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šŸ  Are you ready for hybrid work? šŸ‘”

March 31, 2022

Things that should be on your radar this month

1. Hereā€™s a great overview of what small businesses need to know about the 22/23 Federal Budget. We also rate the Guardianā€™s ā€œbuild your own budget coverageā€ if you want to find out how this Budget impacts you.

Weā€™re particularly interested in the tax breaks for small businesses investing in technology and skills, which weā€™ve broken down in more detail here.

2. From April 5, new directors need a Director ID before being appointed. Hereā€™s how you get one.

3. As companies experiment with four-day workweeks and hybrid arrangements increasingly become the norm, tech-startup Earlywork is helping Gen Z find startup job opportunities.

4. Aussie social bio link tool Linktree has hit unicorn status šŸ¦„ ā€“ we love seeing Australian startups succeed on the global stage.

5. Nine startup founders share some excellent advice for those looking to follow in their footsteps.

Tech to help streamline your business (the hybrid work edition)

Zip Message - Have a hybrid or remote team? This video, voice and screen messaging tool overcomes meeting overload and is perfect for when an email just won't cut it.

Where - Coordinate hybrid work arrangements and desk bookings (and events and catch-ups) with this Slack plugin ā€“ itā€™s way easier than shared calendars and cloud spreadsheets.

Donut - You don(u)t have to worry about missing out on water cooler conversations when youā€™re WFH anymore. Find a best friend at work + grab a virtual coffee with the CEO + easily intro teammates across the world.

The highs and lows of small business life

+ Weā€™re working on a website refresh and had a great project launch meeting with our new web developers Digital Noir and our content partners at Slice about how we can take our user experience to the next level (remember ā€“ lean on other expertise when you need it, itā€™s well worth the investment).

ā€“ We went to a conference in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago that ended up being a bit underwhelming, but it was great to catch up with app providers and meet with other accountants doing things differently.

Productivity hacks for hybrid work arrangements

Plenty of people are very pro-hybrid work (us included) but there are always obstacles. Hereā€™s how to overcome the challenges of hybrid work.

With our first team member about to join us, weā€™ve been thinking a lot about what performance appraisal approach we'll take at Project Alfred. We've been looking at different styles of OKRs, feedback and goal setting and found these reads interesting: using 360 feedback with a hybrid team, making performance appraisals less stressful for employees and 10 quick tips for sharing constructive feedback.

A lot of advice online about hybrid work focuses on employees, but what about business owners? When it comes to hybrid work and WFH arrangements, itā€™s more important than ever to remember to set boundaries and create a personal wellbeing plan.

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And to wrap things up todayā€¦ I (Liam) have just started listening to the audiobook of No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer, and itā€™s a great glimpse inside the unorthodox (but innovative and imaginative) culture behind one of the world's most successful companies. Have you read it/listened to it? Would love to know your thoughts.

That's just our two pennies' worth.

- Liam and Amy, co-founders of Project Alfred

(changing the way people think about accounting)

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