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

sashanut

Hi all & greeting to the newbies; I haven't been on lately as we were away at the weekend, so no work got done. Thank goodness when we came back DD18 had been invited to go to London for a few days, it's amazing how free it feels:D and DH didn't want her to go !!!! Whew I think we need a break since it seems to be perm arguing between the 2 of them :mad:

Anyhow less of the chitchat - did get all my parcels sent off yesterday - why does it take so long?? Also had to make yet another trip to the bank as the payment cheque we had STILL hadn't cleared & the personal overdraft was going OVER the limit...so had to pay some money in (did that on Friday also :mad:) or mega-charges would result. The good news is that we have FINALLY got paid for January :beer: - now we can pay some bills. The other good news is that the MD of the company rang to explain that they had been trying to get bank overdraft or funding or something to help them ease their cash-flow, which had initially been refused, hence them being tardy with our payments. Now it seems that this week they have been granted the funding, so hopefully they will be quicker to pay us - here's hoping since we are due to raise an invoice for 1st April, & are also due Febs payment at the end of next week:eek: ho hum onwards & upwards>

I better now concentrate on my website business since doing well last week I haven't listed anything new. Today I plan to take photos & hopefully be outside as much as possible

Good luck all with your ventures, it is tough but I keep thinking of the times I've had to go back to employment & I much prefer this with all its wrinkles:T

Darth_Trader

moneymabel wrote: »

I do my tax return online, it's so much easier as there are explanations for each section.

I totally agree. I did my first ever tax return this year, for 31st Jan deadline (tax year 07/08) and it was a breeze, even with GiftAids and several bank accounts - some paying gross interest and others net - to worry about.

Plus, if you get stuck, HMRC have a helpline you can call.

tyllwyd

Horace wrote: »

...I was expecting some freebies in the post today and all I got was some junk mail and a self-assessment tax return:eek: Methinks I had better find a friendly accountant because looking at the form it is way too complex for me and I cannot get my head around it:rolleyes:

An accountant might be a good idea, but it couldn't hurt to take a copy of the form and have a go at filling in the figures. You'll probably find that loads of the sections don't apply to you, so when you get going there is less to include than you think. But am I right in thinking that you are trying to get your business up and running at the moment, so you have expenses but no income? It might be worth getting an accountant involved, because they'd be able to advise you about the expenses you can claim etc.

starxtrouble

I'm going on a free course run by the HMRC in June which is specifically for freelancers and teaching them how to fill in their tax return. I must be sad as I'm quite looking forward to it! (maybe as Im only going to have 2 months of trading in this tax year to count, and my expenses nearly total my income ... the complicated bit is going to be the personal tax i paid last year as I think im due a refund..)

I have had another 2 translations from my agency in India to do. One is in a similar format to yesterdays so I managed to do it a bit quicker than normal. Now ive just got a purchase order to translate.. but its from a fax and has loads of tabley bits.. fun...

But what I am looking forward to this afternoon.. is I'm getting a visit from some real firemen to fit a smoke alarm in the flat. I hope I get nice ones (Must also remember to change out of my tatty comfortable sitting around the flat working clothes!)

Bordera

How glad am I to have been directed to this thread. I've not read right through it yet but wanted to say hello and can I join in please, before dashing of to get started on the "to do" list I found myself preparing as I was reading through the posts.

I'm a recent victim of the credit crunch, in that my nice full-time employment contract came to an end much sooner than I'd hoped, which was before I’d gotten out of debt! It soon struck me that getting back into 9 - 5 employment was going to a) be difficult because I keep missing out to younger applicants; b) mean taking a massive pay cut and c) filled me with dread.

The forecasts for the pensions I'd struggled to save into for years indicate that they have become worthless almost overnight, so doing more of the same seems a bit pointless! There must be another way, and if I find things I like and have control over, retirement becomes less of an issue!

My background is in taxation. I prepare accounts and tax returns by profession and am working on building up my own small practice doing this. Still at the research stage though, there are a lot of serious considerations these days. When I can get it I do short term temp and contract work to keep the wolf from the door.

I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket any more so am also trying to develop a "portfolio approach" to earning a living and am doing everything and anything I can think of at the moment to see which ones shake out well. Maybe not the best approach but if I don't give it a go, how am I going to know?

