You’ve no doubt heard the highlights of the 2009 Budget brought down last Tuesday. But, what does it mean for your small business? Ask your questions here and we’ll help point you in the right direction to find answers. In the meantime here are a couple of resources: Dyamic Business and Smart Company have both covered the main issues that impact small business.

I do have a question for you though:

Is the Rudd Government doing enough to aid small business?

Take part in this national poll and tell us. We’ll share the results next week.

Tonight opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull will reply to the budget from the Liberals point of view. We’ve managed to get a copy of the response to the budget from Shadow Minister for Small Business, Steven Ciobo.

Click here to to read Shadow Minister Steven Biobo’s response to the budget.

We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Have you felt the effects of the change in the economy? Have you made changes to your business plan?

We’d like to know how you’re dealing with changes in your business. Take our poll - at the right hand side of this page. 

We’ll publish the results in the coming week.  

Suzi

PS Feel free to leave a comment with more details, below! 

As a business owner you can face risks of theft, fire and damaged business equipment.

Insurance is necessary but it’s not always easy to know what insurance you need. If you’re home-based, that can also add complications. That’s why the ABN is working with a major business insurance company to develop a product that caters to women in business. Play a role in tailoring this innovative new program by taking part in our survey. Your input makes a difference. So have your say now.

This week’s snap poll is all about numbers! The Australian Bureau of Statistics announced on 15 May that the average Australian women’s wage is now $52,166 per annum. How does your salary compare? Click on the poll at the top right of this page to see how our community of (mostly) business owners is tracking against this milestone.

In a recent survey members of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network indicated that due to a lack of work/life balance they were feeling stressed. So over the last two weeks we’ve been asking you to tell us why you qualify to win a copy of a new book Hurry Up and Meditate, by David Michie, and according to the publishers this book is written for people in a hurry and its message is simple: meditation will help you combat stress, cultivate happiness, enhance your performance, realise yours goals and attain mastery of your mental, emotional and material destiny…

Here are some of the more humourous responses we received:”Because I Muse, I’m Energetic, (in) Demand, Industrious, Tenacious, Active, Tired, and above all, I’m Expecting! “”I need to hurry up and meditate as I keep on being late, with stress and fluctuating weather and always running with skates! It would be great to learn the tricks to meditate and practice without complicate! Please consider me for a copy and do not hesitate!”"Two micro-businesses to run, two children, one husband, two aging in-laws and seven pets to mother. Need I say more? Wishing you less stress and more success…”"No time to explain, too stressed!”Thanks to Allen and Unwin for donating the books and congratulations to our winners : Fiona McAnna, Karen Robertson, Tracy Bell, Barb Blashk, Noelle Sadinsky, Rina Lee, Melissa Whitby, Jennifer Lawson, Zita Santa, Marian Hamilton-Kerr

Thank you to everyone who participated in our “How Flexible is Your Business?” survey and congratulations to the winners of our featured book “Flexible Work Solutions”!

Please click here to access the survey results.

Flexible work arrangements - such as job sharing, compressed work-weeks and home offices - are fast gaining popularity in Australia. But how does a small business with limited resources implement solutions that suit both the business and the employees? Have your say: Do our mini-survey now and you’ll also go in the draw to win one of 10 copies of this week’s recommended book “Flexible Work Solutions”.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our What’s Your Wealth Plan? mini-survey. 63% of you indicated that you have a financial plan. The most popular wealth strategies included business (74%), savings (52%) and investment property (48%). Despite participants reliance on business as their overall primary wealth strategy, 88% indicated that a lack of financial and/or business education was a barrier to financial success. Managing cash flow was the biggest concern amongst women business owners, followed by funding growth and 66.7% of you felt somewhat confident in the current state to today’s economy.

The ABN has taken your responses on board and is currently planning a series of webinars and events to assist members address these barriers, across the areas of financial planning, business development and government resources for small business.

Congratulations to the 10 winners of Mark Bouris’ new book The Yellow Brick Road to Your Financial Security: Loata Brealey, Bianca de Reus, Loueen Goodall, Carrol Jones, Judi McDonald, Rina Lee, Natasha Reynolds, Jane Skamp, Rebecca Woodcock, Daina Peel.

As the federal election campaign reaches fever pitch, we’ve been flooded with information about interest rates, Work Choices and economic management - but very little about the issues identified by the ABN community as critical to small business survival, including:

• the red tape burden on small business
• the future of the childcare situation in Australia
• the glass ceiling
• provision of government support for women in business and
• the discrepancy in male/female superannuation balances and its effect on women’s retirement lifestyle

To fill the information gap and help you make an informed choice on election day, we took those issues to senior female members of the Coalition, Labor, Democrats and Greens parties in a series of targeted questions.

We also asked two open questions, the first relating to each party’s perspective on the key issues facing women in business; and the second about their priority plans to address the public policy needs of Australian women in business.

Click here to download our report.

We hope you find our brief interesting and informative and invite comment via policy@abn.org.au, by commenting on this blog post, or direct to Susan McGrath, ABN National Special Projects Manager (Advocacy and Lobbying) on 0439 908 108.

We are currently setting up a number of relevant surveys and polls.

Take part in our Pre Election Snap Poll now.

Download and return this form to tell us what you think!