Self-Employment Allowance (SEA) is a payment that supports eligible Participants while they develop their businesses. It is paid at the same rate as the single, no children rate of JobSeeker Payment. This is currently $693.10 per fortnight. The rate of payment is not affected by the income earned by a Participant through their Business.
You can also benefit from other support for your business. A few of these include the following:
Small business training
Accredited Small Business Training can provide you with the skills you need to start and run a small business. You can access accredited training and choose to do a shorter skillset or a longer Certificate III or IV in Entrepreneurship and New Business.
Small business coaching
Small Business Coaching gives you 12 months of personalized mentoring and support to help you start and run your small business. If you’re eligible, you may be able to access:
- up to $300 worth of small business start-up costs, such as business insurance
- an allowance for up to 39 weeks and rental assistance for up to 26 weeks
Business plan development
A business plan helps new and existing micro-business owners focus on the steps necessary to make their business succeed. The business coaches can help you prepare a comprehensive business plan to help you to identify strategies for success and forecast your business cash flow for 2 years into the future.
Exploring self-employment workshops
Delivered over 1 to 2 weeks, Exploring Self-Employment Workshops can help you:
- understand what’s involved in starting a business
- generate or validate a business idea
- make an informed decision about whether self-employment is right for you.
Business advice sessions
A one-hour, one-on-one session with a business advisor to gain advice on starting your own small business or running an existing one.
They can involve:
- getting advice on starting your own business
- improving your business’ commercial viability
- advice a range of other small business-related matters
- referral to other small business support networks.
If you’re eligible, you can book up to 2 free sessions every 12 months.
Business health checks
A Business Health Check is a 3-hour, one-on-one session to help you assess how your business is currently running and find ways to improve it via:
- business analysis
- identifying opportunities for improvement
- connecting you with other local business support services, where relevant.
If you are eligible, you can access one Business Health Check every 12 months.