The things I'm tackling included crafts (evening work - I can watch TV at the same time once I've gotten a project started), editing/proof-reading/indexing/writing (worked in publishing a long time ago) and some £6 an hour work I can do to keep ticking over when nothing else is paying.

Thanks for reading, now I'm setting about that to do list.

PS, I know that ageism is illegal these days, but all that has changed is that employers find a way of saying that they have chosen the younger of 2 otherwise equal candidates for totally no-ageist reasons. I can’t prove it and cannot see any point in baying at the moon about it.

Bordera

starxtrouble wrote: »

But what I am looking forward to this afternoon.. is I'm getting a visit from some real firemen to fit a smoke alarm in the flat. I hope I get nice ones (Must also remember to change out of my tatty comfortable sitting around the flat working clothes!)

Wow! I'm so jealous! A visit from some nice hunky firemen would cheer me up no end! Enjoy your afternoon starxtrouble.

Horace

Hi Bordera - I was the same - they always went for the young girls with big boobies and an ability to sit filing their nails whereas I was always over-qualified and too old and even worse I dared to have a disability - not that you could tell if you met me.

Tyllwyd - I have had to fund everything myself - even today I have paid out £195.50 for a start up membership with my local chamber of commerce. I have an accountant in mind so will need to contact her (if only she had given me her business card) but I know how to contact her via other means:D

I must get myself onto another free course with the HMRC.

I had a call from Business Link earlier and they have said that I have a business head:j and the chap I spoke to tipped me off about a new couture bridal shop that has opened in Olton, Solihull so I shall be contacting her. I spoke to him about the chat I had had with the Ideas bloke and he has worringly told me that I am not the only person who was mislead by this bloke and that I can rest assured that he will never work for Business Link again:j Why do seemingly decent people have to be con merchants Still, if I do get a contract from this bloke - my solicitor will read it because I won't sign without her say so:D

God, I never realised that being self-employed could be this exciting:rotfl:

Lois_and_CK

starxtrouble wrote: »

I'm going on a free course run by the HMRC in June which is specifically for freelancers and teaching them how to fill in their tax return. I must be sad as I'm quite looking forward to it! (maybe as Im only going to have 2 months of trading in this tax year to count, and my expenses nearly total my income ... the complicated bit is going to be the personal tax i paid last year as I think im due a refund..)

I have had another 2 translations from my agency in India to do. One is in a similar format to yesterdays so I managed to do it a bit quicker than normal. Now ive just got a purchase order to translate.. but its from a fax and has loads of tabley bits.. fun...

But what I am looking forward to this afternoon.. is I'm getting a visit from some real firemen to fit a smoke alarm in the flat. I hope I get nice ones (Must also remember to change out of my tatty comfortable sitting around the flat working clothes!)

They're great courses - I went on a couple last year and they really took the mystery out of tax returns. They also go through expenses with you.

starxtrouble

No firemen They rang to say they couldnt make it .. which is fair enough.. they warned me that if they were called out they might not turn up but I would get a call to rebook. So now I'm rebooked for Friday 1st May .. which is ironically mine and OHs anniversary... do you think its a bit mean to flirt with firemen if its your anniversary?

Anyway I need motivation to do this last translation. Its going to be a complete pain in the bum and the only thing I have to look forward afterwards is a lot of housework!!

Everyone else ok today?

Star

nzmegs

Hello everyone, I have only just come across this thread and I would like to throw my hat into the ring!. I am also a freelance writer and work from home for half the day. The other half is taken up as a very bored receptionsit. MY long term aim is to work at the writing full time.
I currently have 5 regular clients and I supply around 30 articles a month, plus website content and newsletters and blogs. I have built this up over just the last 5 months or so. At the moment i am just about finding enough time to do all the work I have and can't take on any more - despite having offers.
So when did all you good people decide to branch out on your own and leave the 9-5 (or 8-1 in my case). I have to make a certain amount every week/month and I don't have any savings to rely on - yet I desperately want out of the rat race.

I am putting off writing my last article of the day at the moment!! I currently have alittle extra time on my hands as I have two weeks off work. Trying to do stuff with the kids, but the writing still has to be done.

Send some motivation my way!