The 5 Best Hacks To Grow Your Small Business This New Financial Year

The end of financial year is the ideal time for business owners to take stock of what’s worked and what hasn’t, while assessing how best to manage cash flow and set goals for the future. These Australian small businesses share how they use the American Express® Qantas Business Rewards Card to their advantage while earning Qantas Points to grow their businesses.

“Set a clear five-year vision and constantly reassess your goals” – Jensen Farley, co-founder and general manager of Lawrenny Estate Distillery

Tasmanian whisky label Lawrenny Estate Distillery is acutely aware of the importance of planning. With barrels of spirit needing years to age before hitting the market, “Whisky is an expensive hobby and an expensive business,” says Farley. “While there are only three main ingredients – barley, yeast and water – there are plenty of peripheral costs, including barrels, storage and time.” The American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card helps the business keep one eye on current cash flow and another on the future. “We use the Card’s flexible spending limit¹ to scale up our spending power and pay many of our suppliers.”

It also helps Farley keep the business focused on what it needs to do to achieve its five-year ambition: “to be a globally recognised leading producer of Tasmanian single malt whisky”. Reassessing the business’s needs, and staff, for each financial year is paramount to that process. “Every year we reassess as we grow and building the right team of people comes with having a clear vision of what your brand needs at the time and hiring people that really believe in that story.”

“Think globally with the right partners and staff”  – Saxon Wright, co-founder of Huskee

Fast-growing Australian reusable coffee cup business, Huskee, has been an international business since day one following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Now the business, which turns old coffee husks into reusable sustainable cups, has over 1000 participating outlets in Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, France and Sweden with new enquiries coming in every day.

However, growing so fast has its downfalls and Wright has had to scale the team to 25 employees in order to cope. “Taxes, import duty and compliance regulations are different in every territory and working out how to navigate them has stretched us,” says Wright. ‘We now have the team to manage it, but proving the concept and systems in our own backyard first would have helped.”

It also means thinking globally about financial partners. “We have business travel expenses, manufacturing costs and IP registrations all over the world and the American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card makes looking after those international transactions easy,” says Wright. “I regularly travel to China where the husk [that is turned into cups] is produced and attend trade shows to meet major distributors from the UK, US and Korea.”

Wright books flights with the Card, earning 2 Qantas Points per $1 spent on Qantas products and services² while also taking advantage of the Card’s complimentary travel insurance³ (T&Cs and exclusions apply, such as maximum age limits, pre-existing medical conditions and cover limits) and domestic Qantas Club Lounge passes⁴. 

“Earn Qantas Points on as many business expenses as you can” – Danny Taylor, co-founder of The Bodhi Spa Group

Since mortgaging their house to open the first Bodhi Spa in 2007, Danny and Tania Taylor have expanded to six locations in Perth and Margaret River and have a combined annual turnover in excess of $10 million. Danny credits the American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card’s dynamic line of unsecured funding¹ with helping them open new venues.

“Our expenses shoot up whenever we open a new location, but because the Card has no pre-set spending limit,¹ our access to capital has expanded too.”

The Card is also useful come tax time, with the Card earning up to 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on everyday business expenses and 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent on utilities, insurance and government payments², netting Danny Qantas Points when he pays his ATO payments. “That's very useful considering our turnover is north of $10 million a year and the bills can be eye-watering. It means we can pay a $400,000 government payment in a single transaction and know that we’re still able to cover all the other expenses involved with running the business.”

“Use travel as a tool to broker deals and secure partnerships for your business” – Melissa Walker, co-founder of Fred International

Interiors store Fred International has grown a loyal client base for its premium Scandinavian furniture and decor offering, pulled from 12 designer brands. It’s something that co-founder Melissa Walker says would be more difficult to manage without Qantas Points. “Flying to the likes of Stockholm and Copenhagen for the major furniture trade shows is invaluable to our business,” she says. 

To get there, the team at Fred International uses the Qantas Points earned on their American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card. The business earns 2 Qantas Points per $1 spent when using the Card to purchase Qantas products and services and up to 1.25 points per $1 spent on everyday business expenses.² While abroad, Walker and her team can gauge upcoming trends, form stronger partnerships and immediately secure pieces for the new season. Purchasing showroom furniture is made easier by knowing they have up to 51 days to pay for purchases on the Card.⁵ “These decisions are super important to our business, especially given a turbulent few years with supply-chain issues and extended lead times affecting the industry, we use these trips to get ahead of the year ahead.”

“Do your due diligence and audit your suppliers” – Julien Moussi, founder of Inglewood Coffee Roasters

Former Victoria Football League player Julien Moussi’s coffee business started with football. “A few weekends after I underwent a knee reconstruction, I asked the club [Box Hill Hawks] if I could make coffee at games,” he explains. Soon Moussi was managing a team of coffee carts at weekend football matches, athletic meets and boat shows. In 2013 he opened his first brick-and-mortar café and has since opened a coffee-roasting facility, Inglewood Coffee Roasters, along with more than 40 venues.

His tip for starting a new financial year is to be a smart buyer and save money where you can by keeping track of your spending with the American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card’s automated reporting that directly feeds from your account⁶. “Audit your suppliers regularly to make sure you’re not overpaying. Being a good buyer also means generating rewards such as Qantas Points through your purchases,” says Moussi. “Now we pay for all our unroasted coffee beans with the Card and earn Qantas Points² in other ways as well.”

SEE ALSO: This Entrepreneur Has Turned Stationery Into a Seven-figure Business