r/nzbusiness

Hi there, I've created a site which hopefully is going to be quite helpful to a number of people. In my regular job I work in commercial so more or less understand if it's not shared, marketed, communicated it's a non-starter.

What I need is just to pay someone like $100 - $200 for 2 - 4 hours a week of email outbound to try and onboard users. I'm not set up as a business yet though so wondering if something like Student Job Search, UpWork etc are better to do that through?

Any insight or help is much appreciated!

We noticed most household apps either become:

giant task managers or basic shopping lists

But the real issue for us was all the tiny repeated life things that nobody remembers consistently.

Things like:
“we’re low on coffee”
“I’m already at the supermarket”
recurring household reminders
guests tonight
bins this week
random errands

So we started building something intentionally lightweight and non-productivity-focused.

The goal is basically:
“shared household awareness without feeling like admin.”

Would people actually use something like this long term or would you just default back to texts/notes apps eventually

Genuinely curious.

Most people are only going to give references from someone who will say good things about them.

So what are employers actually trying to find out?

I understand criminal checks, right to work checks, and qualification checks. Reference checks just feel a lot less reliable.

Ive very recently started a limited company with myself as the owner/operator. Ive done it all properly and own the name of the company/domain, gotten public liability insurance, business banking ect. It's a handyman/property maintenance company and im signing contractual paperwork with a property managers group and i have to put down my own hourly rate, so was wondering if anyone had any advice as to what a good fair rate would be? Taking into account, business expenses, fuel and insurance, holiday pay, tax and acc and also sick days? Ive heard alot of fellas setting their price so low by mistake that by the time they've covered everything they end up making less than the knuckle head working at the local drive thru. Ive been recommended to start at $75ph but want a second opinion, would that be to much? Or is that a good fair number?

Any advice is very welcome and appreciated

Cheers,

Been running a tradie business in Auckland for about 10 years and honestly the last 2 years have smashed us.

We currently owe roughly:
- $220k GST debt to IRD
- about $80k supplier debt

No PAYE debt and we’re still operating, still have staff, clients, good reviews/reputation, website, phones, social media etc. But I’m mentally burnt out and don’t really want to keep doing this long term anymore.

I’m trying to understand the cleanest and most responsible way to exit over the next 4–6 months.

My rough plan at the moment is:

1. Cut costs hard and only focus on profitable work
2. Let staff know things are slowing down so they can look elsewhere if they want
3. Try sell the client base, website, branding, phone numbers, projects and assets to another company
4. Use that money to pay down as much debt as possible
5. Then either close the company properly or liquidate if needed

We will make sure all our current jobs are properly finished and handed over.

I understand there are laws around insolvency and creditors, so I’m not trying to do anything dodgy or hide assets. I’m just trying to understand what’s realistic and what others in NZ trades/construction have done in similar situations.

Has anyone here been through this?
- Did IRD work with you?
- Did you sell parts of the business first?
- Did you use a liquidator or restructuring advisor?
- Anything you wish you did earlier?

Would appreciate honest advice from anyone who’s been through it.

I recently used a blinds company overseas whose pricing is very cheap (which can easily compete with local blinds businesses). Even factoring the shipping and tax, I still end up saving money. The quality also is outstanding.

I am planning to be their supplier here in NZ. Any advise you can give?

I will use it as side hustle first so I wont invest yet on overheads (warehouse, etc) but it it grew enough, i will resign from my full time job and go all in.

For those who freelance, contract, or run a small business in NZ, how do you handle money movement after payments come in?

For example:

- When an invoice is paid, do you move a percentage into a tax/GST account?

- If you take a commission or fee, do you manually split that out and forward the rest?

- Do you split income into bills, owner pay, savings, or GST buckets?

- Do you keep a separate bills account topped up for upcoming direct debits?

- Do you batch these transfers weekly/monthly, or do them as payments arrive?

I’m curious what people actually do in practice.

Do you use separate bank accounts, spreadsheets, accounting software, reminders, or just handle it manually when you remember?

And would you trust automation for any of this, or would you prefer approval/reminders only?

28F - I want to develop a product and have a research based masters degree in the same field. The idea fits with some successful research out there, but I want to take the ideas and bundle them into a commercial solution.

I'm an engineer, so have some relevant skills to be able to pull off developing a product. But I really just couldn't afford to fund much myself given the cost of living, already being unable to afford a house etc. The most I can give is my time and development skills.

It looks like Callaghan Innovation has significantly changed - what options are left for funding for kiwis like myself? Do the universities offer much in the way of support?

Hey everyone,

​I’m a Senior Creative with over 10 years experience and agencies creating ad creative. Think MadMen 😅. I’m moving into the freelance space with my own venture, and I’m trying to figure out where I can actually add the most value for local businesses.

​I see a lot of great NZ products, but I know the 'content treadmill' is a grind. I’m curious if you’re trying to scale, where is the biggest bottleneck? Hers a few I've thought of but I'd love to hear it straight from you all.

• ​The Big Idea: Do you have the product but struggle to find a strategic 'hook' for your ads that actually stops the scroll?
• ​Production Costs: Does it feel like high-end shoots are just too expensive to justify for every campaign?
• ​Ad Strategy: Are you throwing money at Meta/Google but not sure if the creative is actually working?
• ​The 'DIY' Wall: Are you doing it all yourself and just hit a wall where you need a more 'polished' look to compete?

​I’m not here to pitch, I’m genuinely trying to find out what the real-world problems are so I can build a service that solves them (maybe involving some AI-driven workflows to keep costs down).

​Would love to hear your frustrations. Cheers!

Hello I was just wondering where I could find an accountant for a small clothes reselling business in Auckland :)