australia-wide, restaurants and specialised chocolate shops. Yet they soon appreciated that wholesale was a low-margin
Main entrance to heritage listed Wyong Milk Factory, Home of Luka Chocolates
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“He needed lots of love and energy to look after and wasn’t fond of taking eight hours of continuous sleep at night!”
Prime er t Minis lm c l a M o ul’s Turnb l visit a speci a c u L to s, olate Choc 2015
GREAT AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS PEOPLE direction. Retail was the way ahead. Initially, their direct-customer attempts were confined to establishing pop-up kiosks at Easter and Christmas time at Erina and in the Newcastle regions. This period was a learning curve for both of them. “We studied the behaviour of customers, what people like, how they related to our chocolate,” says Kate. Cultural differences was the first lesson for the pair, it being patently clear that marketing strategies in Australia were entirely different from the ones they thought would work in their country of origin. But where would they start in earnest with face-to-face retail operations? It came about in a most unexpected fashion during a shopping trip to Sydney. Rather than a bag and shoes for Kate, on the way Anton saw an advertisement where one chocolate shop was liquidating its equipment and fitout due to insolvency. Anton told to Kate: “Darling, let’s just have a look.” So they detoured to the auction and were entranced by a beautiful counter of European design. Obviously that was their first acquisition and they knew it heralded the commencement of a transformative journey into retail marketing. Finding a place to accommodate their purchases was next. They met with David Hannan, who had started development at the heritage-listed Wyong Milk Factory. David made a reasonable offer to utilise space. There were naysayers suggesting that Wyong was ‘dead’ and no place to sell boutique chocolate. But the “chocopreneurs” were captivated by the town and taken with David and his team member Lisa Blyth. For them the old factory site was a no-brainer and before too long their doors were opened to the public. It began as a tiny shop with nice Italian display purchased earlier. In its first year the business just managed to break-even. The balance sheet showed a profit in the ensuing twelve
months. After that, sales grew annually and the enterprise hasn’t paused for air since. In parallel with sharpening chocolate-making skills and development of their retail outlet, Anton and Kate were indefatigable in trying to develop the brand. Many motifs were attempted without success. Eventually they met the right person. She listened to their ‘scream of the heart’ for a unique design. Through the artistry of Natalia Kalinov, Brand Luka Chocolates was polished, font matched and colour coordinated. Then a momentous decision was reached described by the couple as a “break-through idea.” For it to spike interest even more and garner real success, production and retail would have to occur at the one spot. “We knew it was obvious that people get romanticised, even hypnotised at the sight of chocolate machinery and the pouring of liquid chocolate. And so it happened. They come, they watch, they’re mesmerised by the process and can’t resist wanting to buy what they see being made.” Further developments evolved with the construction of an observation area for customers. This was followed by a determination to promote the enterprise as a landmark tourism destination, Luka Australian Chocolate Rural Boutique Company. With this idea in mind and given the encouragement and assistance of David, the partners applied for an Australian Government grant. After much frenetic activity getting the paperwork done and lodged on time, they were successful. Luka Chocolate was the recipient of a grant of $110,000. The approval letter from the Minister is still treasured by Anton. “We had to dry out the paper after the letter was soaked in vodka so excited were we on that day of celebration,” he says pretending to nurse a sore head. Between 2013 and early 2014 the enterprise
Grand Opening event, February 2014
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embarked upon a busy building schedule for the factory in Wyong. Redesigned packaging was produced and purchased. New tastes in chocolate were developed. The Grand Opening was held in February 2014 and since then the Luka Chocolates factory has been on open view. It has generated widespread interest both locally and much further afield. During the next year, their efforts were dedicated to setting up online markets and developing corporate sales Australia-wide and then internationally. “We’ve been told that it’s being tasted all over the world,” says Kate proudly. Luka Chocolates didn’t happen by luck or accident. The partners unreservedly acknowledge a loyal team committed to the venture. Without the input of Jessica Driscoll, Joel Patrick Rich and Vera Zimina, Luka wouldn’t be a dynamic brand. Anton and Kate especially would like to acknowledge Dr. Brian Freeman, who assists them in different ways such as business planning, strategy and even personal behaviour in business. The wisdom of Dr. Brian Freeman is always welcomed in Anton and Kate team, such mentor assistance can not be over estimated. 2016 marked the year when seven prominent
tourism signs on major roads were installed directing attention to the factory. This has led to an enormous increase in visitors to what has become an iconic location on the central coast. “Day-trippers come up from Sydney and travellers arrive from throughout New South Wales and elsewhere deriving the unique pleasure from seeing the making of fine chocolate and taking home their supplies,” says Kate. But both husband and wife are ready to confess that mistakes were made on their chosen pathway. One such error was opening a shop in Newcastle and going into partnership with traditional investors. “We have learnt by our mistakes and through that process moved ahead.” Their latest endeavour is a robotic retail concept and is proving to be the most innovative of all. The idea would see the robotised involvement in the procuring and serving to customers of chocolate and icecream. This has dominated the couple’s thinking of late not just for their own business but robotics being used across much broader manufacturing parameters. The new robotic project is an idea calculated to shake the world of retail. It involves
Luka Chocolates' Robotic Future
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implementing collaborative robots that will work in one space with humans and deliver an extra-terrestrial experience to consumers and visitors. Cobotic robots, so-named because they will be designed to work in collaboration with humans, will be used in the project. They are completely safe for both customers and shop assistants. The entertainment factor will play a major role in the proposed robotic shop. People-robot interactions, where the customer accepts the goods from the robot’s hands, will form a special emotional bond and relationship. They hope it will come to be called the ‘Lukatisation’ of retail. “Imagine the thrill for parents and their children being served by robots,” and they believe that this type of retail should be offered to the world. “We are entering a new era of commercial evolution and it is through automation and robotics that Australia can become the pioneer of the robotic retailer via this project.” Already in the USA, a retail project of this type has been realised. Its name is Cafe X and operates in San Francisco. Cafe X is the world’s first automated cafe, featured in the recent Forbes Article – #NewTech. The robotic arm prepares and serves many varieties of coffee, made to order at Cafe X.
