Latest / Best of Business / Bridget Snelling: Xero NZ country manager on the new report showing nearly half of small business owners feel link giving up

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Bridget Snelling: Xero NZ country manager on the new report showing nearly half of small business owners feel link giving up · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from news Talks be follow
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  Speaker 2: Free seems to be stealing small business owners productivity and
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  Speaker 2: also sleeps. Zero data shows nearly half of New Zealand
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  Speaker 2: small business owners surveyed had considered giving up their business
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  Speaker 2: due to that stress. Joining us now is Bridget Snelling.
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  Speaker 2: She is country manager for zero New Zealand. Bridget Very
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  Speaker 2: afternoon to you.
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  Speaker 3: Bridget is sme stress, I guess materially worse now than
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  Speaker 3: it was in previous downturns.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: On Our survey shows that three quarters of key business
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  Speaker 4: owners have said that this financial year has been more
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  Speaker 4: stressful than previous years. I think the past fwo years,
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  Speaker 4: which have been pretty tough for our small business economy,
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  Speaker 4: I'd say they're probably a bit fatigued, and so this
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  Speaker 4: financial area is feeling is more tax than then in
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  Speaker 4: the past.
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  Speaker 3: What's the biggest cause of stress? Is it financial uncertainty?
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  Speaker 3: Is it compliant?
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  Speaker 1: What is it?
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  Speaker 4: Well? I mean it's financial pressure is sort of the
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  Speaker 4: dominant stressor, and that's really due to rising costs and
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  Speaker 4: unpredictable demands. The other king contributors to stress the small
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  Speaker 4: business owners. You know, we have seen that sales data
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  Speaker 4: has shown that things have been really tough over the
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  Speaker 4: past few years. So small businesses have been really kind
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  Speaker 4: of struggling in many sectors. And I think now that
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  Speaker 4: they are coming to that time of year wheneveron's spiling
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  Speaker 4: their tax, it's feeling, you know, particular, they're stresses.
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  Speaker 3: Do we know how many businesses failed you to stress
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  Speaker 3: and burn out of the owners, Well.
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  Speaker 4: We know that you know about part have said that
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  Speaker 4: they've considered giving up their business altogether due to stress.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that just shows that, you know, business
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  Speaker 4: owners are pretty close to breaking point at some point
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  Speaker 4: in their business journey. And so what we're you know,
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  Speaker 4: we're talking about and acknowledging is that there is a
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  Speaker 4: lot of tax that get filled as we come to
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  Speaker 4: a thing as much, but really what we don't see
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  Speaker 4: or talk about tom it is the emotional tax that
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  Speaker 4: kind of goes beyond the balance sheet, where small businesses,
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  Speaker 4: you know, miss out on their family moments, they have
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  Speaker 4: their sleep effected, they lose personal time, and it takes
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  Speaker 4: a real toll on them. And we want to acknowledge it.
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  Speaker 4: This and the financial year that's coming up.
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  Speaker 3: Tax returns, sort of end of year burdens disproportionately high
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  Speaker 3: and New Zealand businesses. Is it comparatively harder to, you know,
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  Speaker 3: finish off your end of years in New Zealand compared
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  Speaker 3: to other economies.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't think that there's sort of any more
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  Speaker 4: difficulty in the process, but I think that there are
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  Speaker 4: certainly things that can make it easier, which are things
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  Speaker 4: like having an advisor to work with who can do
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  Speaker 4: the heavy lifting for you. Obviously, using an accounting stuff
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  Speaker 4: which you understand what's going on in your business, you
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  Speaker 4: understand what your obligations are, obssesss and key ways to
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  Speaker 4: reduce this tress. But it's a really busy time of
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  Speaker 4: year for business owners and for accountants and bookkeepers alike.
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  Speaker 2: Is it equital across the ball with the businesses because
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  Speaker 2: small to medium businesses obviously that can involve businesses that
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  Speaker 2: have one hundred employees versus the mum and dad operations.
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  Speaker 2: Do you see any difference between maybe the guys who
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  Speaker 2: are almost running it themselves and they might have one
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  Speaker 2: and two employees versus people that have scaled up a
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  Speaker 2: little bit.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. Look, I think absolutely the larger the business, the
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  Speaker 4: more likely they are to have processes and people involved,
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  Speaker 4: and more likely to have a strong team of advisors
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  Speaker 4: supporting them. And I think the smaller the business. Now,
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  Speaker 4: often you have business owners that are doing everything. They're
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  Speaker 4: the marketer, they're the finance person, are the customer service.
