Collins Hume Blog

Chris Atkinson has mojo!

Team Random Dudes win Male Veteran category in MOJO Raid 12 Hour Adventure Race.

The "Random Dudes" - Collins Hume Partner Christopher Atkinson and Collins Hume client / race partner Peter Boyce - won their category, Male Veterans, and came an amazing 5th overall in "The MOJO Raid 12 Hour Adventure Race" on Saturday/night. 

The briefest of summaries is, over 12 hours of navigating your own course strategy with only a compass and map, no other devices allowed through some very rugged terrain in the Lake Moogerah area via kayaking, trekking and mountain biking in 30 plus degrees, they managed to obtain the most points by locating checkpoints marked on the map in their race category and came a very creditable 5th place overall against all the young and old guns. 

After nearly fracturing a shin, Chris said, "Every checkpoint is worth different points hence the strategy so important in assessing your own physical capabilities, not getting lost, injured, dehydrated, bitten by a snake, breaking a leg, exhaustion, stacking your bike or getting trapped in a gorge!"

"Basically you couldn't have more fun over 12 hours on a Saturday/night."

Couldn't have said it any better! Congratulations Chris and here's to hearing many more race results from you both. We're exhausted just reading about it!

Related reading: Chris Atkinson's rogue raid success

Copyright 2019. @CollinsHume Ballina & Byron Bay NSW

The $11.1bn small business tax shortfall

Last month, the ATO released statistics showing small business is responsible for 12.5% ($11.1 billion) of the total estimated 'tax gap'.

These new figures give visibility to tax compliance issues within the small business sector and indicate where we can expect ATO resources to be focussed now and in the future.

The tax gap estimates the difference between the tax collected and the amount that would have been collected if everyone was fully compliant with the law.

Australia's small business community is doing comparatively well with international figures showing gaps in this same sector of between 9% and 30%.

Read more…

Banks paying off your home loan

Recently a Danish bank launched what is believed to be the first home loan with a negative interest rate – a 10 year fixed rate loan with a rate of minus 0.5%.

This means that every month when you make your repayment the banks tips in a little more. But is this a good thing?

Interest rates have a link to inflation – high rates often mean high inflation, low rates often mean low inflation. So, what of a negative rate; does this equal deflation?

When we buy property we tend to think that it will go up in value and that over time inflation and wage rises means that your loan commitment takes up less of your disposable income. But with deflation we potentially see property values falling, real wages declining, and your loan commitment eating into more of your income. None of us want to see that. Read more…

Should a business bootstrap or raise external financing?

There is a time and place for either strategy, but what we've noticed is that startups tend to fixate on the latter. 

Some believe that once they've raised enough money, everything's going to be okay. But while raising capital definitely helps, it shouldn't be the end goal of a business.

Working with someone else's cash gives business owners a sense of confidence and accountability. But there are many things bootstrapping can teach founders.

In fact, it's quite common in Australia for business owners to bootstrap. They have credit card limits of $30,000 to $50,000 - enough to run their businesses on personal credit. That's very risky. But in the process, founders become more disciplined and thoughtful about where they spend their cash.

Read more…

Financial transparency is important to investors

When pitching a business to investors, getting the right number - whether it's net profit, sales, margins - is key.

But the kind of data you present depends a lot on the stage of your startup and the kind of investor you're looking at.

As an investor himself, Sam had this advice to give: "If we're talking about seed [funding], they'll be investing more in the team, personality, vision, and market-depending on the stage."

He goes on to advise small and medium enterprise that "annual finances are useless in the beginning because business is changing so frequently. Investors will want to see on a month-on-month basis what's happening."

Read more…