More than three in five (62%) of small trade businesses forfeited revenue in the 2018/19 financial year according to The Reckon Resilience Report, created by accounting software provider Reckon. On average, tradies who owned a small business missed out on $26,362 because of this.

It also reveals that more than half (51%) of trades small business owners have experienced financial hardships around cash flow issues, while large debts have caused more than one in ten (13%) to feel like giving up on their business.

The current COVID-19 pandemic is much more likely to be causing added pressure on trades small businesses (87%), compared to the average small business (78%) according to the report.

“Being a tradie and running your own small business can be extremely rewarding, but success can come with a bumpy road,” Reckon chief executive Sam Allert says.

“Things have been tough, and it is even tougher under the current conditions, with Australia enduring drought, bushfires, a pandemic and a global economic slump. It has never been more important to talk about resilience and what it means for tradies.”

The research measures the levels of resilience of more than 1,000 people across Australia and asked respondents what the biggest sources of hardship are and how to overcome these boundaries.

It shows that small business leaders who rank highly for resilience are twice as likely as those with low resilience to be financially successful (43% vs. 23%), satisfied with their overall happiness (93% vs 43%) and have strong job satisfaction (80% vs 40%).

Although small business tradies admit they have experienced financial repercussions due to poor resilience, they are less likely to think resilience is vital to business success (86%), compared to the average small business leader (96%).

However, they are the most likely (76%) group of small business owners to wish they were more resilient in hard times.

The full report, including findings on the resilience of the building industry and through tools and resources, can be found at the Reckon Resilience Hub.