[Closed] Tell me about your experiences of going self employed

As someone who can do everything required for the job in the comfort of my spare room, I love being self employed!

i had contacts though and a company that staff were leaving meaning that there ended up being a network of us.

you need to be self motivated and disciplined though. The key for me is making the most of quiet times with cycling, shed building, etc instead of just sitting at the PC waiting for clients to email work through

Btw it’s been 13 years now for me

Its either:

a) An absolute bloody nightmare

or

b) The bestest thing in the world EVER!!!

And can sometimes be both within an hour. The hardest thing is getting yourself established. I know thats a fairly obvious thing to say, but it is. It can be quite stressful chasing work which does or doesn't come off. And you will have quiet periods from time to time. Everyone does. Goes with the territory. But, on the flip side, it can be feast or famine and sometimes you can be absolutely stacked out working 24/7. You soon get into a routine of what periods are quiet and when is mad busy and plan accordingly

But once you are established, you've got regular customers who know and trust you,  and repeat business its really bloody great. I love the freedom of being able to do what you want, when you want. Work your own hours, take time off whenever you fancy. Go out on your bike on a whim at midday on a Tuesday, just because you can.

Once you get used to it, theres no going back. I was told by a recruitment agent that as far as employers would be concerned I would now be viewed as effectively feral as I've been self-employed/doing my own thing for so long, and they wouldn't touch me with a bargepole.

If you're a skilled professional, doing a good job for people, then they tend to treat you very well as they know that any shenanigans and you can literaly tell them where to to stick it and walk out.

Good luck! And welcome to the club 😀

I'm sorry but my tale isn't a positive one, but I'm sure lots of STWers made a better go of it than me.

I decided that I'd be a Commercial Finance Broker in Spring 2009, which as you may remember wasn't a great time to be in finance. I'd done it for 10 years prior for a bank.

Truthfully I absolutely sucked at it. At the time I blamed the Credit Crunch, but that's not really true, the people who were in the industry back then, who still are now consider it a bit of a 'golden age' as the Banks started saying 'No' a lot more than 'Yes' turned around the fortunes of a lot of brokers who were being put out of business by, cheap, easy credit direct from banks.

Now, nearly 10 years later I can be honest with myself about it, when I worked in the Bank I was very spoiled, I moaned about the amount of work I had and couldn't lend fast enough to keep up with demand, it's a very different story when you're a one-man-band working out of your spare room. Day 1, 9am - the phone doesn't ring, because you're the only person on earth who knows the number, and that you exist.

I spent the first few weeks rolling around on my Motorbike, well the weather was nice and I had plenty of money from my pay-off - so why not? So in the first two weeks I'd achieved not much over and above buying a domain and setting up an e-mail address - because they were going to beat a path to my door after that yeah?

The next few weeks I cold-called a couple of old contacts a day, something I detest, so I did it badly.

2 months in I'd managed to finance 3/4 cars and made about £600, sorry, I had a turn-over of £600 and was completely fed up.

The next few months I made about the same, it was really hard to build momentum, because whilst car finance is bread and butter in Asset Finance, it's hard to make a living from it because it's very competitive and people only buy a car every few years if you're lucky, to make a decent living from it you need good, business clients buying 4/5 assets a year at least and I had none.

I tried networking but nothing changes, everyone in networking is in 'business services' someone will take £2k to build you a website, another wants £500 for cards and flyers, another will answer your calls for £400 a month etc etc.

I'm sure someone who'd managed to stick it for more than 6 months will offer you far better advice, but my 2p:

You're only job in the early days is finding people who'll pay you to do what you want to do, the rest is garnish.

Until you've got a steady income stream do waste time talking to accountants, setting up business banking, office furniture and all that stuff, just keep a record of your income and receipts for stuff you buy and sort all that out later.

BNI is bollocks, don't worry if you don't know what BNI is yet, they'll find you. It's a £1200 a year breakfast bullshitters club, it does work, but only if you're prepared to graft at it and it'll take 6-12 months for any *real* results, if at all. For the most part is a network marketing scheme.

