Hello and welcome to this week's episode of The Australian Small Business Show.

In today’s episode, Matt and Kristy Lee dive into one of the biggest challenges facing small business owners right now hiring the right people in a rapidly changing landscape. With 2026 firmly on the horizon, they explore how the rules of recruitment are shifting, why hiring mistakes are more costly than ever, and how business owners need to adapt their approach to attract and retain great staff in a competitive market .

Kristy shares her expertise in recruitment, unpacking how AI is impacting both sides of the hiring process. From AI written resumes and cover letters to smarter use of technology in screening and job ads, this conversation highlights why business owners need to be more discerning, faster in their processes, and clearer than ever on what they actually need from a role. They also discuss why cover letters are losing relevance, the importance of speed in hiring, and why passive candidates are often your best option.

The conversation also looks beyond the hire itself, emphasising the importance of always on recruitment strategies, using platforms like LinkedIn effectively, and ensuring your online presence genuinely reflects what it is like to work in your business. Matt and Kristy also talk about hiring as a retention strategy, the need to reassess roles before replacing them, and why onboarding should begin the moment a job offer is accepted.

If you are planning to hire in 2026, or are already feeling overwhelmed by recruitment decisions, this episode is packed with practical insights to help you hire better, smarter, and with confidence.

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If you're an Australian Small Business Owner, we'd love to connect with you on socials. You can give our Facebook Page a like here: https://www.facebook.com/theaustraliansmallbusinessshow

Or follow us on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/aussmallbizshow/

We’d love to hear from you!

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Disclaimer: The information shared on The Australian Small Business Show is general in nature and does not constitute professional advice, legal or otherwise. We recommend consulting with your advisors on your specific circumstances.

Welcome to this weeks’ episode of The Australian Small Business Show!

Today we have a returning guest - James Brown from BizTach Guru. James is a Certified Master SYSTEMologist® | SME Technology Expert | Time-Saving Specialist | Business Systemisation Pro.

James stands at the forefront of business operation simplification, with a rich 20-year history spanning from manufacturing to tourism, currently specialising in construction and building trades.

Through his venture, BizTech Guru, he introduces business owners to SYSTEMology and works closely with David Jenyns, the founder of systemHUB and the SYSTEMology movement, diving deep into the methodology and building out course curriculums.

James has presented to over a thousand people about SYSTEMology and has worked directly with over a hundred business owners himself to implement this methodology.

Today we talk with James about when it might be time to outsource and get support systemising your business and how you might go about doing that.

James helps us understand when our businesses need help systemising, what that means and how to go about getting specialist help.

We have a look at how to identify the signs that your business needs some help, how to determine if a task is better to be outsourced rather than trying to do everything yourself and what the steps are for engaging a systems expert like James.

Your business might be making good money, but you feel like you just don’t have your head above water. That may be the time to start thinking about improving your systems.

If you’d like to connect with James, you can find his website here:

https://www.biztechguru.com.au/

Or connect with him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/systemologist/

Want to hear more from James? Listen to our previous chat on Episode 52 - The Core Systems Every Business Needs with James Brown from BizTech Guru | Podcasts

Connect with Us:

If you're an Australian Small Business Owner, we'd love to connect with you on socials. You can give our Facebook Page a like here: https://www.facebook.com/theaustraliansmallbusinessshow

Or follow us on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/aussmallbizshow/

We’d love to hear from you!

Exciting news: our website is live – check it out at: https://www.theaustraliansmallbusinessshow.com.au/

* Disclaimer: The information shared on The Australian Small Business Show is general in nature and does not constitute professional advice, legal or otherwise. We recommend consulting with your advisors on your specific circumstances.

Welcome to this weeks’ episode of The Australian Small Business Show!

Today we are discussing our words of the year and why a word of the year can be more powerful than a New Year Resolution. It is not about perfection; it is all about direction.

How you choose your word of the year will be personal to your journey as a small business owner. It should solve a current problem and help guide your decision when things get busy or messy.

