Really appriciate help/advice going self employed

Markoo_2

Hi

I would like to get a van and have a go at being a self employed courier, There are a few websites that you can register with and start looking for delivery's to take however i have no idea what i need to do in terms of registering as a business or anything like that, The site i wanted to try signing up to first is shiply, it asks for a company name when registering which i obviously don't have and i am not entirely sure what i need to do, After a bit of googling i'm now down an even more confused rabbit hole of limited companies sole traders and other stuff I'm completely clueless about. I don't suppose anybody can point me in the right direction in some sort of laymans terms for somebody who is dyslexic.

Marcon

Try https://www.gov.uk/business-support-helpline (if you're dyslexic, talking might be easier than ploughing through a website, although if you can face that too, try https://www.gov.uk/set-up-business).

Good luck!

Savvy_Sue

Before going too far down this route, have you checked how much insurance for a suitable van would be for the kind of work you're intending to do? 'normal' insurance will not be adequate.

tacpot12

Excellent advice from Savvy_Sue. If you can find an insurance broker near you they should be able to help get insurance quotes for business use for either a sole trader or a limited company.

Check with the sites you want to register with to see whether you have to be a limited company. If you are allowed to operate as a sole trader, you can just insert your name as the Company Name on the sites.

If you operate as a limited company, you will need an accountant. If you operate as a sole trader, and are happy to do your own accounting, you don't need an accountant.

You need to decide whether you will operate as a sole trader or a limited company first before opening a business bank account. You can't use your personal bank account for a sole trader business.

The main factor that you should be considering whether to operate as a sole trader or a limited company is how likely you are to be sued for failing to deliver the goods you are carrying, how much you could be sued for, and whether you have any assets that could be seized (e.g. a house you own). If you have assets and could be sued for large amounts of money, you might be better off operating through a limited company, although there extra costs to running a company.

tacpot12

Also, consider signing up for Amazon's Audible. Audible have a wide range of business books available in audio form.

bugslet

I am a haulage contractor that started with a van many years ago.

I would be a limited company if I were you, as outlined above, it will give you more protection.

As regards the business, ie, making money aspect, have you crunched figures? I know it's a bit chicken and egg situation, but being a courier is highly unlikely to make a great deal of money. You really need to work out your costs and your rough income.

Shiply etc, I looked at them briefly so I'm no expert, but my first and last thought was, sheesh, how does anyone make money? What you could do with is a base customer, mine first one was a small company that made plastic trunking. If you can get a customer like that, then use shiply to top up a load or to get you back. To try and make a business out of courier websites will be difficult, getting your own ongoing work is key to making it a success in my opinion.

Good luck.

Brynsam

tacpot12 wrote: »

If you operate as a limited company, you will need an accountant. If you operate as a sole trader, and are happy to do your own accounting, you don't need an accountant.

You don't need an accountant just because you are running a limited company.

motorguy

bugslet wrote: »

As regards the business, ie, making money aspect, have you crunched figures? I know it's a bit chicken and egg situation, but being a courier is highly unlikely to make a great deal of money. You really need to work out your costs and your rough income.

+1

With an insurance quote, MPG figures, diesel prices, predicted maintenance costs, tax and depreciation estimates, it should be relatively easy to work out how much "profit" theres left from an hourly rate.

I'm seeing figures like £15 per hour, so i'm going to assume not much left when you factor in al of the above...

Man with a van seems to be a race to the bottom on price