Setting up as a freelance trainer

Proofread100

Hi all. Hoping some of you can help point me in the right direction please. 
I currently work as a trainer for a healthcare company, doing all of the induction of new staff, as well as all of the CPD for the existing staff. 
I work part time, love my job and the company I work for, but the money isn't great tbh. I get paid the same hourly rate approximately as the newbies whom I train. 
I want to use some of the experience and qualifications that I have to do some freelance training for other healthcare companies who don't have their own in-house trainer. 
I just don't really know where to start. LinkedIn seems to be the place to go but do I just put a profile on there and hope that companies find me? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

tacpot12

Hi Proofread100, 

There are a number of different aspects to starting your own business, your question seems to be focused on how you market yourself. LinkedIn can be a good place to identify potential customers;  you may want to look into their Premium subscriptions to get access to tools to help with this. 

I would suggest that the first thing you need to go is check your current contract of employment to see if you can do work on the side, or whether you need to ask permission from your current employer.  

Secondly, you need to look into what your costs are going to be. I expect that you will want some insurance in case of problems so have a think about what you might be sued for. A chat with an insurance broker or some research around the subject of business insurance shoudl give you some ideas. Think about what equipment you might need, and whether you will be able to use your own car for transport (you will need to increase the sort of cover on your personal car insurance). You are also likely to need some services, e.g. accounting. None of these things need cost very much, but you need to have a handle on the likely costs so that you can price your time correctly.   

You will need a contract for your services. You can probably find enough material online to build a basic contract covering what you will do, and what responsibilities the client will have. You will need to tailor this contract to different clients, so I would build a Master contract and then knock out clauses that don't apply to a particular engagement. 

I would suggest that you need a website where you can create a "shopfront" of what it is you are offering clients. Tell them how you work, what areas you can training in, what equipment and support you can provide them with etc. This will help you become clear about what you can and can't offer. You will need a domain name for your website. 

You will probably also want to build a customer database or find a free CRM system you can use to help you keep tract of who you have contacted and who is interested in using your services. 

Once you have found a customer and formed a contract with them, you will need to register with HMRC as self-employed.

You might find it helpful to have a business plan if your eventual aim is that you will become wholly self-employed and possibly grow the business so that you employ staff.  

Hope this helps

Sandtree

You can be amazing at something... graphic design, copywriting, nail art etc but that doesn't automatically mean you'll be able to easily run your own business in the same. Unfortunately most people don't think about these sorts of things and take a "build it and they will come" approach and then close up shop 6 months later.

How to find your customers and subsequently engage with them is critical. You need to put serious thought into this. Start with some research into what they are currently doing for their training. 

Have you checked your current contract? Many contain clauses that stop you working for a competitor whilst on their payroll (some are any job). Given your business idea is to do your job for others if such clauses exist they'd be triggered. 

Proofread100

Thank you both so much. I will work through each of your points in turn, starting with looking at my contract. 
Definitely you have both given me some food for thought. Lots of aspects that I hadn't considered and some that I have. Easy ones like the car insurance business class I already have so that will be the first tick off a very long list. 
It is looking as if I probably will have to put a few months into preparation so that is good to know. 
If it were to come to it, I may have to leave my current position, albeit reluctantly. But I don't think there is anything in my contract which precludes me from training elsewhere as it wouldn't affect my employer in any way. 
I just can't continue to work on the wage that I am currently on, which is laughably low compared to what others earn delivering training independently. 
I had considered whether to look at training companies but that probably would end up with me getting a bit more than I earn at the moment, with the company taking the majority. 
I believe that I am capable of doing this. 
As a long-time user of MSE, (with a relatively new username) I knew that I could rely on some good advice. 
Thank you. I may be back for more. 

Jillanddy

I just can't continue to work on the wage that I am currently on, which is laughably low compared to what others earn delivering training independently.

If I may pour some cold water on your idea - not to put you off, but to make sure you consider the risks and downsides? Because I hear all the time of how good freelancing / consultancy is, but I also see all the time the number of people applying for jobs with me after a couple of years or less of this!

My first point would be, how niche is your market and is it saturated? I worked consultancy for 15 years previously, and in a niche market with a great reputation nationally, and I could fill my working week and far more. It's nice if you think you could do that - but realistically, can you? Because few freelancers can. And even if you can - do you want to? I gave it up for a steady (although admittedly decent) wage because I was living to work, not working to live, and as I got older that didn't have much allure! But if you currently work 40 hours a week and get paid for every one of those hours, can you afford to live on the higher hourly rate you might command as a freelancer - but if you only get 25 hours work? And that's this week. Next week you might have 45 hours. But you also might have none. Or 10. 

