IF YOU are one of those small business owners that lets out a giant groan each year around tax time, then a new financial year workshop might be just the thing you need.

As part of the Springfield Startups & Small Business Success Meetup series, Little Tokyo Two will host a How to Get Ready for the New Financial Year workshop next week to prepare small business owners for the new tax year.

Event organiser, Sirle Adamson said the event was completely free and was put together to help small business owners become as prepared as possible for when July 1 rolled around.

"This is an extension of what we offer in our regular meet ups where we usually sit down and try to solve issues raised by small business owners,” Ms Adamson said.

"This workshop is all about having all systems ready for the 1st of July and to help people be more organised and aware for the next financial year.

"There are so many different new ways of doing things when it comes to not only running their business, but also sorting out their finances, so we are there to offer people free help to streamline their activities.

Here are Ms Adamson's top five tips for small businesses to reach their goals in the next financial year:

1) Start using small business accounting programs like Xero. Ms Adamson said for $15 per month, a business can track what they earn and spend every day and better stay on top of how their business is faring. She said most small business owners didn't know how much they were earning or losing each day and would usually wait until they saw an accountant at the end of the financial year, only to find they were in serious problems or worst still, needed to go bankrupt.

2) Set up all social media accounts. Having social media in order and ready to go is essential for small businesses was where most business was generated. Ms Adamson said if you don't have your Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn set up properly, you could be losing customer interest and ultimately business.

3) Plan your marketing systems. Once the social media side of the marketing was in place, Ms Adamson said other marketing systems needed to be considered, for example setting up EDMs, letter box marketing, etc. Ms Adamson also strongly recommended that if small businesses hadn't yet set up a Google page with their business address and contact details, then they should do so immediately. She said it only took half an hour to set up, is free and meant potential customers could access their business much more efficiently.

4) Implement a small business processes such as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Ms Adamson said that every small business used email and by having a CRM system (which are often free) in place, business owners could capture the data of every client which would then be automatically sent into a spreadsheet. Most CRM programs would record every person you spoke to, what they purchased, when they got in contact, which could then be translated into a database and used to start sending out newsletters and marketing material. Ms Adamson said this was a very important part of a small business marketing campaign and there were many free apps available on the market.

5) Get your branding right. If all of the above was implemented correctly then that would naturally strengthen a business's brand because it would appear more professional and like it had ensured to cover all bases. Ms Adamson said this would then lead to more people trusting your brand and ultimately creating more business. She also said having an up to date website which catered for mobile phone use was also essential because as of July 1, if people hadn't ensured their website was optimised to fit an android or iphone, it would be kicked off Google's organic search list.

To find out more about the website or to register your attendance contact Sirle Adamson on: 0431 011 151.