Episode 108: Small Business Spotlight: Thriving Amid Economic Uncertainty
21st April, 2025
In this episode of Financial FOFU, we dive into how Australian small businesses are handling economic uncertainty. From rising costs to shifting consumer habits, we explore the challenges—and the smart strategies—keeping some businesses ahead. Featuring real stories, practical tips, and a look at the support available to help you stay resilient, we turn the spotlight on small businesses across Australia as they navigate a landscape marked by rising interest rates, supply chain hiccups, and evolving consumer habits. While many are feeling the pinch, others are finding ways to not just survive—but thrive.
We explore what’s working, what’s not, and what business owners can do to stay resilient in the face of uncertainty.
Tune in to hear about:
🔹 The current economic climate and its impact on small business
🔹 Common challenges like cash flow issues, staffing, and fluctuating demand
🔹 Practical strategies that are driving success
🔹 How tech, automation, and AI are reshaping operations
🔹 What support is available from government initiatives
🔹 Inspiring real-life stories from Aussie entrepreneurs
🔹 Actionable tips to strengthen your business today
Whether you run your own business or support those who do, this episode is packed with insights to help you adapt, pivot, and plan for what’s next.
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Just two industry experts (and guests) having a friendly chat and sharing our knowledge. We aim to raise your knowledge base and dis-spell any myths surrounding finance. tax and a range of other financial topics.
This is a safe space to ask questions and hear useful info on financial matters.
Read more about FOFU here
And, as always if you'd like to leave us a message, or suggest a topic, you can do so here
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DISCLAIMER- The information and material in this podcast, and supplementary and associated information available, is for general information only. It should not be taken as constituting professional advice from the podcast owners, and we recommend you seek independent suitable advice that is specific to your unique circumstances.
Podcast Transcript Available Here
Trudi Cowan (00:08)
And we're back again. This time we're going to talk about small businesses in Australia and navigating economic uncertainty.
Sarah Eifermann (00:10)
Hi.
Yeah.
It's a spotlight today on small business. We all know we've had really rough two to three years. mean, five, if you add COVID. And we kind of came out of it and smashed it for a little bit. And then now we're getting smashed back. So today's episode is how do you navigate the economic uncertainty? We've got rising interest rates, supply chain issues, shifting consumer trends, which is a big one. I think most of us feel the impact of that the most.
Trudi Cowan (00:20)
you
Sarah Eifermann (00:43)
And then it's just pressure and stress and yeah, some businesses are thriving, but most of the ones I talk to are not. So we're to talk today about some strategies that you can use and adapt to perhaps make your life a little bit easier and do a bit better in business. So.
Trudi Cowan (00:48)
Mmm. Yeah.
Yeah,
but first maybe we have a little bit of a chat about our current economic landscape. Most people would be aware that, you know, cost of living, inflation is higher than usual. Therefore, most businesses are experiencing higher expenses and the cost of their standard inputs are going up and there doesn't seem to be any slowing down on that.
Sarah Eifermann (01:25)
Yeah.
No,
and we're in election phase and the election will be, I think, in a week's time from now. And that has an impact as well, right? I don't know why I have been through in business, six or seven federal elections, and they always stop the marketplace. Nothing changes. They stop the marketplace. So this leaves impacts on cash flow management.
Trudi Cowan (01:32)
Mm.
Yep.
Yeah.
you
Sarah Eifermann (01:57)
fluctuating demand, can impact your staffing, you might need to let some people go but you don't want to.
Trudi Cowan (02:01)
It's the uncertainty
because you just don't know who's going to win and therefore what's going to be the policies that are proceeding with for the rest of the year. Interest rates have had one cut this year but that's it, depends on who you listen to as to whether we're going to have a few more or one more or no more. There seems to be a bit of a mixed sentiment around that.
Sarah Eifermann (02:13)
Enough getting another one!
If there are any more, they'll be in the latter half of the
year. The RBA is likely not going to move after election. So they sit again in June, elections in May. They sit again in June and then they don't sit again, I think until August. So it'll be the August one you're probably going to find if there's going to be a cut. They held for the April one. Unsurprising. Cold it. All of those things have an impact. So.
The toughest thing I think for small business at the moment is your emotional attachment to your business and how that blinds your ability to make clear-cut, consistent business decisions that are the right outcome for long-term value. And these are the conversations I've been having with my clients. Trudi, are you sort of having similar conversations at the moment or?
