For tradies going out on their own, and the partners beside them
You've got the trade sorted. Now for the stuff nobody tells you.
Nobody Tells You This Stuff is a 99-page practical guide to setting up your business, in order. It starts with your household money, your time and your plan, then walks you through every registration, system and number. Plus a 20 minute one-on-one with the author.
PDF download, emailed to you straight after payment. One-off price, no subscription.
Here's exactly what you get
- The 99-page guide, as a PDF you can download, save and print
- Ten stages that take you from "should I?" to open for business, in order
- Worksheet layouts in the guide to work through the numbers, decisions and questions that come up
- A 20 minute one-on-one with Alexandra to talk through anything in the guide
- Two versions to choose from: Starting on Your Own, or Starting Together
- One price: $375 inc GST, once. No subscription.
Going out on your own is a big step. Nobody hands you the instructions.
You spent years learning your trade. Nobody trained you to run a business.
So the questions pile up. Sole trader or company? How much do you actually need saved before you hand in your notice? What insurance do you need? When do you register for GST? What happens at tax time, and how much will you owe?
You ask the boss, a mate, Google and a Facebook group, and get five different answers. Meanwhile your feed is full of people who started a business with $100 and made it look effortless.
And if you're already trading, it might look like this:
- A full day on the tools, then hours on the laptop at night doing quotes and invoices
- Paperwork in the ute and quotes on scraps of paper
- Working longer hours than you ever did for the boss
- Guessing what the business needs to earn, because nobody showed you how to work it out
Take a deep breath. This is normal. There's just a lot of it, and nobody tells you this stuff.
There are plenty of free checklists. That's not the problem.
A checklist tells you what to do. It doesn't tell you what each step means, what order to do it in, or what you've missed. And it rarely starts where the real decisions are: your household, your savings, your time and the people at home.
"If you don't know what you don't know, a checklist isn't going to help you."
Alexandra Blakemore, author
Every step of setting up your business, in the right order
Nobody Tells You This Stuff breaks setting up a business into ten stages. Each one explains what you need to know, what to think about and how to actually get it done. The first three are about you, before you go anywhere near an ABN.
Why Do You Want to Start This Business?
What's prompting it, what role you'll play, and what you want it to change.
Understand Your Current Commitments
Everything that takes your time and headspace, written down, including the invisible load. Clear the decks before you start.
Understand the Numbers
Your household budget and emergency fund, start-up and running costs, how you'll fund them, the income you need, a daily income target, and whether it all adds up. Before you hand in your notice.
What You Need to Do to Set Up Your Business
Name, domain and socials, structure, licences, insurance, banking, workspace, phone, email, business systems, accounting software, digital filing, spotting scams and using AI safely.
How to Create Your Business Processes
Your customer journey, templates, quote template decisions, scheduling, an operations guide, and the safety basics: SWMS, first aid, incidents, toolbox talks, site requirements and safety records.
How to Build Your Brand and Online Presence
Logo, website, privacy policy, social profiles, Google Business Profile, email signature, business cards, signage for the ute and uniforms.
Roles and Responsibilities
Who does what in the business, mapped against everything at home, so the workload is visible and realistic.
Discuss Your Business with an Accountant
How to find and choose one, plus the questions to take in so the appointment is worth the fee.
Complete Your Business Set-Up
What's left to do, your timeline, and a check that the timeline matches the money.
Your Business Is Open. Now What?
Staying on top of the finances, a job and business tracker, reviewing how you pay yourself, and checking in with yourself.
Written for businesses operating in Australia, with the trade side built in: licences, WHS and SWMS, toolbox talks, scheduling and signage for the ute.
By the last page, you'll have:
- A clear reason for starting, and an honest picture of how much time you really have
- A household budget, an emergency fund target and a savings plan
- Your start-up and running costs, the income the business needs, and a daily income target
- Your name, structure, licences, insurance and banking set up in the right order
- Your systems, templates, filing and safety basics in place
- A plan for your brand and online presence
- Who does what, agreed upfront, with your partner if you have one
- An accountant appointment you're ready for, with your questions written down
- A launch timeline checked against your money
Running the business behind the business? This one's for you too.