GREAT AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS PEOPLE
Luka Chocola tes Family (lVera Konone r) nko, Anton’s mothe r, Anton Morus, Luka Morus, Kate Orlova
The project utilises the industrial robot arm, providing a safety screen and zone enclosure. Kate hastens to add that their project differs from this one due to increasing interaction between the customer and the robot and by elimination of the safety screen. This is enabled due to the advances in collaborative robot usage. “We expect to open a robotics retail outlet in Sydney within the next eighteen months and Sydneysiders will be served, ‘first-hand’ by robots that will collate and box up their chocolate order.” Success is never a clear, straight road. Many times they have teetered on the edge of insolvency but now things seem to be settling. With these aims and ambitions in mind, Anton and Kate are pragmatic and still remain modest. “We accept there will be failure along with achievements but we are open to risk in the development of these ideas.” Their story is one of hope for all who seize an idea and have the endurance and determination to adhere to it in order to achieve the chosen goal. Somebody once mused, ‘if drowning be my Waterloo, then let it be within a chocolate pool.’ The poetry of chocolate and its influence on people suggests many would wish to take that route but not before a trip to Luka Chocolates in Wyong or online. G
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BUSINESS ADVICE
Steven Brown, B.Ec, LL.B, (Sydney), M. App. Fin (Macquarie), FAICD, Accredited Business Law Specialist, AIMM, FPIAA and Chairman of Etienne Lawyers
Crowd Sourced Funding New Law Passed The Government on n 20 March 2017 enacted legislation allowing companies to raise funds by crowd sourced funding. The law amended the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). What is CSF? Crowd Source Funding (CSF) is the practice of using: • internet platforms; • mail-order subscriptions; • benefit events; or • other methods; to find supporters, or investors to raise funds for a project or business. Types of CSF There are four main types of CSF. Each type uses a different strategy to attract funding. Each type has different business risks and tax consequences for the parties involved. Donation CSF Donation CSF is used by: 1. charities to raise funds; or 2. people 'just' looking to try their luck to raise funds without any commitment to the donors. There is no financial return to the contributor. In Donation CSF, the contributor makes a donation, without receiving anything in return. All the contributor may get for their 'donation' is a thank you. Reward CSF Reward CSF is when the business provides a reward (goods, services or rights) to a person in return for their payment. For example, the person pays for a computer game. The game has has not yet developed. It may never be written, or perform as anticipated. The price paid now, is usually at a discount of the expected price when the good is developed. Often, there are different levels or types of reward, according to:
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1. the level of contribution and 2. whether the fundraising reaches the prescribed levels. Equity CSF Equity CSF is when a person makes an investment for an equity interest in the business or venture. Eg, a share in a company will provide the person with certain rights. Usually, the rights attached to shares, including the right to:
• It is not required to hold an annual members’ general meeting for five years. • It is only required to provide online financial reports to shareholders for a period of five years. Hard copies do not have to be sent out. • It is not required to appoint an auditor unless and until the company raised over $1million. Upon a company raising over $1 million: 1. It must appoint an auditor.
• take part in future profits (dividends); • vote at shareholder meetings; and • to the return of capital upon winding up.
2. It must follow the obligation to make continuous disclosure as it will then be an “unlisted disclosing entity”.
Debt CSF Debt CSF is where a person lends money to the business, on the promise of receiving interest and repayment of principal on the loan. The form of debt can be either, secured or not secured.
The safeguards The law contains four safeguards to protect investors.
Equity CSF under the new law The law only applies to equity CSF. The other forms are still permitted. They are not regulated by the Corporations Act fund raising provisions.
Eligible companies are able to raise A$5 million a year through Equity CSF. This is generous compared to other countries that have capped CSF at $2 million.
Under the Equity CSF regime people can only receive a share in unlisted public company. They can invest up to $10,000 in the company. The CSF must offered on a licensed CSF platform.
When raising capital by Equity CSF companies must produce a disclosure document. The form of disclosure document is not as onerous as others are under the Corporations Act.
1) Regulation imposed on companies seeking capital from CSF
An eligible company is one that is: Eligible companies will be able to raise up to A$5 million a year this way. If a proprietary company desires to raise funds through Equity CSF it can convert to a public company. On converting it will be exempt from certain compliance requirements imposed on public companies for a period of five years, such as:
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1. A public companies limited by shares; 2. Is not listed on any stock exchange; 3. Has a majority of Australian resident directors on its board; and 4. Has less than A$25 million in gross assets and annual revenue.
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The law a company from being an eligible company if it is:
The investment is in new allotted shares issued by the company.
The current legislation is a step to closing the funding gap for small businesses and SMEs.
1. a foreign company; or
4) Cooling Off Period
2. if the company or any related parties are accessing CSF for the purpose of investment. The company must have a specific project or venture for the funds raised.
Investors have a five working day cooling off period. Within the cooling-off period investors can withdraw their offers. Investors can do so without having give the company any reason.
Going forward, CSF funding will play an increasingly important role in small businesses and SMEs. It will allow them to realise their ideas and ambitions. It is encouraging to see that the government is taking action to help grow small businesses and start-ups this way. G
Will the law work? 2) Regulation imposed on crowd-sourcing platforms Equity CSF must be through licensed crowd sourcing platforms. The intermediary must have a financial services licence. The platform must adheree to a range of obligations: Such as, vetting the companies seeking capital through Equity CSF. This allows the intermediary to act as a gatekeeper, but compliance will be onerous. 3) Regulation imposed on investors The law limits the amount investors can invest in each company to $10,000.
Critics of the law have said:
Etienne Lawyers can help if you wish to raise funds by CSF.
"The conditions make 99.7% of Australian companies ineligible and the lowered governance requirements that some companies may qualify for may not outweigh the costs of accessing CSF”.
Etienne Lawyers p | 02 8845 2400 e | sbrown@etiennlaw.com www.etiennelawyers.com
While the statement is literally correct, it missing the point. Propriety companies that make up 99.7% of Australian companies can easily and with little cost convert to be unlisted public companies that will have access to the Equity CFS regime.
