Arguably the most alarming part of self employment is the suspension of belief with salaries. You’ve studied at school, college and university, perhaps, geared up to acquiring a stable job. One you enjoy, one that offers pay that gives you the ability to live reasonably well.
And you work until 60, then you drop dead with the carriage clock still warm in your grasp.
It’s being so cheerful that keeps me going, I know.
I’ve witnessed many premature deaths with teaching colleagues – from the Maths teacher who died at his retirement do, to others who developed illness and died soon after retirement. I’m not sure if this is simply peculiar to teaching but, from 1987 to 2015, teaching was all I knew and I’ve heard of many colleagues die in their 50s and 60s.
I used to think that working for 35 years in a job was a norm and something to aspire to. I don’t now. I’ve had a Homer Simpson epiphany – but, with one rider, freelance and self employment is not for anyone and everyone.
If you’re a CBA type, someone with little drive, little motivation, it’s unlikely to work. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried and failed, having poured my heart and soul, into property businesses, several times.
But failure, to go all clichéd, was a great teacher and made me aware of rabbit holes when I set up this copywriting and web design business some 6 years ago.
My most recent blog post set out a first commandment of self-employment, which most agreed and a few disagreed with:
“Thou shall not enter a partnership.”
Rather than rake over old coals with this, do feel free to read that article and make your own mind up.
Now don’t me wrong, partnerships may be taboo for me, but collaboration isn’t and I’ve been lucky enough to find great people over the past 6 years who’ve complemented and augmented my offerings.
Fellow web designers, copywriters and clients have become friends and business allies and I’m happy to pay these people for their expertise and work, just as they do with me. The key thing though is that not one of them has a stake in this business, nor me in theirs.
But back to income and outgoings.
What you don’t want is the equivalent of business Hokey Cokey where you put your right arm, leg and self in and end up with a balance sheet that shows zero profit. You work at your own business to make money for yourself and your family, not to end up liquidating with debt and a partner living rent free in your head.
You must strike a balance.
Keep outgoings and set up costs low, until you;re in a position to invest after taking a salary from the business. I set this up as Sole Trader and went Limited a couple of years in, when I knew Get Pro Copy was a winner winner, Quorn chicken dinner.
I bought a fancy electric desk, a Herman Miller chair and posh wallpaper when profit was excellent. I perched on a used £20 folding desk and £10 used office chair with that itchy scratchy texture of the seats on National Express coaches.
I started spending big time when I hit baller status with earnings – and that took years.
Bear in mind too that when I was kicked off the saddle in teaching, I was earning £2200 a month net and in year one of this business, I averaged £600 a month (£6900 per annum). We managed though as my wife, Tricia, continued to work as a teacher and we released equity to live on by selling a grand Edwardian coastal home to downsize to a new build.
£110,000 equity made for a healthy deposit and a decent remnant to live on and we dropped to one car, with the new home being cheap to run in terms of energy.
I spent nothing in year one – who could on an income that had been halved? And very little in year 2 when earnings rose to about 20k. Year 3 though saw investment in a swanky home office which has had money lavished on it monthly ever since.
And why not?
It’s my workplace for 6 to 10 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s my showpiece for social media posts, Zoom and Teams calls and it never fails to impress clients or me, every day I walk in.
Develop a business with low outgoings
The next aspect of keeping costs low is to choose a business that costs little to run – web design and writing do exactly that, though I only morphed into web design three years ago as I taught myself WordPress when work was thin on the ground.
I’d have loved, to be honest, to have made a success with property – twice – but Rightmove, it seems to me, actively deters new estate agencies as its fees are exorbitant. A branch with 100 properties will pay around the same as a start up and that to me makes it a non-starter. Zoopla are fairer, but Norfolk estate agents, a jealous lot, used this as a stick to beat me with on valuations.
Oh well.
Luckily, writing and web design have been much cheaper routes into success and have arguably given me more satisfaction and profit than those poor sods earning 12k a year, with some knobhead boss in an estate agency.
The next blog will look at finding your niche – with a sprinkling of Tony Robbins in there (apologies in advance), but what he says, about finding a niche and passion, actually struck a chord with me in 2015 so I should acknowledge him.
Thanks for reading.
Remember too, I’m happy to give advice to others looking at self employment and, who knows, if you manage to do it and make a success, you’ll come to me for a website, social media marketing and writing.
