starting a business in Oz.....a lil help please

So first off, I am a complete ignoramus when is comes to all things businessy/websites etc. I was hoping to cover all this in Rebecca Anthonys workshop that also had a day dedicated to businessy stuff, but couldn't make it coz of the funeral. So looking for help from the best place I know.

I've been reading lots on the net. From what I can make out I need to register my business with The Dept of Commerce. (got the forms for that) which gives me my trading name details. I've already checked IP Australia to make sure the name I've picked isn't trade marked etc. From what I can make out, I don't HAVE to have an ABN unless I want the.com.AU part of a domain name.....Is that correct? Or do I need one.?

I also want to have a website down the track a bit and want to get a domain name as soon as I know my name has been accepted and registered.
Can anyone recommend who to go with for a domain name? On reading the history of posts here, lots of people mention GO Daddy, who seem to be the cheapest. Does it really matter who you go with? Or do I need to go through someone in Oz? Are these dumb questions?? Sorry. Do I really need the au part on the end? I've noticed some in Oz don't. Is just .com enough? Man!! I didn't even know what a domain name was till I started reading the business end of the forum. hahaha

Keen to get the name registered everywhere I need to and purchase a domain name, so I can stumble my way through figuring out how to get some business cards printed etc and ** yikes** a website.

Am I going in the right direction? I really appreciate any little bit of advice you can give.

Thanks

Hi Rae,
I'm not sure about the whole Chamber of commerce thing..... first time I have heard of this. But the ABN is a good idea if you want to work for corporate clients - if you don't have one they can withhold 33% of your payment for tax.
You still don't need to worry about GST and things unless you get an ABR and plan on doing your taxs to claim things like you car, printing etc... as it stands if you are earning under $75,000 you do not need to file taxs.

I use Crazy Domains for my domain name - they are like Go Daddy except Australian - and you can use them to build your site etc and just buy a package - we just bought server space and my man built mine from scratch with dreamweaver - becarefull buying your domain name from one place and them using a free website like Wix or weebly to build your site because sometime they won't connect to each other.... I learnt this the hard way,
I would consider getting your working with children check as we are all supposed to have them in OZ, and I assume you are with Duck for Cover? for insurance?
You can get your business cards and stuff done the second you buy the domain name. Oh and I don't have the .au on my domain name it's just .com
Go to the Australian Government website and read all about the ABN and ABR to se wether you think you may need these or not - but neither are nessasary when just starting out.
You are welcome to check out my site and ask any questions you might have - it's till getting worked on - but then hey when isn't it?
Oh and when you get your business cards don't go crazy at vista print like me and get 1500 for $100 - you will want to change them and will be stuck with them - so I would just get like 500 at the start.

Tash, thank you thank you thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

The Dept of Commerce is just where you register your business name in WA. I think it's Fair Trading in NSW.

Since the ABN doesn't cost anything anyway it might be the way to go. I have been doing some reading into it but find myself going a little cross eyed with all the mumbo jumbo. Might just pick up the phone tomorrow and try to talk to someone. I gave a half hearted attempt today, but got told "the waiting time is approx 20 mins" ahhh ! Gunna did a spare couple of hours to take on the tax dept!! I think we can safely say I'm not going to be hitting anywhere near the $75000 mark

Thanks for the advice on the domain stuff. Helps alot to have a point of reference to start out from. You've got a clever man there to help you out. Your site is great!

Got the application form for Working with Children already. ta. and somewhere along the way I had heard that Duck for Cover was the way to go for insurance. Good to have the reminder though for down the track!

Vista print must be the way to go too which seems to be the consensus here on the forum. Thanks for the tip on how many NOT to get hehe. Got to remember to slow down and test the water.

Thanks so much!! Hopefully some of this can help some other Aussies too.

Thanks from me as well...
Have been trying to get head around ABN's and what responsibilities I have to the ATO
I'm not registered.....I also didn't think I needed to. Ah another question for the accountant when next we chat...lol!

AaaahTash you've done it again, your such a wealth of information. Thanks for sharing.

When just starting out is it mandatory to have blue card or is it just highly recommended...

It's worth registering for an ABN. It's free anyway. An ABN is essential if you want to buy anything to re-sell, or if you want to provide party supplies, balloons, decor etc.. as you will then have access to wholesale pricing from those companies. Also good if anyone wants an invoice.

You should register as a sole trader unless you have a good reason to register as a company, partnership or trust. And you dont need to register for GST until you're pretty much rolling in money.