Interesting thoughts, ta. Not really wanting to get too involved in convo about this, really just interested in reading all the thoughts good and bad. Top stuff though, keep them coming. 🙂

I think it will depend in which field / trade you will be setting up... some are easier than others for self employed / contractors.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bb6rmh

Watching with interest. Got made redundant last month aged 58 with a reasonable payoff but need to do something to top up the pension. Might have to do a bit of contracting in my old industry or try something completely different. I'll finish watching the TdF and enjoy the summer before stressing about it.

Love it, mostly. Been a freelance copywriter for around 12 years after 2 years in-house at a global brand. I love the thrill and challenge of being my own boss, the flexibility, the mind-boggling variety of work I get, and meeting all sorts of different people.  The pay is ok - I could earn more if I could be arsed looking for more work, but it's a lifestyle thing for me more than anything. I work from an office a ten minute walk from home (I worked from home initially, but I much prefer having an office, and it's essential now we have a baby at home).

Downsides are clients being awkward and downright idiotic from time to time, although client management is also one of the interesting and exciting things about being freelance. Pay is totally unpredictable as my projects are very ad hoc and short term, but then that's got advantages too, as I don't get sucked into the old Mon-Fri 9-5 routines that some freelancers do. No sick pay, no pension, no paid leave etc etc blah blah.  Also, with improvements in flexible working, the appeal of freelancing is slightly less than it used to be. At the end of the day though, I can't imagine ever having another 'proper' job. So it's a thumbs up from me. Good luck!

Edit: in terms of the transition to freelancing, I just jumped ship from a job I was bored with.  No pay out, no big pile of savings, and, at that time in my life, no other half to bail me out. It was a big gamble but I had a hunch it would work out, and it did. If you've got money behind you, that will help enormously.

Knew it was coming since the beginning of the year and was let-go at the end of April - been there 16 years so got a reasonable good payoff to the degree that I don't want any more income this year because the taxman will take quite a lot of it. After 30+ years, mainly in corporates I'm loving it - helped by the glorious summer, but whilst I'm keeping myself fit, getting my new business going / steady revenue is more important. Will be doing this jointly with my wife so extra tax benefits - previously I was sole earner.

The main thing is keeping an open mind, be prepared to change your plan and learn as you go along.

I was self employed in the building trade for 4 years after finishing university so no cash to back me up, I started in 2007 so not the best time but needed an income.

My thoughts on doing it are:

1. Set aside money for Tax & NI

2. Keep overheads as low as possible to begin with

3. do not mix up personal and business finances

4. Try to get a cash buffer set up as soon as possible, work (for me) was feast or famine

5. Set aside money for tax and NI, this bit me on my ample backside after year one. From then on I used to set aside 30% of every invoice to a separate business saving account and then when they came knocking it was slightly less eye wateringly painful.

I didnt really commit to it to be honest but it was a tough slog and at that time and that industry it was tough to get any real money. I have considered going back to it and I might do it again but for me I would like to have some regular work or contract to cover my living expenses and the rest of the time picking up my own work to give the surplus. Im very risk averse and hate personal debt so might not be for everybody.

It was good having the freedom to work days and hours that suited me but for the work I was doing the time spend pricing work and invoicing took up longer than i had imagined.

my thoughts

Another one of the joys of self-employment is the fact that you'll never again be bothered about the politics or personal relationships within organisations, as you just rock up, do what you need to do, and leave. If you have to go in at all.

But nobody will ever bother to ask you if you know who's eaten their yoghurt out of the fridge, or to tell you what Cheryl from accounts is up to with Geoff the CEO.

And if Colin in the marketing department wants to flex his corporate muscles by changing all the design work at the eleventh hour, instead of this absolutely driving you up the wall, now its a result, as its just more hours to add on to the invoice

You can't put a price on this 😀

I contracted in IT through most of my 30s.

