I feel trapped and have very few options

AngelPie78

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

That doesn't look like you have a business partner at all; what you have there is a contractor. You should decide who your business pays first.

Is your business coach a paid adviser?

Ok yep if that makes more sense to you the next that's fine lol. We promote together and have a joint business plan for our joint venture. We just decided to invoice each other as the easiest way to split the money.

Yeah she is.

AngelPie78

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

I would suggest you do whatever professionals tell you to do and not rely on quacks who are deliberately lying to you to steal your money.

Lol but they don't give me any help?! And they are professionals - just cause you don't believe in them lol. Do you believe in counsellors and therapists then??

fiisch

AngelPie78 wrote: »

I meant the nitty gritty of my business finances.

But all the issues are mixed up in the ultimate one which is what am I doing with my career?

Q. Ok so do I carry on with the business or get a full time job?

A. Depends on what kind of job you can get/money you need to earn/childcare costs/travel to work/current business income etc etc...?! There's lots of issues to consider when making the decision. Hence why I have this problem.

Could you break them down for me? Perhaps I'm just overthinking!

Q - is your business paying you an annual income of £15,000?


Q - does the business have realistic potential to earn more in the immediate future?


Q - will you business pay you a higher income now than what you can realistically expect to earn as a full-time employee?


If the answer to those three questions is a no - and from what you've said, I think it is - I'd suggest it's a bit of a no-brainer to go for a job.


You mentioned the figure of £18,000 - this is not a considerable salary and is very attainable, although some areas of the country easier than others, and it sounds like you have an attractive CV.


This the core issue that you need to be considering.


Travel, arrangements for children (I say this as someone with kids), will they let you take a half day on a Friday for religious tea ceremony etc etc... is all secondary considerations. These are problems to overcome once you have a firm job offer in your hands.


I think you are blowing these up into massive issues and it might all feel like it's getting on top of you. You don't need to resolve everything today. All this can be worked out after the interview. A lot of employers are very flexible, and willing to accommodate amended hours to suit individual needs.

AngelPie78

fiisch wrote: »

Q - is your business paying you an annual income of £15,000?


Q - does the business have realistic potential to earn more in the immediate future?


Q - will you business pay you a higher income now than what you can realistically expect to earn as a full-time employee?


If the answer to those three questions is a no - and from what you've said, I think it is - I'd suggest it's a bit of a no-brainer to go for a job.


You mentioned the figure of £18,000 - this is not a considerable salary and is very attainable, although some areas of the country easier than others, and it sounds like you have an attractive CV.


This the core issue that you need to be considering.


Travel, arrangements for children (I say this as someone with kids), will they let you take a half day on a Friday for religious tea ceremony etc etc... is all secondary considerations. These are problems to overcome once you have a firm job offer in your hands.


I think you are blowing these up into massive issues and it might all feel like it's getting on top of you. You don't need to resolve everything today. All this can be worked out after the interview. A lot of employers are very flexible, and willing to accommodate amended hours to suit individual needs.

Ok great! Thanks for putting it like that - makes much more sense and I definitely feel like it's all getting on top of me.

So then the next questions are:

Q. what kind of jobs do I apply for?

Q. when do I make the time to apply for them? (do I prioritise these over working on projects which do bring in some money at the moment)

Sncjw

Hi could you market your business on Facebook. Alor of places have say a network site on Facebook for parents and a lot people post their business on there. Maybe you could target those businesses message them to ask if they require a website to be developed. Are you charging correctly. Include the time your meeting with clients and the time to develop the site.

AngelPie78

Sncjw wrote: »

Hi could you market your business on Facebook. Alor of places have say a network site on Facebook for parents and a lot people post their business on there. Maybe you could target those businesses message them to ask if they require a website to be developed. Are you charging correctly. Include the time your meeting with clients and the time to develop the site.

Hiya - yep I advertise on all the social media platforms and all my prices are changing in September. My marketing isn't a problem as such, it's the prices I can charge relative to the experience I have and what people will pay. I should be charging more like £1000 for one of my basic sites but the clients I have are reluctant to even pay £500.

I have a plan to extend my network and thus have bigger clients who will pay more BUT this takes time and I'm not sure how long I can keep going in this state....that's the problem!

Sncjw

Well if they think your good they would pay the price you have set. Also I see yor chasing for money.

Do you take deposits at all prior to work being done so you least as have some money ifyour chasing them for the rest .

Have you issues proper contracts as well.



I know what you mean about networking I'm trying to build you up my photogrpahy but as you say it's hard to network. I don't even have prices set ATM.

Post your finances on debt free wanna be to help but pick out what you could do regarding your debt.

stoozie1

What's the fridge and oven cost you mentioned?

Just wondered if that could reduce somehow.

stoozie1

Would billing clients monthly in advance via direct debit work at all? In my sector this has almost completely eradicated bad debts and chasing people, but I appreciate sectors vary!

Kayalana99

Hi Ap.

Hope you manage to find a solution. It sounds like you are doing loads already, personally if it was me I'd be looking to find myself a job and do the web design in the evening once the kids were in bed (depending on age) or on the other days when they are at school and you're not working. This way you have a soild income and you can work on your business in your spare time.

I guess this isn't taking into account mental health though...

I suppose another option is just to carry on with what you are doing and keep building the business and perhaps learn new skills as you go, computer programmers can earn around 20k to start and up to 40k and beyond and it *is* something you can self teach from home. Also, quite a common job that pops up is looking after a website in-house - these don't really normally require much web design skills as normally it's uploading products etc so may not need the same sort of experience as a web designer but would pay the extra for someone who knows what they are doing so you might get by without a degree.

Computing is really a great market to be in right now, and it sounds like you've done really well to get where you are today so keep plodding on and try and find time to teach yourself some new tricks so you can charge more in the long run.

Also perhaps a silly suggestion as you have enough on right now but comptuing is a STEM subject and you could do a computing degree from home again with funding from a 2nd degree.....it's never too late.