When people dream about opening a venue, they picture the fit-out, the menu and that first night with every table full. Nobody pictures sitting at the kitchen bench at eleven o'clock at night trying to write a position description for a bar manager. But that is the reality for most operators. The front of house gets the attention, while the back end gets squeezed into whatever time is left over.

If you run a hospitality venue, you already know the truth of it. The food and the front of house are only part of the story. Behind every good service is a mountain of systems, and most of the time those systems live in one place: your head.

On July 26 we gathered a room full of business owners at The Adnate to launch something I’ve wanted to make for a long time. The AmiWho Financial Year Journal is now here, and this is the story of why it exists and who it’s for.

And Why This Happens in July

July has a particular kind of energy for business owners. The new financial year has officially started, last year is done and dusted, and there is, for a brief and glorious moment, a genuine fresh start on the table.

End of financial year always feels closer than you think. If June has snuck up on you, take a breath. This is your EOFY checklist 2026, the same one I walk my clients through every year. The next few weeks are about working through it one task at a time, so you head into 1 July with your books in order and money back where it belongs: in your business.

The 2026 federal budget was handed down on Tuesday 12 May, and the property changes are getting the loudest coverage. If you’ve been wondering whether to panic about your investment property, or what any of this means for your business, here’s the plain English version.

It’s been a hard few weeks in Perth hospitality.

The Young George closed its doors on April 2. And in October, after a beautiful run, Champagne and Gumboots will follow.

Two venues. Two creative visions. Both gone within months of each other, in a city that loves its hospitality scene.

Most business owners do not think too hard about whether their bookkeeper understands their industry. They think about whether the person is reliable, whether the work gets done on time, and whether the price is reasonable. Which is fair, as those things matter.

But in hospitality, industry knowledge changes the quality of everything.

There is a particular kind of tired that hospitality operators know all too well. It is not the tired that comes from a big week. It is the tired that comes from being across everything, all the time, with no clear boundary between where the business ends and where you begin.

The year I walked away from my marriage was the same year I lost the man who raised me. Two of the biggest losses of my life, arriving at the same time, while I was figuring out how to be a single mum and keep everything together for my daughter.