Newsletter - October 2023

In this edition, we’re diving into how you can protect your business and your clients 🔒

Also in this newsletter:

More great Rounded updates from our co-founder Grant

How Rounded user Jesse Lore is helping Aussies enhance their health and wellness through Native foods

A roundup of some of our favourite reads and resources from the last month

Enjoy!

— The Rounded Team

✨ New Rounded updates

Three great new updates for you this month! We also did a whole heap of work behind the scenes to prepare for some exciting updates coming later in October.

Medicare Levy

If you’re required to pay the Medicare levy, an estimate of the amount owing is now displayed on the “Financial Year” panel on your dashboard. Click or tap the “Medicare Levy” row to adjust the rate or set to exempt to remove the calculation.

Text formatting on mobile

No more warnings about rich text on mobile! All formatting options such as lists, bold text and headings are now supported on mobile quotes and invoices.

Top expenses date range

Your top expenses on the dashboard can now be filtered by date range, making it easy to see where you’ve spent money for a given period.

💡 Featured Advice: Keeping your solo business safe from cyber criminals

In the past couple of years, we’ve seen the number of business hacks in Australia rise. This can take many forms 👇

Identity Theft: Hackers buy millions of usernames, passwords, and personal data in an attempt to brute force your accounts. If one of your accounts is compromised and you happen to use the same details elsewhere, your personal or business identity could be stolen.

Ransomware: Hackers lock up or encrypt important business data, demanding a ransom in exchange for regaining access.

Phishing Attacks: Cybercriminals use this method to take over your business email or social media. They may also attempt to impersonate you to gain access to your clients’ data.

So how can you protect yourself?

There’s a few simple steps you can take to keep yourself and your clients safe:

👉 Never use the same password for more than one account

👉 Use a secure password manager (at the very least, Google’s password manager)

👉 Use 2-factor authentication on all your accounts – especially your business email, social media, and other key business accounts

👉 Keep your devices up-to-date so the latest security updates will be installed

👉 Regularly back up your most important business files

Here’s how you can set up 2FA on your Rounded account.

⭐️ Customer Spotlight: LORE Australia

In honour of Indigenous Business Month, we sat down with Jesse Lore: long-time Rounded user and founder of LORE Australia, a health and wellness company using Australian native bio-foods.

Apart from his awesome work with LORE, Jesse is currently developing a First Nation workplace training and employment initiative in the Native food industry and a Networking To Success program for First Nation entrepreneurs.

Tell us a bit about your background.

I am a Gurungai man living on Gumbayngirr Country on the NSW Mid North Coast. Thanks to my parents’ connection to Country and a more natural holistic way of life, I have always had an affiliation with living our own truth. For me, that has been my passion for health and wellness through our ancient culture and connection to our traditional foods.

What inspired you to create LORE Australia?

I used to be an environmental scientist and worked for over a decade with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. There I saw a gap between what assets National Parks had and what was being offered, so I started a nocturnal wildlife eco-tourism company using night vision goggles.

This was a huge success and I started incorporating a cultural and bush food aspect into my tour experience. This really ignited my passion for sharing knowledge and the health benefits of our native foods.

I noticed a broad gap between the greater Australian understanding and connection to this land. Back in 2014, I developed a vision to facilitate a connection to Country through our foods to enhance people’s health and wellness by focusing on products that have traditional use and knowledge appropriate for modern living.

Did you encounter any challenges along the way?

In 2019 I lost all my native food crops on my property and wild harvesting grounds from the bushfires. Then we were hit with COVID and the rolling lockdowns made it impossible to brew kombucha as there was no certainty in the market for a short shelf life product. To avoid bankruptcy I back-stepped to micro production.

In March 2021, I lost all my production infrastructure to floods and just as I was completing my rebuild, I was hit by the Feb 2022 floods, which wiped me out again and my house.

These had huge impacts on me financially but also business-wise as I couldn’t supply customers with stable and regular product. Fortunately, the train is back on the tracks this year and business is looking very promising!

What are your thoughts on initiatives like Indigenous Business Month?

Indigenous Business Month is a great initiative to bring focus and attention to First Nation entrepreneurs. It assists in opening the door to a world that, not long ago, was kept shut in many ways.

These also broadcast hope and reconciliation to our young men and women that we as a people can be successful. It is a celebration for us to recognise our achievements as we move forward as a united country.

Get involved with Indigenous Business Month

Check to see if there are any events in your local area, or get the tools to put on one of your own!

Want to see your business featured in our next newsletter?

Apply to be our next Featured Customer here.

🧠 The Rounded Round-Up

• Getting close to registering for GST? Make sure you check out our new and improved guide to BAS.

• Need some last-minute tax advice? Grab our free Ultimate Tax Guide!

• Rounded CMO Michelle Teo (a freelancer herself) chats about how to balance freelance work with travel and use automations to make the most of your time

• Our co-founder Oliver Garside was recently featured by Officeworks! Here’s what he had to say on creativity and business.

▶️ Free Rounded Masterclass

New to Rounded, or want to learn how to best use our new features? Join us for our weekly webinar where we cover:

Setting up great-looking invoice and quote templates

Invoicing and expense tracking automations to speed up your process

Plus lots of other great tips and tricks!

You’ll also have the chance to ask any question to ensure you're getting the most out of the app.

Cover Photo by Franck on Unsplash