Join in if you are self-employed and work from home

jpwhittle

lol horace husband wasnt trying to be funny hes just better at maths than me, but he did admit that on this occasion he may be wrong lol. hes been a great help ith all this, he just panicks im taking to much on at once, especially now im looking at making my own veils and garters. I'd have been lost without him recently.
i dont think your being cheeky at all, im greatfull of the help. john has been saying for months that im not selling for enough, id covered the costs then put on what i thought was right, so to hear it from other people as well confirms john is right and im underselling myself, i think its just a confidence thing again. still getting my head round being good at something, people liking it and me being able to charge good prices.
althought thanks to all you my mum and dad and john im getting better at it every day lol

have to say john will admit he knows nothing about crafting he just thinks im guilty of underselling myself to much

FRP

Hey everyone,
Am a complete newbie to the site but I've just set up my new business and wanted to see how everyone else is doing with theirs. My business is Citylocal - an online business directory - and my territory is Ealing.
Have just started so am still wading through the whole murky waters of being self employed. Just got registered for VAT but I was reading a different post and apparently I have to let my tax office know I work?? I was advised to take on a part time job for regular income (much like most of you guys are doing) so I pay PAYE and NI but do I have to tell my payroll dept that I have a business too? Am confused.
I also need an accountant thats cheap as chips. I have to give in my tax return by end of Jan (which is the normal date I presume) and I'm having difficulty finding someone who will just take my receipts and sort it out from there! Or maybe I should be doing that? Barclays, where I have my business account, did give me a software programme that will help me do this. Maybe I should just save money and do it myself?
Maybe I should just stop asking so many questions - sorry!

Any help would be gratefully received though

jpwhittle

hi FRP and welcome to the forum, we are a friendly bunch on here. i do all my books myself for the time being, i dont earn anywere near enough to warrant paying omeone else to do them, maybe when i make alot ill consider it. its easy enough to start of with and my brother in law told me that you dont have to pay as much if you go to an accountant with your books in order. so a good way to save money.
good morning everyone im alittle more awake today thankfully, thought id have a quick post before the nursery rush.

starxtrouble

FRP... if you have only just set up you dont have to submit your tax return until NEXT jan... its always the Jan after the tax year finishes.

nzmegs

JP - I hope you get your charging sorted out. I think it is the one thing we all struggle with. I have been told i should charge £200 for a 500 word article. But i can only judge it on how long it takes me and what my client is willing to pay. And it is no where near that!

You need to time how long it takes for you to make each item and work out an hourly rate you are happy with. Taking materials into account of course. Asa self employed person you also need to consider that you need to be paid enough to cover your down time as well. Things like marketing, phone calls, website maintainence etc all have to be paid for too.

Rememeber that for some people cheap equals nasty. So if you are aiming at a luxury market you need to have luxury prices. Perhaps you could consider having some items at really cheap prices and some more expensive and market them as being high end - then judge which sell better and to which customers.

My business background coming out.....saddo!

nzmegs

me again - JP I npotice you said you are still getting used to beig good at something. I can relate to that too. I spent ages convincing myself I couldn't write. I had submitted some articles and stories and had them rejected a few years ago and I just gave up.Than I stumbled on another market and found out that people like what I do and want to pay me for it.

Now I have managed to leave my job and do it full time. I can now call myself a writer and nothing in the world feel better than that. I have an identity I am now completely happy with and this has spilled over into the rest of my life. I have more purpose and confidence. I finally feel like all those years of study to get my degree have come to something and not been wasted.

My son is in year 6 and is studying journalism and writing for newspapaers etc and he was so proud to tell his teacher that his Mum is a writer and his friends were impressed. I didn't get that as a receptionist....(even though I wasa damn good one!)

So for all us self employed ladies (and men) out there - be proud of what you are doing and even though it is hard, it is your choice and that cannot be beaten.

Here endth the sermon....:)

jpwhittle

lol thanks nz, i know im good at my tiaras and one woman looked at them and said id do well with them wich was the best comment ever. it all goes back to the bullying thing but now i can hold my head high, while all the others are benefit mums to 5 i have 2 babies a great husband my own house and my own business wich will be succesful, im going to be bigger than confetti lol.
with my pricing i worked the 500% increase out on my dearest tiara and still came out cheaper than i have it listed for wich was abit confusing. but i know its worth what its listed at if not more, i saw one similer on ebay for about £120. i gues ill get the 500% price then work out if its fair or i should charge abit more. My husband worked out that if i added time costs at minimum wage i could put it at £130 but a book i read said i cant give myself a wage at the moment, wich didnt make sense.
how crazy do i sound lol, I know what I'm doing usually.

now i get laughed at for dreaming big, for saying ill be bigger than the leading wedding specialist, i just think if i dont believe it who will? plus im different in that everything is done personally and not mass produced with will bring the romance back to peoples weddings.

Horace

JP - everyone has doubts on their ability to do things..even me, I constantly ask myself what I am doing and then I remember the events that I have organised previously even down to the finest detail like arranging for cabs to be available to take people home, so then I know that I can do it. Your tiaras are fantastic and I agree with John..you are underselling yourself. Rather than make veils and garters..I would stick with the tiaras, hair clips and favours. Also if you can..try and get to some trade shows..use them for ideas, I was going to suggest the Spring Fair in February here in Birmingham at the NEC but it may be a bit far to travel from Scotland (if you eventually get there).

As for taking drawings (a wage) then there is no reason why you can't do that..you do need to live. I think you need to put aside a third for the tax man and to pay your NI and take a bit for yourself.

FRP..I think that maybe you have registered for VAT a bit too soon..better to wait until you go over the threshold which is about £60K. If you are only self employed on a part time basis then you need to let the HMRC know..so that you pay tax on your profits and class 2 NI, your paid job will pay tax too and class 4 NI separate to your business. You don't need to let the payroll dept of the company that you work for that you are also self employed.

Re accounts, I do have an accountant (she will save me money) but I do keep my own books - basically I use an accounting pad and have one sheet for purchases and another for income and I keep all my receipts and match them against the purchases. Now my poor accountant was just handed a folder with all my receipts in, but next year I shall be a bit kinder as I have re-vamped my system and now use punched pockets with one for each month of the year. I decided that it would be better for me to have an accountant because I absolutely loathe filling in tax returns despite having attended free courses run by the HMRC, plus she will know what I can and cannot claim for. I am also not VAT registered as there is no need for me as yet because I haven't turned over more than £60K. I know that my accountant charges me £100 for sorting out my tax return which is money well spent.

Purpleroses

ohh JP your site is great, your tiaras look fab! Don't undersell yourself and there's nothing wrong with dreaming big!

When we started out our aim was to produce more cloth than our rival (and given there's roughly 200 people working for them it really was a dream) but this year we did! So just because right now it seems like it'll never happen, if you put in the hard work then you have every chance of overtaking others in your industry. they've devalued their cloth as they make lots of tourist tat with it and sell it at a very cheap price so if you are high end making high quality products people will pay a good price for it.

anyway enough of my rambling, must get back.

Hope everyone has a productive day

nzmegs

I haven't done a scrap of work yet today but i have completely cleaned my downstairs. I decided that prioritising the housework was a good idea for the moment. I have really let it slip and I get abit depressed it my house is a mess. I get to the stage where i can' t see the wood for the trees and just don't bother.
Tomorrow the bathroom and upstairs. I think i will need to get up early for that one!