Trudi Cowan (02:54)
Yep.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, we really are very much having those same sorts of conversations about, know, is the business in the right position? Is it the right size? Is there expenditure that should be cut in the short term in order to help improve your cash flow in the long term? Are there things we can defer doing that we had planned on doing? Yeah, lots of those sorts of conversations are happening the moment.
Sarah Eifermann (03:30)
And the small business rollover
restructure one seems to come up regularly. And a lot of people leave it too late. We talk about this all the time, but please don't leave it too late. Like if you're considering it now, start to get the advice because when you need it, you won't be able to afford it. And any insolvency practitioner will charge you 20, 25 K upfront before they do that work. And then often it's too late. So how do we move forward?
Trudi Cowan (03:54)
It's too late. And look, know, cash flow management
is one of the biggest things that we are seeing and we've said it previously in other episodes that, you know, if you are needing help with your cash flow management, again, don't leave that to the last minute. If you're needing a loan or overdrafts to help get you through, don't leave that too late. Cause as you say, that also becomes a lot more difficult when your projections aren't looking great.
Sarah Eifermann (04:10)
Mm-mm.
I can get you an OD
when your business is trending in some sort of consistent manner. The moment your turnover plunges towards the floor, lender goes, well, you trend in the last 30 days now doesn't meet our key assessment criteria because it's dropping declined.
Trudi Cowan (04:24)
and
Yeah. Yeah. I think people are also seeing getting good employees and keeping good employees really hard as well. So I think it's also important to just consider the people that are working in your business and making sure as much as you can, you are still looking after them because it's really hard to replace good people.
Sarah Eifermann (04:35)
Don't leave it. Don't leave it.
But if you can't afford
them, you should not be keeping them based on how hard it was to get them Yeah Yes, right so there's that that's a double-edged sword, right? So we know how hard labor has been to get quality stuff and that's not going to be a problem that's going to go away anytime soon based on generational change to approach to work-life balance and attitude, but the one thing I will say is that
Trudi Cowan (04:57)
Well that's good start, but if you can afford them, make sure you don't lose them.
Mmm.
Yep.
Sarah Eifermann (05:22)
We desperately need you to have a look at your staffing load and ensuring that it's accurate for your current business position. Not the future one, not the one that was six months ago, but right now. And no one likes letting staff go, but there is absolutely zero point keeping them if you don't have work for them. Now on that...
Trudi Cowan (05:35)
Yeah.
Yeah, you can't keep them busy.
Sarah Eifermann (05:50)
On that note, I do have a client that runs LaborMate. Now LaborMate is a labor hire marketplace for businesses that are looking to find extra work short term. So it's like labor hiring out your staff to complete jobs. So you can use that to actually fill the gap if you've got no work. So that's a good one. So you're subbing out your own stuff.
Trudi Cowan (06:08)
Okay, yep.
But it's also only worthwhile
doing that if it's more of a short-term thing, whereas if you foresee that you've got a long-term shortage of work, then there's no point trying to fill any gap. It's time to move the stuff on.
Sarah Eifermann (06:21)
Correct.
Yeah, if you don't have work for six weeks, I know that sounds like it's not a lot, but if you don't have work for six weeks now, that may be three months in two weeks. So cut it now, cut it early. I know that's scary and most of you probably got anxiety, like as you're listening to me right now about it, but sometimes the hard and fast decisions are the ones that make the difference. If you got gangrene in your foot and you leave it to fester, what happens to your leg?
Trudi Cowan (06:34)
Mm-hmm.
You
Yep.
What an analogy. What an analogy. The other thing that we're doing with none of our clients is literally going through our profit and loss and where are you spending money and do you need to be spending money? Have you got 10 subscriptions but you're only using five of them? Let's cut those ones that we're not actually making.
Sarah Eifermann (07:02)
I know, it's true. It's true.
Yeah. Yep.
Yep, expenses versus efficiencies though, right? So I had this conversation
recently and he was like, yeah, but we just need to get more efficient. And I said, yeah, you do. But that doesn't help you if your expenses are still way too high because you could be the most efficient business ever and still be going backwards. If you...
Trudi Cowan (07:27)
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, yeah. Is it time to
reconsider some of your supplies for your materials? Is there someone that can be doing it for a better price than what you're getting at the moment? Look, there's lots of different things that you can do to try and reduce some of those costs. You know, I've done this in the past and gone through and said, well, why are you spending so much in your staff amenities account? And turned out that, you know, the boys have been taken out for lots of lunches and drinks. And yes, on one hand, that keeps your staff happy, but on the other side, that's all costing you a lot of money as well and can add up really quickly.
