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

ani_26

It IS good to see this thread. A bad place to be. Self employed, freelance, whatever, working from home. Not neccessarily a limited company or business. Especially when you only have your own income to rely on. I want a job where i know i've a fixed amount of money entering my bank account, on a given date. Correction. I NEED a job that pays a fixed amount, on said date.

I probably should'nt be posting on this thread, because, i'm feeling down, to say the least. Cynical. whatever. I'm at rock bottom at the moment. It takes alot of courage to be self employed,freelance, and probably a certain type of person, or character. I don't mean to cliche anyone. But it takes guts, does'nt it? Having your destiny in your own hands? Still, theres not always much you can do about your situation, in this economic climate.

So, myself. I've been self employed / freelance for the majority of my working life. I had a ' proper job ' for an employer, maybe 8 years ago. I stayed for 2 years, and had the best time of my life. The dream job. It really was the dream job. Except i was so good at the job, i earnt a shedload of money for my employer, but felt i was'nt appreciated in return. So i left. I supppose thats the scenario in everyone's working life. You do your job, to earn your employer a shedload of money. Thats the name of the game. No job satisfaction required..

But its the worst its ever been at the start of this year. No work around at all. I can't survive on one or two days work a week. Its not even enough to cover the rent, and keep a roof over my head. I can't claim working tax credit yet, as its taken off last years income, which was just over the threshold by a few hundred pounds. Ridiculous. If thats the case, i should reduce my meagre workload and make sure my income is under the threshold, in future, for the financial return i will potentialy, reap, in beneftits.

I've just spent the last two weeks job seeking, while i wait for the work to come in. Theres little i can do, except wait. I have my contacts, and they know where i am. Every job i've enquired about, has gone. Thats anything, that will provide me with a regular income, to get myself back on my feet again. Anything. I'm not proud. Even cleaning the proverbial loo. I've run out of words, and i'm tempted to delete this post. I've run out of confidence, too

Wordsmith

Welcome Ant and Nanny.Ogg - I hope you stay with us. Both your businesses sound interesting and doing very well, so it would be great to get your input.

Horace, busy as ever! I do hope your potential events client starts giving you some work soon.

Nohope. I am so glad to see you posting again. Thank you for posting on my diary, too - I will respond properly on there when I get a moment. I am sorry you are still so down. I have a mixture of self-employment and employment. The employment is only at minimum wage, but it is regular; it also means I get to meet people so I don't become isolated. If I had to choose between the two, though, I would choose self-employment. I am hopeless at working for someone else. My ideal would be to make things and sell them - so I can be entirely self-contained. Most of my freelance work still involves having a "boss" of some description. Unfortunately, though, I am the least creative, domestic and "handy" person on the planet so the thought of making a living in this way is laughable. Have you thought of becoming self-employed now? I know financially it would be difficult to take the plunge at the moment, but you could be planning and researching for it, which would give you something to aim towards. What are you skills? Do they lend themselves to self-employment? Please do stay with us - pm me if you prefer.

My list for today:
[STRIKE]
Start new proofreading job (I printed it yesterday, but didn't start it ... and it's URGENT)
Get a bit more shop accounts done
Bring admin up to date for PO agency, and serve customers
Check emails
Check client's emails
Do client's admin
Keep checking survey sites
[/STRIKE]Update client's web site (should have done days ago)
There's a ton of other stuff:eek:, but that will have to be on another day's list.

Have a good day, everyone.

hellnearth

Hi, just wanted to say a quick hello and can I join your thread? Self-employed, work mainly from home, and when I read your opening post, Wordpress, I said yes to all the 'misdemeanours' listed so thought 'ah, a bunch after my own heart'
Gotta run for the mo, but will sit down later and read through the thread when I'm putting off ....again.... writing that letter or making that call, lol.
Have a good.........and productive day, all.

Wordsmith

Looking forward to hearing about ALL your misdemeanours, hellnearth.:D

Rockingsurfer

Hello all, nice to see thread up an running again and some new faces.

Since I was last here I have become a properly self-employed bookkeeper, working from home for customers all over the country. It's amazing how many clients have been paying their accountant to do bookkeeping at the accountants hourly rate :eek:. It costs a fortune!

Just recovering from a client VAT inspection, no problems for me but a b*llocking for the client for not invoicing promptly!

Any other freelance bookkeepers / payrollers following this thread?

RS

Wordsmith

Hello! I do bookkeeping and payroll as part of my work, Rockingsurfer. I don't have any qualifications in either, though. Do you have any? And if so, did your clients bother asking about them? I keep thinking about getting certs in bookkeeping, payroll and VAT, but haven't had the time to spare, and don't know how much of a difference it will make.

How do you get work from far-flung places. Do people simply post their paperwork to you to sort out?

