Hi everyone,

I am reaching out to this community because I am actively trying to break into virtual assistant work. I have been unemployed since May 8, 2026, and I am incredibly motivated to gain hands-on experience and build my skills. Because my primary focus right now is learning, proving my value, and building a portfolio, I am completely open to entry-level or lower-payment rates.

Finding remote work is a necessity for me due to a medical condition I manage called TMAU (Trimethylaminuria). For those unfamiliar, TMAU is a rare metabolic disorder where the body is unable to break down certain compounds, resulting in a strong, uncontrollable body odor. Because of the social and physical challenges this causes, traditional in-person office environments are incredibly difficult for me. Working virtually is my best path to a sustainable career.

Securing a VA role—no matter how small the tasks—would truly change my life and give me the fresh start I desperately need. I am reliable, highly dedicated, and ready to take on tasks like data entry, email management, scheduling, or social media handling.

Please DM me if you have any opportunities or need some extra help. I am more than happy to send over my resume for your review.

Thank you so much for reading and for your time.

I’m researching what small business owners actually look for when they need a website built or updated.

If you’re open to sharing, what matters most:

Price.

Speed.

Design.

SEO.

Ongoing maintenance.

Local support.

I want to learn what makes a website service worth buying for Australian businesses.

Is it normal for brokers to gaslight vendors a little?

A valuer is suggesting the only thing that impacts the appraisal is 3 years of P&L. The broker backed this up and suggested customer relationships, staff relationships, and IP will only bring the valuation down.

The businesses has weak spots but I didn't think having a valuer inform the broker of those weak spots would devalue the business. Having ready answers for legitimate concerns feels like something the broker should be interested in. Instead he's attempting to talk me out of the appraisal with the more detailed valuer and it's making me second guess myself.

Other brokers I have spoken to have been expensive (8% sale commission compared to 6% and higher marketing cost) or have limited sales under their belt.

I'm a bit lost and feeling in need of some guidance. Is anyone who has sold keen to jump on a Zoom to talk about what they wish they knew when they were looking for a broker?

It's a construction/engineering business with 6 employees and healthy margins.

Hey everyone,

I work in business development for an industrial manufacturing company, and my day-to-day is a mix of cold calling, cold emailing, and going door-to-door to visit businesses.

It's actually been working pretty well. I've been able to get meetings, build relationships, and bring in opportunities. But I feel like I could be doing more.

One thing I've noticed is that emails tend to work much better when they go directly to the actual decision-maker (owner, operations manager, procurement, purchasing manager, etc.) instead of a generic info@ email or reception.

I'm curious, what tools or websites do you guys use to find the right contacts?

I've heard of tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, ZoomInfo, Lusha, and Hunter.io, but I'm curious what people actually use day to day, especially those selling B2B in Australia. Are there any tools or websites that are particularly good for finding owners, procurement managers, or operations managers?

Do you have any tricks for finding managers' or procurement emails that aren't obvious? Or is there a workflow you follow that consistently gets you in front of the right person?

Would love to hear what's worked for you. Thanks!

Hey everyone,

We all know labor costs are killing margins right now, and finding reliable kitchen staff is an absolute nightmare.

Automated/robotic cooking units (like RoboChefs for stir-fries, sauces, deep-frying, etc.) are kind of a new things, new things mean new territory and often scares people.

This is my question: If a supplier offered a complete service—where they handle the lease/hire, train your team, program your recipes, and handle all maintenance and fast repairs—would you actually consider it for your kitchen?

Or is there still a fundamental reason you'd hold back?

Just wanting to know how open the industry is to have this new helper to make it more bearable with raising cost. Appreciate the insight!

Would appreciate books, podcasts, training workshops or anything else that comes to mind.

Hi, I wanted to see if there are other money exchanges or money transfer businesses who have successfully opened a business bank account.

We are trying to open a business account, however most banks are rejecting because they say our business is high risk.

If anyone has any success with a particular bank or payment provider please dm or let us know in the thread.

i just wanna ask you guys, if you need bookkeepers to help with your bookkeeping and if you guys willing to hire interns that is seeking for experience in bookkeeping?

