Thinking about starting a small business? This guide covers the essential steps to help you plan, brand, and grow your own small business with confidence.
If you're thinking about starting a small business in Australia, you're in good company. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are around 2.5 million businesses in Australia with fewer than 20 employees. Together they make a significant contribution to Australia’s economy.
Launching your own business can be a great way to earn a living doing what you love. You might aim to grow an empire or simply be looking to carve out a lifestyle that works for you. Either way you’ll have control over where to begin and decisions you make along the way.
Before you start, it's important to build a strong foundation. Below we explore five essential steps towards starting your new business to help you hit the ground running.
A business plan will be your blueprint on where and how to start. It’s a document that sets out your business's objectives and your strategies for achieving them.
Your business plan should include:
It’s wise to also think about risk management as part of your business plan. You should consider any potential risks you may face, and how you can make your business resilient to either avoid or manage through them.
The Australian Government’s business plan tool may also help you consider important aspects to factor into your plan. Once you’ve developed an initial business plan, you’ll be better placed to engage expert advisors to help you develop it further.
There are legal and financial requirements to consider when setting up a new business in Australia. It’s important to consult the right professionals. An accountant and a lawyer will likely be a key part of your support network.
They can help you with guidance on areas such as:
Depending on your business idea, goals and personal background, you may also seek other advisors. Digital marketing, real estate, supply chain and technology are all areas where expert help may offer you a head start if you don’t have the relevant experience or skills already.
Think of your business’s unique personality. A strong brand identity helps you to stand out from your competitors.
There are a few elements to think about when building your brand identity. You’ll likely start by choosing a business name. But you should also be thinking about the way your brand looks and how you communicate with your target audience.
Your business’s visual identity refers to the look of your brand. This includes the colours, logo, fonts and layouts you use in your marketing, premises or online. It also includes other design elements like photography and illustrations.
Consider the owner of a new cafe. They decide their brand photography should feature people and their core product – the coffee.
They ask a photographer to produce close-up shots of baristas making coffee, and their customers enjoying their drinks. Then the photographer applies a colour filter to ensure the images all have a consistent tone that aligns to the business’s brand colours.
Tone of voice refers to the ‘personality’ your business shows in its communication and should be designed to convey the right impressions for your business.
It encompasses elements like:
Choices you make around your brand’s tone of voice will be specific to your business and should consider the sector you operate in and how you want your business to come across.
For example, a surf clothing business might want a playful and colloquial tone of voice. A business consultant on the other hand might prefer a more authoritative and formal approach to communicating.
The type of premises, tools and equipment you’ll need to start your business will vary based on your business idea. Your choices will depend on the resources you have to get things off the ground. Below we consider two important aspects of business operations to think about as you start your business journey.
You may need a specific type of physical premises for your business operations, for example a physical retail or manufacturing space. Or you may be committed to creating a dedicated office space as a home for your new business. If this is the case, you’ll need to decide if you want to buy or rent an appropriate workspace.
Experienced real estate professionals can help you explore options to see what could be right for your business.
Another option may be to buy an existing business which already has premises you can adapt to serve your business vision. There are many things to consider when buying a business. You might want to consult a business advisor to help you through the process.
Many small business owners work from home. If you think this is the right approach for you, consider if your home can accommodate a dedicated room or at least a well-defined workspace.
If you’re lucky enough to have a big enough garden, you could also explore backyard home office options. Creating separation between workspace and your personal living areas can help you find better work life balance when your home is also your workplace.
If your home can’t accommodate the workspace you’d like, co-working spaces are an option to consider. They can help with boundaries by offering flexible workspaces outside of your home. The right co-working space can also offer you a sense of community, as well as meeting rooms for you to engage with clients in a professional setting.
Learn more about how to thrive while working remotely.
Many types of work may require you to use connected devices (e.g. your laptop or phone) to access solutions that help you manage information, communicate and get the job done. Your digital workplace is what enables this. It’s the set of technology solutions that create a connected environment where you can use your different devices to connect and collaborate in a way that helps you run your business efficiently.
Read our article about technology to help you start your new business to help you set up a virtual workplace that works for you.
Speak to business experts in your local Telstra store or request a callback from your local Telstra Business Technology Centre who can help you explore tech for your new business.
Announcing your new business to your network and more importantly to customers is an exciting milestone. Your initial business plan will have considered marketing, but your communications plan will really bring that to life.
In today's digital era, a strong online presence can help you connect with customers and help drive sales. A good place to start building your digital presence is with a strong website and pages on social media.
Your website is your virtual storefront even if you’re not selling online. The Tech State of Play research study [PDF, 797KB] revealed that 80% of consumers use online information to help them decide what to buy, even when they’re shopping at a physical store.
With a huge amount of choice available to consumers, a high-quality website can help you stay competitive online. It’s important to understand key things to consider when designing your website.
If you’re starting an eCommerce business, your website will need to offer a seamless shopping experience. This includes everything from product discovery to checkout and taking online payments.
Learn more with an introduction to starting an eCommerce business.
Your social media strategy is another key part of developing your business’s online presence. Social media platforms offer a powerful avenue for connecting with your target audience.
A well-defined digital marketing strategy can help you make the most of your social media presence. It will help you consider how it works in synergy with your website to help you promote your brand, grow customer engagement and ultimately help boost sales.
If you’ll be using social media for your business and not just personally, you should also think about social media privacy. Making sure you have the right privacy set up across your accounts can help protect you and your business.
Learn more about how to create a social media strategy for your business.
Starting a small business can be the beginning of an exhilarating journey if you have a great idea and an ambition to be your own boss.
Spend some time to think about your objectives, your unique offering and your target audience. Develop an initial business plan and get advice from experts to help you refine your idea.
Once you have a well-defined idea and solid business plan you can think about how to bring your brand identity to life in the physical and digital world as you set the stage for future success. As you develop your plans, be sure to think ahead about how your business might evolve over time.
Simplicity is your friend in the early days, as you set up tech solutions for your new business. But being strategic about the decisions you make early on can help make things smoother later. Our business technology checklist includes tips to help you at key stages of your business journey and is a great place to start.
Originally published August 2024, updated January 2026.
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