The Planners and the Council told us that we couldn't even put three houses on our 7 acre block outside Warrnambool, much less sub-divide it.

It took five years, but we did it. We have a planning permit allowing three separate dwellings on our land. We lived in one; the other two had tenants in them. We then rezoned and subdivided, selling two of four lots. We're about to subdivide one of those lots again.

When we wanted to import silk cocoons for our silk business, we approached every customs broker in the phone book. None had the facilities to do the research... so we did our own research! We found the specific international standard for cross-border transfer: an obscure South Korean manual prepared for an agency of the UN. Once we had obtained a certified translation of this document, we arranged approval of the standard by Australian authorities. We then had to ensure that our Chinese suppliers complied with the standard, by supervising the processing of the coccoons and photographing each stage so that there was documentary proof of compliance to show to Australian authorities.

In 2012, we're still the only people in Australia to have an import permit for these items.

How did we do it? The key to a painless approval is an application that addresses all the requirements of the licensing or planning scheme or import restriction and presents a solid justification for your proposal.

I've done the same in obtaining liquor licences for my clients in Western Australia, resource consents in New Zealand and government grants in Queensland.

Elephant concepts will:

• Ascertain the requirements relevant to your proposal;
• Structure your proposal to fit within those requirements
• Prepare necessary Business Case and Environmental Site management Plans (download sample environmental site management plan and land capability assessment)
• Obtain necessary opinions, supporting documentation and plans.
• Write the Proposal and Application as a turn-key, walk-in operation.

No matter how unusual your request, if it's legal we'll work out how to do it. Prices start at $1100. Hourly rate $150/ daily rate $1100. All prices include GST.