It was good - money was good, despite sitting through a couple of recessions I was never out of work for more than a few months and kept enough aside to keep the tax man at bay.

Things to consider:
If you're not already on Self Assessment, be aware of the Payments on Account you'll be forced to make the first time you submit a return - basically your first payment to the IR will be 1.5 times the annual bill. After that, it should be 6 months worth every 6 months.
Obviously, you don't get sick pay, holiday pay or any of that employee benefit stuff. Don't neglect a personal pension.

In the end, I found a place I liked working for and I didn't want to stay on the lowest rung of IT development for the rest of my life so I jumped ship to permiedom and a team lead job. I'm still here and will get my 5 year badge this November. If this job ended tomorrow, I'd almost certainly go to back to being self employed.

15 years corporate world and same self employed here.  I would never go back, in fact thats the question everyone asks.  Well maybe if I was offered stupid money but really you cannot put a price on your freedom to choose what you do.  Ok clients can be demanding but you soon learn.

Ups and downs so 1 year you think you ve nailed it, following year no one rings...so get diversified and just do what you are good at.  You know if you re any good so if you really are not then probably self employment is not for you.

I m winding down now so just taking on what I want, funnily enough i may start something completely different.

Me: semi retired, financially comfortable, happy to do a spot of part time working from home. Don't regret it for a minute and there's no way I'd go back to a normal full time job. Not viable if I had a mortgage and family to pay for though, I've not been hunting contracts and as a result haven't had many!

It's a rollercoaster..I've had periods in the last twenty years which have bee indescribably good ..and other periods where you think what's the effing point !?..

Overall though ..I'm largely in the plus side..

I couldn't work for a " boss " anyway ..even when employed 😁

Bit mixed with me.

Decorating and tiling with me after getting made redundant from printing.

The first year or two might be a bit of a slog but if you do a good job the work will then start to come in through word of mouth.

If you're ruthless you might make some decent money but I never will because I'm too soft on charging etc.

Also, I can't get my head round the ''work whatever hours you like' thing.

I still don't seem to have mastered going home at 3pm like a lot of other trades seem to do.

The upshot of this I think is you're either cut out for it and can make it work for you, or it's maybe not as free and easy as it's made out to be.

You won't know till you give it a try so go for it.

For two years I scraped a living, struggling to pay bills and keep up with promoting myself as outdoor instructor.

I tried a new thing (property) to fill in the quiet time and winter.

I lost £100k and nearly house, wife, the works.

Three years later I was still fighting HMRC (I won) over what I had overpaid.

I'd rather not do it again.

Cheers everyone. I'm quietly working away in the background planning things and taking note, so all the comments are great, thanks.

I was self employed from 2002 to 2011. Me experience was positive but I did learn a lot about myself and would go into it again eyes wide open. Random thoughts:

i am a bit of a workaholic, or was, I wanted to be good at stuff which is what drove me to binning a job and setting up myself. I then quickly took on two partners and we did 3 years of 100h weeks, I sold my van, my car, rented my house out and lived in the office (I’d bought it you see). Paid myself the minimum possible we could for those 3 years. Sold the co with 300 people for a good return. We were all broken by the experience...so we started again 24h later ! This was a sole owned one for me and I did a loAd of startups as well.

basically it is what you make it. I never did quite break my work ethic and alive off or work flexibly which was more about me than the ‘job’. I’d do sole contract work again at the drop of a hat. Whatever you get paid put 50% aside for tax, NI and downtime. Be careful what you take on unless you are desperate and then as soon as you sign something sub optimal the perfect job will turn up. Decide why you are doing it and make sure you do it for that reason. Mine was I wanted to make a load of cash if I’m completely honest.

So far? ( 4yrs) so-so..

Spent a lot of time chasing Payments, to be fobbed off with "Sorry we haven't been paid, we can't afford to pay you"..

So for two years, its sucked.

More recently tho? A steady Day Rate, and 5 days a week working on 3 different projects, has been a dream. Bill them on Friday, get paid the following friday.

