The Great 'Working for Yourself' Hunt

Patrick_Harvey

I'm always looking for new ideas to promote my business and common sense advice on things to do.

I subscribe to this sales and marketing tips newsletter - it's just really good info and tips, without any of the usual 'buy this' messages that plaque most other newsletters.

slipp_digby

i have worked for my own ltd for two years now i would suggest:-

learn about bookkeeping and accounting, do it yourself for a while there is no better way of knowing how healthy your business is than to have the numbers at your fingertips

take your time thinking about and setting up simple but robust systems for your company for book keeping, invoicing, tracking contacts etc which can be expanded easily in the future. i am on a 100k turnover with a £110 piece of accounting software, outlook small business and a well put together bespoke excel sheet!

record and track key indicators of business health, invoicing, proposals, and new work are my monthly figures.

keep your overheads as low as possible and buy simple robust and reliable computers, think about VOIP etc and modern solutions - they are not soley the preserve of big business e.g. i am frequently away from the office, and it took me ages to realise that a £28pcm blackberry contract with 200 mins calls would saved me hours of lost time on the train, £££££'s and enbabled me to be in constant contact with my clients and be responsive to new requests for quotes.

get good quality advisors, ask lots of questions but be prepared to research things yourself. a good accountant is a must but remember an accountant receiving £700 per year from you is unlikely to spend hours with you and be proactive in helping you reduce tax.

herb_lady_2

Hello all,

My husband is a self employed carpenter. I do all the books and keep the finances at home. We're not rich and neither are we on the bread line, and sometimes we struggle, but we generally do alright. Neither of us own a credit card and the only debt we have is a 1000 occasional overdraft and our mortage which we are overpaying monthly to reduce the term. If we can't afford it - we don't buy it! Very simple :-)

My suggestions are:

1) To put 20% of every invoice into a savings account for the taxman. Also keep on top of all spending.

2) Work through the setbacks together. It can be soul destroying for my husband when somebody treats him badly (not paying, being nasty about his work or him, letting him down at the last minute etc) but he has to get up and get back out there. Over the years we have noticed that customers crop up when he is cheerful and with a sunny disposition, but not when he is feeling glum and depressed.

3) Get someone you trust to handle the finances so you can concentrate on the business. As I handle the money, I try and avoid telling him unless things get really bad, as I find that the added pressure of worrying about how to pay the bills drags him down so much he can't function properly. (Bit of a worrier my man...)

4) Keep everything business related and ask lots of questions. Also ask for help when you need it and get your tax return in on time (no point procrastinating!) The HMRC aren't as scary as they seem!

Finally: Have faith in yourself. You wouldn't be considering this if you thought you didn't have something in yourself to sell. But also be kind enough to yourself to quit if it REALLY isn't working.

Good luck :-)

Just remembered something about advertising. We tend to use the local village gossip rags and the church newsletters. They don't usually cost more than a few pounds a month, get delivered to every house in the respective village, and they seem to be trusted amongst villagers. Village word of mouth is incredible and it is really nice to get local work.

vicki3334

nicky_nacky_noo wrote: »

I need advice, my hubby has been Ltd Co for 2 years (Electricial company with 2 employees), it is ticking over ok, he has some good customers, but we have 3 small children and we are up to our eyes in debt, resulting in us living well below the bread line, we are drawing money from personal credit cards to pay into the company to meet the 6 grand a month over heads. Is it work carrying on I think wwe are at breaking point, but he thinks this is normal, which one of us is wrong, will it get better? Help

hi nicky,
every person who i have spoken to whom is self employed (including me and my other half) is struggling at the moment...well for the last year!! extra qualification and business links are the key to success, but my other half is a builder and that trade is bad at the mo, we have been on the bread line for the past year. i went back to college part time which helped me get an extra few hours per week. good luck for the future and keep your chin up cause now the sun is starting to shine, people will start wanting jobs done
vicki

chippy_g

Hi,
I agree with a lot of comments posted already. I have been self employed for 4 years now and it's not all plain sailing but for me the benefits of being my own boss outweigh the loss of that regular salary confort zone.
My tips :