Behind a lot of trade businesses is a partner doing the research, the books, the quotes and the chasing, often on top of their own job and the household. That's not "a bit of admin". That's running a business.
The guide puts that work on paper. Stage 2 lists everything that takes your time and headspace, including the invisible load. Stage 7 maps who does what in the business against everything at home, so the work is seen, shared and realistic.
If you're setting up the business together, choose the Starting Together version. Every stage is written for two people, starting with "Who wants to start the business and why?" and finishing with checking in with each other once you're open. If you've been here before and it didn't work out, this is how you plan it properly this time, on the same page from day one.
Wherever you are on the way to your own business, start here
Apprentices, years one and two
You don't have to do it all now. The apprentice years are the cheapest time to get organised and start saving, so start with the numbers and the plan.
Apprentices, years three and four
Your own business is getting closer. Here's what to work through before you go out on your own.
Qualified and working for someone else
Save for your own business and treat your job as a masterclass. Watch how the business runs, and make your mistakes on someone else's books first.
Already running your own business
Get the systems behind the business sorted, so it stops living in your head and your ute.
Partners
Make it a plan you share, not a load you carry.
It's not for you if you're after a get-rich plan. The guide promises no income. It gives you an honest picture of the costs, the savings and the time, and every step to set up properly.
Written by the one who keeps everything running
Hi, I'm Alexandra.
I spent more than 20 years in advertising as a "suit", which basically means co-ordinating everything for everyone so the work actually gets out the door. Then I took those skills into my own stationery business, small business consulting and start-up projects.
When I set up She Runs The Show, I found out first-hand how much goes into setting up a business, even with all that behind me. So I wrote it down. The first draft ran to 250 pages. I cut it back to 99 and gave it to people already running businesses. Their feedback? It helped them, even though they were already up and running.
I'm not a tradie, and this guide won't teach you your trade. You've got that covered. It covers the business side: the strategy, the systems, the operations, the finances and the admin. That's been my whole career, and it's my jam.
You can work it out as you go. Most people do.
It's just slower, more stressful and usually more expensive. Working it out as you go tends to look like this:
- The tax bill you didn't see coming
- The insurance or licence you didn't know you needed
- Finding out the hard way what the business actually costs to run
- Setting up systems in year two that you wish you'd had on day one
- Nights and weekends on the laptop, when you went out on your own to get time back
- One person at home quietly carrying far more than anyone planned
None of that means you've failed. It's what happens when nobody tells you this stuff. The guide gets the foundations in place before you're juggling a busy business at the same time.
And when you just want to talk it through, there's a real person
Having everything laid out in a guide is one thing. Sometimes you just want to talk it over with someone. So every guide comes with a 20 minute one-on-one with Alexandra.
Use it to ask about anything in the guide, talk through a stage you're stuck on, or bounce a few ideas about your set-up around. You'll get a booking link with your guide.
A free checklist can't do that.
Picture your first day on your own, with the business side already sorted
You know what the household needs, what's saved and what the business has to bring in each day. Your structure, insurance and banking were set up in the right order. Your quotes, filing and safety records have a system. You walked into the accountant's office with the right questions. And the people at home know the plan, because they helped make it.
That's what the guide is built for: a business that starts on solid foundations, with fewer surprises, and you in control of the business side, not the other way round.
One guide. One price. Every stage, in order.
$375
inc GST, one-off
- The 99-page guide as a downloadable PDF
- Ten stages, in order, with worksheet layouts in the guide
- A 20 minute one-on-one with Alexandra
Starting on Your Own
For one person setting up their own business. Whether you're an apprentice getting organised, a qualified tradie saving to go out on your own, or already trading.
Get Starting on Your OwnStarting Together
For couples setting up a business together, including when one of you is on the tools and the other is running the business behind it. Every stage is written for two.
Get Starting TogetherNot sure which? If two of you will be making decisions about the business or the household money, choose Starting Together.
One hell of a lot cheaper than working it all out as you go.
PDF download, emailed to you straight after payment. Prices in Australian dollars, GST included.