Your word of the year, like a New Year's Resolution, should make you fee slightly uncomfortable. So some thought is needed to ensure that it motivates change. Some prompt questions could be – What do I need more of this year?, What has been missing?

In this episode Kristy-Lee and Matt share their own words of the year. You will be surprised how different they are.

Connect with Us:

If you're an Australian Small Business Owner, we'd love to connect with you on socials. You can give our Facebook Page a like here: https://www.facebook.com/theaustraliansmallbusinessshow

Or follow us on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/aussmallbizshow/

We’d love to hear from you!

Exciting news: our website is live – check it out at: https://www.theaustraliansmallbusinessshow.com.au/

* Disclaimer: The information shared on The Australian Small Business Show is general in nature and does not constitute professional advice, legal or otherwise. We recommend consulting with your advisors on your specific circumstances.

Welcome to this weeks’ episode of The Australian Small Business Show!

Today we are discussing the importance of slowing down to speed up in business, and why we all find it so hard as entrepreneurs and small business owner to take a break, re charge, refill our cup and take the time we need to pause.

When we don’t take time to slow down, pause and rest, it’s very easy to get stuck in the weeds, and feel like you’re constantly chasing everything and everyone – and getting nowhere.

Taking a break, pausing, slowing down can lead to feelings of guilt, worry and concern about the business – but the reality is the reward is far higher than the risk.

When you pause you recharge your battery, both physically and mentally. This allows you to make better decisions, innovate, be creative and strategize better.

In this episode Kristy-Lee and Matt share their own experiences and strategies of how slowing down to speed up has helped them in their businesses.

Connect with Us: If you're an Australian Small Business Owner, we'd love to connect with you on socials. You can give our Facebook Page a like here: https://www.facebook.com/theaustraliansmallbusinessshow

Or follow us on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/aussmallbizshow/

We’d love to hear from you!

Exciting news: our website is live – check it out at: https://www.theaustraliansmallbusinessshow.com.au/

* Disclaimer: The information shared on The Australian Small Business Show is general in nature and does not constitute professional advice, legal or otherwise. We recommend consulting with your advisors on your specific circumstances.

Welcome to this weeks’ episode of The Australian Small Business Show!

In this episode we’re joined by returning guest Anthony Hopson. When we last had Anthony on the podcast he was talking about his work as a Finance Broker with his business Urban Brokers and today he is back to talk about how he supports business owners in an entirely different way – through teaching Breathwork.

As Anthony shares today, how we breathe impacts our work performance, stress management, decision making and emotional regulation. Put simply, our state of being affects our breath, and our breath affects our state of being.

Being unable to emotionally regulate can affect our quality of life – relationships at home, work, school, and social interactions. Breathwork can help with this.

How we breathe can influence our stress response and how we can regulate from stressful events.

In business, this can help with things like decision making, navigating difficult conversations, analysing information and pretty much all aspects of running a business.

Breathwork and Ice/cold water immersion can be used therapeutically to: down-regulate and heal from chronic stress’ and trauma; managing anxiety including workplace stress/ task overwhelm and burnout; up-regulate out of depression and enhance energy production; improve sports and workplace performance through achieving higher focus – making more consistent coherent, balanced and emotionally regulated decisions.

If you’re interested in learning more and working with Anthony you can contact him on Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/the_urbanbroker/

Connect with Us:

If you're an Australian Small Business Owner, we'd love to connect with you on socials. You can give our Facebook Page a like here: https://www.facebook.com/theaustraliansmallbusinessshow

Or follow us on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/aussmallbizshow/

We’d love to hear from you!

Exciting news: our website is live – check it out at: https://www.theaustraliansmallbusinessshow.com.au/

* Disclaimer: The information shared on The Australian Small Business Show is general in nature and does not constitute professional advice, legal or otherwise. We recommend consulting with your advisors on your specific circumstances.

Welcome to this weeks’ episode of The Australian Small Business Show!

In this episode Kristy-Lee and Matt are talking through their 2025 years in review, from the lessons learnt to what went well. For many of us it’s been a tough year in business, so we’re not going to sugar coat it, this has been one of those years. Expectations have been high, budgets have been low and tensions have emerged.