You dont have to register a business name unless you want to trade as something other than your own name.

I registered my domain with netregistry for like $35. I then built a free website with wix. It cost $15 to have net registry point my domain name to my free wix site. When I upgraded to a paid site, wix give me the instructions to email to netregistry and netregistry changed my hosting settings for free.

Duck for cover is $250 for the highest level of cover which includes childrens parties. It's less just for face painting cover. Their cover goes from August to August and it costs the same no matter when you join so now's a good time for maximum length of cover for your money.

Vistaprint is the go for your cards. I got 250 for free and glad I didn't get more as I want to change them already but they're decent quality and I will continue to use vistaprint.

There are a bunch of free sites you can list your business and website so they come up in business searches- such as hotfrog, truelocal and startlocal.

Good luck with it all!

ABN's are like a tax file number for your business, you can not claim/earn money "technically" without one. You can get into a bit of trouble without one, so yes being free, just apply. I haven't registered for gst as I don't make enough (so not compuslory), but that also means I can't claim the gst on my purchases. But I don't have to do a BAS all the time.

It is pretty much mandatory to have a blue card for working with children- it will cover you again for any just in case scenarios.

I have a domain name which is a Brisbane based company as I like to use local businesses its called domain candy. I have a girl who does my website which was a friend of a friend. My business cards are again by a local business. I ordered 1000 as it was cheaper to do that than less, but as my business at the time was purely makeup, I just hand out my cards for this and direct them to the face paint (new) on my site.

I just use my own name as my business so I have not had to register or trademark it.

I will check out duck for cover though, I have a pub. liabilty with just a company but it is way more expensive than what you guys have said.

this is cool for us Aussies, great info xx

ABN's are like a tax file number for your business, you can not claim/earn money "technically" without one. You can get into a bit of trouble without one, so yes being free, just apply. I haven't registered for gst as I don't make enough (so not compuslory), but that also means I can't claim the gst on my purchases. But I don't have to do a BAS all the time.

It is pretty much mandatory to have a blue card for working with children- it will cover you again for any just in case scenarios.

I have a domain name which is a Brisbane based company as I like to use local businesses its called domain candy. I have a girl who does my website which was a friend of a friend. My business cards are again by a local business. I ordered 1000 as it was cheaper to do that than less, but as my business at the time was purely makeup, I just hand out my cards for this and direct them to the face paint (new) on my site.

I just use my own name as my business so I have not had to register or trademark it.

I will check out duck for cover though, I have a pub. liabilty with just a company but it is way more expensive than what you guys have said.

this is cool for us Aussies, great info xx

ABN's are like a tax file number for your business, you can not claim/earn money "technically" without one. You can get into a bit of trouble without one, so yes being free, just apply. I haven't registered for gst as I don't make enough (so not compuslory), but that also means I can't claim the gst on my purchases. But I don't have to do a BAS all the time.

It is pretty much mandatory to have a blue card for working with children- it will cover you again for any just in case scenarios.

I have a domain name which is a Brisbane based company as I like to use local businesses its called domain candy. I have a girl who does my website which was a friend of a friend. My business cards are again by a local business. I ordered 1000 as it was cheaper to do that than less, but as my business at the time was purely makeup, I just hand out my cards for this and direct them to the face paint (new) on my site.

I just use my own name as my business so I have not had to register or trademark it.

I will check out duck for cover though, I have a pub. liabilty with just a company but it is way more expensive than what you guys have said.

this is cool for us Aussies, great info xx

Hey Rae, I too have just started out. I don't have a website yet but did go duck for cover for insurance. I also rang the ATO about a TFN but they said because it was classed as a hobby (very grey area there) they didn't need me to have one. Try this link but you might find it is a little confusing ahttp://calculators.ato.gov.au/scripts/axos/axos.asp?CONTEXT=&KBS=ABN_Entitlement.xr4&go=ok
They also said I could be fined if I applied for one and didn't need it. (Doesn't really encourage you to try hey!!) I have found if you can run up an invoice for most places that need an ABN they are ok with that (so far). There is also a form that can be filled out that waviers the ABN number if this is required by a business but I can't find where I wrote it down. My suggestion is to ring the ATO if you're not sure, they were very helpful. I think it has a lot to do with you intentions, as in how big you want to get with the business. I believe that being paid for a hobby has a different set of rules to being set up as a business. Its pretty confusing!!!