- Keep business and personal finances seperate in different bank accounts. Sounds logical but many people don't. Then 'pay' yourself from one account to the other.
- Keep all your receipts and do your own book-keeping to keep down the accountancy costs. It's pretty easy - all mine is done in Excel spreadsheets.
- Remember as well as saying bye-bye to that regular salary you are also cutting loose the paid holiday, sick leave, paternity leave, minimum wage etc ... all those perks and 'rights' that the goverment don't seem to think that SE people should have.
- Do a good job for and fair price and you will get repeat business and recommendation. Take the p*ss and you won't.
- Try and choose a buniness with no/minimal start up costs.
- Do make sure you claim working tax credit/ child tax credit if eligible. You may be surprised just how much you could be entitled to. Can also provide you with an NHS exemption card if your 'profits' are low enough.
- Get a good accountant who knows small businesses. Mine works from his kitchen table but is available seven days a week and it's just him. Not a different person each time hiding behind an army of receptionists. You need someone who knows how far to stretch the allowances without going over the top. Get them to do your year end and tax returns from your book-keeping. They will save you ££££££££££££££££££££ - much more than they cost.
- Get a good accountant
- Get a good accountant
- Get a good accountant
- Get a good accountant
- Get free business banking from Abbey - as long as you stay within certain limits.
- Oh - and get a good accountant !!!!!!!!

Good Luck
Chip.

Froggity

nicky_nacky_noo wrote: »

I need advice, my hubby has been Ltd Co for 2 years (Electricial company with 2 employees), it is ticking over ok, he has some good customers, but we have 3 small children and we are up to our eyes in debt, resulting in us living well below the bread line, we are drawing money from personal credit cards to pay into the company to meet the 6 grand a month over heads. Is it work carrying on I think wwe are at breaking point, but he thinks this is normal, which one of us is wrong, will it get better? Help

Hi Nicky,
Businesses are supposed to make you money not cost you money, if you're adding more money than you're gaining then something needs to be done. You say the business is ticking over ok, which is great, if your hubby and employees are working flat out with little gain then maybe you should look at your pricing structure, look at reducing your overheads. Don't fret about it you're in the service industry people will always need electricians especially since the new rules came out. It might also be worth seeing where the work is coming from, ask when they call if you've been to them before, if not then where they saw the advert, if some adverts aren't working either change them or ditch them.
Also 6 thousand a month seems a lot for overheads to me unless you're including purchases, our plumbing business (sole trader no employees 'cept me unpaid) has around £600 a month overheads, that includes yellow pages ads, local paper ads, phone bills, fuel, office bits etc. and that keeps him on the road 5/6 days a week. Also don't be ashamed to go for working family tax credits, we did while the business was getting off the ground, even with my working part time they awarded us around £450 a month which is a big help when things get tight.
Good Luck!

Fran

olgacrackcorn wrote: »

What i need to know,is it possible for me to claim housing benefits & uneployment benefits for a short while,whilst i try to get established & get a run of work in.I really need to know this,as i have no cash to fall back on as i live week to week on my wages,& also i have a very very bad credit rating,plus three children & a wife to support.
All replies will be very gratefully received.

You should put in a claim for Tax Credits but if your income is very low at first you should be able to get some JSA but bear in mind you have to be available for work. Housing Ben and Council Tax Ben are a different matter as they are administered by your local Council so contact them to see if you are entitled. There are no sanctions as mentioned by another poster if you give up your job (HBen & CTax Ben), they just go on your income with allowances for your family.

Savvy_Sue

mdavis1982 wrote: »

Maybe I could do a deal for anyone who is starting up in business who needs a new web site from MSE? I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links to my web site, but it's website address removed. If you mention MSE when you call I can offer you a good discount on my usual prices! Maybe that'll be of help for anyone starting their new business?