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BUSINESS ADVICE
Bruce Gleeson, FCA, RITP Principal, Jones Partners Insolvency & Business Recovery
Bankruptcy and Family Trusts – Are They Still Effective? Family Trusts have and will continue to be used into the future for a variety of purposes, in particular asset protection. Most Family Trusts notably have a Corporate Trustee. As a Registered Bankruptcy Trustee, I am quite often asked by individuals who may be a Director/Shareholder of the Corporate Trustee and/or a Beneficiary of the Family Trust (or discretionary trust) what happens if the individual goes into bankruptcy (either voluntary [themselves] or involuntarily [via the Federal Court])? Ultimately it will significantly depend on the specific circumstances of each case and indeed the Trust Deed, but the Courts have for some time considered and will continue to exercise their minds about the extent to which Family Trusts may be impacted by the bankruptcy of a Director/Shareholder/Appointor or Beneficiary. This article examines a recent case which re-affirms that Family Trusts continue to be problematic for Bankruptcy Trustees to attack. The case is Fordyce v Ryan & Anor; Fordyce v Quinn & Anor [2016] QSC 307 and judgement was delivered on 20 December 2016. The key facts can be summarised as follows: • The Bankrupt was the sole Director and Shareholder of the Corporate Trustee company of the Fairdinks Discretionary Trust (“FDT”) and also the Corporate Trustee companies of Unit Trusts. • FDT held all the units in one of the Unit Trusts and two-thirds of the units in the second Unit Trust. The major asset of both Unit Trusts was real estate. • The Mortgagee of both Unit Trusts sold the real estate with the consequent effect that there were surplus funds available. The surplus proceeds were in excess of $200,000 in each Unit Trust. • The Corporate Trustee for both Unit Trusts was deregistered and as such, the above surplus funds vested with ASIC – and ASIC effectively stepped into the shoes of the Corporate Trustee and either may have acted as Trustee or applied to the Court for the appointment of a new Trustee. • FDT was as the name suggests a discretionary trust and had two (2) classes of beneficiaries. The Bankrupt was in the 2nd class of
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beneficiaries – being a general beneficiary. • Prior to his bankruptcy, the Bankrupt who was controlling each of the Corporate Trustee companies of the Unit Trusts made distributions to the FDT and then in turn to him as a beneficiary of the Family Trust. The evidence for this was income tax returns of the various trusts. • On 2 September 2015 the Bankrupt (Mr Michael Quinn) entered into bankruptcy and the Bankruptcy Trustee sought to recover the Bankrupt’s interest in the surplus assets of the Unit Trusts by applying to the Court to appoint Receivers so that the Unit Trusts could be wound up. • The Bankruptcy Trustee submitted that the Bankrupt controlled the FDT and relied on the decision of the Federal Court in ASIC v Carey (No 6) (2006) 153 FCR 509 (“Richstar”) to argue that the Bankrupt’s interest amounted to property that had vested under Section 58 of the Bankruptcy Act. The Bankruptcy Trustee was also seeking to have Receivers appointed to the Unit Trusts as part of the application. • Relevantly the Court determined that the FDT was purely a “discretionary trust” and therefore the beneficiary is not someone who has a property interest in the trust property. In doing so it stated that the “critical question is whether effective control of a Trustee’s power of selection can transform the interest of a beneficiary of a discretionary trust into property of the bankrupt”. In addition, the Court also commented “a trust once validly constituted does not change in nature because the Trustee and some of the beneficiaries subsequently choose no longer to abide by the obligations of the trust relationship”. • The Court found that the Bankrupt’s right
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as one of the general beneficiaries of the FDT did not vest in the Bankruptcy Trustee as property of the Bankrupt per Section 58. The Court also dismissed the application insofar as appointment of the Receivers to the Unit Trusts were concerned. This case shows how difficult it can be for Bankruptcy Trustee’s to successfully attack Family Trusts. Whilst the outcome will invariably come down to the specific facts of each circumstance, Family Trusts at least at this point appear to be the kryptonite equivalent to defeat bankruptcy trustee claims. However, I think it should be expected that this area will continue to be pressed where it is believed there may be a potential recovery for creditors. G
Jones Partners Insolvency & Business Recovery has several Registered Bankruptcy Trustees and we can explain the current state of play in this area and other aspects of personal insolvency so that individuals in financial difficulty are better informed when considering their options.
Jones Partners Insolvency & Business Recovery p | 02 9894 9966 e | bgleeson@jonespartners.net.au b | www.brucegleeson.com.au www.jonespartners.net.au
Who are we? We are a locally-owned and operated credit union (member-owned financial institution) at Riverside Corporate Park, North Ryde.
What is a Credit Union? A credit union is a member-owned financial institution. We offer all the same services as other financial institutions such as banks, but we’ve always been people before profit, democratically controlled, socially responsible, community focused, and financially sustainable.
We are Member Owned – Our members have a say! Our members are shareholders of the Credit Union which means they own a share of the credit union and have a say in the decisions made within the Credit Union.
People before profits! Unlike other financial institutions such as banks our profits go back to our members through competitive interest rates, fairer fees and by focusing on community investments in our local area.
Same regulations and governing body as the big banks Credit unions are regulated in exactly the same way as the big banks are under the Banking Act, Corporations Act and APRA oversight. So your money is safe with us!
Who can join LCU? We welcome membership from employees on Riverside Corporate Park, North Ryde, Macquarie Business Park and their family and friends are also eligible to bank with us!
BiziNet Magazine
#85 May/June’17
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BUSINESS ADVICE
John Howard, Founder, Smoothstream Business Intelligence
Accountancy and Bookkeeping Digital Disruption, Are You Prepared? ‘The digital age is upon us,’ has become a hoary cliché. Some have chased down every latest innovation. Others are slower to adapt. However all of us have been forced to change outmoded ways of doing things. There comes a point in the furious technological stampede where some of those feeling trampled are the very businesses for which these advances are trying to cater. Benefits have flowed but have we reached a position where what we take out of a company report is becoming an exercise mired in time-consuming study? So when driven to cry out in anguish, ‘get me outa here’, is there a system that can be designed and tailored specifically for your enterprise delivering your business intel easily, analytically, on-message and with clarity? It’s the question bedevilling many businesses drowning in paperwork. The answer is a resounding, ‘Yes, there is,’ according to John Howard, computer programmer and owner of Smoothstream. Digital Automation of budgeting, compliance, taxation, business law and data entry, is driving the cost out of these, and other repeatable processes. A subsequent lowering of the industry standard time-based billing is the result.