Then we turn our minds to 2026 and what we have on the horizon, both for the Australian Small Business Show and in our respective businesses, and life in general.

Connect with Us: If you're an Australian Small Business Owner, we'd love to connect with you on socials. You can give our Facebook Page a like here: https://www.facebook.com/theaustraliansmallbusinessshow

Or follow us on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/aussmallbizshow/

We’d love to hear from you!

Exciting news: our website is live – check it out at: https://www.theaustraliansmallbusinessshow.com.au/

* Disclaimer: The information shared on The Australian Small Business Show is general in nature and does not constitute professional advice, legal or otherwise. We recommend consulting with your advisors on your specific circumstances.

Welcome to this weeks’ episode of The Australian Small Business Show!

In this episode Kristy-Lee is sharing a simple but really helpful reflection practice that she does at the end of each year to help her start to map out how she will start the year ahead.

And to show we walk the talk, we’re going to walk through this exercise live with you.

There are 3 questions to ask yourself before the year wraps up:

1) What will you stop doing in 2026?

2) What will you keep doing in the new year?

3) What will you start doing next year?

You can ask these questions of yourself for your business as a whole, every part of business, your health, your relationships, or just life!

Connect with Us: If you're an Australian Small Business Owner, we'd love to connect with you on socials. You can give our Facebook Page a like here: https://www.facebook.com/theaustraliansmallbusinessshow

Or follow us on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/aussmallbizshow/

We’d love to hear from you!

To sign up to our newsletter, head over to the website at: https://www.theaustraliansmallbusinessshow.com.au/

* Disclaimer: The information shared on The Australian Small Business Show is general in nature and does not constitute professional advice, legal or otherwise. We recommend consulting with your advisors on your specific circumstances.

Welcome to this weeks’ episode of The Australian Small Business Show!

In this episode we up from last week’s conversation with Elise from Thryv, shifting the focus away from tech tools and toward the deeper systems and processes that make a small business more resilient.

As the year winds down and business owners across the country juggle school events, holidays, deadlines, and fatigue, they explore what it really takes to run a business that doesn’t constantly feel like a roller coaster.

Our goal: helping small business owners put structure around the day-to-day so the whole operation doesn’t depend on one person showing up perfectly every single day.

We begin with the backbone of every successful business, communication. From predictable team meetings to clear communication channels and consistent follow-through, we look at how these rhythms build trust and stability inside a team.

Communication isn’t just internal; it’s also how you update customers, manage workflows, and keep everyone aligned when things change.

Operations come next, including SOPs, flow charts, calendar structures, and review cycles. We speak candidly about how often small business owners keep everything in their head, even though it’s now easier than ever to capture processes using screen recordings or AI tools. Well-documented processes mean work can continue even when key team members are away, sick, or overloaded.

We also explore decision-making frameworks, structures that prevent reactive choices, protect the business from wrong-fit clients, and guide consistent responses when things go wrong, such as losing a major client.

Of course we also need systems for how you deliver your product or service. Whether it’s a client experience flow, consistent advice delivery, or using templates and scripts to ensure quality, we highlight how predictable delivery creates trust and scalability.

Then there are financial systems. Not just bookkeeping, but true financial visibility. Knowing your numbers, tracking budgets, understanding acquisition metrics, and building recurring revenue models to reduce financial pressure.

Finally, we wrap with a reminder that business resilience also depends on personal resilience. Burnout is real, especially at this time of year.

Connect with Us: If you're an Australian Small Business Owner, we'd love to connect with you on socials. You can give our Facebook Page a like here: https://www.facebook.com/theaustraliansmallbusinessshow

Or follow us on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/aussmallbizshow/

We’d love to hear from you!

Exciting news: our website is live – check it out at: https://www.theaustraliansmallbusinessshow.com.au/

• Disclaimer: The information shared on The Australian Small Business Show is general in nature and does not constitute professional advice, legal or otherwise. We recommend consulting with your advisors on your specific circumstances.