Sarah Eifermann (07:53)
Yes.
You're going broke in the process.
Trudi Cowan (08:01)
And if you're not aware of how quickly those things are adding up, then it can make a big difference. And for that particular client, it was, I think, about a $30,000 difference if they cut that expenditure out and put them back into making profits.
Sarah Eifermann (08:05)
Yeah.
Yeah. Were they the same ones that spent $30,000 on stationery that
year?
Trudi Cowan (08:20)
Could have been, could have been, there was one. But look, know, actually going through your profit and loss and just checking where the money's going and being aware of where your money's going, the amount of times I've done that and they're like, I didn't realize we're spending so much money on that particular category. Why? Let's have a look in there. Why are we spending so much money in that particular area? And is there anything we can do about it? That is one really simple thing. And then look at your top line.
Sarah Eifermann (08:21)
Hahaha
Yes.
Trudi Cowan (08:47)
Your revenue, are you actually charging proper market rates or should your rates be going up? Is there other types of revenue sources that you could be accessing that are still within your business model that you could be tapping into to earn some different types of revenue and improve that top line? And then how are all of those things then feeding into your cashflow plan?
Sarah Eifermann (08:48)
Mm-hmm. Yep, break even.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, absolutely. The break even one gets me at the moment because a lot of people know that if they change their rate, they're not market competitive. But if you're not earning enough to break even, what's the point of being market competitive?
Trudi Cowan (09:28)
Yeah,
you either need to increase your rate or reduce your costs.
Sarah Eifermann (09:33)
Yeah. And sometimes
you can't reduce those costs. So then the next question is, should you be trading? And if you're emotionally attached to your business and you've blood, and tears and your heart and soul has been spent in that business, the idea of closing your business or scaling it back to a very small outfit is really painful, but it may be the way that you survive so that you can trade out of it and maybe get bigger again later.
Trudi Cowan (09:39)
That's it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The other one that I've seen is I had a, was a consultant that we were chatting to about and he had some, some of his original clients are still on a very low rate. And let's say it was 10 clients on a very low rate. And I said, well, you really need to increase their rate to what you're charging everybody else. And he's like, yeah, that's going to double their rate. And I pointed out that, if you lose half of them from doubling their rates, you're still making the same amount of money, but you're having to do less work in order to make that amount of money.
Sarah Eifermann (10:30)
Yeah.
Trudi Cowan (10:30)
and you could see the
brain ticking over and went, never actually thought about it like that. So why are you underselling yourself and undercharging yourself when losing some of those clients? Yes, we never want to lose our clients. We like working with most of our clients, but if you're not making money off them because you're too scared to increase the rates, you're leaving money on the table.
Sarah Eifermann (10:45)
Yeah.
Too nice.
And it's the money you need to survive as well. Right? So we don't know how long this economic positioning is going to be in Australia. A change of government, even if it comes in, isn't going to solve our problems. It's going to be a long recovery road to get back up and heal our economic position for a range of different factors. But what can you do quickly and easily that's going to change the way your business operates? That's what we need to look at. And one of the fastest things on that is technology.
have you been avoiding your digital transformation? This is a common.
Trudi Cowan (11:27)
Yep.
Are you still handwriting out your invoices? Are you still using a lot of paper-based things in the office? Get that onto some technology. Or if you're using some technology, are you using it to its full capacity? Or are you just using the basic features and there's a lot of other things that maybe you could be using? We've spoken about AI recently. Yeah.
Sarah Eifermann (11:37)
Yeah.
But also like your staffing roles, like if your
staff are adverse to change and they don't want to adapt and move forward, that's potentially red flag. Like that's a problem in your business because you're paying $60,000, $80,000 a year for administration and their work output is less based on their avoidance or outright refusal to adapt and use technology that advances their positioning and allows them to be more efficient and get
more work done faster.
Trudi Cowan (12:17)
Yep.
Yep. Definitely. So yeah, if you're not using enough technology in your business, go and do that. The next quick win is maybe not a quick win, but the next win that you can have is government support. So maybe not quick, but it is available support there. There are still lots of grants and tax incentives, funding options around. Don't just look at federal. I'm seeing a lot of like local council grants.
Sarah Eifermann (12:26)
Mmm.
They're not quick. They're not quick at all.
