Here are over 2 million registered businesses operating in Australia, according to the most recent ABS figures from the 2011-12 financial year. That’s the same as one in 10 people owning a registered business. That’s a lot of businesses! In fact, by the end of the 2011-12 financial year, the number had increased by 3.6%, but by the 2012-13 reporting period, business growth declined by 2.9%, with the Construction industry losing over 20,000 registered businesses.

Made up of small and big services, public and privately owned, there are myriad opportunities for anyone to make it as a business owner, whether it’s managing a franchise in the heart of Melbourne, or a roaring trades service in the outer regions of Western Australia, which isn’t Mining! Traditional Industries Rule! Traditional industries typically make up the majority of registered businesses within Australia. Construction sits atop with over 16% of services being categorised under the traditional trade banner, while other areas, such as Professional Tech Services and Real Estate Services closely follow. In a lot of ways, it makes sense that these three businesses would account for almost 40% of the market, as they go hand-in-hand.

Think about it: REA (Tech Services) gives small businesses (Construction & Real Estate Services) the opportunity to reach a wider audience, and to put it in perspective, realestate.com.au gets over 3 million visitors a month, just under a million more than the number of registered businesses! In line with that, however, is the massive turnover in services from these industries, as seen in the below statistical data from the ABS. Industry Entries Exits Change Percentage Construction 36029 57800 -21771 -6.2 Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services 14114 21463 -7349 -3.2 Professional, Scientific and Technical Services 24154 37014 -12860 -5.1 (source: 81650DO001_2009201306 Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, Jun 2009 to Jun 2013)

Yikes! It’s a consistent trend for these industries in terms of volume; however, all industries outside of ‘Unknown’ experienced declines for the previous financial year, which also saw growth; 30,000 new businesses were started in the same period, categorised as ‘Unknown’. Unknown? What’s ‘Unknown’? We like to think that these types of businesses have a lot to do with cloak-and-dagger operations, but in all honesty they’re just uncategorised at the time data is released…think plumbers (with clandestine laboratories, of course).

What Business Should I Make a Reality? Okay, there are tonnes of ways for a potential business owner to begin life as a … well business owner. If you’re not in to the planning and would rather hit the ground running, cooking, cleaning, computing or just about any verb ending with ‘ing’, then there’s a good chance you can find a business ready to go with us at Any Business.

‘Business For Sale’ sites can help you in your quest for the ultimate business, and typically can provide you with a range of services to browse, including listings by state, city, and suburb! If you’re not quite ready to browse the thousands of opportunities available, then you can talk to a Business Broker, who can give you the best snapshot of an area, as well as foot traffic, industry popularity, everything that can potentially help you realise your dream…well, someone else’s dream that’s the perfect fit for your dream!