Written by Jennifer Tutty, Principal

Today marks the 2nd year anniversary of the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia.

What a trip it has been for businesses ever since. From being shut down, losing trade altogether, having your whole workforce work from home to having business momentum continuously stop and start, it’s been a rollercoaster ride.

While there is debate about whether the pandemic is actually nearing its end, as businesses in Australia enter their third year of trying to survive and thrive during a global pandemic, Jennifer Tutty the principal of Studio Legal has reached out to some of her closest business friends from different disciplines to get their ultimate top tip on what your business can be doing right NOW to come out of COVID on top.

Top Accounting Tip – Reassess and reduce the physical footprint of your business

Simon Byers, the Managing Partner of Highview Accounting & Financial in Prahran, is encouraging businesses to analyse and reassess their physical footprint. Where businesses can reduce or downsize their office sizes, move some of their business retail online or move to a cheaper rental area, they should be making plans to do NOW.

After wages, Simon comments, rent is often the highest business cost, and with workers working from home regularly and online trade roaring, businesses can be saving money and putting this towards other aspects of their business such as innovation and marketing to help their business grow after the pandemic is over.

Visit Highview Accounting & Financial’s website here.

Top Marketing Tip – Conduct a cost effective brand and marketing strategy refresh

Co-Founder and Director of Space Between creative agency, Tyson Stenglein, says like Studio Legal is currently doing, businesses should be considering a brand refresh and updating their social content as well as revising their marketing strategy as a whole.

Tyson gets that businesses might be struggling for cashflow right now and it may be hard to engage agencies to help. Despite this, Tyson highlights that there are cost effective ways to refresh your marketing such as bringing these activities in house, using online software platforms which allow you to self manage and using template style resources to activate your marketing goals. Tyson quotes sites like Squarespace as awesome for self-managing your own marketing activities at a low cost.

Visit Space Between’s website here.

Top IT Tip – Use portable technology to ensure your workforce is highly mobile

Kai Howells, the founder and boss of Automatica IT, can’t emphasis enough the importance of businesses being able to respond quickly to change and ensuring their workforce is as mobile as possible. Businesses need to be ready to ‘go remote’ at the drop of a hat and to do this businesses need to be embracing portable technology as much as possible.

Moving to laptops with screens and cloud technology like office 365 and Dropbox has become an integral part of his clients responding effectively during the pandemic. So if you aren’t there yet, get on the bus or if you are, Kai advises that you keep thinking about additional ways you can use portable technology to improve your business as we get through the pandemic and continue to grow our businesses after.

Visit Automatica IT’s website here.

Top Practice Management Tip – Put in place smarter day planning

Efficiency queen and Studio Legal Practice Manager, Sara Giampa Kease, recommends business owners start putting into place smarter day planning. An example of this is grouping similar tasks into one work blocks and minimise meetings at least on one day in your week to regain productivity. By the time the pandemic is over, you should be razor focused.

In terms of fun facts, Sara advises that it can take on average 25 minutes to return to a task following an interruption (according to a New York Times report), whether you are working from home or working in an office, effectively planning your day will minimise stress and cutdown on switching from one unrelated task to another.

Want to speak to Sara? Send her an email at sara@studiolegal.com.au.

Top Legal Tip – Consider legal risks and prepare tailor made contracts to protect your business

There’s nothing like a global pandemic to shake things up and test your business. The pandemic has highlighted a whole heap of new legal issues and risks. Businesses looking to thrive after COVID will be learning from this and updating their contracts with staff, suppliers and clients to ensure they are better protected against unexpected events in the future.

With many businesses using contracts from friends or ripped from the internet, now is the time to be seeing a lawyer to ensure you have bespoke contracts prepared for the needs of your business. Special things to review and add to your contracts now are stand down clauses and work from home policies in your employment contracts and cancellation and force majeure clauses in your client and supplier agreements. Consider using a boutique firm to help you with your contracts, as fees will be more palatable.

Further Information

If you would like assistance with your business legals, please contact us through our online form or via email at hello@studiolegal.com.au.

DISCLAIMER

The information in this article is of a general nature. It does not constitute formal legal or financial advice, and should not be relied on as such. Please see the full disclaimer in our website terms. Please contact Studio Legal if you are seeking advice about a specific legal matter.