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  Speaker 4: So do they really do take on a great burden?
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  Speaker 4: And when it comes to the financial management, well that
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  Speaker 4: is a stress because often these people are really good
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  Speaker 4: at something, but financial management may not be their strength.
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  Speaker 4: And so at this time of year that comes come
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  Speaker 4: home to roosk which again is another reason why it's
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  Speaker 4: sooper important to work with an advisor because they obviously
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  Speaker 4: are experts in things like financial management and that can
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  Speaker 4: really help alleviate stress.
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  Speaker 3: Did your research come up with any businesses that are
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  Speaker 3: more stressful than others.
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  Speaker 4: We didn't really dive into particular industries or types of businesses,
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  Speaker 4: and so I think, you know, really, this is something
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  Speaker 4: that we see across the board that small business owners do.
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  Speaker 4: It does take a real personal toll on them. And
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  Speaker 4: I think if you talk to any businesses, you know,
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  Speaker 4: I am speaking to businesses across the country all the time,
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  Speaker 4: and particularly in the last couple of years, I have
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  Speaker 4: heard it's been really tough, and obviously that comes down
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  Speaker 4: largely to the performance of the economy, and things have
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  Speaker 4: been tough, and in certain industries it's been tougher than
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  Speaker 4: in others. But I think just across the board, businesses
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  Speaker 4: have felt the toil and it's hard work. You know,
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  Speaker 4: my husband runs his own business, and you never get
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  Speaker 4: to forget thinking about it. You know, it's always on
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  Speaker 4: your mind. It's always there night and day. You know,
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  Speaker 4: you have to make sacrifices because it's your baby and
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  Speaker 4: you want it to succeed, obviously, and so I think
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  Speaker 4: that's just part and pastul of being business and it's
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  Speaker 4: so rewarding, but equally a lot to manage and a
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  Speaker 4: lot to navigate, and particularly with finances. You know, there
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  Speaker 4: are some new digital tools available that can help these days,
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  Speaker 4: it's really important for business owners to be leverridging those
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  Speaker 4: as much as possible.
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  Speaker 3: Speaking of success is the stress and your ability to
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  Speaker 3: handle that stress. And you know, the risk taken, the
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  Speaker 3: price owners pay for the potential outsized rewards if they
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  Speaker 3: get through and get it right. Because if everyone's facing
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  Speaker 3: the stress, the person that can handle it are they
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  Speaker 3: the ones that are going to succeed and eventually be
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  Speaker 3: in a position of less stress.
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  Speaker 4: Well, I mean, and that's such a rabbit hole. We
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  Speaker 4: could go down and talk about stress all day long. Wait,
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  Speaker 4: and it's not like that experience stress. But I think
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  Speaker 4: you know, what we do know, right, is that stress
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  Speaker 4: does cost the owner's productivity. So if you're not sleeping, well,
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  Speaker 4: if you're getting less sleep than as optimal, you're not
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  Speaker 4: going to be as productive during the day, and therefore
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  Speaker 4: your output's not going to be as good both. You know, again,
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  Speaker 4: it does have a real knock on effect into productivity
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  Speaker 4: and output, which ultimately is really important for a business.
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  Speaker 4: So I think a lot of there there own techniques, meditation,
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  Speaker 4: the Mental Health Foundation has a whole lot of resources
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  Speaker 4: that can help individuals manage their stress, but it could
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  Speaker 4: know at the same time, it's important to just I think,
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  Speaker 4: acknowledge the tress that business owners are going through. Support
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  Speaker 4: then as much as possible as consuming. Supporting our sneeze
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  Speaker 4: is something we always talk about at zero how can
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  Speaker 4: we do that? And we actually are trying to think about,
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  Speaker 4: you know, how we can I guess we're talking about
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  Speaker 4: the emotional tact how we can provide an emotional tax
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  Speaker 4: refunds brought some of these business owners across our showing land.
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  Speaker 4: So we are giving small business owners a chance to
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  Speaker 4: kind of reclaim time and moments that they've missed over
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  Speaker 4: the years. You know that might be an anniversary dinner
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  Speaker 4: or an overdue vacation where we've got a competition running,
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  Speaker 4: so business owners can enter to show and reclaim something
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  Speaker 4: and we can give them a chance to claim that
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  Speaker 4: that can get there emotional text refund.
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  Speaker 2: Great stuff, Bridget. Thank you very much for joining us.
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  Speaker 2: It is fascinating but terrifying research. Really appreciate your time
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  Speaker 2: this afternoon.
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