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

bootsalebabe

Hi All was just browsing through martin's site when i came across self employment working from home and in debt.. well thats me down to a T. I recently started working from home in January for Hays Travel as a personal travel consultant. however im only on a 30% commission based wage, I have just moved into a brand new house, rented property and have other family issues going on at the same time i need to do something else from home to start bringng a bit extra cash in as this business hasnt really picked up aswell as i thought ive thought about doing avon on the side but my sister does it so all of my family are her customers. can anyone reccommend anything else i can do working from home to earn me a bit of extra money there is no jobs around my area at the moment and my partner is also out of work.
please any suggestions would help i am willing to do websites etc but i dont
want to pay a massive set up fee as i havnt got the money to do so.

Horace

Hi Bootsalebabe - how about doing some mystery shopping - that can bring a bit of money in, not a huge amount but some.

Well folks, I had quite a productive day - I trotted off to the spa, lolled about for a bit but I did start writing some notes for my remaining assignments:j had my waxing done and lolled in the sauna an awful lot because I was feeling like I had a cold coming on earlier. Had lunch there, then went to the Jinny Ring Craft Centre - met some ducks who seemed to like my car for some reason:rolleyes: then I went to the chocolate shop and bought some expensive but yummy handmade chocs - will go back when they are less busy to discuss wedding favours. Also met a couture milliner who is only there on Fridays so had a chat to her and got some business ideas and found out that she makes bespoke hats or can copy them from photographs or can even jazz up a hat you already have.

Then I met up with fellow MSEr and we had a great laugh - she gave me some business tips and it is highly likely that when I start earning money, she will be my accountant:j (she doesnt know it yet:D ) I had such a good time that when I went back to the car, I realised that something was missing - my handbag, I had left it in the restaurant:eek: I managed to collect though.

Lexxx

This thread really IS motivating me.

I finally started clearing out space in spare room and started making my bags again, the ideas are finally flowing again.:j


hello purpleroses,
good to see a fellow crafter on here, i am in the same situation you were in 3 years ago, i am tired of waiting for 'that job' and trying to do my craft thing now. I love making bags, its my hobby, not sure how sucessful it will be, but glad to give it ago.
I'd love to hear more about your last 3 years and also the route you are taking now. congrats on the shoe order:T

josephine1_2

Hi I'm glad I found this thread as I've just gone back to self-employment as a photographer after a years break to have a baby and am scared what the credit crunch will have done to my industry! I was used to being able to work long irregular hours, now I have to fit them around 16.5hours, which was all I could get at my nursery but it's a start. Just as I've come back, my website which was hosted by Mac has expired. It's going to cost £60 to renew for the year, but I wanted to find something that showed off my images in a bigger format. Does anyone know any good free websites or cheapish ones?

sammy115

Seaxwyn wrote: »

I don't - for years I had just one bank account, now I have two but they are both business and personal. As I keep good records of all business-related income and expenditure I've never seen this as a problem.

I sometimes think of opening a separate business account but I am put off by the thought of the time delays involved in transferring money from one account to the other - it already takes long enough to get paid! And I can't really think of any strong advantages in having separate accounts. I have been successfully operating as a sole trader since 1996 and have never had any questions from HMRC.

It is essential to keep seperate bank accounts especially as a sole trader. If HMRC open an investigation into a self assessment and you work for yourself if you run your business through one account then you only need to show them the information from the one 'business' account. If you run your business through personal accounts you are opening up your personal life for the HMRC to look into.. Whilst you may have nothing to hide they may ask questions about innocent things and waste your time and delay things..

You do not have to tell the bank that it is a business account (as these accounts will incurr charges) it can just be an account in your name. Just use one account for business transactions. It is good business practice. As to the moving money around, with the faster payment system most transactions done onlne are same day. Open a seperate account with the same bank and it should be even easier.

sammy115

And a book I highly recommend is The E-Myth Revisited.....

Essex-girl_2

Hello you lot.

Have just discovered this thread - havnt read all of it yet - will bookmark it for later.

I have been working at home for 10 years, OH & myself run a small transport company & I do the books, transport manager & personnel stuff. I loved working at home first of all but now miss working with other people and have got disallusioned (sp).

Anyway our business was really suffering with the economic climate and was dreading this year but our client is changing the way it delivers and has asked us to quote for a bigger contract, our quotes are now on and although I am not counting chickens yet we are quietly confident. This will mean that from August our workforce will over double and so will the paperwork. We appreciate how lucky we are to be in this position but it means that once and for all I need to get organised & motivated.

This weekend I will be catching up with housework and stuff so I can start afresh on Monday, think I really need to sort out some regular hours in my home office.

At the moment my day is spent between deciding what to do first - papework mountain, housework, iron mountain, debt busting ebaying & I end up doing very little of anything!:D

Anyway as I said I will come back later and read this whole thread & hopefully pick up some hints and tips.

sammy115

Hi Essex girl.....glad things are looking a bit better for you.

Working with other people is not all its cracked up to be.....:rotfl: but I know what you mean, its nice to bounce ideas of other people and get support in times of stress...this thread can be good for this (as the whole MSE forum I find) there is always someone around somewhere....

Essex-girl_2

Thanks Sammy

I must admit when I look back to when I did work in an office there were more drawbacks than plus's. This thread will be a lifeline I think, one area I do need to address though is how much time I spend on the internet instead of on paperwork!

Do miss the work Christmas do :rotfl: (but not the collection envelopes going around)

skintjenny

am feeling very unmotivated today and would like just to be a lazy oaf- sadly far too much to get done for such things!
i need to get my filing done by the end of sunday- could people please give me a poke in the right direction
off to west cumbria today for lunch and to check out all the local galleries, see if they will take any of my work. im also going to be looking at a venue for an event i might be organising, so much to do, so little motivation to do anything!