Yes. Yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
Trudi Cowan (12:47)
around
at the moment and even if that grant, that grant might just be a thousand dollar grant to go and see a business coach. It's still a thousand dollars that you don't have to spend to then go get some support from someone who can help you improve your business.
Sarah Eifermann (12:54)
Correct.
Mm hmm.
Yeah, absolutely. There are low interest loans that you can get from government as well. Like anything though, bless you. She's allergic to grants apparently in this episode. Like you've really just got to consider the factors that go with all of that and the outcomes that come in. Like anything you borrow money, you to pay it back. But when it's the government, it's like, so.
Trudi Cowan (13:13)
Thank you.
Sarah Eifermann (13:29)
But they're there. They're definitely worth looking at. had a client receive an 80k grant last week for some primary health care stuff that she's doing, which means she doesn't have to worry about the income producing side of it to cover the staff load. So she can put the staff on to provide the service, which then only allows her to test case her expansion in that area without incurring the cost of it. So there are some really smart ways to use it.
Trudi Cowan (13:55)
And if you're not sure where to start, I bet if you jumped on chat GPT and put in a prompt along the lines of what are some grants that are available for industry in certain location, it would come up with some starting points for you.
Sarah Eifermann (14:04)
Yep. Yep.
It does and it gives you the websites. I've been using ChatGPT for the exactly that in the last two, three weeks for the McLean Chamber, the business chamber to do exactly that because a lot of them come out about this time of the year. So it's about just staying on top of the timing schedule. You're less likely to find more in the middle of the year. I'm not entirely sure why it's government mostly. Correct. Took the words out of my mouth in terms of the timing that's
Trudi Cowan (14:32)
They want to spend their budget before the end of year ticks over.
Sarah Eifermann (14:38)
most likely is where it gets put forward. So in terms of the practical takeaways, I mean, we kind of touch on this regularly. For me, in this episode, is that maybe you need to make some hard decisions and take the emotion out of your business. And it sucks that that might be where you're at, but you're better off doing it now than waiting and needing to liquidate as a result.
Trudi Cowan (15:06)
Yeah, and I think for me it's that you also need to get some backup, get some support, whether that's from a business coach, an accountant, your fellow colleagues in similar industries that are suffering from sort of similar problems. Don't do this alone. There are lots of people out there that can help and guide and support you through making some of these decisions as well. So don't feel like as a business owner, you're all alone and you're the only one.
experiencing this because you're not and there's definitely plenty of help around for people.
Sarah Eifermann (15:43)
I think if you're in New South Wales, one thing to consider is the New South Wales Business Connect program where you get up to six or eight free business coaching advice. They have staff that will give you those options. That's one particular solution.
Trudi Cowan (16:02)
Victoria has a small business bus that goes around to different local council areas that you can also register for advice with.
Sarah Eifermann (16:06)
Okay, I know that Queensland,
Queensland were also $7,500 grants in the last couple of years for the business coaching, stuff like that, business coaching, web design. The other thing as well is if you haven't looked at your branding and marketing piece and you've been reliant solely on word of mouth because you've been in business for a long time, like I had this conversation yesterday with a client, it's been in business 30 years in a local area, like.
Trudi Cowan (16:16)
See you.
Sarah Eifermann (16:32)
Business just comes his way, except it's not at the moment for all the reasons we've talked about. I said, what advertising are you doing? He goes, none. So I literally just plugged it into Chat Gpt what can you find on this business and this type of work? What's the most searched terms? And it's, I said, give me a six week social media campaign and then give me a four week ad strategy campaign. And it does it all for you. All he needs to do is add the pictures.
Trudi Cowan (16:36)
Yeah.
Yeah. Which you can probably find some AI that'll create those for him too.
Sarah Eifermann (17:02)
That's it now. So it's...
Yeah, which
you can, but to be fair for their quality compliance, they take pictures anyway. So they've got a full library of pictures that they can use. It's really just doing it and putting it forward. And that marketing piece, the best time to market is when you're super busy, you know that old adage that don't wait until the work slowed down before you start to advertise. So it's a 24 hour, seven day a week, 52 weeks of the year.
Trudi Cowan (17:11)
Yeah, okay, so he's got plenty of pictures.
Definitely.
Sarah Eifermann (17:36)
plan if you haven't spent some money potentially on a website if you don't have Facebook, Instagram, Google my business profile I think it's changed its name but I can't remember is it just Google profile Google business profile
Trudi Cowan (17:47)
Yeah. But basically, if I can't Google you and find you really easily, you know, a lot of people these days have the mentality, do you exist?
