Give it a go: There’s no better time than now

I know that by now you’re all “read out” on the budget and its potential impact on small and medium business in Australia. But I’m still going to blog about it.

Not as an economic commentator. Nor on a party political basis. Just as an average bloke who’s enjoyed building small businesses into bigger ones, and who still owns, works in and coaches owners of small businesses.

Here’s the thing about this budget. We all have a thousand reasons not to trust ourselves with the responsibility for earning a living based upon just our own skills. This is not to be confused with earning a salary for working hard and long hours in somebody else’s business. Earning a living by “putting yourself out there” or as Joe Hockey said “having a go” is a truly scary, emotionally challenging journey. It is also lonely, fills you with self-doubt, can damage relationships, and lead to losing much of what you have built.

On the upside there is nothing more rewarding that building something from nothing or taking an OK business to the next level. Creating a great customer or client experience, building a good reputation and creating jobs for others all rank high up on the list of achievements business owners will point to once the business has reached its “predictable” phase. That’s the phase when there are enough customers to feed the business a fairly constant stream of dollars to cover all your costs and have some left over. The little bit at the bottom called profit. Nirvana for all who have built a small business into a larger one.  You get to sleep at night, and your bank invites you to footy games, the cricket and motor sport events.

So how does the new budget help this? How does it tangibly help someone in business, or thinking of starting a business? What percentage increase in cash flow, or percentage decrease in tax rate or capital expenditure threshold will it make better?

No idea really. What it does do is say this: “Australia needs Australians in Australian businesses to create new jobs.” Australia’s current leader, love, like or loathe him, has said each individual Australian business owner matters.

Our tax base, employment and near term health of our overall economy relies on the current business owners, and those willing to take that first step in backing themselves in a new small business. Recognition, support and incentive always changes behaviour. I hope the message, if not the detail, is enough to inspire those in, or wanting to start a business, to “have a go.” I also hope the message isn’t diluted by being knocked back and forth around Canberra.

Kevin A Moore is a retail expert and the chairman of Crossmark Asia Pacific Holdings and Mirador Retail Technology. He is also the founder of TheRoadToRetail.