How to Get up and Running in Business or Self-employment — and How PDFs Can Help.
Starting a new business or venturing into self-employment as a freelancer or independent contractor can be an exciting time. But regardless of how you set yourself up, it’s important to keep up to date with relevant business documents and forms to keep your work flowing and be compliant with the obligations and responsibilities that come with being your own boss in Australia.
What you’ll learn
- Choosing a structure for your business
- Registering your business enterprise
- Getting your tax registrations sorted
- How to make business forms and documents easier with PDFs
Choose the structure for your business.
Before you do any actual work, you first need to consider how to structure your business. Self-employment in Australia includes working as freelancers, sole traders, independent contractors, partnerships, and gig workers, right through to forming and registering a business and being a director of your own limited liability company.
Register your business enterprise.
If you're beginning or participating in a business enterprise in Australia, you need to apply for an Australian Business Number (ABN) via the Australian Business Register. Along with anyone engaged in the various ways of being self-employed as listed above, this also includes anyone operating a charity, renting, or leasing property, or acting as the trustee of a super fund. Applying for an ABN can be completed online via the Australian Business Register website or through an agent.
Get your tax registrations sorted.
To meet tax obligations in Australia, you need to have an Australian Tax File Number (TFN) from the Australian Taxation Office. You may also need to register for other taxes like Goods and Services Tax (GST), Pay as You Go (PAYG), and Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT). These registrations can be done online or with the assistance of a tax agent.
Make business forms and documents easier with PDFs.
Even after figuring out your business structure and taxes, you’ll find yourself using forms and documents whatever the nature of your business. To save time on paperwork and focus on income-generating work, consider converting documents and forms into editable and interactive PDFs for increased efficiency. PDFs for business can take many forms.
Create PDF templates.
There are many business forms and documents you might use regularly. It saves time to create or edit and customise a downloaded PDF template for documents you use regularly. PDFs for self-employed and start-up businesses may include —
- Project proposals
- Invoices
- Service contracts
- Employment contracts
- Order forms
- Customer registration forms
- Insurance inventories
- Stocktakes
Convert documents to PDFs.
Converting files to PDF makes sense for sending and storage of business-related files. PDFs, or Portable Document Files, are designed to be able to be accessed by people across a range of systems and devices. PDFs also use less digital storage space for documents you need to retain, whether on your computer or in the cloud and save paper and printing costs and environmental resources. There are a few ways to convert paper and electronic files into PDF format.
- Convert to PDF: It’s very simple to convert to PDF online and back to the original format again if you want to. Simply drag and drop your Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents and a range of various image file formats to convert online.
- Print to PDF: If you’re using an application, software or browser that gives you the ability to print a paper copy, it’s very simple to print or save straight to a PDF file. After you click on print, select Adobe PDF as your printer and then print.
- Scan to PDF: Either use a desktop printer scanner to scan paper copies of documents into PDF or use the free Acrobat mobile scanner app.
Customize your PDFs.
Long gone are the days when PDFs were just static documents that you could read only. These days you can make PDFs as interactive and dynamic as you want and edit them as and when you need to. For example —
- Create fillable PDF forms for stocktakes, asset inventories, or to collect customer information
- Use PDFs for contract negotiations and to track revisions, and request and track signatures in PDFs for contractors
- Promote your goods or services with stunning and dynamic PDFs that include videos and audio
Edit and collaborate with PDFs.
Even self-employed people don’t work in complete isolation. You potentially interact with a wide range of other people in the running of a business enterprise — clients, customers, subcontractors, tax agents, accountants, and potential employees, to name a few. To do so efficiently, you need to use tools and apps that are secure and readily accessible by a wide range of people wherever they are.
PDF files are the trusted format that anyone can access on any smartphone or computer. Choose between apps to suit your budget and needs, and upgrade as and when you need to. Some of the features and differences in Acrobat apps and products include:
- Free Acrobat Reader — view, share, annotate, sign, and add comments to PDFs.
- Free Acrobat mobile scanner —scan and convert documents and receipts directly into PDFs wherever you are from your smartphone.
- Acrobat Online — no need for downloads, just drag and drop your documents into our web-based tool.
- Acrobat Standard — edit, convert, request signatures, and password-protect PDFs.
- Acrobat Pro — all the above, plus the ability to redact sensitive information, compare PDFs, create PDF fillable forms, and turn scanned documents into editable and searchable PDF documents.
- Acrobat Document Cloud — do it all online and connect directly with your clients and creative teams and others to edit, save, share, and store documents quickly and efficiently.
Related content.
Want to learn more about how you can use business PDFs? Here are some other topics focussed on using PDFs at work —