Starting a Business Q&A

I can’t speak from experience on this one, but from our research, the cost of starting a carwash business can be up to $700,000. The biggest expense is purchasing the land or commercial site which can cost up to $200,000 alone. The second biggest expense is the carwash equipment. Self-service bays usually cost between $8,000 to $10,000 while automatic bays can cost up to $50,000. You then have to think about installation costs which will set you back a fair bit. 

Some of the most common startup costs for a carwash business include:

• Commercial lease/rent 

• Building costs

• Equipment and supplies 

• Installation (plumbing, wiring, etc)

• Insurance

• Business registration

• Permits and licenses 

• Legal advice 

I guess it would also depend on whether you open a franchise business or whether you start a business from scratch. There are pros and cons of franchising - pros include having an established brand that consumers already know, established business processes and operations and a support network to raise your concerns and find solutions. Some of the disadvantages are that buying a franchise is usually quite expensive and you don’t have the flexibility to make it your own as you have to stick to the terms and conditions.

Hope this helps!

Great question! The cost to hire a business development consultant usually starts from $45, with an average cost of around $75. However, you could pay up to $300 for a highly experienced consultant that specialises in a certain area of business or has extensive experience in your industry. The rate varies and really depends on the experience level of a consultant and your requirements as a business. 
 

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out to the business development consultants on SavvySME for a tailored quote.

ABN registration packages cost around $25 to $50. The plus side of applying for an ABN yourself online or via mail is that it's free, there's no cost involved whatsoever. While the process of registering an ABN is relatively straightforward, the benefit of applying through an agent is that your application will be accelerated and you'll get expert advice on things like ABN eligibility and any other questions you have. 
 

Great question. While you can set up a company yourself by applying yourself directly through ASIC, and save yourself money in doing so, there are some benefits in paid services. 

The cost of registering a company is currently $512 (as of 1 July 2021). Company registration packages start from as little as $516 (including the government fee). Most companies offer different packages to suit your needs. For example, you can usually add things like GST registration, legal documents and accounting advice to your package for an extra fee. Still, the basic packages are pretty reasonable and don’t cost much more than if you did it yourself. 

The biggest benefit of going for a company registration package versus DIY is the time and stress savings. Most services are completed online with live agents on hand to answer any questions about your application. They guide you through each part of the process so that you have everything in order to file your application. It’s usually also much quicker when you go do it through a registration package as they’ve simplified the process and have a user-friendly interface to submit all of your documents. In many cases, the whole process can be finalised in just a few hours (if there are no issues with your application) instead of the longer processing times if you do it yourself. 

The key thing to make the process as smooth as possible (regardless of which option you choose) is to have all of your information ready to submit with your application. That is:

• full name, residential address, and date and place of birth of company directors/secretaries and shareholders

• Address for the registered company office and main place of business.

Hope this helps!

Great question! For many photographers, starting a photography business is a natural step up from a passion project. If you’re not ready to go full-time, it can also be a great side hustle to gain an extra income. As a photographer, your prized jewel is of course your camera. The biggest startup costs tend to be buying a decent professional camera and shooting equipment, laptop/computer and photo editing software. You may already have most of the equipment already which is great, in which case you’ll need funds to register your business, buy relevant business insurance and pump some cash into marketing so that people can find your business. Based on our research, below are some of the startup costs to set up a photography business: 

• Camera: $1,000.

• Camera lenses: $1,000 each

• Laptop and photo editing software: $2,000

• Insurance: $75 p/month 

• Website design: $500

• Website domain/hosting: $20 p/month 

• Business registration: $50

• Marketing/advertising: $200 p/m

Some of these costs are non-negotiable such as business registration, insurance and your equipment. Other costs like bookkeeping and web design are things that you can potentially do yourself to save money. For things like your website, it’s important to think about the bigger picture and the value you’ll gain from investing a little more upfront. As a photographer, your website is an extension of your work and could be what lands you a new client or pushes them towards your competitors. Weigh up what’s most important and use this to decide what you should outsource to the pros and what you can do yourself. 

Hope this helps!

Hi Neil,

Great question and we would love to hear about your product. I would say at a high level, your plan needs to consider the following:

- Target customer

- Sales funnel - will you expect to sell the product directly through the website or do you just want to setup initial appointments to sell the product. 

- How to get in front of target customers e.g Paid traffic, or SEO, Social Networks

- How to engage and build trust with visitors on the site once they land on your site from above e.g. through newsletlers

- Conversion and Optimisation - Study visitor behaviour and then perform A/B testing. Once you have data, you'll be able to work out what the cost-per-acquisition is and determine how much you can afford to spend on marketing.

- Referrals - encourage your followers / customer to refer

I think the answer above is excellent. A different perspective I might add on this is with the view to sustainability (excuse the tone, but i pulled the content from a blog I wrote)

When I started Mesh, people were quick to congratulate me and offer me a recurring piece of advice. Whilst the words were different, the concept was all too similar: put my head down and push full steam ahead, letting nothing stand in my way.

Ultimately, I learned it is great to have your foot down at times, but it is equally important to remember that all paths in life have curves. If you have your foot down all the time, not only do you risk running off the track but you will find the pace is unsustainable. The key is to know when to pour your all into something and the times to pull up a little, look around, figure out how to tackle the curve and most of all, to get perspective.

Just as there are a huge number of mistakes starting a company, there are many mistakes starting one online as well.

In fact, your question is too generic. Perhaps explain a little about what your business is aiming to do and you'll get some answers.

Great question! I’ve been very interested in starting a food truck business and have always wondered how much it would cost to get set up. I’ve done a bit of research to gauge the average startup costs for food truck businesses in Australia and this is what I’ve found:

• Purchasing a vehicle and commercial fitout: $50,000 to $180,000

• Insurance: $200 p/month

• Daily operating costs:

• Business registration: $100 to $700

• Permits and licenses 

The biggest cost is of course the vehicle and making sure it’s equipped to function as a commercial kitchen. It all depends on how complex your truck kitchen is and the type of equipment you need. There’s also the actual mechanics of the vehicle itself and ensuring it’s well serviced and maintained to avoid regular trips to the mechanic. 

You also need to set a budget aside for marketing and branding so that people know about your business. The food truck industry is getting increasingly competitive so your food truck needs to stand out from the crowd. This includes setting up a website, logo design, social media marketing, search engine optimisation (SEO), etc. 

It would be great to hear from some food truck business owners to see if there are any other startup costs you need to think about, or if there’s anything major I’ve missed on this list!

How about you @Sydney LikeDance  @Nicole Camargo @Justin Moulton @Amy Citroen ?