The best time to sort this out is before you need it
Thinking about going out on your own in the new year? The numbers, the savings and the conversations at home take time, so start now.
If you're an apprentice, the cheapest time to get organised is today. If you're about to hand in your notice, work through the numbers first. And if you're already trading, the sooner the systems behind the business are sorted, the sooner it stops living in your head.
What we promise
No hype
An honest picture of the costs, the savings and the time. The guide promises no income. It promises you'll know what you're getting into.
No subscription
One price, once. It isn't the first step into a subscription.
A real person
Your one-on-one is with Alexandra, who wrote the guide.
Written for Australia
Australian registrations, tax and safety requirements, with prompts to check the rules for your trade and state.
Questions people ask before they buy
What exactly do I get?
A 99-page guide as a downloadable PDF, with worksheet layouts inside, plus a 20 minute one-on-one with Alexandra. You choose the Starting on Your Own or the Starting Together version. $375 inc GST, once.
How do I get it?
Straight after payment you'll get an email with a link to download your guide, so use an email address you check. If anything goes wrong, contact hello@sherunstheshow.com.au.
Which version should I choose?
Starting on Your Own is for one person setting up a business. Starting Together is for two people setting it up, or where one of you is on the tools and the other runs the business behind it. Both cover the same ten stages. Please choose carefully, because there are no change-of-mind refunds on downloads, including for picking the wrong version.
I'm only an apprentice. Isn't it too early?
It's the best time. The apprentice years are the cheapest time to get organised and start saving. You don't have to do it all now. Start with the numbers and the plan, and come back to the rest when you're closer.
I'm already running my business. Is it too late?
No. People who were already trading read the guide before it launched and said it helped them. Use it to fill the gaps and get the systems behind the business in place.
I can find a free checklist online. Why pay $375?
A checklist tells you what to do. The guide explains what each step means, what order to do it in and what you might have missed, and it starts with your household money, your time and your partner before the registrations. You also get a one-on-one with the author.
I've done a free short course. Isn't this the same?
A short course is a good start and worth doing. The guide picks up where it stops: your household money and savings, your time, the people at home, worksheet layouts to work through, and a person to talk it over with.
Is this one of those get-rich courses?
No. It's the opposite. It promises no income. It's about knowing your costs, having savings and setting things up properly.
I don't have time to read 99 pages.
You don't have to read it in one go. Work through it a stage at a time, at your own pace. Stage 2 is about making room for it, and the whole thing is built to save you time later.
My accountant will tell me what I need, won't they?
Your accountant covers tax, and you should have one. Stage 8 helps you find the right accountant and gives you the questions to take in, so the appointment is worth the fee. The guide covers your household, your time, your systems and your plan.
Alexandra isn't a tradie. What would she know?
Fair question. The guide doesn't teach your trade. It teaches the business side, which is where Alexandra has spent her whole career, and she wrote it while setting up a business herself.
Does it cover my trade and my state?
It's written for businesses operating in Australia and covers the set-up every trade business needs, including licences, insurance, WHS and SWMS. Where the rules differ by trade or state, it prompts you to check the ones that apply to you.
How does the one-on-one work?
You'll get a link to book a 20 minute call with Alexandra. Ask about anything in the guide, talk through a stage or bounce a few ideas about your set-up around. Times are subject to availability, and if you need to cancel or move it, give 24 hours' notice.
Can I share it?
You can save it, print it and share it with the people directly involved in running the same business, like your partner. Please don't pass it on to other businesses.
Can I get a refund?
Because it's a digital download, there are no refunds for change of mind. That doesn't affect your rights under Australian Consumer Law. If something's wrong with your guide, contact hello@sherunstheshow.com.au.
Is this financial or legal advice?
No. It's general business information to help you understand what's involved and what to ask. It doesn't replace your accountant, lawyer or financial adviser.
It's not hard. It's just new.
You've already learned a trade. The business side is just the next thing to learn. Get the guide, take it a stage at a time, and set up your business knowing what you're getting into.
PDF download, emailed to you straight after payment. Choose Starting on Your Own or Starting Together.