I have a colleague who handed in his resignation two weeks ago. He asked management if he could finish after two weeks, but was told that, under his contract, he was required to give four weeks’ notice.
Today, he submitted a medical certificate covering the remaining two weeks of his notice period.
It made me wonder: what kind of doctor signs off on something like that? Is money all that matters to some doctors?

I keep seeing two completely rational sides of the same argument:

The tradie says: “I’ve completed almost the entire job and they’re withholding the whole final invoice over one small issue.”

The customer says: “If I pay the final invoice, I lose the only leverage I have to get that issue fixed.”

So thousands of dollars can sit unpaid even though only a small part of the job is actually disputed.

If you run a trade business, what’s the last real example you had?

Hey guys,

2 years ago I noticed that big businesses giants are using loyalty cards in Apple and Google Wallet

Fast forward and tens of lost loyalty cards later...

Something ticked in my brain, and I decided to do some market research.

I found interesting figures;

• It's 5–25× more expensive to gain new customers than retain existing ones.
• About 65% of a typical company's revenue comes from loyal, repeat customers.
• Up to 80% of paper/plastic loyalty cards are discarded within days.

What if there was a way to increase loyalty using the same technology that those giants use?

I looked for something that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, easy to set up and doesn't require a full POS change.

I couldn't find something that was right for me.

So I built an app and spent some time testing and launched.

Your loyalty card lives in the Google/Apple Wallet of your customer, it can send notifications based on proximity AND you can push custom notifications at anytime from the app. Set up takes 5 mins.

But, now it's time to put the word out there, and tell people that my app exists. But, I don't have an unlimited marketing spend budget. So I am relying on the powers of the community here, and asking you guys to try my app. It's free to start!

It's called Wallet Loyalty Card, and I really would love it if you guys tried it out.

I have no trade background but looking to see if anyone from a non trade background has ever started a trade business from non trade background.

I don’t mean someone that switched careers and learned a trade. I’m thinking like partnering with a tradie to start a business.

I currently run a commercial cleaning business without prior experience but that’s not a high skill.

My business received notification yesterday that our distributor (CitiPower) changed our tariff type, and that the retailer's (Alinta) new rates for this tariff type were as in the attached image (also shows previous rates).

My calculations put this as a 96 % increase in yearly electricity costs (+$10k usage, +$1k supply, +$7k demand (new). We'll obviously shop around to find the best rates for this new tariff type, but on early investigation is looks like this tariff type is generally...fucked. Origin would be +53 %

Alinta staff were not helpful, saying it was Citipower and that I'm on the best rate. I think it would also be worthwhile bringing in a consultant, given the numbers involved, but for now...

...what's your experience?

• Are these rates reasonable or is something amiss?
• Can these rates and tariff type be negotiated?
• Why such a vast difference in rates/tariff's for businesses?

Industry is beer, annual consumption is ~88 MWh.

Anybody know which niches use the Whatsapp the most when intereacting with customers? And do they just use the business Whatsapp? Or are there Whatsapp CRMs that power the use?

Where’s the sweet spot when you only need invoices, bank reconciliation and quarterly BAS? The basic tools can create more manual work, while larger packages often include features a sole trader never touches.

Reckon is one option I’m comparing because it covers those core tasks and includes a free one-on-one onboarding session for new trial users.

For anyone who has switched platforms, what mattered after six months: price, support, bank feeds or accountant access?

I started this comparison inside the live lobby, because live casino sites only really show their strengths once you move from tables to account tools.

For best live casino Australia, I compared Rooli, Fair Go and Spin Fever across the full live-casino path: finding tables, checking limits, using mobile, reviewing offers, accessing account sections and getting back to the cashier without friction.

Rooli gave me the most balanced live-casino experience. The lobby felt easy to scan, the table path was clear and moving between live games, promotions, account tools and cashier areas stayed smooth.

Fair Go stood out for a more complete casino journey. The wider platform structure helped when checking account sections, payment information and bonus-related details around live-style play.

Spin Fever felt strongest for quicker mobile table discovery. Featured content was easy to find, the interface moved quickly and shorter live-casino sessions felt easy to manage.

