During this time, it’s important to take a look at your business as a whole, as ensuring that each sector is functioning efficiently is essential to success.
If you want to hit the ground running this financial year but aren’t quite sure how best to do that, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading to learn more about how you, as a sole trader, can start the financial year strong.
Review Your Business Insurance
As a sole trader, you have unlimited liability. This means that there’s no division between business risk and personal risk. Sole trader cover is absolutely essential in order to protect you against potential legal action from clients or customers, or other unseen events.
While you ideally wouldn't find yourself in such a situation, knowing that you’re protected against all eventualities will help you sleep better at night and allow your business to keep running even if the worst-case scenario happens.
It’s possible that you already have business insurance, especially if you’ve been operating for a number of years. This doesn’t mean that you can put the issue out of mind: it’s important to regularly review your existing policy to see if it’s still right for where you are as a business. For example, if you’ve experienced sudden growth over the last financial year, you might need to switch to a plan with greater benefits.
If you don’t have insurance yet, the start of a new financial year is as good a time as any to purchase a plan. Do plenty of research into the type of insurance you need: some popular options for sole traders include public liability, professional indemnity and personal accident and illness insurance. Choose an option that suits your needs, and your business will be much more secure this financial year.
Shore Up Your Accounting Processes
For small businesses, tax time is often among the most hectic times of the year. If the end of the last financial year was stressful for you from an accounting point of view, it’s crucial to shore up your accounting processes to ensure that this financial year goes more smoothly.
One easy way to make accounting easier for you is to use digital accounting software rather than do everything manually. This switch might be jarring at first, especially if you’re used to doing things the traditional way, but in the long run, it’s sure to speed up your processes and elevate the accuracy of your records.
As good as modern software is for tracking our finances, nothing replaces our personal due diligence. Proactively storing all of your business expense receipts and invoices as and when they come in, or sitting down and doing it once a month, will mean all of the tedious bits needed at tax time are already collated.
Another tip to improve your accounting is to create standard operating procedures for your sole tradership. These can include standardising your invoicing format, setting aside a date to review your expenses and writing an automated email to follow up on late payments. You and anyone else who handles accounting for your business should know your procedures like the back of your hand to ensure that information is recorded correctly.
Embrace Digitisation
Businesses of all shapes and sizes are going digital. While a sole tradership doesn’t have the resources or scale of a larger company, there are still ways to utilise high-tech tools to improve efficiency. In 2025, artificial intelligence is the most high-profile of these tools. While AI has its limitations, models like ChatGPT and Perplexity are already being used for tasks like outlining content and performing basic research.
To get the most out of digital tools, it’s important to have the skills and knowledge to use them. Invest in digital training for you and your team to make sure that everyone is equipped for the digital age. Also, don’t hesitate to invest in new tools or upgrades of existing tools. While costs are naturally a concern for small businesses, adding to your digital capabilities is an investment that will pay off in a big way down the road.
Implement a Customer Acquisition Plan
The primary concern of any business is getting customers through the door. This doesn’t happen on its own: effective customer acquisition requires a well-thought-out plan, and the start of a new financial year is a fantastic time to polish your strategy or come up with a new one.
When you’re working with a small budget, you need to be creative when it comes to marketing. You won’t be able to spend a lot of money on digital ads, which means that regular testing and optimisation are crucial before you scale your campaigns. We also recommend investing in search engine optimisation. By boosting visibility on search engines, you can keep organic traffic flowing to your website consistently.
Another way to invest in customer acquisition is to outsource sales and marketing. This will mean you can spend a limited, premeditated amount for leads, either through ads or end-to-end campaigns, without having to invest in an in-house marketing or sales team.
Lastly, remember to always maintain a strong reputation by offering high-quality goods or services and treating your customers well. Word-of-mouth is incredibly powerful and can drive your business to new heights without having to go over your marketing budget.
Key Takeaways
Small businesses are a central part of the Australian economy, and as a sole trader, you’re operating in an environment where there are plenty of growth opportunities, so long as you play your cards right.
In this guide, we’ve gone over some key ways you can set your sole tradership up for success this financial year. Implement what you’ve learned into your own business practices to fuel growth and establish your business in your community.