That means the enterprise can be just a click away from who is their best customer and what product or service is generating the optimum return. The joy of Smoothstream’s Business Intelligence systems lies in their simplicity. They can be operated by unskilled workers thus delivering layers of sophistication and complexity at the touch of a button.
Accountants put out financial reports for clients but therein lies the opportunity to understand and track the progress of the business. Thus a bundle of figures on a balance sheet can provide a rich vein of information putting both the accountant and the business into the competitive centre.
John is adamant that one such added service would be to apply Business Intelligence algorithms alongside existing financial reports. He says that a properly designed program can extrapolate information highly pertinent to any business wanting to be conversant with its client base.
More specifically, it’s a strategy for the facilitation and enablement of reports and dashboards such as:
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• Client, Product / Services and Geographic trends over time • Simplification or Summary of overly detailed or complex existing reports • Automation of hitherto manual report compilation.
Accountants put out financial reports for clients but therein lies the opportunity to understand and track the progress of the business.
Commentators, with considerable accountancy knowledge, offer numerous strategies on how to adapt to this sometimes impenetrable wave of change, and future proofing your business. However, all seem to agree that embracing current technologies and adding service offerings will be tantamount to survival.
“Custom designed Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) programs, automatically distill relevant data from the financial reports, transform the data and load into raw data tables from which many styles of business KPIs can be reported in addition to just financial information.”
• Sales staff performance by descending Revenue and Profitability
• Clients categorised by descending Revenue and Profitability • Products / Services categorised by descending Revenue and Profitability • Quotation success by acceptance or change to revenue • Geographic territories categorised by descending Revenue and Profitability
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The attraction of the process is that such ETL programming could be performed either by appropriately trained in-house staff or outsourced to ETL/Business Intelligence experienced programmers. “If outsourced then the programmer could work independently with your client, billing your company, and you bill the client. Or they can work with your client, representing your company name, and then billing your company that in turn bills the client. Alternatively, they can work directly on the programmers own behalf with your client paying your company a commission,” says John. The benefits are clear. Such a value-driven service would enable a rebranding of the business, away from an eroded time-based billing to a negotiated advisory, value-based, service pricing. John is convinced that far too few SMEs
• Delivering more accurate and more timely information specific to your business.
CUSTOMISED REPORTING TAILORED TO YOUR BUSINESS
• Improving efficiency & productivity. • A competitive advantage which pays for itself.
Business Analytics - Faster, Easier, Smarter
02 9871 4484 0419 424 968 smoothstream.com.au
analyse their businesses to such a degree, despite the enormous value add that such reporting can provide. He cites the following actual case example. Business Type: Building Supply Company Initial Reporting: Three financial reports, Sales by Client, Costs by Product, Quotation Values, downloaded monthly. Initial Actions: Senior level clerk attempted to manually extract and summarise the Client sales against product costs. This was abandoned due to excessive time, inaccuracies and costs. A spreadsheet contractor was engaged, who unfortunately occasioned almost as much manual requirement as previously. Secondary Action: Smoothstream Business Intelligence was engaged on a ‘satisfaction or no charge basis’. A fully automatic, repeatable program was furnished that delivered: • Monthly tables and graphs categorising clients by Revenue, Profit and Quotation • Results in a three level (A, B, C) grading. • Monthly tables and graphs, three level
categorising geographic revenue and profit source. • Monthly source of revenue by Website, • External Referral, Internal and external sales force.
John is quick to add that Smoothstream was paid in full by a happy client as well. Adding a service such as this creates new business opportunities for Accountants and Bookkeepers.
Value Benefits: • Time to produce all monthly reports (including source financial reports) – Less than 15 minutes!
“We have found through experience that there is a clear need for more customised, clientcentric systems,” says John. G
• The simplicity of the program operation enabled the process to be conducted by a junior clerk, who, because she felt more engaged, withdrew a previously tendered resignation. • Sales and Marketing efforts were refocused on up-selling A and B category clients. • Low performing sales staff (2) were retrained and moved to more conducive territories. • Non profitable territories were boundary changed.
Keen to illustrate its benefits, Smoothstream Business Intelligence will offer a no-charge, Sydney onsite, 15 to 30 minute discovery session to businesses desiring further information.
Smoothstream Business Intelligence p | 02 9871 4484 e | john@smoothstream.com.au www.smoothstream.com.au
First post-program financial year profit increased by 17.5 percent! As a bonus, in allowing staff access to some of the reporting, they became more engaged generating a commodious workplace environment.
Business Analytics - Faster, Easier, Smarter
BiziNet Magazine
#85 May/June’17
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PROUDLY PRESENTED BY
GWP MEDIA
Learn about Your Family Treasures & How to Make the Most of Them Many of us have it – bits and piece of jewellery that we have collected over the years sitting in a drawer. Or maybe that someone has left for the family to distribute. What is important to know is: • How old is it? • Who may have owned this in the family? • Where was it manufactured? • What is it made of? • What is the approximate value? • What shall I do with it? At some point when we are motivated to do something with our collection, this is what we need to do: 1. Have your jewellery assessed by a specialist Registered Valuer. 2. Separate items that have value and those that may just have sentimental value. 3. Determine the age of each jewellery item and approximate value. 4. Confirm if each item can be sold and if so, what restoration is required first. 5. If repairs are needed (and you would like to preserve the item), get an estimate of the cost for restoration. 6. Consider remodelling to modernize and retain sentiment. 7. Consider the ways you can preserve and enjoy each piece of jewellery. 8. Consider options for selling your jewellery. 9. Learn how to care for and preserve your jewellery. 10. Consider getting a valuation with the stamp of a Registered Valuer for items of value. 11. If you have acquired jewellery that you simply wish to sell, first research it on the internet. Take a look at what others are selling the same or similar product for. Then go through the above steps.
