Across the world, and certainly in Australia, some of the household names we know as huge corporate companies started life as just one person operating as a sole trader. Apple was started in a garage and Virgin’s embryonic existence consisted of Richard Branson selling magazines to students. The key point is that being a sole trader should never be considered as a negative in the business world, especially as commercial law provides options to expand and grow.

A key advantage of being a sole trader is that you are answerable to nobody. You are the sole proprietor and so do not have a board or shareholders you have to keep happy. Sole trading is relatively simple in terms of administration and in complying with commercial and taxation law. However, there are disadvantages, with the main ones being you are personally responsible for any debt which accrues and that includes the risk of your personal assets being sold to pay for them.

Let is us stick with positivity and the possibility that your sole trader business is successful, grows significantly, and you get to the stage where you consider changing from being a sole trader to a partnership, or a company with help from Culshaw Miller Lawyers.

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