Is It Possible to be Self Employed Purely Using "Up Your Income" Methods?

Elle00

Let me briefly explain myself before you all go "eh? Of course not".

I'm a lone parent to one 2yr old who stopped working at the end of last year because I kept getting messed around by my childminder. Work were absolutely horrid about it and I had a breakdown in the end. No matter what I did I just couldn't get to work every day without fail and being a lone parent, there was no-one to share the problems with.

I'm on IS at present but work a couple of hours a week doing Avon as of this month. It only pays about £50 a month I think (though not even that while I'm starting up!). But I reckon that with adding extra streets, which my ASM has said I can have, I could get 6hrs a week work out of it including all the extras you can put in (like handwriting the order slips etc).

I only need to work 16hrs a week to get onto Tax Credits which would leave me £40 a week better off than I presently am. I'd love to do this, and to work to be honest! But I will not put my child into childcare. I'd rather not have to explain myself as that's not what this thread is about so please just accept the situation for what it is.

Freelance writing pays hardly anything and mystery shopping opportunities are few and far between for someone without a car. But are there a couple of other homeworking opportunities I could combine to make up a 16hr week? I keep thinking about setting up as a freelance typist but I'm scared I won't get any work.

geordie_joe

I would say no.

You may be able to do enough to get a living wage but you will have no security.

Sites that do pay can go down or disappear over night, you can get banned from paying sites for no reason. With things like daily clicks and paid to search your earnings can be canceled and no reason given.

I would never rely on any methods in here for my main income, there is just too much that can go wrong.

Elle00

geordie_joe wrote: »

I would say no.

You may be able to do enough to get a living wage but you will have no security.

Sites that do pay can go down or disappear over night, you can get banned from paying sites for no reason. With things like daily clicks and paid to search your earnings can be canceled and no reason given.

I would never rely on any methods in here for my main income, there is just too much that can go wrong.

True, but remember my main income would be mostly made of tax credits and child maintenance!

geordie_joe

Elle83 wrote: »

True, but remember my main income would be mostly made of tax credits and child maintenance!

If that is the case then go for it, but don't ever bet your rent money or food money on it.

If you have a reliable income to cover your basic needs then that is fine, but try telling the council that they have to give you full housing benefit because the site you worked for didn't pay you.

Money you are owed is counted as your income, the fact that it is from a web site where you have no way of contacting the people behind it, or that they don't reply, will not come into it. "They" won't give you money because your "employer" didn't pay you.

Tell them the web site disappeared, or that it canceled your account and won't pay you and they will tell you that they are not giving you anything and not bat an eyelid.

Make sure you have a reliable income to cover your basic needs, and treat anything you earn on the web as extra.

veggielorna

Don't forget when you are working out how many hours your are "working" when you are self employed this includes sorting catalogues, processing orders, going to the post office to pay, delivering catologues, traveling to your area etc include absolutely everything it will soon add up. It is not like being employed where you hours are worked out on the actual hours you are paid for.

I have been self employed for donkey's years - it is fab :j

And as for Housing Benefit they can only take into account earning of money actually received, if a company does a runner and doesn't pay you then Housing Benefit have to take this into account. Has happened to me before.

Hope this works out for you.

callow

I am self employed, working 16 hours a week or more doing mystery shopping and AQA. I don't earn that much. I usually don't earn enough to pay tax. I rely on Tax credits and maintenance for most of my income.

If your are able to get into doing AQA you can do other work (typing, mystery shopping) and then do enough hours on AQA to get to your requisite 16 hour minimum.