Put Off Going Self Employed As A Writer

clemmatis

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I'd never have dreamed of trying to claim benefits while I was working. It didn't occur to me, once.

That was your call. Other people think differently.

neverdespairgirl wrote:

So instead, I worked (rather illicitly) in other ways around my 60-70 hour weeks,

That too was your call.

But then, I chose to do A levels, go to uni, do a post-grad degree, then training, get established in work, and not have my son until 2005. All very silly, really.

Presumably you did these not remotely unusual things because you wanted to be a barrister?

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I've had email since 1996, internet access since 1997, when I was at university, and started pupillage in September 2001. I was fully-qualified in October 2002.

Three years for an LLB, one year for an LLM, one year pupillage, is standard, isn't it. Did I miss something? And isn't everything after "internet.. 1997" redundant?

Firefox1975

but isnt the wholepoint of UC the fact that self employed people will be agreed to be "working" for at least 39 hours per week at the minimum wage?

i.e £6 odd an hour?

so if someone wants to write a book, fair enough, but whether or not you make your £234.xx a week or not is irrelevant, because you will be treated as if you have for benefits.and righty so.

so anyone who is any good at writing will be fine

those not so good might be better off with a different vocation.

And having time and funds to "train" to be a writer is ok, as long s you have saved up the money first, because your Self employed job is not to "train" to be a writer, but to "be" an actual writer. therefore whilst you are "training" you need to be self sufficient.

dktreesea

Dunroamin wrote: »

I don't think that attitude's down to the nternet.

Internet aside, the attitude is a complete sea change from when I was younger. What's different now though is that the internet has become a how to manual for things like benefits, getting a council house, "what to do if you are a solo parent", how to be classified as homeless and get a council flat, how to be classified as disabled, how to beat ATOS, how to avoid workfare. People are really up to speed really quickly.

There were council houses when I was growing up. I never considered applying for one, even if I then might have been eligible. I didn't have the foggiest notion of how to go about applying for one, much less what criteria they were allocated on. The internet made that knowlege available to everyone and is an impersonal, non -judgemental providor of that information.

What I find interesting today is how people are fully aware of the advantages of having a council flat. To the nth detail, like how bathrooms and kitchens are replaced every 20 years and when will it be their turn to have this done if they take a particular council house on offer.

In some ways, that is no bad thing. People get to benefit from the experience of those who have gone before them without actually knowing them. Directly because of the internet, there is also a new group of people out there who apply for social housing, housing they wouldn't have considered in the past, because now they fully understand the benefits of doing so.

dktreesea

Firefox1975 wrote: »

but isnt the wholepoint of UC the fact that self employed people will be agreed to be "working" for at least 39 hours per week at the minimum wage?

i.e £6 odd an hour?

so if someone wants to write a book, fair enough, but whether or not you make your £234.xx a week or not is irrelevant, because you will be treated as if you have for benefits.and righty so.

so anyone who is any good at writing will be fine

those not so good might be better off with a different vocation.

And having time and funds to "train" to be a writer is ok, as long s you have saved up the money first, because your Self employed job is not to "train" to be a writer, but to "be" an actual writer. therefore whilst you are "training" you need to be self sufficient.

At the moment it's 35 hours a week. I'm not sure the government care what the self employed person actually does with the hours as long as they are able to show they are gainfully self employed, so work with the expectation of earning income and can show evidence of receiving that income. If they make less than 35 hours a week at the NMW, they will be deemed to have made the NMW for the purposes fo calculating their benefit entitlement.

I would think this will force a lot of people out of self employment and onto whatever replaces JSA instead.

Say currently they earn £2k profit per annum from self employment and have total benefits of £21k. But, once UC comes into play, they will still have their £2k per annum profit, but due to the deeming rules, only get UC of £5k a year, for a total income of £7k a year.

The government beleives that this will incentivise the people to build up their business to cover the shortfall. It might. But I think it more likely that people in this position will be forced to shut up shop so to speak and go onto JSA.At least then they would be able to keep their income at £21k p.a. (i.e. UC won't cause anyone to receive a drop in benefits in the transition period, currently forecast to run until 2017)

neverdespairgirl

dktreesea wrote: »

So you are in your late 20s, early 30s? Computing when I was at uni meant writing programs in Fortran, creating punch cards for the code and then waiting overnight for the programs to be run on an IBM mainframe. Email was in its infancy. The internet as we know it today didn't exist.

I'm 35 - started university in 1997, and had had email for a year before that.

You could find out most of the weather-in-Caracas stuff by 1997, if you wanted to!

lukelove

Truegho wrote: »

I have been put off from going self employed as a writer, simply because when I phoned the Working Tax Credit Office and explained to them the nature of my business, they gave me the impression that it would not be a wise step, as when I told them my initial anticipated earnings would be just over £200 per month (from book sales) and that I would be working 30hrs pwk on my business, the lady who took me call couldn't seem to understand how I would only be making this amount, despite working all those hours on my business. She them said when I registered with HMRC, I would have to keep a note of EVERY single thing per hour (e.g. invoices, customer assignments etc.) whilst working on the business. Not surprisingly, this has put me off making a claim as a self employed person.

Are there any other writers who have experienced this? If so, did it put you off starting your own business and resigning yourself to claiming dole?

The whole thing has not only dissuaded me, but depressed me, as I really wanted to start my own business.

interesting just starting to try and write my own books myself as advised tipped on this website id have thought hmrc would be more helpful considering your earnings are going to be below the tax threshold, my first attempt is published on kindle , please rate view id would gratefully apreciate the feedback . "its called its not an office romance, just sex!"

Wicked_witch

I'd learn to spell and find your comma key before you get too excited about your prospective earnings.

Truegho

lukelove wrote: »

interesting just starting to try and write my own books myself as advised tipped on this website id have thought hmrc would be more helpful considering your earnings are going to be below the tax threshold, my first attempt is published on kindle , please rate view id would gratefully apreciate the feedback . "its called its not an office romance, just sex!"

Well, I have been turned down for Working Tax Credit just because my publishing business is not yet earning the min wage. It doesn't matter if my business is only in its infancy and that I AM working 30hrs pwk on it.

So where do I go from here? Should I continue with it and try and sell more and more books to get it up to min wage level, or just do it in my spare time and sign back on the dole?

Needless to say, I am feeling really depressed about this.

dodger1

Truegho wrote: »

Well, I have been turned down for Working Tax Credit just because my publishing business is not yet earning the min wage. It doesn't matter if my business is only in its infancy and that I AM working 30hrs pwk on it.

So where do I go from here? Should I continue with it and try and sell more and more books to get it up to min wage level, or just do it in my spare time and sign back on the dole?

Needless to say, I am feeling really depressed about this.

You can either get JSA or get an employed job. There is no reason why you shouldn't continue trying to build your publishing career while being employed. I'd imagine that's what a lot of people do with a fledgling business, it's certainly the sensible financial solution.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Is it a business or a hobby?