The good news is that setting up a business in Queensland is pretty straight forward. Here is our handy guide.
There are a few considerations
Both Google and humans like it if the name contains words that help them understand what you do. Al's Auto Repair explains what the business does.
Al's Auto Repair is perfect for fixing cars, trucks and motorbikes. And if Al wants to branch out into fixing boats, It lets you set up Al's Boat Repair, with cobranding.
Gold Coast Auto Repair has trouble growing into Brisbane.
A good combination can be a 'descriptive word' - e.g. Awesome Auto Repair, and you can add a tag line like "The best car repairs in Townsville" to explain better what you do and where you do it.
Al's Auto Repair is a bit weird if Jack buys it. If the personal touch is important or your name is well known, add it to the tag line Awesome Auto Repair - if Al can't fix it no one can.
If you are setting up a business in Queensland and plan to use any name but your own, you need to register that business name with ASIC [ Australian Securities and Investments Commission]. You need to check the ASIC listing to see if another business in Australia already has the same name, and to make sure your proposed name does not contain restricted words like ANZAC. You can check ASIC listing here.
You should also search https://search.ipaustralia.gov.au/trademarks/search/quick to check if a business has used your proposed name for a brand.
You should also check that the domain name (e.g. www.ThuringowaAutoRepairs.com.au) is available and can do so here. It is worth checking for both the .com.au and .com version, but if your sales will mainly be in Australia then the .com.au is the most important (register the .com if it is available anyway).
If you plan to grow internationally (or it already belongs to a porn star - don't laugh, it has happened to one of my clients) the .com matters and you should choose a name for which you can register both the .com.au and the .com domain.
There are a lot of websites out there that charge to do it for you, but you can do it yourself directly at the ASIC website - register your business name page.
As mentioned above, ideally you'd register your .com.au and .com name, and you can do so using pretty much any provider, but we've had consistent service with crazydomains.com.au
It is hard to get taken seriously by potential suppliers, staff or backers if you don't have a website. There are a lot of different options for creating a website, and we'd be happy to have a chat and offer advice (just use the contact form on this page to get in touch or call us) but as a very quick rule of thumb:
If you want to sell things on your website then Shopify works really well.
If you don't want to sell things, and just need to display information about your business like your contact information, list of services, opening hours, before and after photos etc, then WordPress is a great option. Depending on your needs you can host it yourself or use WordPress's own hosting.
If you are planning on setting up a business ideally you've already done this, but just to recap:
- What are you going to sell?
- Who are you going to sell it to?
- Where will you sell it? Worldwide? Australia wide? Just QLD? In Brisbane, Gold Coast, Townsville, Thuringowa, Cairns, Cairns, Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Mackay, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Gladstone, Maryborough, Mount Isa, Bongaree, Nambour, Warwick, Yeppoon, Gympie, Emerald? All of the above? Some of the above?
- How will you sell it (in your own shop, online, over the phone, at markets, wholesale)
- How much will you sell it for?
- How much will it cost to make/do/deliver? Which of the these costs do you need to pay regardless of how many you sell and which ones are only per item?
- How many will you need to sell to make a profit?
Depending on your business structure, where it is, if you have staff and the type of business you're in, you may need special permits, registrations or licences.
Permits and Licences protect the environment and the safety and health of your customers. If you don't get the right licenses and permits you can be subject to large fines or other penalties.
The easiest way to find any Australian, Queensland, and local government licensing information is to go to the Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ABLIS).
I hope I haven't scared you off already. Getting a business started in Queensland is pretty straight forward, it is just a case of putting a day or two aside to plow through the initial startup tasks.
