19 nearly 20,self employed,living alone

rebeccalb

Hi,

I'm 19 (20 in April), currently at university but questioning whether its for me. I'd like to run my own business, but not sure if its financially viable.
If I dropped out, I'd be looking to rent a flat and work at least 16 hours a week. Oh and I live in Wales, if thats relevant.
My question is what (if any) benefits are avaliable to help me initially?
Thanks in advanced
Rebecca

Hammyman

Housing Benefit and possibly income support. I would contact Business Link and see what grants are available.

sunnyone

Hammyman wrote: »

Housing Benefit and possibly income support. I would contact Business Link and see what grants are available.

Never, ever income support on the information given.

whitewing

What uni course are you doing? Is it one that you could set up a 16 hour a week business alongside with ultra careful time management?

chris1973

You will be entitled to very little. Even if you get your rent paid for, where is the money going to come from to start the business?

Its usually a good idea to find some form of full time work and plan on starting your business in a small way on a part time basis whilst in the security of the full time occupation. This will not only allow you to support yourself and pay your rent, but also may give you a little income in order to inject into building and promoting your fledging business.

This way, if eventually it does work out and become profit making you can leave work and concentrate on it full time, if it doesn't work out, then you still have the security of a full time job.

Caz3121

rebeccalb wrote: »

Hi,

I'm 19 (20 in April), currently at university but questioning whether its for me. I'd like to run my own business, but not sure if its financially viable.
If I dropped out, I'd be looking to rent a flat and work at least 16 hours a week. Oh and I live in Wales, if thats relevant.
My question is what (if any) benefits are avaliable to help me initially?
Thanks in advanced
Rebecca

note, if you drop out you may already have had your student funding/loans up to x date so until then there will be no benefits
As you are under 25 you will not qualify for working tax credits even if you worked over 30 hours and also housing benefit will be based on a shared room rate so you would need to find the difference from your income
A lot of businesses do not make money in their first year(s) so you will likely at least need another job on top to give you regular income to pay the bills

rebeccalb

Thanks for all your advice, its given me alot to think about. Much aprreciated