Starting a Company in 5 hours — Hour 2
So if you followed Hour 1, and gave it a few hours, you should now have a nice fresh Registered Company. Feels pretty good doesn’t it?
OK, so in this hour two we are going to set up your accounting software and company email. You may think you don’t need to worry about accounting yet, I certainly did, but believe me keeping good records, regardless of how little you bring in.
To wrap this hour off, we’ll set you up with a professional sounding email.
Let get cracking!
Step 1 — Get a Business Bank Account
Why: It will make it easier to track your income and expenses.
How: Go into your bank or signup online. Commonwealth Bank Australia, ANZ, Westpac, NAB.
Cost: $0
Other thoughts: This is a really simple step. You may be required to deposit a minimum amount, but play it by ear. Remember you can set up a business account with an alternative bank to that which you do your personal banking with. For me however, it was much easier to go with the same bank as I could easily access all accounts from the one internet banking account (which made transferring from my personal account to my business account a breeze). If you decide to go into the bank for this step, from my experience set aside 30 minutes.
Further Reading: Nada, just get on with it.
Step 2— Set up accounting software
Why: It will make tracking your income and expenses, paying bills and preparing Business Activity Statements and Tax returns much easier.
How: Sign up now with Intuit Quick Books. It currently costs less than $20/month and is very intuitive. I tried Xero, but given it costs around $50/month I didn’t see any extra value…and my account convinced me to move over to quick books.
Cost: $15
Other thoughts: When you decide to get an accountant, and it will be worth it before when it’s time to do your first annual GST statement, and company tax return, having good records will make it much easier. Most accountants can sign-in / link up to Quick Books or Xero.
Further Reading: As with Step 1, just get on with it.
Step 3— Set up a company email
Why: It will make you seem a lot more professional to prospective clients…well more professional than flyboy77@hotmail.com anyway.
How:
Step 3a: Purchase the “.com” and “.com.au” domains from Go Daddy. If your business is John Smith Engineering, then you should purchase johnsmithengineering.com and johnsmithengineering.com.au. If it happens to be taken then try alternatives such as JSEngineering.com or if your feeling creative how about thinkjohnsmith.com or jsmithengineering.com.
Step 3b: Head over to Google for Business and setup a free trial account. Follow the instructions to create your band new business email. You will get the first month free and then it will set you back $5/month after that.
Cost: $30 + $5/month
Other thoughts: Go ahead and install gmail on your phone and sign in with your new account. Instant work phone.
Further Reading: Jump onto youtube.com and search for “gmail go daddy” or something similar for a guided tutorial.
Well done! You’ve now set up you company bank account, accounting software and email system. Time for a nice cold one.
Up next Hour 3 — Network Drive & Insurance.
If you found this useful please click the little heart below and recommend it to others. Have a great day!