And that rate that you see "others earn delivering training independently" - what "rate" is that actually? Because your wage may not be great but it includes far more than the money that you receive - what about pension, sick pay, holiday pay, employers NI and all the other bits and pieces that make up your employment package. You will have to pay for those yourself - you can't afford to be off sick for a month and have no income if you also don't have enough savings to fall back on. So those rates that others earn includes making provision for all those things and more - how does their rate look now? You must budget for future provision for yourself, not just current provision and business expenses. 

What are your other alternatives - does what you do command better salaries elsewhere? If not, consider very carefully why not, because employers tend to pay what the market will sustain. So in my case, yes, I actually could and did earn more as a consultant; but when I went looking for employment I had two offers, the same day, from the first two applications I made, and both for a salary in excess of £50k - and this was 12 years ago. If I look at the overall package though, with things like 12 months sick pay, 8 weeks (plus bank holidays) annual leave, etc etc, it is worth far more. And the loss is definitely balanced out by the benefits and the fact that I now work 35 hours a week! So is the problem that you need to move on - either in this work or in another field. If you are being paid what newbies that you train get, perhaps you should be in their job? If you can train them then you can do their job, and progression might be more possible.

By all means, look at the grass in the other field, but be realistic about it - it really is seldom greener. Be clear about what your options are. Balance all of them, not just one or the other. And don't leap until you are quite sure that the risk is worth taking. It may indeed work out, so I would never say don't take the risk. But be aware that it is a risk and risks come with costs as well as benefits.

Marcon

Proofread100 said:

I just don't really know where to start. LinkedIn seems to be the place to go but do I just put a profile on there and hope that companies find me? 

You'll hope in vain, I'm afraid. As others have said, marketing is key - and so too are all the other business aspects of what you're intending to do.

Planning is key, and a couple of months may not be nearly enough time to get through all the preparations to ensure you can deliver a polished, professional image and service. Loads of useful info here: https://www.gov.uk/browse/business

Once you've thought things through, make sure you have a proper business plan ('fingers crossed' doesn't quite fit that description!).

Building up a business, establishing an excellent reputation and above all getting clients are all key to success, especially the last. Until you have a full contacts book and plenty of takers, don't even think about leaving your current job, or you'll enter the desperation cycle of cutting your rates just to get some income - and it will then become close to impossible to increase them because the grapevine will already have got active and those recommending you will do so because you are good and 'much cheaper than elsewhere'. Don't go there.

Good luck!

BrassicWoman

I would see about working as a consultant through Reed, Capita, Kaplan, other companies that offer training services to large companies. You can work for more than one of them and also do independent work.

Sandtree

In most cases the rate will be either a fixed fee for doing the job and/or an hourly rate whilst you are on site working. You then need to break it down to the true rate because it may be £200 to deliver a 2hr class but you've an hours commute each way, you had an hour talking to the managers about the course content before, an hour customising the content for them, you spend an hour after doing the feedback on the attendees, an hour invoicing and then chasing the invoice because they were slow payers and actually you had that same hours chat with four other companies that never booked your service.  That £200 for two hours ends up being circa £15/hr when you factor in the end to end time.

Certainly not saying dont do it, and if you can get a 8hr a day, 5 day a week gig for a few months you can make materially more monies... http://www.jobserve.com/NEYDY is £500/day for a year for example. But doing individual courses etc is a lot of work and so make sure you know what you are really earning and dont get blinded by the apparently large number.

Proofread100

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply all of you. 
I have spoken to my employer. Because I work part time, I am planning to remain in my job and do the freelance training on the side. I did check my contract before I spoke to my manager and director. My director has offered me my first freelance job! 
Even though it is not a large salary, it is still steady income so I won't be considering giving it up. 

I know already from speaking to others working in the industry, that there is a real need for good trainers. 
I am in the process of doing all the ground work before I do anything else.
I absolutely take all the words of caution on board. I have already had some people who work in recruitment and training, asking me how soon I will be ready to be up and running. 
I am steadily working through the list given by tacpot (thank you) of what I need to have in place before I start. I believe that there is a real need for what I can do, and that I can make a difference (even a small difference) to the quality of life for vulnerable people. 
So apart from the money, I have other motivations too. 

I will steadily plod on and let you know how it goes.