Financial counselling for rural and remote businesses

For many small business owners in rural and remote locations, business support and advice goes hand in hand with financial counselling.

A free and confidential service offered by community organisations, community legal centres and some government agencies, financial counselling can offer guidance and support to improve even the trickiest of financial situations.

If you are a small business in a rural and remote area, you can access the Rural and Financial Counselling Service (RFCS) located across key agricultural communities around Australia.

This service assists farmers, fishing enterprises, forest growers and harvesters and has recently expanded to include related small business owners.

Rural financial counsellor Fiona Taylor sat down with Ahead for Business to provide insights for business owners who may be doing it tough at the moment, especially those in rural and remote locations.

Below she shares her tips on finances and overcoming adverse events such as droughts, bushfires and COVID-19.

Actions that can help small businesses to prepare for unforeseen adverse events

Learn from the past

Brainstorm by yourself or ask others to better understand what happened and how you can do it better next time.

Undertake risk management

Identify high risks and low risks to your business.

Assess your budget

Have a budget in place for challenging times, something like a survival budget.