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: Sorry, this site is free of advertising and we ask people not to advertise their own services/websites/ebay sales (please see this rule). I have asked Board Guides to move any they see. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Matt, you can put your website address in your profile so that people can find you that way.

Savvy_Sue

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

I made this on vistaprint.The basic deal is 250 business cards and it is free with a small amount of postage.Go via quidco for £2 cashback on your free businesscards(new customers only).This one cost £7.99 to add a photo and edit the colours and fonts etc.

Image deleted - advertising

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: Sorry, this site is free of advertising and we ask people not to advertise their own services/websites/ebay sales (please see this rule). I have asked Board Guides to move any they see. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

However, if you look through this board you will find some useful ideas about how to promote your business in general (and if you find any advertising in old threads, I apologise, we do our best!)

You CAN add your web address to your profile so that people can find you that way.

AVH

Hi,

It's my first post and a long one, so please be gentle :rolleyes: - but here's what to be aware of when starting a new business - don't fall for the same scam we did.

We recently opened a business and have been inundated with rogue/scam callers (Experian and Thomson have new business databases from which companies can access your details to cold-call you to death) and unfortunately nearly fell foul of one scam.

We kept being harrassed by companies ringing and saying that we our electricity meter wasn't registered (Meter Registration Services - sounds official eh?) and that they could find the best supplier and get us sorted. We soon realised that something wasn't right and the last time we told them not to ring again, we were hung up on.

Another company, Commercial Power, didn't talk about the meter but stated they looked at different energy suppliers and could find the best rate for us. They gave us rates for British Gas and a company called Bizz Energy and the latter came out very favourable, if we tied into a four year contract.

On a subsequent call, they ran through basic terms and conditions (be aware that as a business there's no legal right to a cooling off period) and setup a direct debit from verbal instructions (yes, they can do that too!) to setup the contract.

We then found out (from a call from British Gas) that we'd been given false information regarding the rates quoted for BG, and it would cost hundreds of pounds to cancel and that we would pay hundreds of pounds over the odds for our electricity supply, but as the rates weren't quoted at the time the contract was made, legally there's nothing we could do, even though we weren't given all the information we needed to form a contract. Subsequent actions were very stressful, took a lot of time and energy etc... but in a nutshell, this is how we overcame the ******** (insert bad word at random) at CP.

We contacted Energy Watch who were very sympathetic and gave us a case number, but as they only regulate energy suppliers, not third party companies, there wasn't much they could do. They did suggest speaking to our current supplier and getting them to block the transfer of the account, which was a really useful move.

Contact with Commercial Power was difficult - they'll setup contracts over the phone but anything else you have to write to them about - to complain, to get a copy of the audio recording etc...Every call drew a blank and they fobbed us off - mainly to play for time whilst the contract was being transferred so they could get their commission.

We then blocked the direct debit from the bank - technically not so good a move but we were angry. Some digging on the Internet gave us a forum with someone who had similar experiences and provided details for the Compliance Officer at Bizz Energy and also advised not to contact the Bizzenergy customer services but to speak to the Compliance Officer directly. We rang, and got slightly through explaining our situation, when she stopped us short and stated that Bizzenergy wouldn't take over the contract due to the circumstances.

A few days later, and we were sorted with British Gas, who will lock the account from being transferred without our permission, gave us rates that they quoted when the whole sorry saga kicked off, despite a price hike in the meantime, and have given us a direct line to our account rep who has been absolutely fantastic .

Moral of the story - always check the rates at different energy companies yourself rather than relying on smooth talking third party companies, even if takes a little extra time (that 25th hour in your day when you're setting up in business!) as it will save stress and money in the longer run.

If this forum post helps even just one person, then I'll be pleased - it wasn't a nice experience and hopefully one that no-one else should go through.

If you do need further information, Bizz Energy Compliance Officer details for example, please PM me and I'll give you any info I have.

Emma
x

p.s. Obviously this is our experience of Commercial Power, and whilst I know we're not alone, they may not be like this in all circumstances, so please do your own research not just rely on what we've experienced with them.