Rockingsurfer

Hello Wordsmith,

I studied AAT to Technician level and passed all the exams bar one. Owing to my newborn daugher being ill I was unable to take the the remaining exam before the sylabus changed and made my previous work obselete. I now have to start again if I want my AAT qualification :mad:

I am 'qualified by experience', i.e. I've done it for years and people are happy with my work, including the the accountants.

I generally have client paperwork posted to me and post it back. The only time I go out of my way to collect is if it is a new client with a large backlog of paperwork, then I arrange a drop off with the client at a place halfway between us. I would entrust a months paperwork to the Royal Mail, but not a years worth. The repercussions if a years worth of paperwork go astray are too horrible to contemplate.

Working with distant clients in big cities is quite interesting, a good hourly rate out here in the sticks is a bargain to them in London or Manchester. :j

RS

poorbutrich

Wordsmith wrote: »

Hope you're joining us, poorbutrich! Freelance work in PR sounds good. Someone in my village does that and is kept very busy. Have you started yet, or are you thinking of starting?

Thanks for the welcome to the thread Wordsmith! I've taken on a couple of clients after friends and colleagues have recommended me, but I've yet to go out and seek my own business which is what I intend to do now!

I'm going to a local networking meeting tomorrow and have no idea why but I am extremely nervous about it! I'm not expecting to gain any new clients, but hoping to build up some courage to make this all a bit easier!

Will keep you all posted!

poorbutrich

Nohope wrote: »

It IS good to see this thread. A bad place to be. Self employed, freelance, whatever, working from home. Not neccessarily a limited company or business. Especially when you only have your own income to rely on. I want a job where i know i've a fixed amount of money entering my bank account, on a given date. Correction. I NEED a job that pays a fixed amount, on said date.

I probably should'nt be posting on this thread, because, i'm feeling down, to say the least. Cynical. whatever. I'm at rock bottom at the moment. It takes alot of courage to be self employed,freelance, and probably a certain type of person, or character. I don't mean to cliche anyone. But it takes guts, does'nt it? Having your destiny in your own hands? Still, theres not always much you can do about your situation, in this economic climate.

So, myself. I've been self employed / freelance for the majority of my working life. I had a ' proper job ' for an employer, maybe 8 years ago. I stayed for 2 years, and had the best time of my life. The dream job. It really was the dream job. Except i was so good at the job, i earnt a shedload of money for my employer, but felt i was'nt appreciated in return. So i left. I supppose thats the scenario in everyone's working life. You do your job, to earn your employer a shedload of money. Thats the name of the game. No job satisfaction required..

But its the worst its ever been at the start of this year. No work around at all. I can't survive on one or two days work a week. Its not even enough to cover the rent, and keep a roof over my head. I can't claim working tax credit yet, as its taken off last years income, which was just over the threshold by a few hundred pounds. Ridiculous. If thats the case, i should reduce my meagre workload and make sure my income is under the threshold, in future, for the financial return i will potentialy, reap, in beneftits.

I've just spent the last two weeks job seeking, while i wait for the work to come in. Theres little i can do, except wait. I have my contacts, and they know where i am. Every job i've enquired about, has gone. Thats anything, that will provide me with a regular income, to get myself back on my feet again. Anything. I'm not proud. Even cleaning the proverbial loo. I've run out of words, and i'm tempted to delete this post. I've run out of confidence, too

Very sorry to read this. It sounds like your confidence is shot and I completely understand how you feel. I hope you can talk to someone, perhaps a counsellor to help you feel better. We all go through periods of self doubt and things do get better. If you can survive this, you'll be ok.

Take care of yourself.

louise_1981

Apologies for dropping off the page for a bit. Again relationship problems, which sort of dump on you a bit. Still in limbo, but think pushing the energy into the business.

NoHope, it is all about confidence. I have always been keen to start my own business, but in my previous life I was in an abusive relationship and just never felt good enough, never had that confidence, which is where the above comes in,cos present BF gave all that confidence back to me in a matter of months. Oh Well onwards and upward I suppose.

Had some time out to myself and my camera, regrouped and get on with it with or with out nice bloke.

Went to an INBiz session today, on Getting and keeping customers. As much as I know the gist of it, it is lovely to be with people who are in the same position (IE, unemployed, a bit of debt and can't get around money issues to start up). Plus its great to talk about your business ideas and gain from their experience/ knowledge/ ideas. Comes to light I had missed out on a whole part of the market, which would be so easy to capture with the help of family and friends.

I have an all dayer with HRMC on Friday on newly self employed ness I do hope its not really boring.

So on my list of things to do STILL

Go into or at least phone 5 estate agents
Mystery Shop Pet sitters DONE
Format leaflet for printing.
Phone Job Centre about becoming self employed EK!