Sarah Eifermann (17:55)
I agree. Are you a fake business? And if I can't find anything about you, are you going to rip me off? Like I was looking at hiring a new electrician recently and I went to his website. So he posted in a local Facebook group. I went to his website. His Facebook hasn't been updated since 2017. He's obviously moved to our area and he's looking for work. That's fine. But he has no new testimonials.
He hasn't updated any of his stuff. I go, what are you hiding by that? And are you going to rip me off?
Trudi Cowan (18:32)
Hmm.
Sarah Eifermann (18:34)
Remove the questions? It's not fair. It's not fair.
Trudi Cowan (18:35)
which is maybe not always fair in some circumstances, that's the
way that a lot of people think they expect you to have an online presence.
Sarah Eifermann (18:43)
But if you look at the psychology of selling, you remove the questions that provide an impetus to the purchase. So by updating your stuff and regularly updating, and if that's once a month, that's fine, but you should be updating your socials once a week. And the argument that I don't have time no longer flies because like I just said, you can spit out a six week campaign in, it literally took me 30 seconds. I had took an extra 30 seconds to copy it to a word document.
Trudi Cowan (19:05)
Hmm.
Sarah Eifermann (19:12)
to then attach it for his staff member. But you don't even need that. You can cut and paste. And now it connects into Canva or into Meta if you want, and it uploads it all for you. Like, there are no excuses for this. It's about being proactive and that foresight and broad scanning of what's coming down the pipeline, what's ahead. Trudi, you and I have been talking about this since May.
Trudi Cowan (19:24)
Awesome. Yeah.
Sarah Eifermann (19:40)
2023 when we did our event in Melbourne as to be aware of what's coming and I'm still seeing posts of has anyone noticed the works like just stopped?
Trudi Cowan (19:49)
Hahaha
Sarah Eifermann (19:52)
We've been doing really well, been fully booked, but now we've got no work for the next six months.
Trudi Cowan (19:57)
Yeah. Were you not aware that that was happening? And look, I think this comes back to one of our favorite topics of do you actually have a business plan and are you actually thinking about it on an ongoing basis? Because that plan would say, hang on, pipeline's down. Well, this is what we need to go and do.
Sarah Eifermann (20:14)
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So I mean, we could probably talk about this till the cows come home, but the key takeaways from this episode is don't put your head in the sand and pretend you're an ostrich. That was the first one. Secondly, have a look at how your emotions are impacting your business decisions and whether they're blurring the lines and clouding your judgment. And then what can you do for immediate quick wins?
Trudi Cowan (20:20)
Truly.
Sarah Eifermann (20:40)
and what can you do for some longer term success strategy? What tech that you can insert into your business or through your staff? And do you need to downsize to survive so that you can trade out?
Trudi Cowan (20:51)
Yep.
Yep. And lastly, get some help. There's plenty of people that will provide you with some support in making all of those decisions.
Sarah Eifermann (20:55)
Yeah.
Yeah, you're not alone. You're definitely not alone. I think that's another important thing to consider is that a lot of business owners are experiencing this. I get calls all the time and they've left it too late for me to help. So don't leave it. Do something about it today. Pick up the phone, call either Trudi or I. If we can't assist you, we will point you in the right direction of somebody that can. Depending on your state, as we've already talked about, go check out the resources that they do offer to support you already.
Trudi Cowan (21:20)
All
Yep. Yep.
Sarah Eifermann (21:28)
I know that sounds a bit morbid, like a low note to end on, but I suppose that's the reality of the economic position we're in and I don't see it changing anytime soon.
Trudi Cowan (21:32)
you
And probably the last point, you're one of those lucky businesses that are actually doing really well at the moment, make sure you're also reflecting on why that is the case and make sure that it's going to continue for you and that there's not going to be some event that's then going to change that.
Sarah Eifermann (21:41)
Yeah.
Yes. Yes.
Yeah, that's out of your control. Right. So go back and have a look at some of that stoic thinking that we did a few episodes back and see how you can apply that to your continuing success. So, I mean, next, next episode, we're talking about navigating business finance options, you know, funding your future. And it's a really nice segue into what we've been talking about, because all of the things in this episode, we did plan it this way, guys, they impact your ability to get finance and how to get it when you need it.
Trudi Cowan (22:22)
Yeah,
Sarah Eifermann (22:23)
So yeah, until next time,
Trudi Cowan (22:24)
yeah, definitely. All right, bye.
Sarah Eifermann (22:27)
bye.