Small Business

Bianca Purdie moved straight into nine-to-five work after school but soon burnt out. Now the owner of her own business, like four in five Gen Z-ers, she says she would rather work for herself.

Australian cosmetics giant MCoBeauty has attracted global attention for its strikingly similar beauty dupes, but the company has kept the details of its product development process out of the spotlight — until now.

Small beauty entrepreneurs say they are struggling to stop copies of their cosmetics being released because they don't have the legal budgets to fight big companies that are self-confessed dupers.

Pole dancing has a raunchy reputation, but fitness instructor Stacey Windsor says its physical and mental health benefits can transform lives — and she's starting with her small home town. 

Social enterprises are for-profit businesses that tackle a social problem at the same time as doing their work. They're booming in growth and a new scheme aims to add rigour — so the good work keeps getting done.

The craft beer scene's biggest festival of the year became an inadvertent staging point for the many intersecting issues facing the industry. Brewers tried to put on a brave face but admitted "vibes were down."

The rising cost of living is taking a toll on Canberra small businesses, as increasing operational costs combined with customers spending less leaves many in a precarious position.

Meet the brewers who journeyed into old town archives and ship manifests, and spent hours at the local museum, to re-create what would have been served to patrons in this South Australian pub in the 1800s.

A community-supported agriculture enterprise is supplying chemical-free produce grown on Whyalla's arid salt pans and offering alternatives to the big supermarkets.

While supermarket shelves were stripped bare of egg cartons, the storage room at Wes Humpage's farm was reaching capacity. Until today.   

A Melbourne couple had just moved to the small border town of Apsley to take over the town's pub when a car crashed through their bar. After extensive repairs, the inn reopened for the long weekend.

If you're among the majority of Australians with Facebook or Instagram accounts, your social activity on those platforms might be training Meta's artificial intelligence (AI) tools — and if you live in Australia, you can't say no.

Businesses in regional Western Australia are calling for increased housing availability as employers and community groups look to build accommodation to attract staff. 

The Fair Work Commission has been careful not to trigger another interest rate rise with its latest minimum and award wage increase, but a pay rise barely keeping up with inflation does little to ease the pressure on household budgets either.

Before the small regional community of Wedderburn set up this salon, locals travelled between 40 minutes and an hour to get their hair cut. Now it has become so much more than a place for a little bit of pampering.

Whether you shop in-store or online, retailers are ramping up sales to entice us to part with our cash. But, as spending flatlines, discounting doesn't appear to have the same effect it used to, sparking warnings of looming retail collapses.

Determined to save Guildford's "spiritual home", a local campaign to buy the store for $1 million and reopen it as a community cooperative is underway.

Accusations of copycatting have been levelled by two small businesses operating close to each other in the same street in Sydney's Newtown.

In a case of timing being everything, a group of women were running five minutes late for their weekly knitting catch-up at The Moderne Haberdashery and Fashion shop at Swansea when a high performance car ploughed into it, sending stock flying.

Cafe owner Rachel Power says her hope of benefiting from a 2023 budget promise aimed at helping small businesses has been dashed, as the bill remains stuck in parliament.

More small business owners are falling prey to online "predatory" lenders offering them quick cash. Some business owners are in such extreme financial strife that they have been forced to sell their family home.

Queensland's small business sector is characterised by low levels of innovation, risk-taking, and tech-savviness, the state's Small Business Commission finds. 

Simpson Shoes was established more than 90 years ago. But after three generations, Craig Simpson has closed its doors. He sees no future in independent retail, saying online shopping has taken over.  

Over the past decade in Broken Hill, the city's Sufi community has become more prominent, with the establishment of the locally revered Sufi Bakery, as well as an Islamic study centre and a Sufi bookshop. 

Breweries are increasingly turning to unusual and sustainable products and production methods to stand out in a competitive market.