self employed Vs employed

smilermonkey

This is more of a moan really, but sometimes it just feels good! I am self employed and waiting for nearly £2K to come in. And waiting, and waiting...
I am having to call creditors to ask them to wait and it's just not fair:mad:
The companies in question tell me i have to wait for their monthly cheque issuing day which of course I apparently only just missed with my invoice, funny that! I know this is an age old problem but there are days I wish I was safely employed with a regular income. But then I would not have the scope for increasing my money with extra work. As the song says, 'Should I stay or should I go now? If I stay there will be trouble, if I go there will be double...'

SAP_Saver

Being self employed myself I understand your problems... I have waited 8 weeks for an invoice a few times!
Hang in there and see it out! Once the money comes in it will feel good! Being self employed is all about generating custom - get busy with that while you wait!

MoneyMagnet

I'm self-employed part time, and know what you mean about the insecurity! The control & freedom over your time etc go a long way towards making up for that though. I also do some employed work (working from home, so it doesn't interfere with my own projects too much), which provides some welcome extra security.

Maybe you could get a part-time employed job for a while (or some part time temping work, if you don't want to commit yourself to anything permanent), and use the money to save up some funds to act as a kind of buffer, so you'll have something to fall back on when your clients don't pay on time?

smilermonkey

I had some buffer money once but got scr**ed on a business deal and lost it all. Never mind, lesson learned. Since posting I have had work come in to cover me for the autumn and some training in carnival costumes and carnival management that I will get paid for (result!). I shall have to look at multiple sources of income, you are right Moneymagnet, I need to diversify! I have an arts company so need to think where else I can use creativity. Have done a few kids arts parties, so will push that some more as can be lucrative...but 20 hyper-active kids for 2 hours!!!!

rog2

I am self employed and have banked with HSBC for over 20 years. Used to know all the girls in the branch, and they knew that my money was irregular. Now I receive phone calls, from Asia, when I have not made a deposit in six weeks, telling me that unless I heve regular monthly payments, they will withdraw the overdraft facility, for which I pay an annual fee of £175, and have only twice exceeded (paid dearly for that). They seem at a total loss when I explain that I am self employed, do not have a regular income and that, until now, this has been fine with my branch.
I went into the branch and was told that my account manager had ben made redundant, thus explaining the increase in rate of call-centre calls???
Please HSBC educate those peanut earning m**k*ys.

shayshay

Same position, but I tend to be more proactive and recently got one of my posh chaps to make out he was a solicitor acting on my behalf as one client even done the 'Hello,hello, I cant hear you trick down the phone' told them taht would have to go down the small claims court route to get money of which court costs would be added. 2 days later money was paid direct into account. I was never going to deal with her again so I could be that bit harsher.

Other than that, I have now added a new one on my T & Cs, that if payment is not received within the agreed time then a 10% charge will be added each week. If they sign it they are bound to honour it. Other than that add a little bit on the price/quote and mention if paid within the time frame 2.5%-5% will be deducted off next bill, therefore most companies will look to reduce their bills without realising you had already factored this rise in, so now you get paid on time for the same amount of money and joe bloggs plc think they have had a right touch by getting a discount.

smilermonkey

thanks Shayshay, I have only got the terms as 1% per month, way too low. I am about to raise my rates so will incorporate 5% extra in to offer as a discount for early payment.

nrsql

My brother runs a business which gets one off payments of about a £1000 - repeat business is not frequent so customers don't have to worry about that.
Invoices mentioned an interest penalty for late payment but this was never enforced. Some people paid quickly but a lot were taking months to pay which really screwed the cash flow and stretched the overdraft.

He changed the invoices to give a discount if paid within a month (more if paid before providing the service) and suddenly cash flow improved greatly. It's also not so much of a problem changing the extra for late payment as it's not giving a discount rather than adding interest.