“We welcome any business owners who may be struggling, to reach out to us now before the extra pressure of Christmas arrives.”
Business Life Australia (BLA), a recently formed business support charity, is announcing its launch as Australian small businesses brace themselves for the impending Christmas period. The timing of the launch is intended to ensure support is available for any struggling business owners before this high-demand and often highly emotionally charged period arrives, to address any issues before they’re exacerbated by the greater pressure often presented by the holidays.
“Running a small business can be stressful enough at the best of times, but the Christmas period can be a particularly trying time for small-business owners, who struggle to meet increased demand but also contend with the higher emotional and social pressures of the season,” said Mr Koos Kruger, Director at Business Life Australia.
“Because we’re all experienced business owners and advisers ourselves at BLA, we understand firsthand the struggles, insecurities and fears that can come with running a small business, as well as the periods that can be especially draining.
“The health of the business can strongly affect the health of the business owner in a myriad of ways – mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, socially – and these issues can have a flow-on effect onto the owner’s family and even wider community. It was this reason that inspired us to found Australia’s very first not-for-profit organisation set up to help small- and micro business-owners navigate the more difficult times in a business lifecycle,” said Kruger.
In Australia, more than 60 per cent of businesses fail in their first three years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and 96 per cent of NSW businesses are small businesses.
A failure for any one of these businesses could have devastating effects on the owner, their family, their staff and their creditors.
Advisers from BLA sit down with any small-business owners who seek out their help, to identify their personal paint points, and understand the most stressful or urgent issues affecting operations. A course of action is then set in place to shore up the business towards returning to profitability, or to dismantle it in a manner that results in the least fallout possible for the owner and his family and community, if that’s discovered to be the best course of action.
“An uncontrolled business failure can be disastrous for the owner and his or her family, but there is also a wider community impact that can be enormously damaging,” said Kruger.
“For this reason, we welcome any business owners who may be struggling, to reach out to us now before the extra pressure of Christmas arrives,” said Kruger.
Inside Small Business