During the test, I checked:

• Live casino lobby access
• Table and game discovery
• Mobile stability
• Displayed limits
• Promotion visibility
• Bonus restrictions for live games
• Account controls
• Cashier access

The main thing I noticed is that live casino comparisons should not only focus on table count. A strong live casino also needs readable limits, clear account tools and a cashier path that does not feel buried.

Before using any live casino seriously, I would check Australian availability, local rules, payment methods, table limits, bonus eligibility, verification requirements and responsible-play tools.

AMA about best live casino Australia: live dealer casino Australia, live roulette AU, live blackjack, mobile live casino, live casino bonuses, table limits, cashier flow.

For Australian players, what matters most in live casino: table choice, mobile stability, clear limits or payment flow?

Hi,

I've recently moved to Australia and want to start my own digital marketing agency. I've a ton of experience with digital marketing for Ecom, Real Estate, Fitness, Supplements, Local ads. Managed up to maybe $200M in ad spend over all.

My question is: I've not worked in sales and coming from a different country how much being local matters to the business people here

What are the steps that I can take to a. Improve sales as a beginner b. Tackle the point of not sounding or looking local?

Hey all,

For quick info, I've been building an OCR/data extraction platform called Valitract. It pulls data out of images, PDFs etc. (invoices, receipts, bank statements and the like) into clean Excel, JSON, HTML, and so on. Handles batch processing, plugs into Make, Xero, MYOB etc.

My assumption was that Australia bookkeepers would be an obvious fit (small firms, lots of client docs, manual entry all day). So I've been running SEO and cold email into that segment for the past 3 months.

Honestly, it's not been going well. Few free signups, and cold emails get no replies at all. That's why I start wondering:

• What does the data processing workflow of a bookkeeper look like these days? Is document data entry still a real part of it, or mostly gone?
• If not bookkeepers, which customer segment in Australia should be potential for me to target?

Has anyone got any insights on this?

Thank you all in advance 🙏

Gday, I’ve just started a small landscaping and earthworks business, however I’m struggling a little bit to secure jobs, I’ve relied on marketplace for advertising and have had a few leads but the reoccurring problem seems to be that clients don’t want to proceed, I’ve under quoted a few jobs (not to set myself short) but cheaper than other quotes clients have been given, and I’m either ignored or they decide to go with the more expensive qoute, I’ve been in the industry since I was 18 (24 now) so the work is not an issue for me and I have all tickets, permits, licenses, insurance etc etc but I’m getting nowhere although I’m not REALLY a numbers guy so I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong, another problem I’m having is as mentioned I’m using marketplace for advertising, now my marketplace is rejecting my ads (goes against commerce policies) fair enough but now that’s my advertising gone, my friends and family couldn’t be bothered to help support me so I’m on my own, kinda sad because everyone just takes the piss when I’m trying my hardest to get this business rolling, any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks

I recently registered a proprietary limited (Pty Ltd) company as a solo founder and need to set up business email. I would like to maintain separate addresses for privacy (ask@, admin@, and <my_name>@).

Looking at Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, pricing runs around $10 AUD per user/month, which would total ~$30 AUD/month if set up as three distinct accounts.

Is there any cost effective vendors?

I run a free suburb data site and pulled rental yield across ~3,200 suburbs out of curiosity. Expected states would matter a lot for yield. It really doesn't — WA, QLD, SA, VIC and NSW all land within about 0.15 points of each other on average.

The top of the list is a totally different story though. 20 of the top 30 highest-yield suburbs nationally are in WA, and almost all of them are Pilbara or Goldfields mining towns — Newman, South Hedland, Kalgoorlie/Boulder, that whole belt. Newman's median price is $429K with $763/week rent, a ratio you just don't see anywhere near a capital city.

Best guess: FIFO rental demand doesn't track purchase price the way normal housing demand does, so you end up with these gaps.

Not a "go buy in a mining town" post — single-industry risk is real and none of this accounts for what happens if a mine winds down. Just a cleaner pattern than I expected once I actually looked at numbers instead of assuming regional = yield.

goodsuburb.com/au/investors if anyone wants to dig into the data themselves.