Starting your first business

Go from idea to a registered, insured business with a plan, a bookkeeping system and your first customers.

Who it is for: First-time founders and side-hustlers in Australia who are about to start trading, or started recently and want to check they have the basics right.

Beginner · 8 articles · about 64 minutes

What you will learn

  • Test an idea and choose a business structure that suits it
  • Register correctly (ABN, business name, GST if needed) and understand your tax obligations
  • Write a one-page business plan you will actually use
  • Set up simple bookkeeping and the insurance you need
  • Get a basic website live and win your first customers

Articles in this path

  • Starting a business – What actually has to happen between "I have an idea" and "I am trading": validating demand, choosing a structure, registering, and setting up the basics so the business can run.
  • Business structures and registration – How sole trader, partnership, company and trust structures work in Australia, what each means for liability, tax and admin, and the registrations to complete in the right order.
  • Business plans and strategy – Strategy is the few choices about where to play and how to win; a business plan turns them into goals, actions and numbers. How to build a one-page plan you will actually use.
  • Accounting fundamentals – The handful of accounting ideas every owner needs: the accounting equation, cash versus accrual, the chart of accounts, reconciliation, and why clean books are the foundation of every other financial decision.
  • GST, BAS and taxation fundamentals – How GST works, what a Business Activity Statement actually reports, how PAYG withholding and instalments fit in, and the habits that make the ATO a routine supplier rather than a source of dread.
  • Insurance fundamentals – The types of business insurance that matter for Australian SMBs, how to decide what to insure and what to carry yourself, and how to avoid the gaps that only appear at claim time.
  • Website fundamentals – What a small business website has to do, the pages and content it needs, how to choose between a builder and a custom build, and the basics of speed, mobile, security and ownership that owners often get wrong.
  • Customer acquisition – How a small business finds and wins new customers on purpose: defining who you want, choosing channels you can actually work, and knowing what each new customer costs you.

Next path: Understanding business finance