The resilience and tenacity of the small business community, with COSBOA CEO Alexi Boyd

Alexi Boyd is the CEO at the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia. She works closely with small businesses and is constantly inspired by the way they find opportunity in difficult times and band together when the chips are down. Who better to have a conversation with about the importance of community in Australian small business?

Boyd joins SmartCompany again this year as a Smart50 guest judge. Today, she gives us the good news about the state of things, and has some advice for new businesses starting out, too.

Businesses have had a difficult few years, with COVID-19 and economic struggles. What makes you happy right now about the world of small business, what are the positives?

Among all that difficulty there are definitely some green shoots. You know, we’re hearing about small businesses that have been able to innovate into new spaces and find different ways of working, whether that be shifting the way that they communicate and market to their customers, or discovering that their produce or their goods and services are applicable online. And, in many cases with digitisation, we’ve actually seen lots of businesses be able to move into global territories, particularly in the services industry.

The other positive thing is that, particularly in regional areas where people are travelling, people are deliberately seeking out small businesses to support as part of a local community. That’s happening both at a local level and also when people are travelling and for internal tourism. And that has definitely been a positive. I remember I was in Mudgee a few months ago and I was speaking to some local businesses and they were saying that it has been great. People’s inability to travel overseas has meant that they are deliberately trying to support local small businesses as well.

The last really positive thing is when you really see small businesses step up and look after their communities, like we did during the disasters and during the floods. You know, people offering whatever they can to help each other, whatever they can do to help their community. Examples are people that are hiring equipment, just getting their equipment out there so that it can be used by the local community, or fantastic livestock truck drivers that have offered their vehicles and offered their trucks to be able to move feed from one area of Australia to another, for free. There’s not only a resilience, but a tenacity with the small business community, to support each other and to continue supporting their community, even when they themselves are working hard to keep their doors open.

What mindset have you noticed, since the end of lockdowns, among the small business community?

You only have to go to a local business networking event to see how excited people are to be connecting with one another again. Not only for the purposes of networking for B2B work, but also just to see one another again, and check in and say ‘how are you doing?’ I mean, when we were in lockdown, obviously many wonderful business groups pivoted online, but there’s nothing like face-to-face networking, where you can really check in. And that’s not just across businesses but also within industries themselves, that peer-to-peer mentoring that just happens innately within an industry or in community chats. 

Once you get face to face you’re able to really support one another, and I think that has been one of the real positives of seeing everything open up again, that networking opportunity but also the ability to support each other and just check in. 

What advice do you have for new businesses and how they should get involved in their community?

The first thing that we suggest to small businesses is to reach out and find out where you can get help. And that might be for mental health, from places like Beyond Blue, or government agencies that may be offering support to your sector in particular, for example. And also, just make sure that you’re part of a professional association in whatever way you can.

It’s obviously difficult when you start out, but, in whatever way you can, start engaging with other people in your industries, so you can learn from them. It’s amazing how many people will mentor younger or less experienced businesses in lots of different ways, and that might be from the experience they’ve had in digital tech or solving problems or how to find more clients, or how to be online. There are quite a few opportunities there; just reach out and get connected with your community.

It’s really appreciated when local communities make that effort and continue to support their local small businesses. It’s always greatly appreciated and we know that small businesses support their community all the time, it’s great to see that reciprocated as we go through these tough times.

Alexi Boyd joins the Smart50 program again in 2022 as a guest judge for the Community Hero category. Entries are open now; don’t miss out!