18K White Gold Sapphire and Diamond Flexible Bracelet circa 1930s
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Whatever you choose to do, here are some interesting comments on Antique, Estate and Pre-Owned jewellery from one of the masters.
•
• • • •
• • •
•
An Antique is a collectable item over 100 years old. Frankly, everything old is new again. Remember - it all comes back into style eventually. Diamonds are forever – the hardest natural gemstone. White diamonds, chocolate diamonds, black diamonds, yellow diamonds, pink diamonds – they last and last and last. Diamonds tend to retain value. They fluctuate against US currency, accessibility and market demand. Changing or remodelling an antique piece of jewellery can de-value it. Lorgnette spectacles were glasses used at the Opera. These were attached to a guard chain to magnify viewing. If you have one – try it! A sophisticated fashion statement. An Albert chain is a watch chain that was worn in the 19th century. With a T-bar on one end, it attaches to a button hole on a waistcoat and the other end attaches to a pocket watch with a swivel hook.
18K White Gold Sapphire and Diamond Scroll Brooch circa 1930s
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•
Brooches were popular at the turn of the 19th century. They can often be converted to a pendant and retain an antique look. Marquisite is a semi-precious gemstone, derived from a natural mineral called Pyrite. It was often used to imitate diamonds due to its’ beautiful glittering metallic lustre. Seed pearls are small natural pearls that were often used in fine decorative jewellery in the latter part of the 19th century and are representative of Victorian fashion of the time.
There are many things to know and learn about collectable jewellery. The following is a story of the journey of learning for Chris Underwood, Master Jeweller. At the back of a small property on the edge of Parramatta, a ray of light shines into the night - from the corner of a handsewn curtain in a tiny home-made garage. Amongst the sounds of nature, the pounding of a hammer goes on and on in rhythmical patterns. Bang bang bang through the day, bang bang bang into the night. The smell of coffee wafts through the air from an open window day after day. Through a slit in the curtain a young man can be seen
BiziNet LIFESTYLE
18K White Gold Tyson Swiss-Made Ladies Diamond-Set Watch circa 1960s bent over his jewellers work bench – filing, sanding, rolling out metal and ultimately transforming a chunk of metal into a work of art. The groundwork of a master craftsman is taking place. Endless hours of focus and dedication to the creation of a special piece – and then another – and another – and another. Marking the celebration and expressing the emotion of an engagement – of an anniversary – of a family event. People talk, see the talent and then begin to arrive. No longer a quiet position – the backyard garage becomes a busy place. So it is time to move. To the centre of Parramatta and the big time! Young, yet with years of training and now a skilled jeweller and qualified registered valuer, people come with their treasures. He is fascinated by what he is seeing, particularly in the manufacturing talent of jewellers from the 1800s.
Sterling Silver Marquisite Double Detachable Brooch circa 1950s
treasures. They are in every corner – if you can recognize them. He spends hours, days and weeks with antique specialists and small town experts from Birmingham to Aberdeen in Scotland. He has an eye for this and returns to Parramatta with a bag full of treasures and many stories to tell. G
Make your appointment with Chris Underwood – Master Jeweller, Registered Valuer, Designer, Antique and Estate Specialist – to discuss your precious jewellery. Designers Master Jewellers Valuations Custom Crafted Jewellery Consignment Estate, Antique and Pre-Owned Specialists
Drawn to the diverse and interesting manufacturing style of the 18th Century Victorian era, he is becoming an expert. With bag in hand he boards the plane to England. There he travels from town to town, searching the country-sides for
9K Yellow Gold Grapevine Opal Doublet Bar Brooch circa 1915
Underwood Jewellers 28 Phillip Street Parramatta Tel: (02) 9689-1022 15K Yellow Gold Pink Tourmaline and Seed Pearl ring circa 1890s
9K Yellow Gold Round Cricket medal circa 1930s
9K Yellow Gold Fox Brooch circa 1920s
9K Yellow Gold Cameo Brooch circa 1930s
BiziNet Magazine
#85 May/June’17
23
BUSINESS ADVICE
Kym Heffernan , Director The Marketing Strategy Co
The Key Steps for a Small Business Marketing Plan (Part1) When you are developing small business marketing plan all the pieces like branding. Website, content, social media, networking and sales process fall into place. This guide outlines the first five key elements of a fully developed small business-marketing plan so that you can build one of your own. All of these elements need to work together in order for your marketing strategy to actually work. If you are missing one of these elements, it's likely you are missing out on clients and sales. 1. Current Situation Before starting any planning you need to understand your current situation so your Marketing has the right messages and you know where your Business is at now. This should include looking at your: • Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats (SWOT); • Customer Sales to find repeat and the most profitable customers; • Developing an ideal customer profile or buyer persona; • Keyword research; • Google analytics reports; and • Top three competitors. 2. Creating a Sales Plan There are several key questions you need to ask at this stage: • What is your sales process? • How do you keep track of all the prospects in the sales pipeline? • What are your Key Markets? • Who are your Key target accounts which companies do you want to target? • Who are the key decision makers within those key accounts? • What referral strategies do you have in place? • What alliances and referral sources do you have in place? 3. Brand Strategy When developing your brand strategy there are some questions that need to be addressed:
messages to make sure they align and make sure your message reaches potential clients wherever they may be (online, offline or social media) 4. Lead Generation Strategy The first thing you need for a Lead Generation strategy is to understand is how many leads you need at the different stages of your sales funnel". For example • Win 10 new customers per month you may need to • Prepare 30 Proposals per month and • Meet with 50 new prospects per month and • Contact 150 potential leads per month to secure these meetings Once this is done you can establish whether you are going to develop an: • “Inbound” lead generation strategy where you attract visits to your website via SEO, Paid online ads and/or Social media with ongoing content creation and distribution to convert the visitors to leads by offering a piece of helpful content that help them along their “buyer’s journey” and then follow through on opportunities; and/or an • "Outbound" lead generation strategy where you identify target industries, clients and contact and reach “out” to then via email, mail or call initially and then follow through on opportunities.
• What does your brand represent? • What's your brand story? • What visuals are you going to use to describe the brand? • What tone and style?
