Gold Coast based business consultancy specialist and founder of K10 Consulting (K10), Nick Richards, is urging small businesses across the Gold Coast to stop trying to go it alone and take advantage of the Australian Small Business Advisory Services (ASBAS) Digital Solutions program as the Glitter Strip prepares for an increase of visitors ahead of the crucial holiday trading period.

 

Having recently been appointed as an advisor for the ASBAS program which gives small businesses access to advisory services, workshops and webinars, Mr Richards has been working with a number of Gold Coast business owners to improve their digital capability beyond just looking at social media and their website.

 

Mr Richards, said he meets a lot of business owners across the Gold Coast who have not changed or updated how their business operates for years, resulting in them missing out on digital innovations to help them improve their business and instead relying on archaic systems and process that are likely costing them money.

 

“Business owners across the Gold Coast need to take time out to look at what digital solutions can help them, but many don’t because they’re time poor, don’t have a clear understanding what digital is so they automatically think it’s something they don’t need and they keep on going with business as usual,” Mr Richards said.

 

“Small business is massive in Queensland with more than 426,000 across the state and a lot on the Gold Coast, to me this says there is a lot of competition out there and for those business owners who don’t change they are setting themselves up for unnecessary hardship,” he said.

 

K10 has helped Gold Coast business from a variety of sectors with everything from setting up working emails and getting them familiar with financial software like Xero, through to speciality software and digital strategies to improve workflow and productivity.

 

One Gold Coast business K10 is working with to help them flourish is The Roast Collective, a new entrant to the highly competitive coffee sector who specialise in limited edition small batch collaborations with award winning coffee roasters from across Australia.

 

The Roast Collective Founder, Zoe Cuthbertson, said engaging with K10 to get expert advice about what they need to do in order to grow and become a thriving business from a digital perspective is the reason why they have enjoyed success so quickly.

 

“As a new business competing against some very well established brands I knew we needed to have a critical look at everything we did, but I didn’t know what to exactly look at and what options were open to me,” Ms Cuthbertson said.

 

“The advice we received has been invaluable especially with the weather warming up and we are planning for the upcoming holiday period,” she said.

 

“We are running more efficiently, our custom base is growing rapidly and a lot of the digital solutions that focus on how we work better internally all came from K10.”

 

As more Gold Coast business owners look at how they can grow, Mr Richards says business owners should be focusing on what they do well and leaning on experts such as himself to provide support and guidance in areas they may not understand, especially when it comes to their digital capability.

 

“One trap business owners must watch out for is mixing up being busy with being successful, we’ve worked with a number of Gold Coast business who are very busy but they are not seeing the returns to justify their efforts,” Mr Richards said.

 

“For most businesses they will have what seems like a never-ending list of tasks, but these could be automated to free up time for other things needing attention – this is where we come in and provide the correct digital solutions,” he said.

 

For more information about K10 Consulting visit – www.k10consulting.com.au/