Home topics small-business-resources growing Growing Hot Tips Opinion Growing Lessons learned: Aussie SMBs on what it takes to succeed Guest Author March 4, 2015 Small businesses are at the heart of our economy, with more than two million operating across the nation and more than half a million Australians involved in startup activity at any point in time. Recently, Intuit surveyed* 500 local entrepreneurs to find out about their business journey with the view to share key learnings and insights to help other startups. Of those surveyed, more than half (58 per cent) said they wished they had done some things differently to set up their business, and for millennial business owners that figure rose to 70 per cent. Just 44 per cent were really satisfied with the way they run their companies and one in four (27 per cent) had not been able to get their company to really hum. A key regret small business owners had was not learning to better manage and track their finances (21 per cent). In fact, more than half (56 per cent) said they were still relying on ledgers or spreadsheets to handle their operations. Clearly, many SMBs are not yet tapping into the power of affordable online financial management packages that are now available. Cloud-based accountancy software can provide smart financial management to help with everything from creating quotes and invoices through to tracking sales and cash flow, and managing GST. Thanks to mobile apps linked to cloud accounting solutions, small businesses