Shining the Spotlight on Small Business in Australia

January 23, 2025

In this episode of Money Secrets, Fi Johnston celebrates the unstoppable power of small businesses as the backbone of the Australian economy. Fi explores what defines a small business in Australia and why these enterprises deserve more recognition. Fi highlights the staggering impact of these 2.7 million small businesses, which employ 45% of the workforce and generate 35% of Australia’s GDP. Yet, despite their contribution, small businesses get overshadowed in the media by corporates and fast-scaling startups.

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We’ve come so far as a society in many ways, but money is one of the areas where progress hasn’t been enough. If we want to tip the scales in favour of marginalised people, it starts with understanding the secret: money in small business.

In this podcast, Money Secrets, host Fiona (Fi) Johnston—Chartered Accountant, small business advocate, and impact enthusiast—dives into the conversations we need to have about money. The secrets that once stayed behind closed doors (or on the golf course) are finally out in the open.

Fi’s mission? To get more money into the hands of good people, like you. She believes small businesses have the power to change the world, and the key to making a bigger impact is to make—and manage—more money.

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This podcast episode was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation and I'd like to acknowledge them as the Traditional Owners and custodians of this land and water that I live, work and play on. I'd like to pay respect to elders both past and present, and note that sovereignty has never been ceded. This always was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.

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Key Takeaways:

Defining “Small”: There’s no single definition, but turnover under $10 million and fewer than 50 employees is a common benchmark.
2.7 Million Strong: Small businesses make up a huge portion of Australia’s economy, yet don’t receive the spotlight they deserve.
Startups vs. Small Businesses: While all startups begin small, they differ by aiming for rapid, broad-scale growth—often fuelled by venture capital—which can also lead to rapid failure.
Real-World Impact: Day-to-day, small businesses are the ones employing locals, fostering community connections, and solving immediate problems with innovation and persistence.
Where’s the Media Love?: Fi questions why we celebrate VC-backed startups (even those that go bust quickly) over the resilient, people-focused small businesses that power Australia’s economy.

Tune in to discover why the media’s obsession with startups often overlooks the true innovators among us, how to leverage your finances for real impact.

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Thank you to everyone involved for bringing this podcast together. We are excited to hear from you with any questions, feedback or suggestions for future episodes that you might have. Send a Direct Message to @peach.business

If you are excited for what’s to come, please like this episode, follow the podcast and share it with your friends. We are thrilled you're here.

Want to find out more about Good Money Club? It's for female and non-binary business owners ready to make more money and impact. Join us?

Or check out the Peach Business website here to find out more about Fi.

Check out my FREE Pricing Training you need to set your prices for profitability.

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Fiona Johnston
We've made a lot of progress as a society in many of the areas that we needed to in the last few hundred years. But one thing that has not changed enough is money. If we want to be able to tip the scales towards the favour of marginalised people, we need to understand the secret money in small business.
The more we talk about money and the secrets that usually stay at the golf club, the more likely we are to be able to make money. My mission is to get more money into the hands of good people, specifically good business people like you. This is Money Secrets, the place to learn about the money secrets of successful small business owners.Because I believe small business can change the world. And in order to do that, we need to be making a lots of money. Let's go.

[00:00:51]
This podcast episode was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. And I'd like to acknowledge them as the traditional owners and custodians of this land and water that I live, work, and play on. I'd like to pay respects to elders, both past and present, and note that sovereignty has never been ceded. This always was. And always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.

[00:01:18]
Before we go any further with the Money Secrets podcast, let's start with some things to appreciate and love about small business in Australia. Firstly, what is a small business? Well, There's lots of different ways to define this. The ATO has a way of defining it, WorkCover has a way of defining it, and sometimes that definition is based on revenue, and sometimes that definition is based on how many employees are in that business.

[00:01:45]
Let's say for simplicity that small businesses are those businesses with turnover less than 10 million dollars and usually employees of anywhere up to about 50. Some people might say that there are micro, small and medium businesses and whilst that might be true, let's call all of us small businesses.

[00:02:05]
There are 2. 7 million small businesses in Australia. And we punch so far above our weight. We employ 45 percent of the Australian workforce, including ourselves. And we bring in 35 percent of Australia's GDP. But for some reason, we don't get talked about as much in the media as I think that we should. So much of the media seems to me to be obsessed with talking about corporates.

[00:02:32]
And let's face it, they do plenty of things that they should not be proud of. And the media is also obsessed with talking about startups. Now a startup is different from a small business. So all startups are small businesses when they first start, but not all small businesses are startups. And the simple way to think about a startup, at least in the kind of most commonly used definition, is that a startup is a business that has the potential to have lots of revenue from lots of customers.
So they have very broad market appeal and they have the ability to make huge amounts of money without huge amounts of extra costs. So most startups are in the tech world because tech is one of the simplest ways to be able to scale revenue without also needing to scale expenses or team at the same rate.

[00:03:25]
It seems to me that the media is quite obsessed with the startup world. But when we actually look at what happens in the startup world, what happens is these companies grow extremely fast, often with venture capital funding, and they often fail really fast too. So there are many examples that we can look to in the last 10 or 20 years in Australia, where companies have received tens of millions, even hundreds of million dollars in funding to employ four or five hundred people for a year and then go bust.

[00:03:58]
Why is this something that we celebrate so much? When every day small business owners are out there employing 45 percent of Australia, giving people their first job, treating their clients really well, being problem solvers who innovate and use grit and persistence. We really care about our teams. We really care about our communities and we are making the world a better place as small business owners.

[00:04:24]
Maybe it's time that the media caught up to how incredible small businesses are. And then we might start hearing about more of the incredible small business owners that exist in Australia. I'm thrilled you're here.

[00:04:43] Thank you so much for listening right up to the end. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Money Secrets. where we talk about the money secrets of successful small business owners. If you enjoyed the episode, I'd love it if you subscribe to the podcast, but leave us a review or share this episode with one of your friends.
I hope you learned something. I hope you got a new perspective and I really hope you enjoyed the listening experience.

Shining the Spotlight on Small Business in Australia

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