5. Content Strategy These days the worst thing you can do is only publish content once to your website and never update or add more content. So in terms of content creation you need to think of:
Also you will need to check your current
• What content does my prospective buyer
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need at each stage (Awareness, Consideration or Decision) of their Buyer’s Journey; • What format should the content be in: o Visual content like photos, info graphics and video; o Written content like checklists, brochures, blogs, e-books, articles and guides; o Audio content like interviews or podcasts • How will the content be distributed – Blogs, emails, social media posts, downloads, sales presentations, webinars, podcasts. You also need printed or online content to hand out or send prospects when you meet them. G Want to increase your Leads, sales and Clients? The Marketing Strategy Co develops effective Marketing Plans that integrate Web, Digital, Social and Traditional Marketing content with proven sales processes for Businesses. We then work ” in the Business” together with your marketing team or as your outsourced marketing team to implement the Plan at a fixed price. If you would like more information visit us at www.themarketingstrategy.co or call us on 1300 676 448 for an obligation-free discussion.
The Marketing Strategy Co p | 1300 676 448 e | kymh@tmsc.com.au www.themarketingstrategy.co
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1300 889 132 BiziNet Magazine
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25
SELECT OZ
Farrukh Mirza, Azrim Pty Ltd
Why Now is the Best Time to Get Your Made-toMeasure Clothing? "Clothes make the man. Naked men have little influence on society" - this is my favourite quote from Mark Twain, who was not only a good writer but a great observer of human behaviour and interaction. Clothes give confidence, they add value to the personality of the wearer, and if done right, help you create your own individual style and purpose. I get continually asked, when is the best time to order clothing for oneself? The answer that I give is May and June are the best months of the year to organise your clothing for the whole year. Winter is coming - time to recycle and upgrade. As we enter into Autumn, the weather gets cooler making us reach out for the winter coat or an extra layer of clothing. For most men and women, this is probably the time of the year when you start getting your winter clothes out of storage, and recycle and upgrade. Get rid of the clothes that are starting to stretch, or pill, or fade and invest in something that's on trend and actually fits you well. The modern suits are a more-fitted deeper cut look than the loose hanging suits being sold seven to ten years ago. It's good to save, but not at the cost of ruining your self-brand by wearing outdated clothes. New fabrics in stock Most of the leading clothiers and manufacturers like Ermenegildo Zegna and Loro Piana release their Spring-Summer 2018 and Autumn Winter 2017 selections (we are six months ahead for Winter and six months behind for Summer from Northern Hemisphere. So, what will be in trend later in the year in Europe and North America is available for shoppers in the Southern Hemisphere. At Azrim, we stock the latest fabrics following Pitti Uomo (global menswear fashion event) which enables us to be on-trend with the best in suiting and shirting from leading Italian fashion houses. End of Financial Year (end June 2017) This is another major factor to consider,
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especially if you're an accountant, lawyer, financier or real estate. The EOFY is the time when you reconcile your tax returns for the year and end up paying or claiming back on your business and corporate expenses. Clothing can be claimed from 50 to 100% back on tax returns, depending on the industry and profession, and we can provide clothes for individuals and companies to suit their brand, purpose and profile. The best reason is the savings - when you buy now you can spend but be reimbursed within a month rather than waiting for a whole year to claim it back. Treat it like any other asset you'd purchase for your business. Even more so, if you're one of those who's spending time in front of clients and prospects, closing deals or representing your firm or company. Do talk to me directly on this, as I can guarantee 50% returns and in some cases up to 100% by preparing the right invoice so ATO will have no issues whatsoever. Donate and Save with The Smith Family clothes recycle drive in partnership with Azrim This year I am getting behind The Smith Family - a children's non-profit that recycles clothes to provide services and support to children across Sydney. They urgently need clothes which will help them raise funds and continue providing support to the children from poor, domestic abuse or drug abuse families. We will be visiting offices in the CBD and across Sydney to do a Lunch & Learn where we get to share a bit about the charity and what they do. For every individual that donates clothing, I will offer a $100 off Made-to-Measure Suit Voucher as a Thank You . Perfect time to wear and enjoy the clothes you buy The crisp air and the winter sun is the perfect combination to enjoy good suits and jackets
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and shirts in Sydney and Australia. Coming into summer, most people can't wear these garments to their satisfaction as they do now. It is now that people visit indoor places more which leads them to be not only layered but more active socially, be it at the local club, or an event or an evening get-together. His and Her collection Just a simple reminder that we do offer madeto-measure for both men and women, which means these suggestions apply just as much to women as men. If you're someone who hates shopping and wants something personalised to your taste and style, we are the clothier for you. We come to your home or office by appointment and have your garments made and delivered within 3 to 4 weeks, without you having to spend more than an hour with us. This is the absolute convenience, and we are 40 to 50% cheaper than retail for the same quality of garment made as we manufacture and ship directly with no additional overheads. We are known for Innovation having won the Western Sydney Awards for Business Excellence in that category, for our Best Fit Guarantee process, and 98% accuracy on finished garments. G
Azrim: Az Designer Az You p | 0424 424 829 by appointment only www.azrim.com.au
$5,000* towards a business makeover Join Bartercard today and access $5,000* Bartercard trade dollars to makeover your business. We know that running a business comes with so many costs, from staffing, rent, suppliers and the continuous expense of marketing and advertising. When you join Bartercard you gain access to a T$5,000 Bartercard interest free line of credit that can be used to makeover your business and help you focus on marketing and advertising, without using your cash dollars.
Call your local Bartercard team to find out more and use Bartercard to makeover your business!
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*T$5,000 is a Bartercard trade dollar line of credit. Terms and conditions apply. Credit is subject to credit approval and only available through membership in Bartercard.
