But don’t let yourself be fooled by any preconceived notions that running a home business is any easier than running a brick and mortar store – or an office with a staff of twelve.
In truth, home businesses can be a lot trickier to operate in some ways than traditional businesses.
After all, it’s a lot easier making sure a company premises ticks all your industry’s legal boxes than making sure your home does.
So what should you be taking into account when starting your very own home business?
From insurance and tax to digital promotions and more, we’ll be unpacking all the key logistical considerations that must be made to make sure your home business is set up with a strong foundation.
Legal & Regulatory Considerations
Starting with the cold hard facts of our Australian business system, you need an ABN (Australian Business Number). Thankfully, it’s free and painless.
That’s a must, but there are a handful of other details you may or may not need too. These are as follows.
Insurance
You will need tailored insurance cover for your home business, as home insurance policies do not cover business activities.
Thankfully, plenty of Aussie insurance providers are already offering home business policies that can include essential business cover like public liability, professional indemnity, and product liability.
Policy Documents
Additionally to securing your insurance cover, you’ll also want to look into all the standard legal documents businesses use to cover things like terms of service, privacy policies, refunds and returns, and client contracts.
Australian Company Number (ACN)
Surprisingly, an ACN is not the same as an ABN. A business isn’t always a company.
In general, a sole trader, partnership, or trust doesn’t need to apply for an ACN, because the separate legal entity tends to be more useful for larger businesses with multiple owners and employees.
If you’re not planning on scaling up your business anytime soon, you can likely begin trading with just an ABN.
However, if your business does grow and need to be reclassified as a company, then you can register with ASIC to secure your ACN.
Tax, Finance & Claimable Expenses
If your turnover is above the tax threshold (currently AUD 75,000) or you can expect it to be, then you’ll also need to register your business for GST, which you can do via the ATO website.
On the other side of the coin, home business owners can also claim a large portion of your expenses related to managing business operations back on your tax return.
This includes utilities like internet, phone, electricity, or any items bought for your business, so long as you have evidence to support that these expenses were solely used for your business.
If you need any assistance with navigating tax responsibilities as a home business owner, then it may be worth speaking with a dedicated taxation accountant.
Trademarks
Again, the average small business doesn’t need to apply for a trademark, but there are times where it may be worth applying for one.
One example might be a public-facing company with a reputation to uphold, like a newspaper.
If another newspaper was to start with a name that’s too similar to yours, it could confuse readers and tarnish your reputation.
Similarly, if you’re selling a product or starting a business with a unique business name, then you may opt to trademark the names of your product and/or business to secure your IP.
Licensing & Related Permits
If you require any permits or licenses in order to operate your business, then these will naturally need to be secured prior to your commencing trade operations.
This includes securing qualifications or industry licensing to provide particular services (i.e. registration as a financial advisor, plumbing/electrical licensing, masseuse qualifications, etc.), or any permits required to conduct or offer those services at your home (i.e. a planning or business permit to authorise conducting business for home businesses with three or more employees; permits for outdoor dining, etc.).
General Logistical Considerations
With all the legal and compliance boxes ticked, let’s now look at some of the other logistical considerations you’ll need to make to ensure you have everything you need to comfortably run your business from home.
Granted, there are less to-dos on this list, but you’ll find that these below items are still essential to laying a strong foundation for your budding enterprise.
Physical Setup & Zoning
Depending on your home business, you may need a dedicated workspace like a desk and chair – or you might need a whole room, or even a garage or warehouse space.
So it’s wise to consider the equipment, storage, and movement space needed for your business day-to-day well before you start trading.
Don’t forget to manage your worklife quality with proper airflow, light, and noise reduction as well.
You don’t want your working hours to feel suboptimal just because you haven’t invested in a suitable working environment for yourself.
Delivery, Shipping & Fulfilment
If you’re sending shipments or deliveries to people regularly, you’ll have to figure out the best way for you to do so fast and cost-effectively.
Here, it’s worth taking time to compare the options to find what works for you, and what you can expect them all to cost.
In Australia, you can secure courier partnerships with Australia Post, Sendle, Interparcel, and a few other postal service providers.
Or depending on your business, you may prefer to deliver yourself, such as if you’re running a catering business.
In that case, you may also want to look into renting a work vehicle, or utilising food delivery services like UberEats.
Marketing, Sales Channels & Branding
Everything from social media promotion to digitised customer service will run up a tab, so it pays to find the right digital solutions to support your brand visibility online.
For smaller enterprises, you may opt to use a basic website builder to create your company website, and take a DIY approach to managing your social media profiles.
And on that note, every digital-era business also needs memorable branding.
Again, you can take a DIY approach here and see what you can mock up on Canva in the way of logos, web icons, thumbnails, and other digital assets – or you may even opt to outsource this design work to a freelancer on platforms like Fiverr or Upwork.
You can even find web developers to help work on your site on these platforms.
It all depends on how much you’d be willing to take on and manage yourself – but don’t underestimate the amount of work involved in promoting your business online.
Managing digital marketing campaigns is deceptively tricky, especially so if you’re using a few different social media platforms alongside your website.
Ready to Start your own Home Business?
Whilst it can be overwhelming to look at the list we’ve shared above, budding entrepreneurs are encouraged to remember that the majority of businesses in Australia are actually small businesses and sole traders.
There are passionate makers and traders all over the country – some working out of storefronts, some warehouses, and some entirely from home.
And with the right approach, you can set yourself up for success, even here in Benalla, as entrepreneurs like Nicole Shir from Aura Oil have proven.
And if you do ever need a little assistance navigating any application or registration processes with the ATO, ASIC, or even industry bodies, you can find an abundance of resources on government websites set up specifically to support small businesses in Australia, or even by joining local business directories and communicating with other like-minded entrepreneurs.
All that networking and relationship building is on the other side of this somewhat sizable mountain of preliminary paperwork! You just have to get started.
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