Web Designer Going Freelance

Mistral001

pyuicd wrote: »

It will be an invaluable experience at the very least. What level are you at in terms of web design and programming?

You will get experience in running a business for yourself, but you can quickly become stale in your profession. You will have no colleagues to learn from only competitors who will not want to share anything with you. In such a fast-moving industry such as web-design I should have thought staying up to date was critical. best wishes anyway.

InsideInsurance

By the sounds of it he is contracting and so will have colleagues

dcon_blue

I really do wish you luck Mathew ... but as someone who has worked for themselves contracting since 2004 I can safely say that as a contractor you'll still be doing lots of unpaid overtime (evenings and weekends). Contractors are typically employed to get a job done in a specific time period which is IMO quite often underestimated and underesourced. Apart from which clients want to see that they're getting value for money. So unfortunately you may still not be able to meet other requests for work outside of your contract.

Also as InsideInsurance said ... there's no sick or holiday pay and you MUST put money aside for tax, NI, insurance and an accountant.

I'm afraid I can't help with applying for bank accounts as a sole trader as I'm running a Limited company with one employee ... me The reason I'm running a limited company is because many of the clients I work for will only seek contractors through agencies and they insist on limited company status and insurance (I have Public and Employer Liability Insurance).

A six month guaranteed contract is great but please be aware that a contract can be broken and depending on the small print you may only be entitled to be paid till the end of the day/week/month. I worked as a contractor for a large blue chip multinational on a 9 month contract that lasted 2.5 days ... their client changed their mind and so the multinational had no need for any of the contractors ... so at a lunch time meeting we were all told our services were no longer needed (I think we were paid for the full week).

Also you'll need to consider that you may not get another contract for a period after this contracts finishes. For 5 years I had contracts back to back (and at some times 2 running concurrently) but unfortunately things are tougher and this hasn't been the case recently.

All this sounds tough and it is ... which is why contractors get a what 'sounds' like a high daily rate ... but these high rates are to compensate for all the uncertainties that working for oneself entails.

Anyway, a new laptop? I too would not seek to get any new kit unless you really can't work with out it. If you have an adequate desktop and all licensed software ... then you may even get away without needing a laptop for a while ... especially if you are working from home.

If you are going to client site to demo work you could upload to your designs to your own site/server and demo on their equipment (in fact it's better for them to see it on their own setup) ... failing this request a PC/laptop for your demo and bring a memory stick or HD with you.

If all you need a laptop for is to demo work ... then it doesn't need to be powerful. You can get away with a low spec, bog standard laptop especially if you're designing and developing content that will be seen by Joe Public ... it's no good developing something that looks great on your high spec kit that looks pants on a standard laptop/desktop.

Once again I wish you good luck ... and plenty of well paid (long) contracts :T

Mistral001

dcon_blue wrote: »

The reason I'm running a limited company is because many of the clients I work for will only seek contractors through agencies and they insist on limited company status and insurance (I have Public and Employer Liability Insurance).

Great post and some excellent.

I am interested in why this company insists on only working with Ltd companies. Usually Ltd companies are riskier to work with as they have limited liablity when things go financially wrong for them.

InsideInsurance

It is because if you have a sole trader as a contractor then there is a risk that HMRC would say that they are not a contractor but a concealed employee and therefore make the client pay employers NI etc

By having the contractor either (a) as a limited company or (b) via an umbrella then you remove this risk (though for the contractor by going down the route of A then they have their own risk of IR45)

Jemma130

I would agree with the above comments - make sure you have PI Insurance - http://shop.qdosconsulting.com, and have a proper contract with the client. If anything does go wrong throughout the project, you can refer back to the contract, or if the worst comes to the worst, and the client sues, you will be completely protected with your insurance. PI can also help you gain other contracts, as employers can see you are reliable and fully covered. I would also advice having your contract reviewed for IR35 issues too. Good luck with everything!