A Perth hair salon owner has gone viral after laying bare the financial pressures grinding small businesses into the ground, directing a passionate and profanity-laced plea at the federal government to stop what she describes as the systematic bleeding of Australia's business owners.
Krystal Solera, the 34-year-old owner of Luxe Label — a hair extension and colour salon based in Cannington — built her business over 12 years after first stepping into the industry at just 14 years old. Today she employs a team of seven full-time staff and has cultivated a substantial online following through her hair and beauty content. But despite the loyal customer base, glowing reviews and social media reach, she says conditions have never been harder for operators like her.
Krystal Solera's viral post: 'Terrified and angry'
In an Instagram post captioned "f****** terrible time to be a business owner in Australia" — which has since spread widely across social media — Ms Solera detailed the compounding obligations she says are pushing owners to the edge.
"I'm f****** terrified and angry. For my business. For the millions of other businesses out there hanging on by their fingernails," she wrote, tagging the Prime Minister in the post.
Ms Solera listed a cascade of financial obligations she juggles each quarter: payday superannuation, 12 per cent super contributions, payroll tax, workers compensation, insurance increases, award wage rises, Business Activity Statements and Single Touch Payroll compliance — each carrying penalties for non-compliance.
"Every quarter there's another deadline, another bill, another increase, another f****** thing we have to comply with and a penalty waiting if we don't," she wrote.
She also called out what she sees as a punishing system for business owners who fall behind, noting that financial hardship can trigger director penalty notices rather than any form of support.
"We employ people. We pay wages. We pay super. We pay tax. We collect GST for you. We pay payroll tax for the privilege of employing more people. What the f*** do you actually want from us?" she wrote.
Cash flow, timing and the real cost of compliance
Speaking further on the specific obligations, Ms Solera said her concern with the payday super requirement wasn't the policy itself but its implementation. "The Payday super obligation is fair but the timing assumes a cash flow certainty most of us don't have, and the penalties for being days late are brutal," she said.
She also raised the issue of tax bracket indexation, arguing that while pensions and welfare payments are adjusted for cost of living, tax thresholds are not — leaving business owners to absorb mid-year cost changes that fall squarely on the owner rather than being planned for in annual budgets.
"Cost changes with no lead time — we budget 12 months out. When something lands mid-year it comes out of the owner," she said.
Implications for apprentices and the future workforce
The mum of two also warned that sustained financial pressure would have consequences beyond individual businesses, arguing it will directly reduce the number of apprentices salons and trade businesses are able to take on.
"You cannot scream about a labour shortage while making it impossible for the people who train the workforce to stay open," she wrote. "You're not solving it. You're causing it."
Her concerns connect to a broader conversation about the realities of running a small business in Australia's current economic climate, where compliance burdens and rising input costs are reshaping the landscape for independent operators.
Government's position at odds with the ground reality
Ms Solera's account stands in sharp contrast to recent statements from the Treasurer, who pointed to strong business registration figures as evidence of a healthy environment for small enterprise. The Treasurer noted in August that average new company registrations had been higher under the current government than any on record, with more than 40,000 businesses registered in a month on two separate occasions since records began in 1999.
For Ms Solera, however, registration numbers do little to reflect the daily financial reality facing those already operating. "What I want is a system that keeps up with reality," she said — a sentiment that, judging by the reach of her post, appears to resonate with business owners well beyond Cannington.