BiziNet Magazine
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CORPORATE, BUSINESS & FAMILY VISA SOLUTIONS
WHY CHOOSE JF MIGRATION Migration Law is perhaps one of the most complex and dynamic areas of Law. We recognise that no two cases are alike and that the vast majority of matters handled by JF Migration will need to have a bespoke strategic and tactical plan formulated and implemented, to deliver the results being sought by you, our most important asset. Our immigration team is sensitive to the fact that, moving abroad is never straight-forward and immigration goes beyond the mere relocation of you and your family. We will work with you to develop an individual, tailored plan to meet your objectives. We can provide advice, formulate strategies and advocate for clients using our technical expertise as well as our practical knowledge. We are experienced in advising individuals and businesses with complex and sophisticated issues. The emphasis is on providing a comprehensive, time and cost efficient solution to your needs.
WE PROVIDE ADVICE AND ACT FOR CLIENTS REQUIRING A RANGE OF IMMIGRATION SERVICES: • • • • • • • •
Skill selects and General Skilled Migration – subclass 189, 190, 489 Employer Nomination Visas – 457, ENS (subclass 186), RSMS (subclass 187) Partner Visas – subclass 309/100, 820/801 Family, Parent and Child Visas Business and Investment Visas – subclass 188, 888, 132, 405 Student Visas Visitor and Holiday Visas Resident Return Visa (RRV) and Citizenship Applications
visa@jfmigration.com.au Level 21, 133 Castlereagh Street, Sydney 2000 www.jfmigration.com.au Tanvir Ahmed Solicitor, MARN: 1682406 Phone: 0450 240 884 Email: tanvir@jfmigration.com.au
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Marco Zammarrelli Business Development Manager Phone: 0438 160 887 Email: marco@jfmigration.com.au #85 May/June’17
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BUSINESS ADVICE
Daniel Moisyeyev, B.IT, Web Developer and Software Engineer GWP Media
Are You Prepared to Work with Your Web Developer?
So, you have decided that your business needs a new website. But, have you considered what sort of preparations you have to make before you start working with your web designer or developer? Are you expecting your web developer to take care of issues that are indeed your responsibility? This article takes care of some of the more common situations where incorrect expectations cause rifts between web developers and their clients. 1. Do you have your content ready to go? This is by far the most common issue that arises during the web development process... Who is actually responsible for the content? For whatever reasons, quite a few business operators seem to have an impression that one of the responsibilities of a web developer is to generate all the needed content that describes their business, products and services. This assumption is incorrect. The web developer has the responsibility of creating an attractive, intuitive and functional website based on the content a business operator provides. As a business operator, you will need to gather and supply good and relevant content that describes your business, products and services. For business owners who do not have a high standard of writing skills, a marketing professional or a writer should be engaged to assist. Correct understanding in regard to images, photos and other graphics is also vital. If your business offers a large array of products, it may be a wise course of action to engage a professional photographer. Stock photos are another issue that deserves a mention – a business operator may be expected to provide their your own stock images or pay per image from stock photo suppliers. Web developers may have some basic stock photos on file to offer, but expect to pay for any imagery that is decent in quality. Lastly, your web developer is not responsible for producing a logo or brand for your business. This is a whole separate service that is best left to a professional marketing agency. Brand components should always be produced before a web development project is undertaken.
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How do you be prepared? Organise your content, product images and staff photos prior to engaging a web developer and have it ready. 2. Are you in possession of your domain name? Do you know who controls your business domain name, where it is registered and how to administer it? There is a pretty high chance that you may not have this readily available. Losing control of a domain name seems to be a very common scenario. A large number of clients I worked with did not know who their domain name registrar (the company responsible for registering and holding control of the domain name) is. This always became a problem once the time came to re-delegate (point) their domain name to a new web hosting account. Luckily for business operators, the domain name registration system in Australia is excellent. Corporate and organisation domain names (.com.au, .net.au, .org.au) are required to be bound to a particular company or other legal entity, and as long as you are the decision maker within that entity, there generally isn't a problem with intellectual property. If there is, a process to dispute ownership does exist, but it's quite complex and professional legal advice would be required in this case. Where the problem usually shows itself is that business owners do not know how to access the domain control panel at their domain name registrar, or sometimes they may not even know who the registrar is! There is a system freely available called WHOIS that allows one to lookup domain name information – including registrar and registrant details by simply entering the domain name of interest. This system can assist in finding a starting point for the recovery process.
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How do you prepare? Find old invoices from your registrar that refer to a domain name registration fee for a period of 2 years. Get in touch with them and ask them to send through access details to their control panel and domain name registry key. Have this information ready for your web developer before the project is started. 3. Web developer can't and doesn't give legal advice! There are a few common situations that arise during the web development process where legal advice should be sought. These include: • Collection of credit card details; • Preparation of some specific documents – e.g. T&C, Privacy Policy; • Intellectual property rights in respect to the work completed by the web developer. Collection and storage of credit card details is a serious matter. While using a third party payment gateway (e.g. Paypal) to process credit card payments is a viable solution for a lot of scenarios, sometimes a website will need to be designed to collect and store live credit card data. In this case, seeking legal advice on what you can and can not do would be a prudent course of action. For more information about this matter, research “PCI DSS Compliance”. There are some documents published on websites that definitely need to be prepared by a legal practitioner. Web developers, however, sometimes find that their clients request them to provide a “Privacy Policy” or prepare some kind of “Terms & Conditions”. Please ensure that before engaging your web developer, your contracts and other legal documents that will need to be published online are in good order. Finally, just because your web developer
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BUSINESS ADVICE
finished your website doesn't mean that you end up with rights to everything that has been completed. While you will likely obtain full ownership of developments that were completed specifically for your business needs, there is one large component in modern websites that will come with its own license. This component is the Content Management System (CMS) that serves as the base for your website. Proprietary Content Management Systems developed by companies will come with varying proprietary licenses and Open Source Content Management Systems can come under a myriad of licenses to advance the Open Source community causes (e.g. restrictive licenses such as GPL, permissive licenses such as BSD). The key point to remember is that just because you paid for web development, it does not mean that you will own the Content Management System that the website is developed upon. How do you prepare? Ask your web developer about these issues and see how they can assist. Your web developer won't be able to give legal advice, but will be able to point you in the right direction.