A good account has helped me avoid a few pitfalls, juts need to get my thumb outta my ass and sort a pension out, then it'll all be gravy.

Well, until Brexit, breaks it, as all my clients ( the Mobile phone Companies) are European companies..

Still, enough set aside to live for at least a year without worrying, and my wife brings in a good steady wage, so fingers crossed and all that...

My 1st experience back in 2005, a £13,000 tax bill with nothing saved. :O

2nd experience, I recently ran my own Animation company for 2 years, I paid £400 tax for that whole time. 🙂 I did some great R&D Tax relief projects, so all above board.

I found you never switch off. The PC is always on, so it's tempting to just nip in and do a bit. Next thing it's 3am and you have to be up at 6am!

The 2nd time was pretty good, I wish I'd have kept it going instead of going full time with who I was consulting for TBH

I'm with a great company now, full time but doing bits from home

Regardless of what profession you think you're in, first and foremost, you are going to be a salesman.

First order of priority is for potential clients to know you exist and are available. Everything else is secondary.

For people who have never done their own promotion, that is hard and feels unnatural.

The old axiom is that you have to be lucky to get clients and the corollary, the more people you talk to the luckier you get.

Probably the best advice I got was when you are talking to someone, always finish by asking if they know off anyone who is looking for the services you are offering. It's amazing how many good contacts you'll get like that. (And ask if you can say they suggested you call).

Every minute is precious at the start, Do not waste one. They are more important than your money reserves.

Finally almost all books you read on how to get successful in business are BS.

Oh, and don't get sucked in to doing free work as a trial. That time is better spent chasing up clients who are not time thieves.

Also create a fictitious admin person, mine was Maureen, she chased bills aggressively. My clients used to moan about her ruthless efficiency. She only used email as it was me.

things got out of hand when she started getting Xmas cards, invites to parties and stuff delivered for her !!!

Also create a fictitious admin person, mine was Maureen, she chased bills aggressively. My clients used to moan about her ruthless efficiency. She only used email as it was me.

That is awesome!!

We send generic reminders in work, occasionally we can blame it when it’s chasig invoices for work we haven’t actually done yet (quirk in our CRM) but mostly it’s handy to depersonalise the whole nasty business of chasing money.

hup ye go..

Best of luck Joe.

Good luck!

Oh... I just remembered the best advice anyone ever gave me.....

"when you're really, really busy, that's when you need to be looking for more work"

Very true

Interesting thread.

I have a ‘good job’ that allows me to do what I want to do in my own time outside of work in terms of salary and time off etc.........But I’m seriously thinking about going out on my own next year.

Why? Because it feels like the right thing to do. Potentially I won’t earn what I’m earning now, plus no pension, Sick/holiday pay and I already have flexi-time. So in reality I don’t know what the actual benefits going out on my own will bring other than self pride and a feeling of accomplishment.

However, we are financially secure (to a degree - mortgage paid) so the risk isn’t huge and I’ve taken bigger risks before.

6 years for me. And that's between starting up a couple of consultancy companies and working for one of the big 4 consulting shops. The latter definitely allowed me to trade on that.

I didm't have much of a plan. I don't like selling (myself) but I ended up working in HE where everyone knows everyone. I've turned down about a 100 days work this year. My plan to slide into semi-retirement has been delayed by everyone wanting help with stuff.

Downsides: loads of travelling/hotels/being away from family. Upside: no boss, no politics, can be pretty flexible on days and it's great working for lots of different universities.

No way I could go back to being employed. Neither the employer or I would enjoy it much 😉

Just as an update to the joys of self-employment, I was working on some website designs this morning, but it’s a lovely day, so I made an executive decision to go out for a walk with Mrs Binners instead. The design work can wait. I’ll finish it off later.

So we’ve had a a nice stroll on the moors, finishing at the brewery, where we’re now sat on the terrace in the sun with the papers and a pint

Cheers!! 🙂