RBF
4. Do you have a clear idea of the project requirements? A typical eight-page business website doesn't need a lot of discussion and planning. If the business branding is in good order and content is well prepared, the web development process shouldn't require complex planning and custom programming. This isn't the case when your business needs a custom shopping cart, custom ordering systems, booking systems, credit card processing, etc. With custom requirements, the web development process quickly turns into what is known as software engineering. This introduces a requirements analysis, planning and design process that may be quite tedious, time consuming and expensive. It's quite often that business operators underestimate the costs of developing a custom online solution. Seeking short cuts (e.g. using an open source shopping cart system) to save on costs is generally not the best as you may end up doing the project again in the future that will be indeed suited to customer needs.
How do you prepare? If you do expect your website to have advanced features, make sure that you prepare a proper project plan that outlines business requirements before meeting with a web developer. With no plan, one can expect to pay hefty consulting fees just to work what needs to be done. G If you are interested in web design, development and SEO services, please get in touch with GWP Media. We can develop everything from a three page website for a home-based business to large custom processing systems.
GWP Media p | 1300 889 132 e | daniel@gwpmedia.com.au www.gwpmedia.com.au
Helping business people in Sydney’s northern suburbs do business together - Ryde Business Forum, your umbrella Chamber of Commerce. Find out more, become a member and register for our events at rydebusiness.com.au
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BiziNetwork AUTOMOTIVE Lander Toyota 02 8884 4888 112 Sunnyholt Road Blacktown NSW landertoyota.com.au
FINANCE Mortgage Choice Norwest 0439 081 118 C68, 24-32 Lexington Drive Bella Vista NSW 2153 mortgagechoice.com.au
ACCOUNTING Bright Accounting and Taxation 02 8858 3242 33/9 Hoyle Ave Castle Hill NSW 2154 brighttax.com.au
GRANTS Pattens Group 02 9476 1555 PO Box 838 Hornsby NSW 1630 pattens.com
BUSINESS SUPPORT BGES 1300 87 78 78 Business Growth and Exit Specialists BGES.co The Hills Shire Council 02 9843 0324 Administration Centre, 3 Columbia Court Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 thehills.nsw.gov.au Prime Focus Growth 1300 202 117 PO Box 515 Stanhope Gardens, NSW primefocusgrowth.com CHARITY HeartKids 0423 938 354 heartkids.org.au Norwest Sunrise Rotary 0418 298 274 PO Box 7039 Baulkham Hills NSW Thorndale Foundation 02 9912 7800 thorndale.com.au CHILDCARE Cubbyhouse Childcare Australia 0412 615 728 3 Columbia Court Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 cubbycc.com.au CLEANING Just Clean Australia Pty Ltd 0433 159 796 50 Greenhill Dr Glenwod NSW 2768 justcleanaustralia.com.au
GRAPHIC DESIGN GWP Media 1300 889 132 Logo design, business cards, flyers, booklets, web design, advertising gwpmedia.com.au HR iPlace Recruitment 02 8865 9200 PO Box 7915 Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 iplacerecruitment.com.au IMPORT / EXPORT Avalu Pty Ltd 0438 160 887 Bringing Australia the best in wines and perfumes avaluglobal.com INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Beralon Pty Ltd 02 9624 8011 Unit 1, 4 Bearing Rd Seven Hills, NSW 2147 beralon.com INSOLVENCY Jones Partners Insolvency & Business Recovery 02 9894 9966 Suite 301, Level 3, 4 Columbia Ct, Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 jonespartners.net.au INSURANCE Action Insurance Brokers 02 8935 1500 301/20 Lexington Dr, Bella Vista NSW 2153 actioninsurance.com.au
CONSULTING Bedrock Consulting Group 1300 858 051 34/6 Meridian Place Bella Vista NSW 2153 cruzandco.com.au FASHION Azrim Pty Ltd 0424 424 829 Fashion & Luxury Goods Sales and Marketing azrim.com.au
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IT Pro IT Pty Limited 1300 727 553 12-18 Fairfield Street, Fairfield East NSW 2165 proit.com.au Smoothstream Business Intelligence 02 9871 4484 smoothstream.com.au
#85 May/June’17
JEWELLERS Underwood Jewellers 02 9689 1022 28 Phillip Street Parramatta NSW 2150 www.uj.com.au LAW Coleman Greig Lawyers 02 9895 9200 Level 11, 100 George Street, Cnr Smith Street Parramatta NSW 2150 colemangreig.com.au Etienne Lawyers 02 8845 2400 Level 57 MLC Centre, 19-29 Martin Place Sydney NSW etiennelawyers.com MANUFACTURING Manufacturing and Design Solutions 02 9614 7068 PO Box 213 Northmead NSW 2152
manufacturinganddesignsolutions.com.au
MIGRATION Worldwide Migration Partners 02 9415 2359 213/83 Longueville Rd, Lane Cove NSW 2066 worldwidemigrationpartners.au PRINTING GWP Media 1300 889 132 Next Day Print Order Online and Get Industry Prices gwpprinting.com.au REAL ESTATE Coutts - Castlecorp 02 8883 4000 F126/24-32 Lexington Dr, Bella Vista, NSW 2153 coutts.com.au LJ Hooker Commercial North West 02 8814 1588 Suite 1:08, 29-31 Lexington Drive Bella Vista, NSW 2153 ljhc.com.au STRATA Cleaver Strata Consulting 0408 485 773 PO Box 962 Baulkham Hills NSW 1755 cleaverstrataconsulting.com.au
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LAND A BETTER DEAL AT LANDER TOYOTA The Lander Toyota better buying experience starts from the moment you enter our stunning showroom. Our professional consultants will discuss your needs and present all the options available to you from the exceptional Toyota range.
3 Flexible finance options. Expert business managers on site
3 Service centre equipped with the latest Toyota technology
3 Large stocks of cars, SUVs, 4WDs and commercial vehicles
3 Fully trained service technicians 3 Accessory and parts department There’s a lot more on offer at Lander Toyota.
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WESTERN SYDNEY’S NO.1 DEALER Lander Toyota
112 Sunnyholt Road, Blacktown T 02 8884 4888 landertoyota.com.au Highland Autos Pty Ltd trading as Lander Toyota. MD20304
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Toyota Finance Australia Limited ABN 48 002 435 181, AFSL and Australian Credit Licence 392536.
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